F1 information LIVE: London Grand Prix in Docklands pitched in formidable plans for brand new British race

A plan for Formula 1 to stage a London Grand Prix within the east of the capital has been pitched alongside a significant redevelopment plan.

The prospect of rejuvenating an space round London Docklands – with a high-speed circuit in comparison with Circuit Gilles Villenueve in Montreal – has been proposed by environmental group LDN Collective and consultancy agency DAR.

They state {that a} race could possibly be held there as early as August 2026, with a 3.64-mile route consisting of twenty-two corners and a median velocity of 127mph put ahead.

Cars would run alongside London City Airport and the docks on a circuit filled with lengthy straights and chicanes.

The idea of a London Grand Prix, which has been floated beforehand by former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, has lingered lately however it’s understood can be along with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Button, the 2009 Formula 1 world champion, retired from F1 on the finish of 2017 however has stored his toes in aggressive motorsport, competing in Super GT, Extreme E and Rallycross.

The 43-year-old can also be competing on the 100^th anniversary of Le Mans in June – but has added three NASCAR meets to his schedule, beginning with the Circuit of the Americas later in March.

Button will even race in Chicago in July and Indianapolis in August, driving for Rick Ware Racing in partnership with the Stewart Haas Racing outfit.

Raikkonen, the 2007 F1 world champion, will even drive at COTA for Trackhouse Racing in what will probably be his second enterprise into NASCAR.

Horner, the boss at Red Bull, is the game’s longest serving staff principal having been in cost of the present world champions since 2005.

The 49-year-old govt is overseeing Red Bull’s present domination of the game, having received each world championships at a canter final 12 months and claiming a one-two end on the 2023 season-opener on Sunday with Max Verstappen, the double world champion, triumphant in Bahrain.

But Ecclestone – who brought about controversy final 12 months after stating he would “take a bullet” for Russian president Vladimir Putin – insists Horner ought to goal for the game’s high job subsequent.

“If you had to pick anyone today, I’d say he [Horner] would be as good as there is,” 92-year-old Ecclestone stated.

Having produced a automobile comparable in design to 2022’s troubled challenger – with a singular “zero-pod” strategy – Toto Wolff admitted that he’s set to ditch this breed of automobile after seeing the roughly second-a-lap deficit to Red Bull in Sunday’s grand prix.

“It seems to me that Mercedes went the wrong way in 2022 and refuse to turn around,” Brundle stated in his Sky Sports column.

“Even Lewis and Toto were openly expressing their disappointment at certain points of the weekend, and normally they only sing the praises of the teams at Brackley and Brixworth. It must be tense at the team right now, the quality is there, it just needs direction and oxygen to calm heads.”

McLaren’s Lando Norris might already be fascinated by a transfer to Ferrari or Red Bull, Karun Chandhok believes. Norris got here dwelling final of the seventeenth finishers in Bahrain after pitting six occasions in the course of the course of an issue-plagued race.

It represented a disappointing begin to the season for the 23-year-old, tipped as a possible future world champion however but to realize a victory within the sport.

Sky Sports’ analyst Chandhok thinks that Norris could possibly be potential locations that will give him a greater likelihood of fulfilling his ambitions.

“Looking at where they’re [McLaren] at, and we were talking before the season of McLaren locking him in and Zak [Brown] doing an amazing job of contracting him [Norris] in for that four-year period.”

A report revealed final week by Females in Motorsport revealed ladies spoke for simply 1.54 per cent of the run time within the new season of Drive to Survive on Netflix, totalling six minutes and 7 seconds out of greater than six-and-a-half hours. Curious, too, when you think about the emphasis all through Formula 1 on rising alternatives and visibility for ladies, regardless of a girl not competing within the sport since 1976.

Yet look within the paddock or in your screens and ladies are current. Not sufficient but, as Drive to Survive’s insufficient illustration infers, however they’re in attendance. Rachel Brookes, heading into her 12^th 12 months as a reporter and presenter for Sky Sports F1, is one such face, refreshingly acquainted for all UK followers of the game.

Swapping duties with Natalie Pinkham and Simon Lazenby, the 48-year-old is a well-respected and trusted voice not only for the viewers at dwelling, however for the drivers within the paddock too. This 12 months, she will probably be at 19 out of a document 23 races, beginning with Saudi Arabia subsequent week. Speaking with ardour a couple of job she adores, Brookes is insistent that F1 is enhancing relating to feminine illustration.

“I have seen it change – there’s a lot more women now working in all sports as well as Formula 1,” she says.

“It’s been really positive. One of the first things Sky did was send me out to cover cricket, they’d never had a women on the boundary edge before doing live match updates but I loved it.”

Here, we check out how Aston Martin have made such an enchancment within the low season – and what they may obtain this 12 months:

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon has been branded as ‘not extremely popular’ amongst F1 drivers due to his behaviour whereas racing.

He usually seems as one of many nicest folks within the sport when away from the monitor, with Sky Sports’ Naomi Schiff saying that “he’s so friendly, always got a smile on his face, always says hello”.

However, she added that “amongst the drivers, he’s not extremely popular and I think that’s because of his on-track behaviours. That helmet comes on and a demon comes out”.

Speaking in the course of the Bahrain Grand Prix race weekend, Schiff was joined by Nico Rosberg, the 2016 World Champion. He stated that Ocon “really loves to get his elbows out with his teammates and he’s loved colliding with his teammates in the past”.

Ocon’s new Alpine teammate is fellow Frenchman Pierre Gasly. The two reportedly have a less-than-friendly relationship, and Rosberg is clearly trying ahead to seeing them race collectively.

Mercedes vowed they “won’t panic or make knee-jerk reactions” as they give the impression of being to get well from their depressing begin to the brand new Formula One season.

Both Hamilton and Russell completed greater than 50 seconds behind winner Verstappen, who made an ominous begin to his bid for a 3rd successive title and raised additional questions as as to whether the Silver Arrows – who received a document eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships up till 2021 – can mount a problem this 12 months.

Hamilton complained earlier than the race that his staff have been on the “wrong track” and on Wednesday the seven-time world champion stated that Mercedes had ignored him over the event of their 2023 automobile.

With the staff now making ready for this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Mercedes on Saturday revealed an open letter to followers admitting that they had been “hurt” by their displaying in Bahrain whereas additionally issuing a rallying cry to all supporters.

Red Bull particular advisor Helmut Marko believes the World Championship is already out of attain for Mercedes after a gap race to overlook in Bahrain.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell completed fifth and seventh respectively however their W14 automobiles struggled for tempo and have been practically a second-a-lap slower than Max Verstappen’s Red Bull within the grand prix.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff stated over the course of final weekend that the Silver Arrows must change their strategy already, with their distinctive ‘zero-pod’ philosophy failing to provide outcomes final 12 months and the early indicators not promising this 12 months both.

Marko, who works alongside Christian Horner and chief designer Adrian Newey at Red Bull, dismissed his rival’s prospects in 2023 – including that in an period of price cap they can’t simply “design two or three different cars.”

“The world championship title is out of reach for Mercedes,” Marko, 79, informed French radio station RTL.

“Mercedes does not have one problem with the concept this year, but several. They have not been able to find a solution in the winter.

“It will be difficult: you can’t just design two or three different cars. It will be tricky with the budget cap. A new car doesn’t just work either, because you have to be competitive from the start. They lack the test days and race experience.”