Formula 1

Formula 1 tests are always a peak time of interest and intrigue, and they’ve also featured some unexpected driver and team link-ups over the years. Those often tantalising partnerships have not always led to a permanent deal for a variety of reasons – and some of them were maybe never as ‘real’ as they seemed.

Formula 1 looks set to abandon attempts to trial different race weekend formats in 2020, after teams failed to get behind the idea of reverse grids experiments earlier this week. The championship’s owner Liberty Media has been evaluating ways to spice up the show, and was hoping to test out three reverse grid qualifying races

McLaren’s underdog star Carlos Sainz Jr has got between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen at the top of Autosport readers’ Formula 1 driver rankings after the Japanese Grand Prix. Sainz’s strong performances at the head of the midfield have made him one of the heroes of the 2019 F1 season – and that’s reflected in

Gunther Steiner says Haas is resigned to a difficult end to the 2019 Formula 1 season and is now focused on preventing a repeat of its struggles next year. Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen – who spun in qualifying – again struggled to get their tyres to work at last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix and

A number of Ferrari’s Formula 1 rivals have written to the FIA for clarity over the legality of design aspects they believe are behind the Italian team’s engine advantage. Autosport understands that Ferrari’s competitors are seeking clarification over whether they are clear to pursue similar concepts themselves or if the ideas fall foul of the

Ayrton Senna will be honoured by an official Formula 1 fan festival in his home town of Sao Paulo in early November, a week before the Brazilian Grand Prix. The festival will include demonstration runs, and Senna’s countrymen Emerson Fittipaldi and Felipe Massa will both drive examples of his old F1 cars on the streets

Renault has revealed its aero development progress since Formula 1’s summer break was hurt by it needing to put its windtunnel out of action for several weeks for an upgrade. The team has faced difficulties getting on top of the aero characteristics of its car, with the RS.19 having not produced the kind of step

Alfa Romeo Formula 1 boss Fred Vasseur says there is “no need to panic”, despite the team’s struggles to find race pace compared to its strong qualifying form. At Suzuka Antonio Giovinazzi just missed out on a spot in Q3 with 11th place, but in the race both he and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen lacked pace

Mercedes finally responded to Ferrari’s post-summer break Formula 1 supremacy at the Japanese Grand Prix with some major car updates. While Ferrari maintained its edge in qualifying, tardy starts from Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc handed the lead to Valtteri Bottas – whose dominant victory by 13.343 seconds demonstrated that the new parts have made

As Formula 1’s 2021 rules debate finally reaches its – delayed – crunch point, we look back at the missteps that have made its self-improvement efforts so complicated. The reasons why F1 so often reaches an impasse when trying to achieve positive change or has to water down revolutionary plans have their roots in deals

Red Bull Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner respects McLaren driver Lando Norris for being pleased Alex Albon escaped punishment for ‘forcing him off’ in the Japanese Grand Prix. Albon dropped behind both McLarens after a poor start and re-passed Norris with an aggressive move into the final chicane that made Norris go off-track to

Alfa Romeo’s Formula 1 drivers were left baffled by being “nowhere” in the Japanese Grand Prix, a race Kimi Raikkonen labelled “far from normal”. The two Alfas qualified 11th and 13th after narrowly missing out on a spot in the top-10 shootout, with Giovinazzi ahead of Raikkonen on the grid, but they slumped to 14th

Haas boss Gunther Steiner says the FIA and Liberty must protect the essential DNA of Formula 1 when the 2021 technical regulations are refined in Wednesday’s crunch meeting in Paris. Haas, along with engine partner Ferrari and its leading F1 counterparts Mercedes and Red Bull, wants to stay closer to the current regulations and continue

Sebastian Vettel says there are no changes to explain his “step in performance” at the Japanese Grand Prix, where he ended Ferrari Formula 1 team-mate Charles Leclerc’s qualifying superiority. Leclerc had qualified on pole for the previous four grands prix, a run that stretched his dominant run over Vettel in qualifying to nine races. Suzuka

Haas Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen says he “showed everyone what not to do” with his “quite embarrassing” qualifying crash, which preceded a Japanese Grand Prix that “went south”. Magnussen was eliminated early in qualifying on Sunday morning when he lost the rear of his car on the exit of the final chicane and crashed

