Category: Motor Sports

Less than a decade ago, the British GP was on the brink of disappearing but this July it will break the record for the biggest ever with 570,000 through the gates

The scale of change at the British Grand Prix in recent years will be writ large come July when the meeting is poised to become the biggest in Formula One history.

This year’s race is expected to sell out its new capacity of 570,000 over four days, which will be a record-breaking 50,000 increase on the previous highest attendance of 520,000 at the Australian GP in 1995. Only Wimbledon, across two weeks, will boast more numbers in the UK summer with Silverstone the largest event on F1’s calendar.

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• Changes will address energy management issues

• Verstappen one of most outspoken critics of current rules

The key players in Formula One have come to an agreement to settle the proposed changes to the sport’s engines for the 2027 and 2028 seasons. These have been seen as crucial in addressing widespread driver dissatisfaction with the current formula, not least for the four-time champion Max Verstappen who has repeatedly threatened to leave the sport owing to how unhappy he is with the current engine rules.

Verstappen has been particularly outspoken, declaring the rules “anti-racing”, but he has been far from alone. The FIA, teams, engine manufacturers and F1’s owners have since been in discussions looking at ways to address the issue. Notably their resolution does not reach the minimum scale of improvement Verstappen believed was needed until 2028.

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Kimi Antonelli won a chaotic Monaco GP which featured a red flag and multiple driver penalties

Some quotes from Max Verstappen, second on the grid in his Red Bull: “Try not to overthink it too much, that works best. We will try to do the best start we can. It is a long race, anything can happen. It is not always easy and I hope today, we can have a normal start.”

Lewis Hamilton has appeared fresh and full of his previous self.

The car has repeatedly demonstrated how good it is in the slower corners but has struggled with drag on straights and in using a smaller turbocharger than their rivals. It has proved costly on traditional circuits this season where, even when competitive at the off, the Ferrari has been unable to match the Mercedes’ formidable race pace, or that of the upgraded McLaren.

Ferrari’s pace through the twists – Hamilton was quickest in the slow speed corners at the last round in Canada – and that smaller turbo will be vital in Monaco. Energy management should not be an issue with ample recharging, while the smaller turbo will enable it to remain spooled up to be most effective in punching quicker out of the corners.

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• ‘It has always been more than just a team to me’

• Driver is third in this year’s standings

Charles Leclerc has signed a new multiyear deal to remain driving for Ferrari, with the 28-year-old Monegasque extending his relationship with the team which began in 2019. He will continue to drive alongside Lewis Hamilton, who also has a long-term contract with the team.

Ferrari announced their decision to continue with Leclerc on the eve of his home grand prix at Monaco this weekend. He has been a staunch Ferrari driver for almost all of his career and has competed in 155 races for the Scuderia, a tally second only to Michael Schumacher’s enormously successful tenure with Ferrari between 1996 and 2006.

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Engine failure in Canada is latest setback for British driver, who is 43 points behind teenager Kimi Antonelli after five races

George Russell was left wondering quite which deity he had offended as he despairingly contemplated his retirement from the Canadian Grand Prix with a mechanical failure. Fortune, for good or ill, will always play a part but what also became clear in Montreal is that Russell’s teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli is going to be fearsomely hard to beat this season, whatever the circumstances.

Russell ground to a halt on the circuit Gilles Villeneuve on lap 30 after a thrilling battle with his Mercedes teammate Antonelli that had ebbed and flowed. The British driver deserved better, the two had been exchanging the lead and going side by side repeatedly, inches apart and trading paint on one occasion, only for Russell’s efforts to count for naught as he went out not with a whimper when the systems on his car shut down due to battery failure.

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• British driver enjoys best finish at Ferrari

• ‘I am much, much happier in the car’

Lewis Hamilton was thrilled with his second place at the Canadian Grand Prix in what he called “the greatest job in the world” after a great fight with his old adversary Max Verstappen and expressed how excited he was to be back in a wheel to wheel contest, enthused with his and his Ferrari team’s performance.

“I love this job it’s the greatest job in the world, I never take that for granted,” he said. “To have a good battle with Max finally, I’m really, really grateful. I am so, so happy. It’s good day of racing, overall, a solid weekend. I felt the whole team have done an amazing job.”

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• Mercedes teenager claims fourth consecutive victory

• Lewis Hamilton second; Max Verstappen third

It is too early to be decisive yet but without doubt George Russell was left cursing his damnable luck as his world championship ambitions took a body blow in Montreal. The British driver was left angry and disconsolate as his Mercedes ground to halt on track at the Canadian Grand Prix and his teammate and title rival Kimi Antonelli powered to a record-breaking victory.

