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New York Times
27-06-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
75 years of F1? Not quite: How the magic of 1950 gave way to an identity crisis
This article is part of our 75 Years of Speed series, an inside look at the backstories of the clubs, drivers, and people fueling Formula One. 'The demise of Formula One.' So declared the then British weekly Autosport in 1952 — just two years after the birth of the world championship. Before things disintegrated, though, it'd roared into life. The 1950 season was chaotic, glamorous, and fiercely competitive, launching a new era of global motorsport. But just as quickly as it rose, F1 faltered: For two full seasons, the world championship wasn't actually contested with F1 cars — a statistical asterisk that still raises eyebrows generations later. Advertisement In 2025, as F1 marks its 75th anniversary, it celebrates a history that in a bizarre sense almost ended before it'd truly began — a story marred by a glaring anomaly that exposed the fragility of one country's early racing ambitions. We start, fittingly, at Silverstone for the 1950 season opener, which took in that year's British Grand Prix (officially the Grand Prix d'Europe). This event is forever remembered as F1's first world championship race. Under sunny skies, where a 'party atmosphere prevailed', according to Motorsport Magazine's contemporary report, the Alfa Romeo team was resplendent. The Italian team dominated with a car that was actually 12 years old and pre-dated the Second World War. Severe traffic issues meant many spectators were late arriving at Silverstone on race day, but the grandstands were at least bedecked in bunting and Union Jack flags to cover their steel skeletons. A royal presence had ensured much pomp. Having met King George VI ahead of the start — the only time a reigning British monarch has attended a British Grand Prix — along with the rest of the 21 starting drivers, Giuseppe 'Nino' Farina led away from the four-car, all-Alfa, front row. Differently colored engine cowls helped the crowd of 150,000 differentiate the Alfa drivers as they swapped positions through the race's early stages. Motorsport declared: 'It was obvious that the Alfa Romeo team had been instructed how to finish. Farina first, Luigi Fagioli second, (Juan Manuel) Fangio third and (British home hero, Reg) Parnell fourth. But to appear to be racing to please the crowd.' While their distant opponents hit trouble, the Alfas roared around Silverstone. Their only down note was Fangio spinning off and hitting a straw bale in the closing stages. His 158 sounded sick after being fired back up at Stowe corner, and he soon retired with a broken engine connecting rod. But this meant the British fans who then spent four hours getting out of the track's car parks could at least reflect on Parnell's celebratory wreath-winning result, as he finished third behind Farina and Fagioli. Advertisement Just a week later, round two was staged in glamorous Monaco, where the Ferrari team took part this time. Enzo Ferrari had refused to come to Silverstone in a dispute over small appearance fees for the teams and with only £1,000 (then around $2,800) in prize money on offer for winning. This time, Fangio won for Alfa after a bizarre incident on the first lap. A huge wave had sloshed over the harbor wall at the Tabac corner and soaked the track just as the race was getting underway, one street over. Fangio skillfully navigated his way through, but Farina spun and crashed out, along with Fagioli. The next time by, with the track up ahead strewn with wreckage, Fangio 'was aware of something different with the crowd' — as he told motor racing journalist Nigel Roebuck in 1978. Fangio had realized that 'instead of seeing their faces, I was seeing the backs of their heads.' It was a subtle but chilling signal that something was wrong up ahead — the crowd had turned to watch the unfolding disaster, not the approaching cars. In this rarity for a race leader, the legendary Argentine understood there was danger up ahead and hit the brakes. Just in time. He went on to score his first F1 world championship win. The Indianapolis 500 featured next on the newly formed schedule, as it did for the world championship's first 11 years, but this event was not run to F1 car regulations. Johnnie Parsons won in 1950, while most of the European grand prix stars stayed away. Farina was down on the entry list, but didn't turn up. Round four, the Swiss GP at the fearsomely fast, tree-lined Bremgarten track, 'frankly, as a race it was not interesting,' declared Motorsport. This was because Ferrari — particularly its national Italian star, Alberto Ascari — had looked threatening in practice and during the early race laps. However, the race then simmered down to another Alfa domination. Farina won, but Fangio retired late on again, with another mechanical issue. Such misfortune swung Farina's way at the next two rounds — in Belgium and France — allowing Fangio to win both events. Fangio capitalized on Farina's fuel and reliability woes in Belgium and France to bring the title fight to a dramatic showdown at Monza. At Spa, Farina dropped to fourth with oil pressure issues. At Reims, a faulty fuel pump