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  • 2025 Formula 1 Grid Overview

    2025 Formula 1 Grid Overview

    The 20-car grid for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season is officially set. It comes nearly two weeks after the conclusion of a competitive 2024 season that featured seven different competitors achieving at least one Grand Prix victory throughout the 24-race schedule, five teams finishing within 77 points of one another in the midfield region and a season-ending split celebration of the driver’s and constructor’s titles between two championship-winning teams.

    Within the 20-car grid for the 2025 season, three-tenths of the field will feature competitors who are set to embark on maiden full-time F1 campaigns. In addition, half of the entries will be occupied by new names as a bevy of familiar faces are set to embark on new beginnings with new teams to call home for next season. Lastly, all but two of the current 10 teams on the grid will feature at least one new name to their driver roster when a new season of racing commences.

    McLaren

    The team that currently reigns supreme among the remaining nine is the McLaren Formula 1 Team, which will retain its current driver lineup featuring Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for a second consecutive season. Dubbed the second-best organization in F1, the papaya-colored team capped off the 2024 season as the top organization on the grid as it achieved its ninth constructor’s championship by 14 points over Ferrari. The championship, which was a first for McLaren since 1998, comes amid career-best years for Norris and Piastri, both of whom notched multiple Grand Prix victories throughout the season and notched a combined 666 points despite Norris falling short of claiming the driver’s championship by 63 points.

    Norris, a native of Bristol, England, who is coming off his sixth consecutive season as a McLaren F1 competitor, notched his maiden four Grand Prix victories that commenced by winning at Miami in May before he proceeded to win at the Netherlands in August, Singapore in September and the season-finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December. He also recorded career-high stats in poles (eight), podiums (13), laps led (271), average-finishing result (4.3) and points (374). Meanwhile, teammate Piastri, a native of Melbourne, Australia, is coming off a second F1 campaign with McLaren as he notched his maiden two Grand Prix victories, where the first occurred at Hungary in July before he won at Azerbaijan nearly two months later. Piastri would also rack up eight podiums, an average-finishing result of 5.1, 292 points and a fourth-place result in the final driver’s standings.

    As for the future, Norris inked a multi-year contract extension with McLaren this past January while Piastri inked a multi-year contract extension in September 2023 that would keep him at the team through the 2026 season. Both enter the 2025 season with goals to defend McLaren’s constructor’s title and deliver the first driver’s championship for the team since 2008.

    Ferrari

    Despite ending up one points position shy of claiming a record 17th constructor’s title with a combined points tally of 652, the Scuderia Ferrari HP team scored a big silly season victory before the start of the 2024 season by acquiring seven-time champion Sir Lewis Hamilton to its driver roster for the 2025 season. Hamilton, a native of Stevenage, England, who initially signed a two-year contract extension to remain at the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team through the 2025 season in August 2023, ended up exercising a break clause in his contract by signing up for Ferrari on a multi-year basis this past February, which made the 2024 season his final campaign with Mercedes.

    Hamilton’s move to Ferrari will mark his maiden F1 campaign with a team that is not affiliated with Mercedes. This past season also marked Hamilton’s conclusion of a 12-year dynasty with Mercedes, a team where Hamilton won six of his record-tying seven driver’s championships and 84 of his current 105 Grand Prix race victories, including two in 2024 at Silverstone and Belgium. The pair of victories this past season also marked Hamilton’s first trips to the top of the podium since 2021. Amid the victories, he ended up in seventh place in the 2024 standings with 223 points, five podiums and an average-finishing result of 7.0.

    For the 2025 season, Hamilton, who continues his pursuit for a record eighth championship, will compete alongside new teammate Charles Leclerc, the latter of whom has been competing with the prancing horse organization since 2019 and inked a contract extension this past January to remain with the team beyond the 2024 season. This past season generated a strong season for Leclerc, a native of Monte Carlo who notched three Grand Prix victories (Monaco, Monza and Austin), a career-high 13 podiums and career-best average-finishing result of 4.5, which was enough to settle in third place in the driver’s standings with a career-high 356 points despite falling short of his maiden F1 title by 81 points. Both Hamilton and Leclerc will attempt to deliver the first driver’s and constructor’s titles for Ferrari since the 2007 and 2008 seasons, respectively, in 2025.

