F1 information LIVE: Max Verstappen skips media day because of well being concern forward of Saudi Arabia Grand Prix whereas Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes goal return to type

Comment by Kieran Jackson

Never thoughts ready for the primary race of the Formula 1 season. A weekend of testing, three apply periods and qualifying in Bahrain has instructed Toto Wolff every part he wanted to know.

No sandbagging. No magic repair. No hiding. Mere hours into the 2023 marketing campaign the Mercedes boss – as soon as the unflappable govt titan of the game – lower a despondent determine talking to the press within the late hours on Saturday. Acknowledging that his group’s persistence, bordering on stubbornness, had been a mistake, he revealed a change of tack is already within the pipeline.

Speaking after George Russell and Lewis Hamilton certified sixth and seventh respectively, the Austrian acknowledged: “I don’t think that this package is going to be competitive eventually.

“We gave it our best go over the winter and now we all just need to regroup, sit down with the engineers, be totally non-dogmatic and ask what is the development direction we want to pursue in order to be able to win races.”

As sporting U-turns go, that is fairly seismic. Race weekend No 1 of 23: rip it up and begin over.

The double world champion, who dominated Formula One’s season-opening race in Bahrain a fortnight in the past, mentioned he has been battling with the bug this week.

However, he expects to be in his Red Bull for apply in Jeddah on Friday.

“Feeling fine again, after not being fit for a few days because of a stomach bug,” wrote the Dutchman, 25, on Twitter.

“Therefore, I unfortunately had to postpone my flight for a day, so I won’t be on the track until Friday.”

Nico Rosberg insists Mercedes’ automobile idea is “in a river” because the group reveal they’re set to vary course only one race into the brand new Formula 1 season.

Mercedes determined to stay with their distinctive ‘no-sidepod’ design this 12 months regardless of a troubled 2022 wherein they solely received a single race and completed third within the Constructors’ Championship.

However, after a difficult testing interval, the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix noticed Mercedes lose round a second-a-lap in comparison with the victorious Red Bulls out in entrance, whereas a rejuvenated Aston Martin additionally had extra tempo than Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

As such, group boss Toto Wolff says the group must change their philosophy in the event that they wish to be aggressive and Rosberg – who received his World Championship in 2016 with Mercedes earlier than retiring – has issues about how rapidly Mercedes can reverse their fortunes in an period of cost-cap.

The 2023 price range cap is ready at £111m.

Exclusive interview by Kieran Jackson

When Netflix first premiered Drive to Survive in 2019, an try by Formula 1’s new house owners Liberty to broaden the game’s murky horizon, the onus was in your Hamiltons, your Vettels and your Verstappens to haul in that untapped viewers. Like any serial drama, you want a protagonist. But there can solely be one star of the present.

Little did individuals assume it’d be Guenther Steiner.

“It’s all about the underdog story,” the 57-year-old tells The Independent, when requested why the Haas-centred episodes have the viewers at peak pleasure upon the discharge of every present. A present, he’s keen so as to add, he doesn’t watch.

Mercedes vowed they “won’t panic or make knee-jerk reactions” as they appear to get better 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 file eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships up till 2021 – can mount a problem this 12 months.

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

With the group 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.

The Silverstone-based group, having signed two-time world champion Alonso from Alpine to interchange Sebastian Vettel, have been the shock package deal over testing and the primary grand prix weekend of the season.

But Alonso is way from glad and as an alternative admitted the group nonetheless had areas to enhance and features of the automobile to be taught, forward of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend.

“There are a couple of areas that we have to improve that I will not share, but I think the most important point is that the new Aston Martin is just a new car, a new project,” the 41-year-old mentioned.

Having produced a automobile comparable in design to 2022’s troubled challenger – with a singular “zero-pod” method – 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 mentioned 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.”

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.

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 might be held there as early as August 2026, with a 3.64-mile route consisting of twenty-two corners and a median pace 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 could be along with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

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 vehicles struggled for tempo and have been almost a second-a-lap slower than Max Verstappen’s Red Bull within the grand prix.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff mentioned over the course of final weekend that the Silver Arrows must change their method already, with their distinctive ‘zero-pod’ philosophy failing to supply 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 value cap they can’t simply “design two or three different cars.”

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