cost him dearly despite a spirited charge back through the field. Advertisement This set the stage for a three-way fight for the first F1 world title at the Monza season finale. Farina's recent mechanical maladies meant Fangio led the standings by two points — but from Fagioli, whose post-Monaco consistency had brought him into contention. Farina stared down a four-point deficit, having been nine clear of Fangio amongst the nightmare Silverstone traffic. But reliability decided Fangio's fate that year, as he retired with a seized gearbox after 23 of the Italian GP's 80 laps, having dropped back quickly from pole. Farina — in a new Alfa (the 159 derived from the 158 'Alfetta') that had 'increased power,' according to F1 historian Roger Smith, dominated from Ascari and in doing so claimed the first F1 world title. He'd taken over another Ferrari (this was allowed and possible back then), with Fagioli third and ultimately there overall in the inaugural world championship's points standings, behind his illustrious teammates. The 1951 season was another Alfa triumph for its powerful, ageing cars. But there were big differences in the world championship's sophomore campaign. While the racing on track reached new heights, trouble was brewing off it. Behind the scenes, engine rules were shifting, manufacturers were retreating, and political maneuvering began to unravel the very concept of F1. Fangio, this time, took the title — the first of his five. This would stand as a record for 46 years, until it was first overhauled by Michael Schumacher in 2003 and then by Lewis Hamilton in 2020. And Ferrari, boosted by its 4.5-liter unsupercharged V12 engine, which delivered much better fuel efficiency than the 1.5-liter straight-eight supercharged Alfa, finally provided fierce competition. Fuel issues plagued Alfa's year, with its engine's weaknesses either forcing it to run its cars heavily or just make more stops than Ferrari. Advertisement The Scuderia finally exploited this to take its first world championship F1 win in the 1951 British GP, with Jose Froilan Gonzalez, another Argentine. Eponymous team owner Enzo Ferrari — a former Alfa driver and team manager — wrote to his rival and declared: 'Today, I killed my mother.' In the Spanish GP finale, Ferrari's miscalculation on wheel and tire size led to ruinous early pit stops. Fangio romped home at Pedralbes to seal the title from Ascari by six points. Alfa and Ferrari locked in battle, while Mercedes worked on its post-war return to motorsport in the background, having dominated as a Nazi propaganda machine in the 1930s. British hopes were also high for a powerful V16 car from British Racing Motors (BRM), which had stunned crowds with its shocking engine note wherever it appeared to this point. An F1 glory age was surely unfurling. Until it was stopped in its tracks — the BRM to blame. 'The harm that has been done to British national prestige by this unhappy venture is incalculable,' Autosport would state in 1952, typically hyperbolically for the editorials of the era. The 1950 and 1951 seasons had been run according to the original set of F1 rules laid down by motorsport's governing body in 1947. These regulations, from the Commission Sportive Internationale (CSI), had decreed that cars with engines like Alfa Romeo's or Ferrari's would compete against each other. Aerodynamics were at this stage not the defining feature of car performance and weight was unlimited. But those car design rules needed updating, and the FIA signed off a new set of F1 regulations in October 1951. The existing formula was extended to cover only 1952 and 1953, with smaller engines mandated from 1954 onwards. Motorsport magazine described this as 'against the desires of Germany and Great Britain.' Advertisement This meant two things. For Mercedes, it delayed a long-planned comeback. For BRM, it rendered its ambitious car soon-to-be-obsolete before it had even proven itself. Mercedes had been quietly working on a new car using the first engine rules, dubbed the W195. The German marque had finally returned to racing action in Argentina in 1951 with some of its pre-war models, but had been humbled by newer Ferraris. Legendary Mercedes team boss Alfred Neubauer had hoped the new F1 project would be ready to compete in 1951 and then challenge for the championship in 1952. But only if the existing rules were going to stay in place for longer. With major change now coming in 1954, Mercedes didn't deem extra investment worthwhile. It ultimately opted to make its grand return to top-line grand prix racing that year instead, with what would become the famous W196, following a campaign in the 1952 sports car season. Mercedes' management had also been spooked by rumors that Alfa was about to quit the world championship after Fangio's 1951 title. This was with the knowledge that the 158, like the BRM V16, would also soon be barred from entering F1 world championship races. But the new rules dealt a harsher blow to BRM. The ambitious British project had built the powerful but troublesome V16 engine, backed by widespread support from the country's motor industry. Despite high expectations, including interest from King George VI, the BRM was notoriously unreliable. Engine changes took up to 24 hours compared