Showing posts with label Italian Grand Prix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italian Grand Prix. Show all posts
Thursday, 4 June 2026
Tuesday, 9 September 2025
BRINDLE AND BERNIE SPIT OVER MCLAREN'S MONZA TEAM ORDERS CALL
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| Bernie Ecclestone and Martin Brundle have different opinions on McLaren's team orders |
McLaren’s decision to use team orders at Monza was the “right thing” according to Martin Brundle, but Bernie Ecclestone says it sounds like the team “prefers a World Champion named Lando Norris”.
It has highlighted the divide in opinion, both inside and outside the Formula 1 paddock, in the wake of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
Was McLaren’s team order fair to both drivers?
McLaren courted controversy at the Italian Grand Prix when the team ordered Oscar Piastri to give second place to Lando Norris after he lost it through a slow pit stop.
Running second and third behind Max Verstappen, Piastri was given the go-ahead to pit first after McLaren assured Norris, who was ahead of his teammate on the track and would therefore usually have priority, that he would not be undercut.
However, a 5.9s pit stop for the Briton meant he was.
Norris was stationary four seconds longer than his teammate, which meant he came out behind Piastri on the track with the Australian then told to cede the position.
“We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando past and then you are free to race,” said his race engineer Tom Stallard.
The championship leader briefly tried to make his case, arguing: “I mean, we said that a slow pit stop was part of racing, so I don’t really get what’s changed here.”
However, once he got the second request, he moved over for Norris, who went on to finish the race in second place, two seconds ahead of Piastri.
The call, though, irked not only Piastri’s fans and sections of the international media, but also paddock personalities with former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone crying foul.
“They talk about fairness all the time,” he complained to Blick, “But is it fair for Piastri if he is punished for a mistake made by the team? No.”
He went on to accuse the Woking team of favouring Norris in the championship fight.
“You slowly get the feeling that McLaren prefers a World Champion named Lando Norris,” continued the 94-year-old. “Mistakes such as missed pit stops or engine damage as well as suspension breaks have become rarer, but they are part of the sport.”
McLaren, though, has insisted it was a case of “principles” and “racing values”, team principal Andrea Stella saying: “We thought it was absolutely the right thing to go back to the situation, pre-existing at the pit stop, and then let the guys race.”
Former F1 driver turned commentator Brundle agrees that it was the only fair call to make given Norris wasn’t at fault for his slow pit stop.
“I believe that was the right thing to do all round, as happened in reverse in Hungary last year,” he wrote in his post-Monza column for Sky F1.
“If Norris had, for example, run long in his stop and scattered his mechanics, or it had simply been a slow stop, then that’s the way the cookie crumbles. But there were a number of aspects to this scenario including prior discussions and agreements.
“The cohesion of this team is what’s making it so dominant this season and both drivers are smart enough to realise that for both now and into the future.
“Don’t judge either of them for playing the team game, all the other teams on the grid would kill to have two great drivers working in tandem for the good of the team like this, while also racing the wheels off the cars and doing their best to beat each other.
“At least Piastri did gain the advantage of now being in Norris’ DRS rear wing open range, but Norris continued to have the pace.”
One person who knows all about intra-team championship battles and team orders is Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
Sitting on the fence in a situation where he says there is “no right and there is no wrong”, the Austrian warned McLaren that a dangerous precedent had been set.
Speaking with PlanetF1.com and other publications at Monza,” he said: “You set a precedent that is very difficult to undo. What if the team does another mistake and it’s not a pit stop, do you switch them around?
“But then equally, because of a team mistake, making a driver that is trying to catch up lose the points is not fair either.
“So I think we are going to get our response of whether that was right today towards the end of the season when it heats up.”
Piastri continues to lead the Drivers’ standings with Norris taking three points off his teammate in Italy to close the gap to 31 points.
- Michelle Foster
LQNDO NORRIS REACTS TO F1 ITALIAN GP BOOS AFTER MCLAREN SWAP
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| Lando Norris was booed by fans on the podium after the Italian GP |
Lando Norris reacted to the audible boos aimed in his direction when taking to the podium after the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.
The Briton finished a distant second behind race winner Max Verstappen at Monza, ahead of his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Norris fell into third late on behind Piastri after a botched pitstop, with the Australian having pitted the lap before as part of a team strategy.
