GEORGE RUSSELL LEFT VISIBILITY SHAKEN IN SCARY BEHIND-THE-SCENES FOOTAGE FROM F1 RACE

F1 drivers compete in extreme conditions behind the wheel of their cars.

George Russell struggled at the Singapore Grand Prix (Image: Getty)

Behind-the-scenes footage captured from the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix showed George Russell struggling to keep his breathing under control as he was comforted by a Mercedes staff member. The Brit was visibly emotional when discussing the impact that the race had on his physical health. The Singapore Grand Prix is marked out every year as one of the standout races on the F1 calendar. The event was the series’ original night race and is also the most extreme in terms of cockpit conditions.

Temperatures within the cars can reach staggering highs of 60 degrees Celsius. After the 2024 edition of the race, in which Russell crossed the line in P4, the 27-year-old was struggling significantly with the conditions. After walking away from the track with his trainer, he said: “I don’t feel good,” and was told: “Everybody is struggling."

He continued to grimace in discomfort and said: “All my skin is like tingling.” When back at his motorhome, Russell climbed into the ice bath and, with a traumatised look on his face, told his partner, Carmen Montero Mundt, “It was sixty degrees in there. I feel really sick.”

The Netflix cameras were then shut out of the room, but microphones picked up Russell gasping for air while his trainer urged him: “Hey, slow the breathing. Slow the breathing, slow the breathing. That’s it, that’s it.”

Later, in his hotel, a shaken Russell explained: “My body totally overheated. I lost four kilos in that race. It is only afterwards, when you get out, that you realise that was pretty serious what we all did there. I think that sort of hit me a little bit. And that’s racing.”

Russell wasn’t the only driver who struggled with the Singapore heat. Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton joined the Brit in skipping media duties after the Grand Prix, instead undergoing medical treatment for heat-induced struggles.

"They are both suffering from overheating, but they are fine now,” team principal Toto Wolff said later on Sunday in an update to the media. “They put themselves in the ice baths, and I think that helped a bit."

Russell’s story is an example of the strain that F1 drivers put their bodies through during Grand Prix weekends. In similarly brutal conditions at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, several racers required medical attention after the chequered flag.

Williams driver Logan Sargeant was forced to retire due to heatstroke symptoms, while Esteban Ocon vomited in his helmet during the opening stint of the race. Both Lance Stroll and Alex Albon were taken to the medical centre after stumbling out of their cars.

- HARRY SMITH

DUTCH GP: FIERY LOGAN SARGEANT CRASH HALTS FINAL PRACTICE

Final practice for the Dutch Formula One Grand Prix was halted on Saturday after Logan Sargeant's Williams crashed heavily and caught fire, with the American jumping out of the wreckage unhurt.

"I'm okay," the driver reported over the radio after dipping a wheel on to the wet grass, losing control at turn three and spinning into the barriers, with the mangled car ending up in the middle of the track at the seaside Zandvoort circuit.

The 23-year-old, who has yet to score a point this year and has already lost his seat for 2025, was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks.

Marshals put out the flames but the damage looked significant, with qualifying scheduled for 1500 local and the Williams mechanics likely to struggle to get it rebuilt in time.

The red flags came out after 14 minutes, with the irrepressible but soggy Orange Army of Dutch fans in the grandstands still waiting for Red Bull's home hero and championship leader Max Verstappen to do a lap.

The damp session eventually restarted with a minute remaining of the hour scheduled and drivers leaving the pits in a queue for the chance of a timed lap through the spray on intermediate tyres.

Verstappen overtook a McLaren and a Mercedes in the pitlane, crossing the white line in his hurry to exit, and was shown a black-and-white warning flag for failing to follow the race director's instructions.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly claimed the fastest lap in the meaningless session, ahead of Haas's Kevin Magnussen and Sauber's Valtteri Bottas.

Logan Sargeant's car caught fire after a crash that ended the final practice on Saturday.
Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

Williams said Sargeant's car, which was returned to the garage while repairs were made to the barriers, had had the same upgrade package as team mate Alex Albon.

"Hundreds of hours are spent on making things. The worst time is when you have just introduced some bits and you put it into the wall," Williams principal James Vowles told Sky television.

"Qualifying will be upon us pretty quickly but the car is in a pretty bad state.

"The first step of it is we will go through in detail what's been damaged. It looks pretty serious and that could result in a chassis change."

- Reuters 

ALEX ALBON ISSUES 'REALISTIC' WILLIAMS WARNING CARLOS SAINZ WILL NOT WANT TO HEAR

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Alex Albon has now issued a warning about Williams that Carlos Sainz will not want to hear after agreeing to his multi-year contract to join the Formula 1 team from Ferrari.