to three for a Ferrari, making the car practically unusable. After embarrassingly trailing five laps down at its only world championship outing — the 1951 British GP — the V16 BRM was withdrawn from key races, further damaging Britain's motorsport prestige. This included non-world championship races that were common in this era. Advertisement The withdrawal of BRM from the Valentino GP in Turin in 1952 proved decisive for the F1 world championship that year. Race organizers elsewhere, disappointed by BRM's absence from what should've been a fight with Ferrari's F1 car in Turin, opted not to have races for F1 cars atop their bills — including many that were slated to host world championship races. Alfa Romeo had by this stage officially withdrawn from the 1952 season as the coming new rules would make its car obsolete, too. Ferrari was now so strong, Mercedes was not yet ready, and the BRM consistently disappointed. As motorsport historian Giovanni Lurani noted in History of the Racing Car, F1 had, 'to all intents and purposes, collapsed.' Left with little choice, the FIA decreed Formula Two cars would instead contest the 1952 and 1953 world championships — marking two seasons that remain statistically anomalous to this day. It was a decision made out of necessity, as F2 cars were cheaper and more plentiful. The smaller engines on these machines anticipated the coming 1954 F1 regulations and the hope was that races could proceed without Ferrari's F1 car strength completely eroding competitive interest. Nevertheless, Ferrari thrived in this temporary anomaly, with Ascari claiming both the 1952 and 1953 titles in its brilliant F2 machinery, winning 11 of the 17 races across those years. British motorsport wasn't entirely humiliated, however. Smaller teams such as HWM and Cooper seized opportunities under F2 rules, and Mike Hawthorn's promising fourth-place finish in the 1952 world championship led directly to his landmark deal with Ferrari in 1953, where he won that year's French Grand Prix. British Racing Motors would eventually find redemption. But in the words of Smith, its V16 entry was initially, 'an over-ambitious endeavour with cumbersome organization.' 'The project was doomed to failure,' Smith wrote in his book Formula 1: All the Races, 'the car featuring an enormously powerful 1.5-litre V16 engine using two-stage Rolls-Royce centrifugal superchargers. But its narrow power band, delivering some 430 bhp through narrow tires, made it very difficult to drive, let alone drive swiftly.' Advertisement For the BRM, the 1954 rules effectively made its grand project obsolete at a stroke. But it still could've gathered glory in the meantime — and make all its earlier effort worthwhile. This was seen as critical for both Britain and the burgeoning world championship. After the Second World War, Britain was broke. Its $3.75billion Anglo-American loan from the United States in 1946 (worth over $30billion today) meant its economy was on life support. Export sales were prized and the fame of motor racing success could help. Against this backdrop, Autosport declared in a June 1954 editorial that 'what makes Grand Prix racing so invaluable from a prestige point of view; it is a most important method of advertising the excellence of a national automobile industry's products.' But the BRM project just wasn't coming together, despite such patriotic backing and even the King's attention at Silverstone in 1950. He'd shown a special interest in the V16 machine after the first demonstration run for the car, which wasn't race-ready at that stage, at that event. The V16 BRM's 1951 British Grand Prix embarrassment had been in an otherwise engaging race that had shown most strikingly how vulnerable the pre-war Alfas had become against the surging Ferraris. Alfa then initially being only vaguely prepared to enter shorter races led to the nervousness of race organizers across Europe regarding the 1952 world championship being run to F1 rules. In contrast to today's centrally-powered F1/FIA arrangement, in the world championship's infancy, race organizers could essentially invite who and what they liked. France went first, with its series of races — including the 1952 GP at Rouen — confirmed for smaller Formula Two cars only in January 1952, as a result of the expected Ferrari F1 domination. An Autosport reader, SG Miron of Banbury, decried this as the first step in grand prix racing being 'completely destroyed!' In 1952, the Dutch GP at Zandvoort was to be the first world championship race in the Netherlands. But it then declared it would invite F2 cars and not F1 machines. Yet the Belgian and British races held out for the top category. And then came the hammer blow to such hopes. Advertisement BRM had been expected to put on a strong showing at the Valentino GP in Turin. This alone was enough to motivate Ferrari to enter the event. Instead, BRM pulled out. Its official statement claimed 'the (V16) cars were not ready' after a bespoke test at Monza that had featured a young Stirling Moss. But Autosport explained it differently. Hoping to convince Fangio to join the struggling project — as he'd been left without a world championship drive for 1952 with Alfa's withdrawal — 'priority' was given to this endeavour instead. 