    Red Bull Racing

    The 2024 F1 season generated mixed results for Oracle Red Bull Racing, an organization that swept both the driver’s and constructor’s championships over the previous three seasons and had won all but one of the 22-race schedule in 2023. The good news for the organization was that Max Verstappen, a native of Hasselt, Belgium, managed to defend his series’ title for a fourth consecutive season as he also notched a season-high nine Grand Prix victories. Verstappen’s victories throughout this past season occurred at Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Japan, China, Italy’s Emilia Romagna, Canada, Spain, São Paulo and Qatar. Amid Verstappen’s fourth consecutive championship-winning season, the organization dropped to third place in the final constructor’s standings and was unable to reclaim the team title by 77 points.

    With a combined constructor points total of 589, 437 of the points were contributed by Verstappen, the latter of whom also notched a total of 14 podiums, while the remaining 152 were recorded by Sergio “Checo” Perez. Compared to his previous three seasons at Red Bull, Perez, a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, endured a difficult 2024 season where he went winless for the first time since 2019, finished on the podium four times and recorded an average-finishing result of 9.6, the latter category of which was his lowest since 2019. Perez settled in eighth place in the driver’s standings after being outscored by teammate Verstappen and after he struggling to keep pace to run up front for the majority of the season.

    Despite inking a two-year extension to remain at Red Bull this past June, Perez would depart the organization on December 18. Currently, Perez, who first competed in F1 in 2011 and is the winningest Mexican competitor in F1 with six through 281 career starts, remains uncertain of his racing plans for next season. A day after Perez’s exit, Red Bull announced the promotion of Liam Lawson to partner alongside Verstappen, the latter of whom is under contract with the team through 2028. Lawson, a native of Hastings, New Zealand, who spent the previous three seasons as a reserve driver for both Red Bull Racing and the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team, also spent the previous two making a total of 11 starts for the latter organization, where he has notched three ninth-place results. He will become the 13th competitor overall to compete in an F1 Grand Prix event while representing Red Bull as both he and Verstappen strive to return the team atop the standings in both the driver’s and constructor’s categories.

    Mercedes

    With the departure of Sir Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team has elevated newcomer Andrea Kimi Antonelli to pilot Hamilton’s Mercedes entry for the 2025 season. Antonelli, a former champion in Italian F4 and Formula Regional’s European and Middle East series from Bologna, Italy, spent this past season competing in Formula 2 for Prema Racing, where he notched two victories and finished in sixth place in the standings. Having first joined Mercedes’ Junior Team in 2019 upon winning multiple events and titles in karts, Antonelli also participated in his first pair of free practice sessions in F1 at Italy and Mexico City midway into the 2024 season in preparation for the 2025 season, where he is set to become the sixth competitor to compete for Mercedes since the brand returned as a constructor in 2010 and the first Italian Grand Prix competitor since Antonio Giovinazzi competed in 2021.

    For his maiden F1 campaign, Antonelli will compete alongside George Russell, a native of King’s Lynn, England, who first joined Mercedes in 2022 and whose contract with the Silver Arrows organization runs through the conclusion of the 2025 season. After achieving his maiden Grand Prix victory at São Paulo in late 2022 before going winless in 2023 along with the Mercedes team, Russell rebounded by notching two Grand Prix victories in 2024 (Austria in June and Las Vegas in November). To go along with four podiums, four poles, a career-best average-finishing result of 5.6 and a career-high 138 laps led, he settled in sixth place in this past season’s standings with 245 points. He also contributed to Mercedes settling in fourth place in last year’s constructor’s standings with 468 points overall as the organization strives to return atop the standings in both the driver’s and constructor’s regions since the early years of the 2020’s era.