Russell must be wondering what he has to do to catch a break in what increasingly looks like a two-way title fight with his Italian teammate. He had claimed victory in the sprint race, then pole and then had an absolutely gripping, toe-to-toe fight with the 19-year-old for the opening 29 laps on the Île Notre-Dame.

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• Mercedes lock out front row; Russell fastest by 0.068

• McLaren’s Norris third and Piastri fourth; Hamilton fifth

George Russell took pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix to set up a fascinating battle with his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli who was in second in Montreal, after the pair endured a feisty flashpoint having clashed with one another on track in the sprint race that preceded qualifying.

Russell put in an inch-perfect lap of the circuit Gilles Villeneuve, as the very last of the cars on track to steal it in what was a gripping session, ultimately beating his teammate by just six-hundredths of a second to ensure Mercedes maintain their unbeaten record of five poles from five races this season.

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• Mercedes pair clashed with both drivers out in front

• Toto Wolff tells Italian to ‘stop the radio moaning’

George Russell won the sprint race at the Canadian Grand Prix but only after his championship battle with Kimi Antonelli reached an angry flashpoint. The Mercedes pair clashed for the lead on track and the teenage Italian was left demanding the British driver should be penalised.

Such was the febrile atmosphere that their team principal Toto Wolff intervened, telling Antonelli to “stop the radio moaning”.

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• Police investigating an alleged home invasion

• 71-year-old sustained a head injury, says reports

Swiss police are investigating an alleged robbery with reports that the four-times Formula 1 world champion Alain Prost was injured during a home invasion. The Swiss tabloid Blick reported late on Friday that the 71-year-old Frenchman sustained a head injury from intruders who forced his son to open a safe during the incident on Tuesday morning.

“The perpetrators entered the residence while the occupants were present, threatened them, and forced one family member to open a safe before fleeing with the stolen goods,” the public prosecutor’s office said. “Despite the extensive search operation launched, the perpetrators have not yet been apprehended.”

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Upgrades for the grid’s leading team will be unveiled in Montreal, where wet weather could also play a part

Four races into what has been a disjointed opening to the Formula One season, the sport is still in a period of rapid adaptation and adjustment as drivers and teams come to grips with their new cars. While this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix may offer some indication of the form to come and championship ambitions, it is also something of an outlier.

The focus in Montreal will be of twofold interest centred largely on Mercedes. The team have opened the new season with a dominant car that has claimed all four poles and all four wins. Yet with the new regulations offering enormous scope for improvement, a fierce development fight will define 2026. McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari all brought their first major upgrades to the last round in Miami; Mercedes bring their opening salvo of major parts to Quebec.

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• Fast-tracked redesign will reduce electrical energy use

• Max Verstappen has been a vocal critic of new engines

Formula One has agreed to make engine design changes for the 2027 season in response to the unhappiness of many leading drivers at the way this year’s new-generation engines have affected how they race.

At a meeting on Friday, the FIA, F1, teams and engine manufacturers reached an agreement, subject to formal approval, to fast-track changes to the regulations to allow fresh engines to be used next season.

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• Full report: Antonelli produces gutsy drive to hold off Norris

Every driver starting on the grid is on medium tyres today, the rain earlier means there’s not likely to be much grip on the track. And, of course, if it rains later …

Hadjar, starting in the pit lane, will start on hard tyres in the hope of making up ground on the field.

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• Italian driver lost both legs in high-speed cart race crash

• He went on to win four Paralympic golds as a para-cyclist

Alex Zanardi, the former Formula One driver who lost both legs in a racing crash and went on to win Paralympic gold medals, has died at the age of 59, his family said on Saturday.

Zanardi, from Bologna, made his F1 debut in 1991 and later achieved success in the Cart series in the United States, winning back-to-back championships in 1997 and 1998. His life took a dramatic turn in September 2001 when he was involved in a high-speed crash during a Cart race in Germany that led to the amputation of both legs.

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Before her first Miami Grand Prix in charge, Nowak opens up on F1’s boom time in the US and flying the flag for women in the sport

There is an air of buoyant confidence about Katharina Nowak that is striking but also understandable given the robust state of Formula One in the United States and at the Miami Grand Prix, where the 29-year-old who is at the helm of the race believes the sport only has more to come.

“F1 is at its strongest right now that we’ve seen, the interest in F1 is still going up and will go further,” she says in the buildup to this weekend’s meeting in Florida. “From my seat at the table, we are seeing the interest continue to grow.

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