Formula 1

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen started the new season as he ended the last, with a dominant victory in the Middle East. The two-time champion led the Bahrain Grand Prix almost from start to finish, initially lapping at a pace beyond his rivals and then controlling the race. The drive, Verstappen’s 36th victory, underlined his status

Fernando Alonso says qualifying fifth ahead of both Mercedes cars in his first race for Aston Martin felt “too good to be true”. The Spaniard will start the Bahrain Grand Prix behind only the Red Bulls and Ferraris driving for a team that finished seventh in the 2022 standings. Alonso said: “It was amazing. It

Max Verstappen led a Red Bull one-two as he took pole position for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. The Dutchman beat team-mate Sergio Perez by 0.138 seconds, with the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz locking out the second row. Fernando Alonso made an impressive start to his time at Aston Martin with fifth

New Williams Formula 1 boss James Vowles says the task of leading the team back to the front is even tougher than he expected it to be. Vowles faces his first race in charge of William in Bahrain this weekend, after joining from Mercedes. Two weeks into his new role, Vowles said the job in

Lewis Hamilton says that Mercedes are “on the wrong track” with their new car at the start of the 2023 season. The seven-time world champion was eighth in Friday practice, 0.636 seconds slower than the pace-setting Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso. Hamilton said: “We found out we are a long way off. We kind of

Fernando Alonso has rejected the idea that he could start the Bahrain Grand Prix from pole position despite setting the pace in Friday practice. The Aston Martin driver was 0.169 seconds quicker than world champion Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, whose team-mate Sergio Perez was third fastest. Alonso said: “I am not thinking that high. I

Sergio Perez underlined the belief that Red Bull are favourites for the 2023 championship in first practice at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. The Mexican was 0.438 seconds quicker than the impressive Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, with world champion Max Verstappen in third place. Verstappen, apparently struggling with a lack of front-end grip, was

Lewis Hamilton has been given permission to wear a nose stud while racing despite a ban on Formula 1 drivers wearing jewellery in their car. Stewards at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix gave Hamilton a medical exemption to leave his stud in place. The ruling said: “There are concerns about disfigurement with frequent attempts at

PA Media By Sam Harris & Gemma Roper BBC Newsbeat The new Formula 1 season gets under way this weekend in Bahrain. And to get into the spirit a lot of people are tuning in to the hugely popular Drive to Survive on Netflix. The behind-the-scenes F1 show released its fifth series last week and

Lewis Hamilton is resigned to a difficult start to the Formula 1 season with his Mercedes team lagging behind champions Red Bull. The seven-time champion admitted in Bahrain that Mercedes are “not where we wanted to start the season”. “I knew from the moment I drove the car where we were and the challenges we

Aston Martin have confirmed Lance Stroll will return to the team for the Bahrain Grand Prix after missing pre-season testing through injury. Canadian Stroll, 24, injured his wrist in a cycling accident and was replaced by reserve driver Felipe Drugovich for the three-day test last week. The team said both reserve drivers, Drugovich and Stoffel

Last updated on 8 hours ago8 hours ago.From the section Formula 1 Susie Wolff has been appointed managing director of the F1 Academy, an all-female series aimed at helping women drivers progress through motorsport. Announced in November, it will consist of five teams of three cars contesting seven events featuring three races. “This is an

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Broadcaster Jennie Gow has updated fans on her recovery from a serious stroke ahead of the new Formula 1 season. The 45-year-old, who covers F1 for BBC Radio 5 Live, said she was “progressing well” since her

Alpha Tauri team principal Franz Tost says he has been assured by parent company Red Bull that it will not sell its second Formula 1 team. Tost’s remarks come in the wake of a report that Red Bull was questioning the value of the team and could sell it or move it from Italy to

Follow live text and radio commentary of the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir from 3-5 March. Max Verstappen begins his bid for a third successive world title at a race he and team-mate Sergio Perez were forced to retire from last year. Charles Leclerc won for Ferrari. BBC Sport has

UK MPs have urged Formula 1 to set up an independent inquiry into the links between grands prix and human rights violations. The move comes before the first race of the 2023 season in Bahrain on Sunday. Lord Scriven, chair of the parliamentary group concerned with human rights in the Gulf, wants F1 to urge

The Spanish Grand Prix this year will run on a much faster circuit layout, with the final chicane replaced by two high-speed right-hand corners. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya’s final sector will revert to a design not used in Formula 1 since 2006. A chicane was introduced before the final corner in 2007 in an attempt

Lance Stroll will be replaced by Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich if the Canadian is not fit enough to race in the Bahrain Grand Prix. But on Sunday the team said Drugovich would race if Stroll does not recover from injury before next weekend. The 22-year-old Brazilian drove the car in pre-season testing this