'The prospect of a BRM-Ferrari duel excited continental racing circles and organizers of Europe's main races looked to the Turin race to give them some sort of lead as to whether or not it would be worthwhile staging pukka F1 events during 1952,' read Autosport's report of the saga. But the prospect of F1 competition completely capitulating to Ferrari cars before the 1952 world champion season had even begun pervaded as a result of the Turin affair. In that April race, Ferrari's cars had, after all, subsequently finished two laps clear of the BRM-less field. Just as the 1952 world title contest was about to commence, with the Swiss GP again at Bremgarten on May 18, the FIA made its choice. With the British GP also finally 'falling into line with the rest of the 1952 GPs,' according to Autosport, it was decreed that F2 cars would contest the entire world championship. And then 1953 as well. British motorsport ultimately wasn't totally shamed, thanks to the F2 rules era efforts of its teams that produced such cars, plus those of drivers including Hawthorn and Moss. He would go on to race for Mercedes once it replaced Ferrari as the dominant power in 1954. BRM later scored a first F1 world championship win at the 1959 Dutch GP and even claimed a world title double with Graham Hill in 1962. Formula One didn't die. But in 1952 and 1953, it wasn't really Formula One either — and the debate over those two seasons still lingers, buried under 75 years of stats. The 75 Years of Speed series is part of a partnership with Shell. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
Daily Mirror
11-06-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mirror
F1 chiefs make decision on repeating F1 75 O2 Arena season launch show in 2026
London's O2 Arena hosted F1 75 Live in February as all 10 teams on the Formula 1 grid showed off their new liveries in style with an audience of millions watching on Formula 1 cars will not return to the O2 Arena stage for another season launch event next year. The current campaign kicked off in February with a star-studded event in London to mark the occasion of the World Championship's 75th anniversary. And while it drew some criticism, the event was deemed to be a success. The arena was sold out and millions more watched live streams online as all 10 teams pulled the covers off their 2025 liveries and drivers and team principals previewed the season ahead. The idea was formed as a way for the sport to begin its year-long celebrations as F1 marks 75 years since the first World Championship season, held in 1950. As such, it was never clear whether the event was a one-off or something that could be repeated. It's understood that the latter option has been under considering, given the commercial success that the event proved to be. However, it appears that the prospects of it becoming an annual curtain-raiser for the F1 season have faded. Autosport reports that F1 chiefs have decided against holding another launch event ahead of the 2026 campaign. That's despite it also being a milestone year for the sport, with a massive regulations change taking place that will see new car designs and engines used. But those new car rules mean there will be a lot more testing than usual in pre-season next year. Instead of the three days of testing that has become the norm in modern F1, teams are set to get nine days on track across three separate spells to work out any kinks in their designs. READ MORE: Lando Norris makes honest Oscar Piastri admission as McLaren outsiders surprised That means it would be difficult for teams to find the time to take part in a season launch event, particularly as the first set of testing days is likely to take place in Barcelona at the end of January. That would mean a launch would need to take place before then, when teams are unlikely to have all their sponsors in place for the new season. That would limit the commercial opportunities presented, reducing the value of hosting a pre-season launch. But just because it won't happen in 2026, it does not mean the idea of such an event has been permanently scrapped. F1 chiefs felt the 75th anniversary of the World Championship was an appropriate time to celebrate the start of a new season in this fashion. And the concept could be revived for future milestones, though this has not yet been confirmed. And there is no guarantee that, if such an event is held again in the future, that it would take place at the O2 Arena or even in London. There are many other key markets for the sport around the globe including in the USA and Asia which could prove to be more lucrative options, despite the added logistical challenge given most teams are based in the UK.
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Miami Grand Prix practice before sprint qualifying
Tune in BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra Jennie Gow, Harry Benjamin, Autosport editor-in-chief Rebecca Clancy and BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson are in position and ready to take us through Friday in Miami. Commentary is available on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and at the top of this page by clicking the 'listen live' tab. You can also ask BBC Sounds to play Miami Grand Prix practice one via most smart speakers.