Due to the nature of Norris’ stop, Piastri was instructed to hand the place back to Norris, ensuring he would finish second, a position he held for virtually the whole race.
The Italian fans seemed to take umbrage with the tactic and began to boo when Norris walked onto the rostrum, as they assembled in their traditional post-race track invasion beneath it.
After the race, Norris was asked for his reaction to the negative reception he received. He conveyed a sense of confusion, but added he heard plenty of cheering to counteract it.
“I don’t know why. I heard them,” he told media including Motorsport Week. “I hear the cheers louder than the boos, and that’s the most important.”
Verstappen, conversely, received a hero’s reception as he stood upon the top step, with many serenading him with the ’33 Max Verstappen’ song by Carte Blanq and Maxx Power.
When asked how he felt about the tifosi’s wholly positive response to his victory, the Dutchman appeared to be in awe of the spectacle.
“I think already in Imola it was pretty similar. It’s just nice to see that support,” Verstappen added.
“Of course, most of them are here to support Ferrari – unfortunately they were not on the podium.
“But to see that crowd was incredible. Honestly, it’s probably the best podium in the season in terms of what you see and how big the crowd is.
“They were very joyful, I would say, just having a good time, and it was nice to be part of it.”
- Jack Oliver Smith
MCLAREN MAKE CLEAR STATEMENT ON CONTROVERSIAL LANDO NORRIS-OSCAR PIASTRI SWAP
However the season unfolds, Andrea Stella is adamant there will be no regrets at the end of the year.
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| XPBimages |
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has delivered a clear statement on why a controversial call was made late in the Italian Grand Prix to swap drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri which was to the detriment of the Australian.
Running second and third behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen, as the lead car, Norris gave up priority at the pit stop phase to Piastri after both had run deep into the race on Pirelli's hard tyres before switching to softs.
Piastri's stop of 1.91s was the fastest for any team this year. Following a lap later, an issue with the front left meant Norris was turned around in just under six seconds, costing him the lead.
Slow pit stops are part of racing, yet Piastri was informed to cede position to Norris, and beyond that, race to the chequered flag.
It was a call Piastri questioned over the radio initially by stating, "We said that a slow pit stop was part of racing. I don’t really get what’s changed here", before adding that he would comply.
Speaking to the media and asked by RacingNews365 whether the decision taken was the right one, even if Piastri should lose the title by six points or less to Norris, the swing between finishing second and third at Monza, Stella delivered a stoic response.
"The pit stop situation is not only a matter of fairness, it's a matter of consistency with our principles," he said.
"And however the championship goes, what's important is that it runs within the principles and the racing values that we have, and that we have created together with our drivers.
"The situation whereby we stopped the drivers is not only related to the pit stop, it's also related to the fact that we wanted to sequence the pit stop of the two cars by stopping Oscar first and then Lando.
"And we had the clear intent that these should not have led to a swap of position. It was just done because we were covering [Charles] Leclerc.
"This is what we did, and this is what we think is in compliance with our principles."
Stella highlights 'limited result'
Aside from Norris ceding pit stop preference to Piastri, Stella claimed that a reason for bringing in Piastri was to cover off Leclerc, although he was almost 29 seconds adrift by the time of the stop.
The pit-stop time loss at Monza was 25 seconds, and although Leclerc was closing at half a second per lap on Piastri at the time, McLaren still had plenty in hand.
Further explaining the rationale and the target McLaren had in mind, Stella said: "Obviously, stopping to cover Leclerc [when he stopped several laps earlier] would have been the simple solution to how the race would have unfolded, but it would have limited the result.
"We wanted to find a way today to pursue a bigger result, like in the case of a red flag that would have been quite strong with the two McLarens leading, and even in terms of a safety car, up until a certain point, it would have been strong.
"Also, we wanted to stop late enough to go on softs, because had there then been a late safety car, we would have been on soft with Verstappen on hard.
"So there were incentives, from a racing point of view and from an overall result point of view, at the end of the race to stay out.
"We stayed out up until the point where we needed to sequence the pit stop differently compared to the order in which our two drivers were."
- Ian Parkes
Monday, 8 September 2025
GIANCLAUDIO "CLAY" RAGAZZONI | ITALIAN GRAND PRIX | 1970
55 years ago at the Italian GP of 1970 the fearless and popular driver Gianclaudio “Clay” Regazzoni scored his first F1 victory, driving for Ferrari.
