Lando Norris says he steered clear of choosing hero Valentino Rossi’s #46 to use on his McLaren in Formula 1 because he did not want to be a “copycat”. The young British driver has been a fan of the MotoGP legend since he was young, and considered Rossi’s famous number for his 2019 F1 step.

Robert Kubica says the rule changes being introduced for the 2019 season are coming at the “perfect” time for his return to Formula 1. Kubica will race in F1 for the first time since 2010 as he has been partnered with George Russell in Williams’s race line-up for next season. The 2019 cars will feature

Carlos Sainz Jr says a presentation McLaren made when he arrived at the team convinced him it knows how to return to the front of the Formula 1 grid. A fundamental aerodynamic problem hindered its MCL33 car in a year in which McLaren was convinced it would begin its recovery following a disastrous alliance with

Mercedes Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas will kick off his 2019 season by making his competitive rallying debut in Finland in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta World Rally Car. Bottas will contest the Arctic Lapland Rally from January 24-26 in a Fiesta similar to the one used by Sebastien Ogier (pictured below) to win the last

Carlos Sainz Jr expects a much better relationship with 2019 McLaren Formula 1 team-mate Lando Norris than he had with other young drivers when at Toro Rosso. Sainz had tense times with both Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat during his first F1 seasons at Red Bull’s junior team. In 2015, Sainz and Verstappen were well

Five-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton had to be convinced to “go a bit slower” in his Yamaha Superbike track test at Jerez, says rider Michael van der Mark. Hamilton rode a black Yamaha YZF-R1 bike alongside works riders van der Mark and Alex Lowes earlier this month and the track test was overseen

Pirelli has revealed its compound choices for the first four Formula 1 grands prix of the 2019 season in its new simplified designation of soft, medium and hard. Although those three basic names will be in play at each event, Pirelli has a new C1-C5 system for notifying which actual compound is being used on

Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari must take the “last step” if it is to stand a chance of winning next year’s Formula 1 world championship. Vettel challenged Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in 2018, enjoying strong form at various stages of the campaign, but its title bid faltered after the summer break for a second straight season.

Claire Williams says her Formula 1 team needs Robert Kubica’s “fighting spirit” as it bids to recover from its terrible 2018 season. Kubica will be back on the grid in 2019 after an absence of more than eight years, having won his battle to return to F1 following the early-2011 rally crash that almost severed

Toto Wolff reckons Michael Schumacher’s son Mick can achieve success in Formula 1, “maybe” even with Mercedes. Seven-time world champion Schumacher raced for Mercedes in sportscars before stepping up to F1 and joined the manufacturer for his return to grand prix racing from 2010 to ’12. Mick Schumacher clinched the Formula 3 European championship this

Carlos Sainz says it feels “powerful” rather than daunting to know that McLaren will be relying on him to help lead the team in the 2019 Formula 1 season. As he has much more experience than rookie team-mate Lando Norris, Sainz knows that McLaren will be relying more on him to help give it direction.

Toto Wolff says even a team such as Williams cannot be discounted from coming up with a Mercedes-beating 2019 Formula 1 car, amid fears of loopholes in the new regulations. As teams work on honing their cars to new aero rules aimed at improving overtaking, Wolff has reiterated his belief that the order could be

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has changed his mind about Formula 1’s halo and says he would not have forgiven himself if vetoing it had led to a “potentially catastrophic outcome”. The controversial driver protection device became mandatory in F1 and Formula 2 this year, and played a significant role in major accidents in both championships.