Formula 1 race director Michael Masi says allowing secret tolerances in jump-start rules remains correct, despite the controversy over Sebastian Vettel’s Japanese Grand Prix getaway. Vettel’s Ferrari moved forward briefly from his pole position slot before the lights had gone out to start the race at Suzuka on Sunday. That inching forward appeared to be

Lewis Hamilton believes he could have won the Japanese Grand Prix with “better guidance”, but Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff said the strategy always leaned towards Valtteri Bottas triumphing. In the latter stages of the Suzuka race it appeared that Hamilton might have a chance of beating Bottas to the win had he stayed

Max Verstappen retired from the Japanese Grand Prix because his first-lap clash with Charles Leclerc cost him almost 25% downforce on his Red Bull Formula 1 car. Verstappen had passed Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton on the run to the first corner and kept to the outside as the track tightened into Turn 2, but Leclerc

Robert Kubica will receive a new chassis for the Japanese Grand Prix as his Williams Formula 1 team faces a difficult task in getting his car prepared for the race. The Polish driver crashed out in the early stages of Q1 at Suzuka after dropping a wheel on to the grass on the run down

Paul Ricard, Spa and Sochi have emerged as possible venues for Formula 1’s Saturday qualifying race experiments in 2020 – provided all the teams agree the idea can go ahead. A change to next year’s FIA Sporting Regulations at this stage requires unanimity, and Autosport understands that more than one team remains opposed to the

Ferrari Formula 1 team boss Mattia Binotto expects to have to manage Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc on-track again despite resolving their Sochi “misunderstanding”. Russian Grand Prix poleman Leclerc gave Vettel a tow at the start of the race and did not defend into the second corner, allowing Vettel to pass the Mercedes of Lewis

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg have explained why they ended up 17th and 18th at Suzuka in an FP2 session that could decide Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix grid. While the team has been on a strong run of getting its cars into Q3 since the summer break, it is still 33 points behind

Toro Rosso drivers Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly believe Formula 1 rookie Naoki Yamamoto did “really well” and a “very good job” on his debut in Japanese Grand Prix practice. Reigning Super GT and Super Formula champion Yamamoto, a Honda-backed driver, stepped into Gasly’s car for FP1 at Suzuka. Yamamoto lapped 17th-fastest, 3.2s off the

The decision to ban tyre blankets from Formula 1 when new 18-inch wheels are introduced in 2021 has been reversed. A ban on blankets has been a key part of the move to 18-inch tyres since it was announced, but recently Pirelli has been pushing to keep them to make the transition to the new

The Japanese Grand Prix grid will be set by results from second practice if Formula 1’s qualifying session does not take place at its revised time on Sunday morning. Qualifying has been moved to Sunday because organisers have opted to close the Suzuka circuit to the public on Saturday, when extreme weather conditions are expected

The top four in Autosport readers’ Formula 1 driver ratings have broken away from the chasing pack ahead of the final five races of the season. Mercedes’ reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton continues to lead the way and now has an average rating of 8.28, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, midfield star Carlos Sainz Jr

The latest edition of The Autosport Podcast asks if Suzuka is the best track on the Formula 1 calendar – and explains why it might not be as perfect as some suggest. Ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Stuart Codling, Jake Boxall-Legge and Edd Straw explain what makes Suzuka so special, as well as

Max Verstappen got a first taste of vintage Formula 1 machinery ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix when he tried out Honda’s first race-winning car. During a special event at Honda’s R&D test facility at Tochigi, Verstappen tested an RA272 that American Richie Ginther used to score the firm’s first F1 victory in the 1965

It was almost inevitable that Max Verstappen’s arrival in to Formula 1 was going to be followed by attempts to get the Dutch Grand Prix back on the calendar. After years of speculation about possible street races or a move to Assen, it was the race’s original home of Zandvoort that finally got a deal

Lewis Hamilton thinks Formula 1 has the prospect of an “awesome” Japanese Grand Prix because he has “no idea” which of Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull will be quickest. At the previous race in Russia, Hamilton ended Ferrari’s three-race winning streak with the help of a virtual safety car caused by Sebastian Vettel suffering an