Latest news with #GeorgeRussell
Express Tribune
39 minutes ago
- Automotive
- Express Tribune
Russell tops opening practice in Austria GP
George Russell fastest in first practice at the Red Bull Ring. PHOTO: AFP George Russell topped the times for Mercedes ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull in Friday's opening practice ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix. The 27-year-old Briton clocked a best lap in one minute and 5.542 seconds to outpace his Dutch rival by 0.065 seconds ahead of McLaren's championship leader Oscar Piastri and his temporary team-mate, reserve driver Alex Dunne, who delivered an impressive debut. The Irishman settled into the session and ramped up his speed in the closing stages to finish only 0.09 seconds adrift of Piastri in the car usually driven by Lando Norris. Pierre Gasly was fifth for Alpine ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber, Williams' Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, who endured a troubled session. RB rookie Isack Hadjar was 10th ahead of fellow-rookie Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes. Russell was the winner of last year's race in the Styrian Alps and won the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago, giving him momentum for this weekend. Dunne is Ireland's first F1 driver since Ralph Firman in 2003. Dino Beganovic made his second appearance of the season as reserve stepping in for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, alongside Hamilton. He wound up 18th. Most teams introduced a range of upgrades, including a new floor for Ferrari, while Red Bull had a change of personnel in Verstappen's group, the vastly-experieced Simon Rennie stepping in for Gianpiero Lambiasse, who had taken a weekend off. By midway through the session, Russell had switched to softs and continued to set the pace as Ferrari were struggling again with both cars in the pits with problems. Hamilton who had complained of gearbox issues was only 18th and Beganovic 19th ahead of Dunne, who was familiarizing himself with the demands of F1. In a largely serene session, the first incident came with a spin for Fernando Alonso when he pushed on his first lap on softs at Turn 10. "That was the worst out-lap we can do," said the Aston Martin driver. "Good to do it in FP1!"
News.com.au
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- News.com.au
Red Bull's four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen tipped for explosive switch to Mercedes
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff on Friday suggested he was interested in signing Max Verstappen to partner George Russell in a potentially explosive driver line-up for the 2026 season. During a series of interviews, it emerged that he had made contract with the four-time world champion and that this had affected contract talks with Russell who has been in outstanding form this year. Russell told Sky Sports F1 that it was entirely 'normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing', adding that a team that aims to win the championship has to go for the best drivers, engineers and pit-crews to succeed. 'But from my side, if I'm performing as I'm doing, what have I got to be concerned about? There are two seats in every Formula 1 team.' Wolff has flirted with the idea of recruiting Verstappen for some time, but also expressed satisfaction with the current partnership of Russell and teenage rookie Kimi Antonelli – a precocious talent, but not yet an experienced or metronomic points-scorer. It may be, as many seasoned observers believe, that Wolff feels he can manage the testy rivalry between Russell and Verstappen, who have clashed several times in the last year both on and off the track. But, he conceded, it remains much more likely that Russell will stay at Mercedes next year – his contract ends this season – than that Verstappen, who is contracted to Red Bull until 2028, will arrive. 'He has been part of our program for 10 years,' Wolff said. 'He's always performed to the expectations and he's continuing to do so. These are normal business contract discussions as I have been doing for 30 years... And contract discussions are not held in Town Halls.' He added in a separate interview: 'At the moment, clearly you need to explore what's happening in the future, but it doesn't change anything of what I said before about George, about Kimi, about the line-up that I'm extremely happy having'. Verstappen declined to comment on the speculation when asked in a news conference on Thursday, but he is known to be frustrated with his Red Bull car this year. 'I don't think we need to talk about that,' the 27-year-old said. 'It's not really on my mind. Just driving well, trying to push the performance and then we focus on next year.' Much may depend on events at Red Bull where long-serving team consultant Helmut Marko is a key part of Verstappen's inner circle, but may be considering his own future amid reports that four-time champion Sebastian Vettel has been approached to replace him. In the wake of the departures of F1's most successful designer Adrian Newey to Aston Martin and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley to Sauber-Audi, it could be that Verstappen is also ready to leave. Next year will see F1 move into a new era with major rule changes requiring new engines and new cars – an opportunity that may favour a Mercedes revival.