It was a bitter victory though, as one day before, in qualifying, the Austrian driver Jochen Rindt died in an accident - he will be declared posthumous world champion, the only time it has ever happened in the history of Formula 1.
Saturday, 6 September 2025
PIERRE GASLY COMMITTED TO ALPINE FUTURE WITH NEW CONTRACT THROUGH 2028
Pierre Gasly has secured his Formula 1 future with Alpine, signing a new long-term contract that will keep him with the French manufacturer until the end of the 2028 season. The announcement came during the Italian Grand Prix weekend at Monza and marks a major step in Alpine’s bid to rebuild as the sport heads into its next regulatory era.
The 29-year-old joined Alpine ahead of the 2023 season after a long spell with the Red Bull family and has since emerged as a central figure in the team’s long-term project. In just over two seasons, Gasly has scored two podium finishes – at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix and the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix – and played a vital role in helping the team secure sixth place in the constructors’ standings last year.
Gasly’s previous deal was set to expire at the end of 2026, but both sides moved quickly to lock in an extension by two more years, underlining Alpine’s faith in his ability to lead them into the new regulations beginning in 2026.
Gasly admitted that the chance to continue racing with a French team was a source of pride and one of the driving factors in his decision to stay.
“I’m thrilled to commit my long-term future to Alpine,” Gasly said in a statement released by Alpine. “As a Frenchman, driving for a French car company makes me feel very proud.
“Since I joined in 2023, I have always felt this was the right place to be for the future. Flavio’s support and belief in me, Francois’ commitment to the Formula 1 project, as well as the people we have in Enstone made this a natural decision.
“I want to be here in years to come and deliver on our joint objective: to win races and world championships. We’re all in this together and I look forward to continuing this special story.”
Gasly’s growing influence in the paddock has been noted by rivals and pundits alike, with his consistency and leadership becoming increasingly evident during Alpine’s turbulent seasons.
Alpine executive advisior Flavio Briatore, who returned to Alpine earlier this year in a high-profile comeback, hailed the announcement as a key step in the team’s rebuilding effort.
“Since I returned to the team, I have always stated how important it is to build and grow the competitiveness of Alpine,” Briatore said. “We’re well prepared for the new era of Formula 1 beginning in 2026, and now we have our lead driver confirmed to take us into the future.
“Pierre has been an immense asset during this challenging period. I have been very impressed with his attitude, dedication and talent, and we look forward to continuing this project together for a long time.”
Alpine looks ahead to 2026
Alpine’s renewed commitment to Gasly also reflects wider structural changes within the team. Backed by the Renault Group and its new CEO Francois Provost, the squad has doubled down on its ambition to return to the front of the grid.
The sweeping technical regulations coming in 2026 – with new power unit rules and a greater emphasis on sustainable fuels – represent a reset moment for Formula 1, and Alpine wants Gasly as its spearhead for the new era.
The team is still yet to confirm Gasly’s teammate for 2026 and beyond. Rookie Franco Colapinto is currently in the second seat, though his long-term future with Alpine has not been confirmed.
For Gasly, though, the focus is clear: he is tied to Alpine through the next four years, giving both driver and team the stability to grow together. As one of only a handful of French drivers in Formula 1 history to have stood on the podium for a French manufacturer, his deal represents both continuity and national pride.
“Driving for Alpine isn’t just about competing in Formula 1 – it’s about being part of a French project with a rich history and big ambitions for the future,” Gasly said. “That’s something I want to build on for the years ahead.”
With Gasly now locked in until 2028, Alpine has its leader in place. The challenge will be delivering him a car worthy of fighting at the front when the sport’s new era begins.
- John Smith
Friday, 5 September 2025
Sunday, 22 June 2025
'I GAVE IT EVERYTHING' - MARC MARQUEZ REACTS TO HIS 93RD GRAND PRIX VICTORY
Marc Marquez was able to do the double for the factory Ducati team at the Italian Grand Prix and claimed his 93rd Grand Prix victory.
Victory at the Italian Grand Prix marked Marc Marquez's fifth win of the 2025 MotoGP World Championship, but also his 93rd win of his Grand Prix career.
The Spaniard was able to do the double in his first Italian Grand Prix as a factory Ducati rider, as he controlled the Sprint Race on Saturday and the Grand Prix on Sunday.
