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Christian Horner has revealed that attention at Red Bull is already beginning to turn to their 2024 car, with 15 races still to go in 2023. The team have won seven races out of seven to begin the campaign, with the RB19 proving to be the dominant force on the grid and Max Verstappen leading the Drivers’ Championship by 53 points as it stands. Red Bull are already the runaway leaders in the Constructors’ Championship as well, with a tight fight behind breaking out already to be best of the rest – but both titles already look to be something of a foregone conclusion, barring a huge change in fortune. While the team’s penalty for breaching the 2021 budget cap will see Red Bull even less able to utilise their wind tunnel facilities compared to their rivals in 2023, the advantage they have over the rest of the field may make such a penalty seem immaterial at this moment in time, with the race behind being simply to catch up. If attention is turning to Red Bull’s 2024 challenger … [Read more...] about The Christian Horner reveal that spells both good and bad news for rivals

Perez won two of the four opening races of the 2023 season and, after his victory in the Azerbaijan GP, he was just six points behind Verstappen and touted as a potential title challenger. The gap was extended when the Dutchman led a Red Bull one-two in Miami. Perez then had a disastrous weekend in Monaco, crashing in Q1 and finishing well out of the points after a fraught race. Perez again had a scrappy qualifying in Spain that saw him start only 11th. He was able to recover to fourth place in the race. Verstappen won both the Monaco and Spanish events, further extending his lead, with the gap between the Red Bull drivers now standing at 53 points. Horner says that with a title challenge currently looking less realistic a solid race in Barcelona will help Perez to relax. "I think for him that'll give him a lot of confidence coming out of this," he said. "He has had a difficult Monaco, difficult Saturday here, a stronger Sunday. Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing, Max … [Read more...] about Horner: Perez can relax now F1 title pressure is off

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

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’

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

Ferrari will lead the grid for the 100th anniversary Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend with its pair of 499P prototypes. Here is the full grid following the qualifying and hyperpole sessions. Pos No. Class Team Car Drivers Time 1 50 Hypercar (H) Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen 3’22.982 2 51 Hypercar (H) Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/ Antonio Giovinazzi 3’23.755 3 8 Hypercar (H) Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Sebastien Buemi / Brendon Hartley /Ryo Hirakawa 3’24.451 4 75 Hypercar (H) Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 Felipe Nasr /Mathieu Jaminet/Nicholas Tandy 3’24.531 5 7 Hypercar (H) Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Mike Conway/ Kamui Kobayashi /Jose Maria Lopez 3’24.933 6 2 Hypercar (H) Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R Earl Bamber/Alex Lynn/Richard Westbrook 3’25.170 7 5 … [Read more...] about WEC 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours starting grid · RaceFans

Taking over the #51 Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar that Alessandro Pier Guidi drove to second in Hyperpole, Calado whisked to a time of 3m27.275s shortly before Jean-Eric Vergne ’s #93 Peugeot 9X8 LMH brought out the red flags when it stopped between the two Mulsanne Chicanes. The one-hour session was restarted with 20 minutes still on the clock, but there were few noteworthy improvements thereafter as Calado’s benchmark time held. Calado was 1.003s faster than Esteban Gutierrez in the Le Mans-only #709 Glickenhaus-Pipo 007 that will start the World Endurance Championship blue riband from 14th. Gutierrez was in turn 0.162s faster than the Jota Porsche 963 LMDh campaigned by Will Stevens , which missed qualifying on Wednesday due to an electronic problem. Kevin Estre improved to fourth after the red flag in the best of the factory Penske-run Porsches, his #6 machine usurping the Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Alexander Sims . Jose Maria Lopez … [Read more...] about Le Mans 24h: Calado puts Ferrari top in final practice session