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."
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."




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.




Martin Brundle says Formula 1 should change its safety-car unlapping procedures to avoid late-race “teases” like at last weekend’s British Grand Prix, when a software error briefly suggested the Safety Car was ending on the penultimate lap. Brundle said: "There are potential fixes. In IndyCar for example, if it's within the last 10 laps, instead of a wave-by the lapped cars are made to peel off into the pit lane and rejoin at the back of the field. Or we could simply have the lapped runners drop behind the pack. Or throw a red flag and have a standing restart in race order, although this takes a while. Instead, we prioritise runners who haven't been good enough, for whatever reason, on the day, instead of the leaders and most importantly the fans."


Lance Stroll says Aston Martin’s AMR26 is “very broken” aerodynamically and that its unpredictable handling made it difficult to stay within track limits at the British Grand Prix, where he picked up three five-second penalties. Stroll said: "Maybe, I guess [the penalties were fair]. We had a lot of understeer in the race and the car's very broken, so it's even hard to stay within the track limits. A lot of different behaviour every lap, every corner. No, just aerodynamically very broken."
George Russell says suggestions Mercedes is showing favouritism towards his team-mate Kimi Antonelli are untrue and make no sense given the team’s focus on winning the Constructors’ Championship. Russell said: "I did hear on the grapevine that there is chatter about favouritism (towards Antonelli). It doesn't bother me – and nor is it true. But there are 2,000 people in the team, and they are all on a bonus if we win the Constructors' Championship, so why would there be favouritism? We are both allowed to race, unless the team's overriding aim to win the maximum points available is under threat."
George Russell says it is virtually impossible for Formula 1 drivers to properly prepare for running the 2026 cars in wet conditions, with the championship heading to the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Russell said: "You can't really plan for it because you don't know what you're dealing with. You don't know what the beast is beneath you. So you cannot prepare for it. You can do all the preparation you want, but as soon as you get out there, you just need to be flexible and be able to adapt."



McLaren IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward says he has asked Zak Brown to release him from his McLaren Formula 1 reserve role so he can prioritise his IndyCar career and get more time away from racing. On Conor Daly’s Speed Street podcast, O’Ward said he “politely asked to be fired” from his F1 duties, adding: “There’s really nothing in me that is aching to keep on as a reserve in Formula 1… I love the series [IndyCar]. That’s where I want to be.”




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