3 hours ago

Antonelli on Wolff's early Mercedes race seat plan

Kimi Antonelli says Toto Wolff told him Mercedes were thinking of putting him in a race seat for 2025 before Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was announced, even though he had not yet started his Formula 2 season. Antonelli said: "I remember at the end of the day, Toto called me over to his office… This was even before Lewis was announced to Ferrari. So, he said, 'Look, Lewis is going to Ferrari, and we were thinking to put you in the car for next year'. And I'm like, 'Whoa!'… I was like, 'Are you kidding me?', because I hadn't even started F2. So, I had still so much to prove."

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Kimi Antonelli: ‘Mercedes picked me for 2025 F1 season before I'd even raced in F2’

motorsport.com

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2 hours ago

Hamilton on expecting stronger second half with Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton says he expects the second half of the season to be stronger for both himself and Ferrari. Hamilton said: "I think the second half will be stronger. Usually, the second half is a stronger period for me. So, I'll really take this time to reset and try and come back, try and come back stronger, fitter, and better mentally prepared."

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Hamilton upbeat on Ferrari future: ‘The second half will be stronger'

f1i.com

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2 hours ago

Pirelli selects medium compounds for Madrid

Pirelli expects tyre loads at Formula 1’s first Madrid race on the new Madring to be comparable to Silverstone and Spa, and has therefore chosen its medium compound range for the event. In a statement, Pirelli said the selection of C2, C3 and C4 is intended to “favour a two-stop strategy” and offer “greater protection against the risk of excessive overheating” in high temperatures, which it said the softest options would be more vulnerable to.

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Crucial Madring information revealed ahead of Formula 1's Madrid debut

planetf1.com

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2 hours ago

Albon ends Williams South Africa tour

Alex Albon has wrapped up a month-long Williams F1 roadshow in South Africa, completing the team’s first official visit to the country by an active Williams driver since 1993. A Williams FW48-liveried show car toured shopping centres in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg during July, with Albon appearing on 27 July to close the tour, run in partnership with Super Group brands Betway and Jackpot City. Albon said: “South Africa lived up to the hype – the fans here are as passionate as it gets.”

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Alex Albon concludes month-long Williams F1 roadshow in South Africa

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2 hours ago

Norris on McLaren's disappointment with 2026 performance

Lando Norris says McLaren have been “disappointed” with their 2026 performance, despite his victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Norris said: "As a team, and with the car, we're certainly not quite at the level we want to be at, or we were at last season. We have still had some good results, but we also know we're not where we should be. We're not happy with that, we've been disappointed with our own performance, but we're working hard to improve. We're starting to see the benefits of that hard work – our win in Hungary came as a result of strong upgrades to the car – but we need to keep pushing and keep developing if we're going to continue to fight for wins."

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Lando Norris admits ‘we've been disappointed’ with F1 2026 performance

motorsportweek.com

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2 hours ago

Bearman on blue-flag penalty after Hungarian GP technical issue

Ollie Bearman said the Hungarian Grand Prix was the “worst” weekend of his year after he was given a five-second penalty for ignoring blue flags, with a technical issue affecting the GPS system and blue-flag warnings. Bearman said: "It was definitely the worst [weekend] of the year. I feel bad about the blue flag penalty with Hadjar because honestly, it was a bit of a nightmare out there. This race, they weren't working properly. So, it was tough to know if it was you, or the car behind, or the car ahead, or whatever, getting the blue flag. So, obviously, it wasn't malicious."

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Ollie Bearman laments ‘worst weekend of the year' at F1 Hungarian GP

motorsportweek.com

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Piastri on adapting driving style to 2026 regulations

Oscar Piastri says the 2026 regulations have brought a “fundamental” change in driving style and that he has only recently started to understand more clearly how McLaren’s car needs to be driven to go quickly. Piastri said: "I think this rule set is just so different in so many ways. During the previous regulation changes, the cars themselves changed quite a bit, in terms of how much downforce they have or how they generate the downforce. But this regulation change has been like a completely fundamental change to how you drive a race car, in some ways. It's been a huge reset for us, for me as well."

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Oscar Piastri unlocks McLaren discovery after 'fundamental' F1 change

racingnews365.com

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2 hours ago

Stella on Piastri adapting to 2026 low-grip cars

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says Oscar Piastri is still getting to grips with the low-grip 2026 Formula 1 cars and expects him to be stronger in the second half of the season. Stella said: "Oscar is still getting in tune with these 2026 cars, low grip cars, and there's an opportunity there to find some pace, and there's great work happening between Oscar, his engineering team, and the wider team of Oscar. So, I think we will see a very strong Oscar for the second part of the season."

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