Asharq Al-Awsat
6 hours ago
- Automotive
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Norris Leads McLaren Practice One-Two After Dunne Shines
Lando Norris led Formula One leader Oscar Piastri in a McLaren one-two in second practice for the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday after George Russell went fastest for Mercedes in the opening session. Norris had handed his car to Alex Dunne for an impressive F1 practice debut for the Irish rookie and Formula Two leader, but the Briton was right up to speed as soon as he got back behind the wheel. After Russell's best of one minute 05.542 seconds in the early afternoon, Norris -- 22 points behind Piastri in the title battle after 10 of 24 races -- lapped in 1:04.580 with Piastri 0.157 slower. Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen, a five-times winner at his team's home circuit, was the only other driver under the five second mark with a 1:04.898. "We've shown a bit more pace than some of the others. I certainly think they're going to catch up. Max is not far behind and they usually improve a lot into Saturday," said Norris. Russell, winner from pole position in Canada two weeks ago after the McLarens collided, was sixth in practice two with Lance Stroll a surprise fourth for Aston Martin and Charles Leclerc fifth for Ferrari. "First practice was definitely a surprise to us," commented Russell. "The McLarens were mighty strong, especially this afternoon. I don't really see that changing. We'll do our best but I don't really think we'll be fighting for pole." Verstappen was without regular race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase for the weekend due to personal reasons with Simon Rennie taking over. "Overall today was quite straightforward and we didn't have any big issues," said Verstappen. "He (Rennie) has a lot of experience so it has been very very good today, he is straight up and it was nice." DUNNE IMPRESSES Dunne, given track time as part of team obligations to give rookie drivers F1 experience, was the talk of the first session when he lapped fourth fastest and only 0.069 slower than Piastri. Still only 19 and the first Irish driver in 22 years to take part in a grand prix weekend, he thanked the team over the radio as the chequered flag fell. "A little boy's dream came true, and this is definitely the best day of my life," he said. "Thank you everyone for letting me do this, and thanks to Lando as well for trusting me with his car." McLaren team boss Andrea Stella cautioned not to read too much into the time, however. "Alex has been quite diligent and impressive, and then he also had the chance to show some speed and, no surprise, he is a fast driver," said the Italian. "I think we need to be a bit careful looking at the lap times, because his came later on in the stint when the fuel was down. But I think encouraging and impressive in terms of Alex himself, and also I think a good session for McLaren." Austria has the shortest lap of the year in terms of time and all but 20th-placed Haas driver Oliver Bearman were within a second of Russell in the opening session. Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton was ninth and 10th respectively in the sessions as Ferrari made a difficult start to their preparations with mechanics working on both cars during practice one. Hamilton was also warned for impeding Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli. Leclerc sat out the first session with Swedish reserve Dino Beganovic getting some track time and finishing 18th. Fernando Alonso had a big spin in his Aston Martin but kept the car out of the barriers.
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Guardian
Toto Wolff confirms Mercedes are again considering swoop for Max Verstappen
Toto Wolff has confirmed Mercedes are once more considering a move to tempt the four-time world champion Max Verstappen, with a place potentially available at the team from next season as George Russell has yet to have his contract renewed for 2026. Russell had revealed on Thursday that Mercedes were interested in Verstappen, stating: 'It's only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing.' Wolff was then faced with a barrage of questions on the subject when the Mercedes team principal addressed the press at the Austrian Grand Prix and ultimately acknowledged that the team were indeed investigating options with the Dutch driver and suggested that talks were taking place. 'As a team principal responsible for the best car brand in the world it is clear you're exploring what a four-time world champion is going to do in the future,' he said. Verstappen is contracted with Red Bull until 2028 but is understood to have performance-related exit options available to him if he is outside the top four by the summer break that falls after the Hungarian Grand Prix. He is currently third. Wolff was open in his previous pursuit of Verstappen until the middle of last season when the Dutch driver committed to staying at Red Bull and Mercedes signed Kimi Antonelli on a multiyear deal. In Austria, Wolff insisted he did not want to hide any negotiations from his drivers. 'What we are trying to do in the team is be transparent,' he said. 'You can choose to hold things under wraps, or do what we've done in the last 20 years I've been here is putting it out there and saying this is the situation. These drivers are clever people and they talk to each other. 'I'm saying it how it is and there's no such thing as saying we are going to sign Max, because it's so far away that it's not realistic at that stage. So with George, we talk about everything.' Verstappen did not deny talks were taking place when asked. 'I don't think we need to talk about that,' he said. 