Williams driver Carlos Sainz has been spotted commuting around Monaco in a customised Fiat Topolino beach car, swapping his usual supercar garage for the doorless, two-seat electric quadricycle. Footage shared on social media showed Sainz driving the 28mph Topolino with several bespoke touches, including a tartan roof, side ropes and matching tartan interior details, with headrests embroidered with initials.





Mercedes says it has pinpointed a battery-related problem behind the recent race-ending failures that hit George Russell while leading the Canadian Grand Prix and Kimi Antonelli while running second in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, and is working on a permanent fix. Technical director James Allison said the issues “sort of originate in the same broad part of the battery” and that Mercedes hopes its fortunes will improve as it “phase[s] in the new modules into the racing season”, adding: “These DNFs are very, very painful.”

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said the team is not in “no man’s land” despite Max Verstappen being unable to fight for a podium at last weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Mekies said: "I would not say we are in no man's land. You know, we are with the top four, fighting. Not every track layout we can fight for podium. We could fight for a podium, obviously, in Canada and in Monaco, but we could not fight for a podium here, that's fair. Nonetheless, I think before the last laps drama, we could beat one Ferrari and one McLaren today was the best we could have done."

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the team’s “mission is very clear” to focus on performance, but that it has to keep its reliability standards high after Mercedes power-unit issues. Stella said: "This is McLaren and this is also McLaren, our suppliers and our collaboration with HPP. We need to retain the standards. The mission is very clear. We only want to think about performance, an area of performance in which we also have quite a lot to improve."

Audi racing director Allan McNish says building Audi’s Formula 1 power unit “from the ground up” has been a “very complex situation”, as the manufacturer looks for ways to improve. McNish said: "Certainly, we knew that the first season of the power unit was always going to be difficult, building it from the ground up. It was a very complex situation, and it was never going to be easy to come out with the best power unit overall. Obviously, we're looking at how we can improve that, along with every other aspect of the car and the team as well."

Pierre Gasly said "all the stars seem to align" for Alpine this season as he has taken points from every Formula 1 weekend so far, a run matched on the grid only by Lewis Hamilton. Gasly said: "All the stars seem to align for us. At the minute, I think we are doing – in terms of reliability, everything has been perfect since the start of the year. Touch wood, it is going to continue like that, and we are kind of capitalising on the retirements of other cars."

Lando Norris says George Russell’s “nothing to lose” approach may not be the answer to closing his points gap to Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the title race, because different drivers handle pressure in different ways. Norris said: "Everyone thinks differently. Whereas last year I went from not much confidence to, 'what have I got to lose now?' he's gone from feeling quite confident to maybe losing some of that confidence. Every driver has to find their own way of doing it - it's not one thing works for all. We will see if he says he's going around with no pressure now, then we'll see if that helps him or not."

Max Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen has suggested the Red Bull driver’s 2027 plans could be settled as early as before the summer break, despite Verstappen being under contract to the end of 2028. Speaking to Sport BILD, Vermeulen stressed: “Our contract runs until the end of 2028,” while acknowledging “contracts always contain exit clauses”. Vermeulen added: “We’d like to continue with Red Bull and see Max finish his career there, but he must always have the chance to compete for victories.”

Max Verstappen’s Nürburgring 24 Hours entry has been promoted to 36th in the final 2026 classification after the #84 Lamborghini was disqualified from second place a month after the race. The #84 car was found to have an excessive power output outside the Balance of Performance tolerance range and Red Bull Team Abt has decided not to appeal. The disqualification also reshuffles the podium, with the #34 Aston Martin promoted to second and the #99 BMW to third, behind the winning #80 Mercedes.



Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard says Charles Leclerc is mature enough to handle the pressure of partnering Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari and will understand he cannot beat the seven-time champion every weekend. Coulthard said: "I think that he's mature enough in his career now to understand that racing against a seven-time world champion, you're certainly not going to beat him all the time. Even if the worst comes to the worst for him in that Lewis continually delivers, gets the wins, wins the championship, Lewis can surely only be around for another two years, three years. I can't imagine he's going to be around for the next five years."