News.com.au
29-04-2025
- Automotive
- News.com.au
Lando Norris' Oscar Piastri problem ahead of Miami Grand Prix
Lando Norris has an Oscar Piastri problem. Rather than shadowing his championship challenge, as many has predicted after last season, Piastri is overshadowing Norris's title hopes. The Australian has just taken the championship lead from his teammate with a 10-point advantage. He's on a two-race victory streak and has three wins from five races as the only multiple winner of the season to date. Fortunately for the Briton, the Miami Grand Prix is next. The Floridian street-style circuit is the scene of Norris's long-awaited first Formula 1 victory and the beginning of the epic comeback that ended McLaren's long run in the competitive wilderness with an elusive constructors championship. Having needed a weekend off to reset after his bruising fortnight in the Middle East, returning to the happy memories of Miami should be the perfect salve. But Piastri's shadow lingers here too. Had it not been for circumstance, this so easily could have — should have? — been Piastri's first victory. In 2025 he's out to make some happy memories of his own. PIASTRI'S LOST FIRST WIN McLaren's season had started slowly, the team having telegraphed early that the MCL38 would be undercooked on debut but would be revitalised by an in-season upgrade. The first parts of that update arrived in Miami, round 5 of the championship. By then McLaren had a strong development reputation, but like many teams determined to rush performance to the car, upgrades didn't always arrive in sufficient quantity to be applied to both drivers. That was the case in Miami last year, where Norris received the full upgrade package but Piastri, lower in the drivers championship at the time, had to make do with only a partial update. The team calculated the difference between the two specifications was around 0.2 seconds. In other words, all things being equal, Piastri should have been around 0.2 seconds slower than Norris every lap. In sprint qualifying Piastri beat Norris by 0.311 seconds — a net advantage of 0.511 seconds. In qualifying for the grand prix Norris beat Piastri by just 0.081 seconds, putting Piastri a net 0.119 seconds ahead. 'We knew already how fast he is on a single lap,' McLaren boss Andrea Stella said, per Autosport, at the end of the weekend. 'Considering that he didn't have the full package, let me pay proper credit to Oscar. The gap he had to Lando in qualifying is smaller than the difference of the package he had. 'He was really pulling off strong performance over a single lap in very difficult conditions.' Norris and Piastri launched from fourth and fifth on the grid, but by the end of the first lap the Australian had moved ahead, taking third, while Norris had slipped back to sixth. And Piastri didn't stop there. Clearly the quicker McLaren, he dispatched Charles Leclerc easily enough to bring pole-getter Verstappen into his sights. He remained a stubborn 3.5 seconds adrift of the Red Bull Racing car. In response the Dutchman pitted for the hard tyre on lap 23. Piastri inherited the lead of the grand prix. Immediately it was clear Verstappen's RB20 didn't like the new compound. McLaren kept Piastri out for four more laps to build a small tyre offset, pitting him at the end of lap 27. Norris, meanwhile, had been toiling in sixth for much of the first stint. He gained places as drivers ahead of him pitted until suddenly he was in first place without having had to make an overtake. That was the start of lap 28. Later that lap Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant sent each other crashing into the barriers at turn 3, forcing a safety car. By the end of the lap Norris was in the pits. With the safety car holding up the field, he rejoined the race with a lead he would never relinquish. It was a strike of luck for the Briton, who had held the record for most podiums without a victory. But it was bad luck for Piastri. Had he waited just one more lap before pitting, it would've been him, not Norris, who had benefited from the safety car to win the race. He was later punted out of the points by Carlos Sainz, adding insult to injury, but it did nothing to mask the upside of Piastri's performance. 'Lando said something really nice before,' Stella said. 'He said by looking at Oscar overtaking a Ferrari, he felt, 'Wow, we are actually there today', so it was a realisation for Lando himself. 'He comes away from this weekend with this sort of conviction, especially in terms of race pace, which is something we wanted to improve having looked at Japan, having looked at China. 'I think Oscar comes out of this weekend even more conscious of his strengths as a driver. 