McLaren boss Andrea Stella says the team is “redirecting” its development approach under the 2026 regulations, and expects the first results of that change to show in Hungary after a delay of “one or two months”. Stella said: "During the development, I think we adopted some directions from a conceptual point of view, that as we learn more about the 2026 regulations, I would say that we are redirecting. And this, like everything, especially from an aerodynamic point of view, is not something that you can get to converge in the space of a week. It normally takes one or two months. So we should see in Hungary the first results of this approach, and then hopefully more and more upgrades for the rest of the season."


George Russell joked that the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix will stay with him until his "deathbed" after he was disqualified from victory at Spa-Francorchamps when his Mercedes was found to be underweight. Russell said: "No, I don't feel like it owes me anything, to be honest. Because that race still is a race that I'll remember. And I'll probably remember it more. The day I'm lying on my deathbed, I'll probably remember that race because of what happened."

Christian Horner says he would only return to Formula 1 in a role where he is empowered to make changes and “drive difference”, after serving gardening leave following his dismissal as Red Bull team principal days after the 2025 British Grand Prix. Horner said: "I have no interest in just being a number in a machine. I've more than demonstrated what I'm capable of doing, and if I go back, it would only be in a position where you were empowered to make a change, to drive difference, to win. I know that I would become very frustrated very quickly doing anything else. If you can't do it to win, why bother?"





Liam Lawson says Racing Bulls has made a “quite amazing” step forward, after feeling how different the car was during the race weekend in Barcelona compared with pre-season testing there. Lawson said: "From where we started, where our car started in Barcelona, the pre-season test has come a very, very long way. It was quite amazing to drive the race weekend in Barcelona and have a comparison to what we had at the start of the year and how far the car has come. So a big credit to the team, but it's a combination of things, and nothing that's super specific."

Isack Hadjar said the British Grand Prix was “a waste of a race” after an aerodynamic issue left his Red Bull RB22 missing load, despite finishing fifth at Silverstone. Hadjar said: "I was told we were missing load on the car. And once they changed the front wing, went back [out] again. I nearly gained two seconds straight away. A waste of a race, really."



Aston Martin ambassador Pedro de la Rosa says the team’s planned Hungarian Grand Prix upgrade should put it in a better position, but warned it will take time to recover from its current level of performance. De la Rosa said: "We are excited, but we are also realistic. The message is we are working flat out. There are many areas that we are improving, and we will improve, but there will still be a lot of other areas that will still need to improve further. However, we will be in a better position than we are right now. But let's not forget that Formula 1 is difficult. We're coming from very far away, and it will take time."
Fernando Alonso says he wants to target the Dakar Rally and potentially return to endurance racing when he ends his Formula 1 career, as he weighs up his options for 2027. Alonso said: "I definitely have some challenges ahead, most of them are motorsport-related. I want to win Dakar. I said many times I may want to win different things or challenge myself in endurance racing again, especially if Max [Verstappen] wants to do it one day as well."



Max Verstappen says he will not be drawn on speculation over his Red Bull future, with reports suggesting an exit clause could allow him to leave at the end of the season if he is outside the top two at the summer break. Verstappen said: "I'm not going to say anything about that. It's not fair to say anything about that also right now."
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says George Russell had a straight-line issue with his W17 throughout the British Grand Prix weekend that the team struggled to pinpoint. Wolff said: "He had all weekend a straight-line issue. We couldn't see anything on engine power. It must have been down to some kind of mechanical situation, whether that was tow, or something else. But definitely the data confirmed that he was down, but very difficult to identify. That was much better in the race. We didn't see that anymore. But nevertheless, something we need to understand."


Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli are likely to face grid penalties at some stage this season because of concerns over their power unit allocation, after battery-related failures for Russell at the Canadian Grand Prix and Antonelli at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Hamilton said: "You're seeing engines in general have had more issues this year than they normally would have, and don't know what the situation with on the battery side of this for George and for Kimi, but at some point there must be a penalty, I would imagine, in the sense that we only have two battery cells or something like that."


George Russell said he thought “here we go again” when Mercedes told him he had a slow puncture at the British Grand Prix, as he was overtaking Max Verstappen for third place. Russell said: "We've had our fair share of bad luck this year, and when that slow puncture came, I was just overtaking Max for P3. And then I was like: 'here we go again'."

Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen says Franco Colapinto will only secure his future with the team beyond 2026 if he continues to deliver, warning Alpine will consider other options if he does not. Nielsen said: "So I think he's there on merit and when the time comes, we'll make the decisions. If he's good enough, he'll stay, and if he's not, then there's a better option."




Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said it is “not time” to discuss extending Lewis Hamilton’s contract, after reports in Italy suggested the seven-time world champion is close to activating an option to stay with the team for 2027. Vasseur said: "Who spoke about the extension? I will discuss with him for the extension, not with everybody. He is still under contract with us and it's not time to discuss about an extension."

Carlos Sainz Jnr says Williams’ British Grand Prix weekend was “a wake-up call” after the team introduced a new upgrade package aimed at reducing the FW48’s weight but found it had not delivered as expected. Sainz said: "It was much more difficult than we had anticipated and hoped for. We need to focus on what's wrong with the car and also analyse why the upgrade hasn't delivered as expected, so it's a wake-up call for us."

Adrian Newey said it was an “incredibly special moment” to drive Red Bull’s RB17 hypercar up the hill for the first time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Newey said: "It's an incredibly special moment. It's been a very long time in the planning. I think I did my very first sketch for the car over Christmas in 2021, but it's been a long time in gestation. The guys – everybody, the guys and girls back at the factory – have done a really amazing [job] to get it here. Yeah, it's really special to have the car here and to drive up the hill for the first time."


Charles Leclerc and Ferrari have completed the first laps of Madrid’s new Madring circuit in a Formula 1 car, running the SF-26 during a filming session on Thursday. Ferrari shared images and video from the outing, with Leclerc first on track and team-mate Lewis Hamilton also set to complete laps. The running was carried out under standard filming day limits, including restricted mileage and the use of promotional Pirelli tyres, ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix at the venue on September 11-13.




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