'I don't know, do you want me to repeat what I said last year? I don't know. It's the same answer.' Last year when faced with the same questions at this race, Verstappen emphatically confirmed he would remain at Red Bull. His team have brought upgrades to the Red Bull Ring, hopeful they might improve his fortunes, but it was Russell who was quickest in first practice in Spielberg, while McLaren's Lando Norris, also boasting upgrades, topped the time sheets in the second session in what is something of a big weekend for the British driver. Intensely self-critical, Norris will have subjected himself to no little soul-searching in the two weeks since he climbed disconsolately from his stricken car at the Canadian Grand Prix after hitting his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion The clash was considered inevitable at some point between the two drivers vying for the world championship but its implications have far more import for Norris. The Briton was attempting to pass Piastri in Montreal, clipped the Australian's car and clattered off into the pit wall, his race over. He held his hands up immediately, his contrition clear even, as McLaren had already all but acknowledged it was a matter of when not if the two finally came together, given the team's stance on allowing their drivers to race one another. Yet for McLaren there has been no panic and certainly no sudden imposition of restrictions curtailing their drivers' freedom to compete. Having dealt with it, it is business as usual. For Norris, however, it represents a bruising reminder of quite what is at stake and the intensifying pressure on him to deliver if he is to retain his world championship ambitions. With 10 races gone he trails Piastri by 22 points and while it is far from an insurmountable gap with 14 meetings to go, of more concern is that the form is overwhelmingly with the Australian. Norris had begun as favourite and had taken victory in the season opener in Australia, where Piastri made his only major mistake thus far, spinning off in sudden, treacherous rain in Melbourne. Since when and until Canada, the Australian enjoyed a run of eight consecutive top-three finishes including five wins. Norris's performances in contrast have been peppered with minor errors and some more costly, including Canada and crashing out of qualifying in Saudi Arabia. 'Lando himself will have to show his character to overcome this kind of episode,' said the team principal, Andrea Stella, and Austria is a chance for Norris to reset and reassert at a key moment for the 25-year-old.
BBC News
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
Verstappen, Russell & Mercedes - what factors are at play & what might happen next?
Less than 24 hours after George Russell broke Mercedes' contract talks with Max Verstappen out into the open at the Austrian Grand Prix, his team boss Toto Wolff made an attempt to calm the situation Russell is out of contract at the end of this season. He said, in the context of his own discussions with Mercedes about a new deal, that it was "only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing".Wolff spent an entire news conference on Friday afternoon at the Red Bull Ring very much not denying that he was talking to said it was "territory that I don't want to discuss", but added that "people talk" and that Mercedes were "transparent" within their organisation. "I'm always supportive of the driver, Wolff said. "There's no such thing as saying things I wouldn't want him to say."Speaking to television cameras straight after the news conference, though, Wolff said that Russell was likelier to be in the Mercedes than Verstappen next year, and that signing Verstappen was "not realistic at this stage".But "not realistic" does not mean "couldn't happen". Why might Verstappen want to move? On paper, Verstappen is a Red Bull driver next year and beyond. A Red Bull spokesperson said: "Max has a contract to 2028."At the same time, Verstappen and his management have talked with Mercedes about the possibility of moving there next year. And it's likely Verstappen could find a way out of his Red Bull contract if he really wanted Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko said in April that he had "great concern" about Verstappen's future in the team given their performance at the time. And in March he told BBC Sport that: "We know that if we don't deliver for Max, all the top drivers have performance clauses in their contract."For Verstappen, there are obvious reasons why a move away from Red Bull to Mercedes might seem has won four consecutive drivers' titles with his current team, but in the past 18 months Red Bull have slipped from their competitive built up such a large lead in the first half of last season that he was able to hold off a late challenge from McLaren and Lando Norris with relative McLaren started this season off strongly, and Red Bull have not been able to mount a consistent has taken two wins, but they have come on similar types of circuit - those with predominantly quick corners. On balance, the McLaren is the faster has come in the context of Red Bull losing their design legend Adrian Newey to Aston Martin, and long-time sporting director Jonathan Wheatley to Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, sacked at the end of last season but able to negotiate a deal that forced the team to pay him for the two years of his contract they are not fulfilling, said in a podcast this week that Red Bull's decline dated directly from Newey's would be no surprise if, in those circumstances, Verstappen's confidence in Red Bull's ability to design a fully competitive car had taken a there are the new rules coming into force in F1 next year, which represent a major change on both cars and engines. The engine change is especially large. It increases the proportion of total performance of the engine provided by the electrical components to 50%.Red Bull have set up a new company to develop and build its own engine. That was always going to be a tough task, and at the moment the widespread belief within F1 is that Mercedes are leading the way on performance with the new engines, and that Red Bull are then, is looking at a situation where he has serious question marks about Red Bull's future prospects, and every reason to believe Mercedes might be able to provide him with a more competitive car next season. Why might Mercedes want Verstappen? Russell