'For me, he's in a very strong place.' ANATOMY OF AN F1 COMEBACK Miami signified more than Norris's breakthrough victory. It was also a landmark race for McLaren on its journey back to the top of Formula 1. Woking's 2024 season started a little underwhelmingly. Its development trajectory in 2023 had been immense, dragging the car from the back of the grid to being best of the rest behind the all-conquering Red Bull Racing machine in just a few months, with the high point being Piastri's victory in the Qatar sprint late in the season. Anticipation for 2024 had therefore been high, but during the pre-season the team worked hard to play down expectations, revealing that the new challenger would debut needing a major upgrade. So it proved. Though Norris scored a couple of podiums — in Australia and China — it was well off the pace set by Red Bull Racing and behind even Ferrari. But McLaren kept the faith, and by round 5 in Miami it was back on track, with Piastri's pace and Norris's victory signifying the start of a change in the Formula 1 balance of power. Qualifying tells the story. Average 2024 qualifying gap to pole, dry conditions Miami onwards: McLaren 0.028 seconds ahead of Red Bull Racing That's an effective 0.478-second turnaround in relative performance between the two frontrunning teams. It's a reversal in fortunes evident on the title table. Despite Norris's win, McLaren's points deficit to Red Bull Racing peaked after the Miami Grand Prix. That's because Sergio Pérez was still in reasonable form, scoring in both the sprint and the feature race along with Verstappen. McLaren, on the other hand, had only car in each race — Norris retired from Saturday with crash damage, while Piastri was punted out of the points by Sainz on Sunday. But from Miami onwards McLaren made gradual and then rapid inroads into Red Bull Racing's points lead. Championship position Before Miami: Red Bull Racing ahead 195-96 Miami onwards: McLaren ahead 570-394 Down 115 points after Miami, McLaren effected a 192-point turnaround to beat Red Bull Racing by 77 points — though it secured the constructors championship by just 14 points from Ferrari in a final-race showdown. In both cases — car speed and score rate — McLaren's trajectory has continued practically unabated into 2025. McLaren leads the constructors championship by a commanding 77 points, and Piastri and Norris are first and second on the drivers title table. Success in Formula 1 is never the result of a single moment or single development, but the multitude of factors that would hoist McLaren from the doldrums to the championship began culminating almost exactly a year ago at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix, and that work continues bearing fruit today. PIASTRI IS ENTERING THE STRONGEST PART OF HIS SEASON There's one other important lesson from year-old history worth considering ahead of the 2025 Miami Grand Prix. Had Piastri won last year's race, it would have been at least as deserved a result as Norris's maiden victory. That's not just because the Australian was McLaren's form driver that weekend. It's because he was to be the team's form man for the entire month of May and in fact for many months to come. He was faster in qualifying for the following Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, qualifying a career-best second, but he was penalised three grid places for a team communication error that had him impede Kevin Magnussen during Q1. Norris proved on Sunday the car was quick enough to challenge pole-getter Verstappen for the entire race, finishing just 0.725 seconds off victory. Piastri improved to finish fourth in a race that featured almost no overtaking, but what might have he managed had he started from the front row? He then proved his potential at the Monaco Grand Prix, where he was pipped to pole by home favourite Charles Leclerc — though had he strung together his three best sectors, he would've started from the all-important P1 position by 0.07 seconds. Overtaking is almost impossible in Monte Carlo, and the first-lap red flag killed the strategy element of the race too by allowing drivers to make their mandatory single tyre changes for free. Piastri finished second, exactly where he started. That was really only the beginning for the Australian, who was the highest scorer in the sport through the 11-race European leg of the campaign. Drivers championship, rounds 7 to 17, 2024 1. Oscar Piastri: 181 points 2. Max Verstappen: 177 points 3. Lando Norris: 171 points 4. Lewis Hamilton: 139 points 5. Charles Leclerc: 137 points 6. George Russell: 106 points 7. Carlos Sainz: 101 points 8. Sergio Pérez: 40 points Now 12 months on, we're coming into what was the strongest part of Piastri's season last year. Having already proved in the opening run of five races this year that he's massively improved his lows by winning at circuits that had delivered him little or no joy in previous seasons, there's anticipation Piastri could find yet more gears as the sport moves into the middle part of the campaign. Every driver will have bad weekends in a 24-event season, but there's no reason to think Piastri has any major structural weaknesses left in his game. It could be bad news for Norris as he arrives in Miami looking for an early reprieve and a chance to bounce back. It might be a track of happy memories for him, but for Piastri this venue signifies unfinished business — and he's in the sort of form that doesn't leave loose ends.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tackling tariffs - James Vowles explains Williams' safeguards against market uncertainty