David Coulthard says Carlos Sainz is “definitely eyeballing” where his next Formula 1 opportunity might come from after going from winning grands prix at Ferrari to fighting for points with Williams. Coulthard said: "So, I guess his [Alex Albon's] frustration level will be higher than Carlos, who, let's be frank, he's definitely eyeballing where his next opportunity lies because he's gone from Ferrari winning grands prix to Williams being happy scoring points. He wants to be back there again."

Carlos Sainz said Lewis Hamilton’s breakthrough at Ferrari, sealed by his first win for the team in Barcelona, may be down to the regulation change producing a car that suits Hamilton’s driving style better. Carlos Sainz said: "In the end, it shows that this sport has no secrets. I think we all have a very high level of talent, but with different driving characteristics. Some cars suit us, others don't. He's also benefited from the regulation change because if he'd been stuck with last year's car for another three years, maybe we wouldn't be seeing the Lewis we're seeing this season."

Ferrari is waiting for FIA approval to introduce an upgraded power unit as early as the Austrian Grand Prix, with a third version of its 067/6 engine due to be shipped to Spielberg under the ADUO development provisions. The update further pushes Ferrari’s steel-alloy cylinder-head concept and will run alongside a new Shell fuel developed specifically for that configuration, with the higher combustion temperatures expected to help reduce Ferrari’s internal combustion engine power deficit to Mercedes.

Aston Martin has confirmed Jak Crawford will replace Lance Stroll in FP1 at next weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, as part of F1’s requirement for teams to run rookies in four Friday practice sessions across the season. Crawford said: “It’s great to have another opportunity to drive the AMR26 during a race weekend,” while Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack added: “Jak continues to play an important role as third driver and this FP1 session is another valuable step in that process.”




Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto said the team’s power unit deficit can cost it “more than a second” a lap at certain circuits. Bortoleto said: "It's clear also from the ADUO that we have a deficit on the engine, and we are losing quite a lot per lap. I think Mattia [Binotto] already mentioned in the past more than a second, depending on the track, and this is not exaggerating. This is the truth about where we are standing, and it's normal, because it's the first season of our engine."
Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal Laurent Mekies said the team wants further discussions with the FIA after it was denied Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) on its 2026 power unit because the governing body judged it to have the benchmark internal combustion engine. Mekies said: "We are completely okay with the fact that the rule states that you should only try to estimate the pecking order of the ICE power. We are completely okay with that, we have all agreed to that, and we don’t think that is the issue. Where we certainly would like to have a deeper conversation is because we do not see one single data sample that indicates that we would have an advantage over our friends at Mercedes."

Toto Wolff says the media should not compare Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli to Formula 1 legends, despite the 19-year-old winning five races in a row. Wolff said: "We keep emphasising to our friends from the Italian press also, please don't draw any comparison with Ayrton Senna or 'Il Fenomeno', I think Gazzetta titled that he's won five races in a row, which is unbelievable for a young man, but we haven't won a championship, and he's 19."




Max Verstappen's manager Raymond Vermeulen says the Red Bull driver's contract runs until the end of 2028, but that they want to decide on their 2027 plans quickly. Vermeulen said: "Our contract runs until the end of 2028. Of course, contracts always contain exit clauses, but we've never had to make use of them so far. We want to make a decision quickly so that everyone knows where they stand, possibly even before the summer break."


Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies says the team’s next major upgrade package, expected to arrive at the Austrian Grand Prix next weekend, “will not be enough” on its own to close the gap to the top. Mekies said: "Obviously, our next big one is in Austria, but it's only as good as the real lap time it brings on track. Everyone in Milton Keynes has been working very hard on that package, and there is no doubt that the Austrian upgrade alone will not be enough. We know we'll need some further steps, but what is important is that we stay on this continuous, closing-the-gap trajectory."

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