has been driving an excellent season, and comes into the weekend in Austria after a dominant victory in Canada last time his comments on Thursday laid bare the problem as far as the Briton is concerned."Toto has made it clear to me that how I'm performing is as good as anybody," Russell said."There is only one driver that you can debate in terms of performance. And these are his words and not my words, and that is why I have no concern about my future."But there are two seats to every team and I guess he needs to think who are those two drivers going to be for those two seats and I guess that's what the delay is."That "one driver" is obviously Verstappen. The Dutchman is regarded throughout F1 as the outstanding driver on the grid at the moment, someone who produces a consistent level of excellence that none of his colleagues can Verstappen was not an option, there would be no question about Russell getting a new deal at Mercedes. Why might a deal not happen? How appealing a Mercedes drive might be to Verstappen will depend on the package they can put together for does not come without baggage. For one thing, he is very expensive. His current Red Bull salary is said to be about $75m (£55m). And that's before endorsements and other Bull don't have to justify that spend to anyone. They are a private company. But it might not be so easy for Mercedes, as a corporate entity, to justify that sort of outlay on a racing driver, even if he is the best in the if they can't, would Verstappen be prepared to take a pay cut to drive a potentially more competitive car?Then there is the question of image. Verstappen is a controversial character who takes things to the edge of acceptability on track and sometimes time to time, he does things that Mercedes might not feel comfortable being associated with their brand - think back two races to his collision with Russell in Spain, or to Mexico last year, when his driving against Lando Norris earned him two 10-second is also very much his own man, who says and does what he wants. He's smart and usually toes the company line. But just as with his on-track behaviour, every now and again he decides he wants to say his piece in a way that a more corporate environment might not find so also demands that the team operates for him. It's hard to imagine Verstappen, for example, agreeing to accept the sort of team-first philosophy operated by McLaren with Norris and Oscar team principal James Vowles, who was a central part of Mercedes' F1 management structure before taking on his new role in 2023, touched on this when he was asked about the prospect of Verstappen moving to Mercedes earlier this year."Can you add a tiny bit more performance? Yes through Max," Vowles said. "I think there is more performance to be added through Max."I don't think anyone in the room would deny that he is extraordinary in what he can do. But he comes with a lot of downsides as well that we have to acknowledge."And I think what Mercedes does have is a great culture with two drivers that are delivering near to the peak of the car and with one that's on the way up. So I personally don't think there's a place for him." Could Russell partner Verstappen? Wolff has another factor to consider while he is in this exploratory phase with Verstappen and his Russell and his current team-mate Kimi Antonelli are long-time Mercedes proteges. Wolff would have to drop one of them to make way for paper, Russell has been comfortably the stronger performer this year. But Antonelli is a rookie and only and Verstappen have had a difficult relationship over the past few years. This started with a row over an incident at the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and blew up massively over an incident in Qatar last year, in which Russell accused Verstappen of being a "bully", and Verstappen said Russell was a "loser" and a "backstabber". It was revived two races ago when Verstappen collided with Russell in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand diminished the importance of this on Friday, pointing to the fact that he managed to have Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg as team-mates for three years from 2014-16, adding: "So everything else afterwards is easy. There's pros and cons of having two drivers fighting each other hard. We've seen examples where that functioned and other examples where it didn't."What he did not say is that after the Hamilton-Rosberg experience, Wolff deliberately chose Valtteri Bottas as Hamilton's next team-mate, specifically to avoid having to deal with that level of tension also knew that he could handle Hamilton and Russell together because of their personalities and being at different stages of their career; likewise with Russell and and Russell would be a whole different prospect. Even if Mercedes felt they could handle that combination, it's hard to see Verstappen even accepting Russell as a team-mate in the context of their the same time, pairing Verstappen with Antonelli would be putting the Italian's future career at risk, too, given the extra pressures involved. What are Russell's options? Should Verstappen be able to reach an agreement with Mercedes, Russell would most likely be looking for a drive. And his only realistic option would be the seat vacated by not only because Red Bull would need a top-line driver and Russell would be the best available, but also because there are no other competitive options for Russell - the line-ups at McLaren and Ferrari are confirmed for next Martin might be appealing, with Newey and Honda engines, but they also have two drivers under contract for of which makes this an especially uncomfortable time for Russell, who has been one of the most impressive drivers of the season, has comprehensively outpaced his team-mate, but has no option but to sit and watch his boss explore his then as Wolff said: "When it comes to the contract situation, our sport is pressure, constant pressure. Whether you're in the car, outside of the car, you just need to cope with that, and George knows that, like any other driver knows it."