The Grove squad have moved to lock down their driver line-up for 2025 with Sainz replacing Logan Sargeant. Williams have gifted the 29-year-old an initial two-year contract that boasts options to take his stay past 2026, after Ferrari elected to replace Sainz with Lewis Hamilton.

Ferrari put Sainz in the shop window in February when Hamilton confirmed that he will leave Mercedes after the 2024 Formula 1 season. Williams have now, finally, won the race to land Sainz’s signature to partner Albon in Grove having decided to drop Sargeant after two years.

Alex Albon admits Williams must ‘be realistic’ with F1’s 2026 regulation changes

Albon also renewed his contract with Williams in May to stay in Grove through, at least, the 2027 F1 season. The 28-year-old is committed to helping Williams return to the front of the grid and shaping how they deal with Formula 1’s huge set of regulation changes come 2026.

F1 will introduce new chassis and engine regulations in its biggest shake-up since 2014 and the start of the V6 turbo-hybrid power unit era. Engines will become a 50/50 split between combustion and electrical power, while running sustainable fuels and removing the MGU-H.

The chassis regulation changes will also see Formula 1 cars become smaller in 2026 and run active aerodynamics. But Albon feels Williams must ‘be realistic’ with their expectations for 2026 and that any suggestions the Grove natives will become podium threats are ambitious.

“I think 2026 to say we will be at the front would be optimistic,” Albon told GPFans. “I think we do need to be realistic and stay grounded, and focus on how much of a journey that we were gonna have to be on.”

James Vowles made Carlos Sainz fully aware of the project Williams are building

Albon admitting that Williams are unlikely to become front-runners when Formula 1 enters the new regulations in 2026 will be among the last things that Sainz wanted to hear having signed his multi-year contract. It is hardly a huge vote of confidence in the project he joins.

But team principal James Vowles spoke with Sainz since last December about the project he is creating at Williams. So, the Spaniard will move to Grove in 2025 with his eyes wide open to what is in store as he steps down from Ferrari, where Sainz has won three Grand Prix yet.

Getty Images 

Sainz became a Grand Prix winner for the first time in his Formula 1 career as a Ferrari pilot at the 2022 British GP. He has since added victories at the 2023 Singapore GP and the 2024 Australian GP. But Ferrari felt they could not pass up on a chance to sign Hamilton for 2025.

Now, Williams will hope Sainz’s experience – having also taken five pole positions and 21 of his 23 career podiums at Ferrari – helps Albon to shape their path into the 2026 regulations. Williams have not taken a podium since the 2021 Belgian GP, when the race lasted one lap.

On true merit alone, Williams’ last podium came at the 2017 Azerbaijan GP as Lance Stroll secured third place. The Grove squad also last took a pole position at the 2014 Austrian GP with Felipe Massa. Pastor Maldonado gifted Williams their last win at the 2012 Spanish GP.

F1 TO TEST COCKPIT COOLING SYSTEM IN CARS AFTER EXTREME HEAT

Drivers will have a cooling system in the cockpit at the Dutch Grand Prix. Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Formula One will test an active cooling system in the cockpits of cars for next month's Dutch Grand Prix in response to the extreme heat experienced by drivers in Qatar last year.

Some of those racing in Doha in October were on the verge of collapse by the end of the race, severely dehydrated and vomiting, while Williams driver Logan Sargeant felt too ill to continue.

The FIA said afterwards that it would act to protect drivers from such heat in the future.

A spokesman for the governing body said the FIA and all 10 teams had immediately begun research to improve venting to cool the drivers.

The technical regulations had been updated to allow a passive scoop on top of the cockpit for better ventilation with teams "strongly encouraged" to use it.

"Initial tests and in-situ proof of concept are planned to take place in Zandvoort and upcoming races," a spokesperson said. "If these tests prove successful, the FIA will mandate the installation of such an active cooling system in Formula One cars in the future when a heat hazard will have been declared."

Track temperatures in Hungary during first practice on Friday were pushing 60 degrees Celsius (140 Fahrenheit), although Saturday qualifying at the Hungaroring was considerably cooler, with light rain.

The FIA said it was monitoring the situation to ensure driver cooling passive scoops were installed, with teams allowed exceptional measures to cool down driver equipment and cockpits as much as possible.

- Reuters 

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN NEARS RACE BAN AFTER MIAMI COLLISION

 MIAMI -- Kevin Magnussen could be one penalty away from a race ban following his collision with Williams driver Logan Sargeant.

Magnussen clumsily tangled with Sargeant midway through the Miami Grand Prix, an incident that triggered the race-altering safety car that helped propel Lando Norris to a maiden F1 win.

