Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin’s planned mid-season upgrade should help its 2027 work, but he is hoping it will also make the second half of this season more competitive and allow the team to fight in the midfield. Alonso said: "Well, both. It works into 2027 because definitely we need to improve our situation, but I think our hope is that the second part of the year will be a more competitive one, and we can start fighting in the midfield."
Lando Norris will drive McLaren’s 2023 MCL60 up the Goodwood Hill at this year’s Festival of Speed as part of the team’s celebration of his 2025 Formula 1 title and McLaren’s first drivers’ championship since 2008. McLaren chief marketing officer Lou McEwen said: “We’ll also be celebrating last year’s double Championship win on Saturday, when Lando drives the MCL60 to Goodwood House, a fantastic opportunity to look back at this very special moment for the team.”




Mercedes has withdrawn its request for a right of review over George Russell’s penalties and the Monaco Grand Prix result, with the FIA stewards informed on Thursday evening ahead of a virtual hearing scheduled for Saturday morning. The stewards confirmed Mercedes was dropping its petition “in respect of the decisions of the Stewards of the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix, breach of Article B1.6.3a of the FIA F1 Regulations in relation to Car 63”, meaning Russell’s demotion to 12th stands as final.







Fred Vasseur says Ferrari must “stay calm” and avoid getting carried away by championship talk after Lewis Hamilton’s breakthrough win for the team at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Vasseur said: "I'm not sure that I want to reply to this kind of question. I had probably some comments two weeks ago that everything was a disaster, and now we are speaking about the World Championship. This is the worst approach that I could have. The approach is to go to Austria exactly with the same approach that we had in Barcelona, and not to think about the championship or to project yourself with 25 more wins. I will never do it."


McLaren boss Andrea Stella says the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix has given the team “clear indications” of where it is falling short of pace-setters Mercedes and Ferrari, with McLaren struggling for grip in medium- and low-speed corners. Andrea Stella said: "This race gives us very clear indications. We see that from a McLaren point of view, we are competitive in the high-speed corners, but overall, we struggle with grip in medium speed and low speed. Very clear indications, as we knew already that we have to add grip to the car of an aerodynamic nature to add load onto the tyres."




McLaren has unveiled a bronze statue of two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen at its Woking headquarters as part of the team’s 1000th grand prix celebrations. The Paul Oz sculpture depicts Hakkinen celebrating his first title at Suzuka in 1998 and sits on the factory Boulevard alongside his MP4/13, joining statues of other McLaren greats including Bruce McLaren, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said Max Verstappen was right about the car’s weaknesses after the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, with Verstappen saying the team’s key issue was on “high-energy” and “high-deg” tracks. Mekies said: "To Max's comments, he's right. Now it's not about one single thing anymore. It's about finding a little bit of performance in mid-speed corner, in high-speed corner, on the straight line, etc."

Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord said a front-wing adjustment error during George Russell’s final pit stop “compromised” his pace in the closing stages of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Bradley Lord said: "In our final pit stop, we actually incorrectly adjusted the front wing owing to a problem with the adjuster gun, and that meant that he was working with a very, very oversteer-y balance that certainly compromised his pace in the final stages."



Williams team principal James Vowles says he would support Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull’s petitions for a Review after Pierre Gasly was reinstated to third place at the Monaco Grand Prix when a pit-lane timing loop measurement was found to be incorrect. Vowles said: "I'm surprised we have the reinstatement [of Gasly's podium], but being frank, it doesn't really affect us, but I think it creates a bit of a mess now. What do you do with George? What do you do with Piastri, who, in those circumstances, should have been on the podium as a result? I would support them in that."
Carlos Sainz says Williams need to “do more” to cut the performance gap on tracks like Barcelona, after a disappointing Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix for the team. Sainz said: "We need to do more than what we are doing already. Every week for the team it's super important to find points of downforce or kilos of weight. I realise that the team is pushing flat out, at the moment we are all pushing with everything we have."
Lando Norris said he was surprised by how close he was able to stay to Mercedes during the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix as he took confidence from returning to the podium. Norris said: "Quite a bit actually. I just wasn't expecting to be… It wasn't like I was fighting the Mercedes, but I was always there. I wasn't far behind at all, and I probably wasn't expecting to be quite that close for the whole race. So, the fact we kind of pulled things around and we seemed to be stopping on good laps and things like that, I think shows good signs. A better day than I was expecting. I certainly wasn't expecting to be on the podium."



Jos Verstappen says Ralf Schumacher is “spreading misinformation” after Schumacher claimed Max Verstappen had been offered a Mercedes contract but rejected it because the financial terms were not good enough. Jos Verstappen said: "Ralf, you're spreading misinformation again."


Martin Brundle says George Russell needs to address a recurring late-stint pace issue against Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli if he wants to stay in the Formula 1 title fight. Martin Brundle said: "In the second half of each tyre stint Antonelli had a speed advantage to catch Russell, but couldn't quite make the overtakes stick. This has been a theme generally so far this season and something George has to fix if he wants this championship."

Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack says the team has to stick with Adrian Newey’s decision to hold off on bringing small upgrades to the AMR26, even though he admits it is “weighing on everyone” after a difficult weekend in Barcelona. Krack said: "Yeah, I agree, and it's weighing on everyone. You can feel it. You can feel it in the garage. You can feel it especially with the drivers. We discussed it already before. It's a very difficult situation. On the other hand, we have a strong leader. When the decision was made, it's for all of us to commit to that decision, even if it's difficult."
Lewis Hamilton says he has quickly formed a strong connection with his new Ferrari race engineer Carlo Santi after sharing the podium with him at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, where Hamilton took his first win as a Ferrari driver. Hamilton said: "Yeah, it was great to have him up there. I think, him kind of substituting this year, jumping in and diving in deep with me. We didn't know each other, we'd never spoken and I didn't really know anything about him. And we met and I think got on straight away."


Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton is “absolutely” a title contender this season after the Ferrari driver’s win in Barcelona, with championship leader Kimi Antonelli retiring late on Sunday with a power unit issue. Wolff said: "Yes, absolutely [I see Hamilton as a title contender]. We are so early this season again. I don't know what it is, 40 points [ahead], you see a DNF, lost you 25 points, and it's wide open. That's why we can't afford to not finish, and we need to just keep putting performance on the car, on the power unit, not make mistakes, be clever with the strategy, and stay absolutely on it."

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