Williams boss James Vowles has outlined how spreading income and expenditure across different currencies has protected the team from the global financial uncertainty created by the recent tariff announcements from Donald Trump. The United States president doled out higher tariffs on 57 countries on 2 April – ranging from 11% to 50% - before pausing them for all nations except China for at least 90 days, after the financial markets rocked in the wake of the news. There remains uncertainty as to whether the tariffs will be implemented after the delay, if new numbers will be announced or if countries can strike independent deals to avoid the ramifications that would come with the proposed increases. Formula 1 would not be immune from the issues that may arise should the tariffs still be rolled out, as discussed on Autosport when Trump first made the announcement. Vowles, though, was largely unconcerned by potential dangers as he explained how Williams is looking to remain on a firm footing. 'So basically for a team, a lot of your income comes first of all with sponsors or our partners,' he told reporters, including Autosport at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Alexander Trienitz 'The dollar's still low. You try and hedge a little bit. So some of the drivers are paid in dollars, some of them paid in euros, for example. Some of your partner income is in dollars, some of your partner income is in euros or some of it in pounds. 'So you can hedge by doing your contracts in a different way. I'm not sure what other teams do. That's just a clever way of doing it here. 'Probably for us, one of your largest income streams is your FOM income and that is in dollars and that is fixed in dollars. So has that had a hit relative to where we are? Yes - but it's the sort of thing that I don't get particularly hung up on.' Vowles insists Williams does not have to consider tightening the purse-strings in the wake of the Trump administration's announcement and that, similar to how income and expenditure is paid across different currencies, equipment is also sourced from across the world. 'I think one of the advantages to Williams is we are truly independent, and our holding company Dorilton is truly international in terms of its income streams from all over the world. It's not reliant on one particular finance structure, which is very useful to us,' he explained. 'So for us at the moment, we had a talk internally and there's no large impact on either tariffs or on what's going on with the dollar right now. It's small numbers. Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images 'It doesn't help, but it's small numbers. I think for major manufacturers, they are hurt at the moment because there's turmoil, or certainly if I took OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) turmoil in terms of who's buying products, where they're buying them, and what are the costs of them buying them in the world. 'I don't know what the future of that is, but I can only speak in part for ourselves, which is that, yes, it's a pain in the arse, but it hasn't dramatically affected our day-to-day operation. 'It hasn't changed our budget. It hasn't changed our forecast for the next three years or our investment for the next three years. 'The amount of kit that is supplied from the US is not as much as you may think. The raw materials are supplied from all over the world, but you cover yourself purposely in that regard. 'I think COVID taught us one thing, which is make sure you have suppliers based all over as a result of things, because you never know what's going to happen in that regard. 'You stockpile as much as you can, but ultimately you can only sit in the freezer for a certain period of time anyway. But those are pretty much already to the maximum that we would be comfortable doing, because the cost cap prohibits us from buying six years' worth of material. 'You've got to be careful what you're doing in a cost-cap world, so you don't over-index for one year relative to the future. So no, we have enough to keep ourselves going.' Lars Baron - Motorsport Images With Williams looking to be on solid ground despite the current unknowns across the markets, Vowles is concentrating more on delivering on track success, having been clear from the outset that the squad is a long-term project. 'Let's be completely straightforward, we're in a mess because we were short-termist all the way through the last 20 years. Some of it financially driven, some of it driven by other elements,' he said. 'But you can't be in the sport. It has to be investment. And to be clear, investment is about five years forward to get yourself into the right position of leading. 'It wasn't difficult at all because part of the reason why I joined this entity is we had a pretty frank discussion from the very beginning over it, over it will take this long, it will take this amount of investment, and we cannot be driven by short-termism. And it was completely aligned and agreed from the outset.' In terms of partners, Williams has attracted some big names recently – not least its highest-ever figure for a title sponsor in Atlassian – and Vowles insists each new partner brought into his vision. Asked if the team's partners were happy to accept success may take time to arrive, he replied: 'Absolutely, and actually it is really interesting, or perhaps naturally, we ended up attracting what I consider challenger brands, brands that also know that it's about the long-term rather than today in terms of exposure. 'All of them want to be a part of the journey. In many regards, they love the fact that we're very open and honest about what we're doing because for so many companies, you're driven to need performance now. 'When our partners came on board with us, the same message I gave them was 'we're fixing year by year, this is why it will move forward, but this is how long it will take'.' To read more articles visit our website. Sign in to access your portfolio