Kimi Raikkonen reckons Sauber has all it needs to build a “great” Formula 1 car in 2019, after completing his first test on his return to the team. After a five-year second stint with Ferrari, Raikkonen is returning to the Sauber outfit where he made his F1 debut in 2001 on a multi-year deal. He

The FIA believes the ‘aeroscreen’ concept would have been only 10% as effective as Formula 1’s halo in protecting Charles Leclerc in the Belgian Grand Prix start crash. The official investigation into the Spa accident, which was caused when Fernando Alonso was tipped over the top of Leclerc’s Sauber by a late-braking Nico Hulkenberg at

Formula 1 teams are fearful of the impact of Britain’s exit from the European Union due to concerns they could suffer employment and logistical problems after Brexit. The United Kingdom is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019 but Prime Minister Theresa May is still struggling to win over members of Parliament to

Red Bull will need to instil a bit of “discipline” into Pierre Gasly for his 2019 Formula 1 promotion, according to Helmut Marko. Gasly will step up to the Red Bull senior team after one full season with its junior outfit Toro Rosso, having been picked to replace Renault-bound Daniel Ricciardo. The 22-year-old had to

Stoffel Vandoorne believes “no-one really noticed” his strongest races in Formula 1 and that there was “nothing more I could have done” amid McLaren’s woes. Vandoorne joined McLaren at the beginning of 2017 as a replacement for Jenson Button, following an impressive junior single-seater career in which he dominated the ’15 GP2 championship and then

Nico Hulkenberg thinks he may have to “find another gear” in order to beat Daniel Ricciardo at the Renault Formula 1 team next season. The German ended the season with more ‘Class B’ victories than any other midfield runner and was the highest-placed driver behind the Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull contenders in the overall

The FIA has tweaked the way penalties will be applied to Formula 1 grids from 2019, in an attempt to encourage those who have penalties to take part in qualifying. For 2018, The FIA introduced a rule that put anyone with more than 15 places of power unit grid penalties to the back of the

The FIA has formally approved the 2019 Formula 1 calendar, with no changes made to the version released in October. The 21-round schedule will begin in Australia on March 17 and conclude with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 1. F1 will host its 1000th world championship race in the third round of the

Romain Grosjean says he would not be able to forgive himself if he suffered a repeat of the woes that marred the first half of his 2018 Formula 1 campaign. Although the Frenchman’s season started off well with a strong showing in the Australian Grand Prix before pitstop trouble, he later endured a run of

TAG Heuer will remain a partner of the the Red Bull Formula 1 team, despite its switch from Renault to Honda engines ending the need for alternative engine branding. Red Bull had agreed not to use Renault’s name for 2016 after political problems mounted and the British team initially served notice it did not want

Pirelli has invited teams and drivers to help it decide which tyre compounds to make available for the start of the 2019 Formula 1 season as it seeks “expert” input. The Italian company has been criticised by various teams and drivers since F1 asked for Pirelli to start producing the high-degradation tyres. Having come under

Kevin Magnussen says it is “a bit dull” to only be able to fight for best-of-the-rest honours in Formula 1, despite personally enjoying a strong 2018 season. Magnussen scored his career-best championship finish of ninth, with Haas also enjoying its most successful campaign to date to end the year fifth in the constructors’. Though Magnussen

Haas Formula 1 boss Gunther Steiner says his team’s inexperience was to blame for its failure to beat Renault to fourth place in the constructors’ championship in 2018. The American team had been locked in a close fight with Renault for the best-of-the-rest spot behind the top three teams in the closing stages of the

The Racing Point name is not a permanent new title for the former Force India team and will change before the start of the 2019 Formula 1 season. The provisional entry list for the 2019 F1 World Championship lists the team and chassis name as Racing Point, but that is just a temporary measure as

Sergey Sirotkin believes it “looked quite obvious” he would get a second season with Williams in Formula 1 until the very end of 2018. Sirotkin made his grand prix debut with Williams this year but will not continue with the team for 2019 as it has signed Robert Kubica to partner George Russell. Sirotkin’s backer

Jenson Button feels Naoki Yamamoto is talented enough to race in Formula 1 after winning the Super GT championship with him in 2018. The Kunimitsu Honda team-mates clinched the 2018 GT500 title at Motegi last month, defeating TOM’S Lexus pair Nick Cassidy and Ryo Hirakawa in a tense showdown. Yamamoto also won this year’s Super

Reigning Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton took part in a Superbike track day at Jerez on Saturday, suffering a small crash in the process. Hamilton was riding a Yamaha YZF-R1, the same bike used in the World Superbike championship by the works-backed Crescent team this year. Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport reported the Mercedes F1