The race stewards were clear in who they believed was to blame, giving Magnussen a 10-second penalty during the race and handing him two penalty points.

A driver gets a one-race ban if he accumulates 12 points in a rolling 12-month period. Magnussen's latest transgression brings him up to 10.

Magnussen has accumulated five penalty points alone this week, with three handed out after he repeatedly incurred time penalties to keep Haas teammate Nico Hülkenberg ahead of rival cars during Saturday's sprint race.

The Danish driver will be on thin ice for the rest of the year, as he will not have any existing points expire until early April of next year.

On Sunday's incident, the stewards' verdict read: "It was clear that Car 20 did not have its front axle in that position such that it was entitled to room in that corner. Further, if this is looked at purely as an overtaking of the inside of Turn 3, Car 20 would also not have had the right to the corner, by the standards for an inside overtake.

"Even if this was viewed as a sequence of corners or a chicane, the decision remains the same. Per the guidelines, priority will be given to the first corner and if you do not have the right to be given room, then you do not get the benefit for the next corner.

"Car 20 was therefore wholly to blame for the collision that occurred."

- Nate Saunders, General Editor, F1

MAX VERSTAPPEN QUICKEST IN FIRST SUZUKA PRACTICE FOR JAPANESE GRAND PRIX,; MORE WOES FOR WILLIAMS

 SUZUKA, Japan -- World champion Max Verstappen topped the timesheets for Red Bull in the first free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday, as Logan Sargeant deepened the woes of the Williams team by slamming his car into a trackside tyre wall.

Verstappen, looking to get back to winning ways this weekend after his first retirement since 2022 in Australia two weeks ago, clocked 1 minute 30.056 seconds when the session resumed after a red-flag stoppage for Sargeant's shunt.

Sergio Perez was second fastest, 0.181 seconds behind his Red Bull team mate, with Carlos Sainz, the winner in Melbourne, 0.213 off the pace in third place for Ferrari.

Sargeant was unable to race in Melbourne two weeks ago after his more experienced team mate Alex Albon crashed his car in practice.

Williams patched up the car but arrived in Japan with no spare chassis so Sargeant could miss out again if the team mechanics are unable to fix it in time for Sunday's race.

"Sorry," the American said on the team radio after spinning off at a corner, before adding: "I'm OK."

Verstappen was unable to get out of the garage for the first 15 minutes as his mechanics fixed a broken part on his car, but quickly showed his pace on hard tyres in dry conditions once he did.

Lewis Hamilton knocked him off top spot with what turned out to be his best time (1:30.543) in his Mercedes just before the red flag.

Ferrari showed some of the pace that took them to a 1-2 in Melbourne but Sainz was unable to match the Red Bulls while his team mate Charles Leclerc was sixth fastest, half a second off the pace, behind the Mercedes of George Russell and Hamilton.

The cars return to the track for the second free practice later on Friday.

- ESPN

AMERICAN LOGAN SERGEANT HEADS INTO 2ND F1 SEASON STRONGER, HOPES TO DELIVER WILLIAMS

AP Photo 

 Even before Logan Sargeant finished his rookie Formula 1 season, a set of expectations were given to the American on what he needed to do to keep his ride at Williams.

It still took until December for Williams to confirm Sargeant would get a second season. He was the last driver finalized for this year's 20-car grid.

But he enters the new season — it starts this weekend in Bahrain — already ahead of schedule.

“First and foremost, I’ve asked him to surprise the world in terms of his physical fitness, his approach and his performance,” Williams team principal James Vowles said. “We’ve changed quite a bit with him across the winter period, his trainer is different, his training programs are completely different. You should see he’s a much more confident person and he carries that well."

Sargeant delivered on Vowles' ask by adding a little more than 11 pounds to his frame during the offseason — muscle that should help the Floridian with car handling a year after he was consistently outperformed by teammate Alex Albon.

Sargeant scored just one point all of last year and it didn't come until the U.S. Grand Prix, five races before the end of the season. Albon, meanwhile, scored 27 points across the season and was ranked 13th in the final driver standings.

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AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX RESULTS CONFIRMED AS SAINZ AND HAMILTON AMONG DRIVERS DEMOTED

 

AP

The FIA has released the final classification of results for the Austrian Grand Prix after a string of retrospective penalties for track limit infringements were handed down. Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton are two of the drivers to be demoted in the new standings, with Lando Norris elevated to fourth place while Fernando Alonso and George Russell also rise up in the results.

The new classification has been released after the FIA handed out penalties to eight drivers following the conclusion of the race at the Red Bull Ring, which was won by a dominant Max Verstappen, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez coming home in second and third respectively.