At the start of the Italian Grand Prix, Marquez was locked in a battle with his teammate Francesco Bagnaia, but after the fuel load went down, the eight-time World Champion was able to break the field.
"It is an amazing feeling," Marquez said after winning the Italian Grand Prix.
"To wear the red colour, although today was not the Ducati red, at a Ducati track, it was Ducati's day.
"To have three Ducatis on the podium, and to win here with the Ducati colours. I understood this morning that this weekend is super special for them, and for me, because I am a part of them.
"I am super happy, I managed the race at the beginning, Pecco and Alex know that with a full fuel tank, I am struggling so they attacked me.
"I was patient, I was calm, so when the tyres dropped a bit, I gave it everything. I am happy to take 37 points from this amazing weekend."
Marquez now holds a 40-point lead in the 2025 MotoGP World Championship over his younger brother, Alex Marquez.
- Luke Newman
Thursday, 28 November 2024
Thursday, 5 September 2024
RED BULL"S SITUATION DESCRINED AS "CATASTROPHIC" | FORM "KILLING" MAX VERSTAPPEN
"You’re fooling yourself, you’re trying to believe in a wind tunnel that’s obviously given you miscalculations."
Ex-F1 team boss Eddie Jordan has described Red Bull’s form as “catastrophic” following a difficult Italian Grand Prix.
Red Bull endured their worst weekend of the 2024 F1 campaign so far as Max Verstappen could only finish sixth, nearly 38 seconds behind race winner Charles Leclerc.
It has left Red Bull vulnerable at the top of both championships, with their lead over McLaren just eight points.
Verstappen sits 62 points ahead of Lando Norris in the F1 drivers’ championship though with eight rounds remaining.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Formula for Success podcast, Jordan reflected on Red Bull’s plight and what he’d do if he was in charge.
“What was the setup that we had at the beginning? What was the setup we had when we were winning by 15 seconds and we were cruising? What has changed? Show me the upgrades because sure as heaven these upgrades haven’t worked,” he explained.
“You’re fooling yourself, you’re trying to believe in a wind tunnel that’s obviously given you miscalculations.
“Let’s go back to where we were and start from there. Make sure nothing gets changed until we can categorically guarantee that it’s quicker. That’s the way I feel about it. It’s now catastrophic.”
Jordan believes Red Bull boss Christian Horner has a “massive job” to turn things around in the final stretch of the year.
“Christian Horner has a massive job on his hands because he has to take out the big stick and start cracking it,” he added. “
We all were slagging off Perez but maybe Perez and that car - that’s the speed of the car, and what Max is doing is what Max is able to do. Beyond any doubt he’s the best driver in F1 in my opinion at this moment in time. Therefore, to finish fifth and fourth, or six, whatever it is, it must be killing him at this stage.”
VERSTAPPEN ‘CARRYING’ RED BULL
Former Red Bull driver Mark Webber thinks the warning signs have been there for some time.
Webber feels that Red Bull have relied on Verstappen’s brilliance to get him over the line on a number of occasions.
“It was a well oiled machine,” Webber explained. “Max has carried that team for a while now, this season. We’ve seen Barcelona, we’ve seen Silverstone, Imola. Lewis Hamilton’s win at Silverstone was absolutely extraordinary but Max’s P2 was top draw. We’ve seen some very, very special drives from Max.
“That car has times, as he’s called it himself, in his own words, has turned into a monster. Let’s see. It’s the fine gains. If they get a little bit back, you don’t know. It can change.”
Tuesday, 5 September 2023
FERRARI HAIL INCREDIBLE X FACTOR
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| LAT Images |
Ferrari have applauded the 'insane' support that the team received during the Italian Grand Prix weekend.
In front of their adoring home fans, Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc produced a brilliant performance, to take home third and fourth behind the two Red Bull's of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen.
Sainz managed to hold off Verstappen for 14 laps at the start of Sunday's race, before the Dutchman went on the win his Formula 1 record tenth consecutive race.
Those 14 laps in which Sainz led at the start of the race were the most laps led by any driver other than Verstappen and Perez in a race in the whole of 2023.
Sainz also managed to beat Verstappen to pole position on Saturday, sending the Tifosi wild, while Leclerc also put his car on the second row to give Ferrari the best chance to perform during the race.
Monday, 4 September 2023
Sunday, 3 September 2023
Saturday, 2 September 2023
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