    Aston Martin Aramco

    For a third consecutive season, the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team will retain its current driver roster that consists of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, both of whom notched a combined 94 points and contributed to the team settling in fifth place in the constructor’s standings for a second consecutive season.

    Alonso, a two-time F1 champion from Oviedo, Spain, is coming off his 21st season in competition, where he recorded an average-finishing result of 10.2, 70 points and settled in ninth place in the final standings. Despite recording zero podiums in 2024 compared to eight during his first season with Aston Martin in 2023 that was capped off with a fourth-place result in the driver’s standings, Alonso scratched his name off of the silly season picture by inking a multi-year contract extension with Aston Martin this past April that would keep him with the team through the 2026 season. Two months later, Stroll, a native of Montreal, Canada, who has been competing with the organization since 2019, inked a contract extension for himself to remain with the team through the 2026 season. Like teammate Alonso, Stroll is coming off a quiet 2024 campaign where he recorded an average-finishing result of 13.1 and 24 points, which relegated him to 13th place in the 2024 standings a year after ending up in 10th place.

    With Aston Martin recruiting Red Bull’s longtime global chief technical officer and designer Adrian Newey as its new managing technical partner, both Alonso and Stroll also continue to pursue the first championship between the driver’s and constructor’s categories for the team, which returned Aston Martin as a branded team in 2021 following a six decade-plus absence.

    Alpine

    After spending a majority of the 2024 season mired with mixed on-track results and multiple changes towards the team’s technical and management front while also hovering towards the bottom of the constructor’s standings, the BWT Alpine F1 Team rallied over the final four events on the schedule and capped off the season with momentum by muscling up to sixth place with 65 points achieved.

    The competitor who nailed the final set of points for Alpine to claim sixth place in the standings during the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was Pierre Gasly, who also managed to overtake Nico Hülkenberg for 10th place in the final driver’s standings by a single point. Gasly, a native of Rouen, France, who transitioned to Alpine from the Red Bull team in 2023, racked up an average-finishing result of 12.9 and he recorded 42 points. His lone highlight of the season was notching his fifth career podium during the São Paulo Grand Prix in November by finishing in third place and sharing the podium with his teammate and childhood rival Esteban Ocon. Like Gasly, Ocon’s lone highlight of the season was finishing in the runner-up position at São Paulo, which marked his fourth career podium result and first since finishing in third place during the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix. Amid Ocon’s podium, he only racked up 23 points and notched an average-finishing result of 13.7, which placed him in 14th place in the final driver’s standings.

    Compared to Gasly, Ocon, a native of Évreux, France, was not retained by Alpine for the 2025 season and he ended up being replaced by newcomer Jack Doohan during the finale in Abu Dhabi. Doohan, a native of Gold Coast, Australia, who spent the previous two seasons as Alpine’s reserve driver and notched six victories in Formula 2, is set to embark in his maiden campaign in F1 competition in 2025 as he will partner with Gasly, the latter of whom inked a multi-year contract extension this past June to remain at Alpine beyond 2025. Both Doohan and Gasly enter next season with equal attempts to deliver the first driver’s and constructor’s titles for Alpine, a team that was rebranded from Renault since 2021.

    Haas

    After plummeting to dead last in the 2023 constructor’s standings, the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team rallied by climbing three spots to seventh place in this year’s constructor’s standings and racking up its second-highest accumulated points to a season at 58 following a yearlong battle to nearly crack the top-six mark.

    The competitor who led the charge to Haas’ on-track success in 2024 was Nico Hülkenberg, who racked up 32 more points than his previous season at 41 and jumped five spots in the final driver’s standings to 11th place. The Emmerich am Rhein, Germany, native also recorded an average-finishing result of 11.6 and two season-best results of sixth-place runs in back-to-back Grand Prix events between Austria and Silverstone. Kevin Magnussen, Hülkenberg’s teammate from Roskilde, Denmark, who is coming off his sixth season as a Haas F1 competitor, managed to withstand a season where he was absent for two Grand Prix events (one for being suspended from Azerbaijan and another for being ill at Sao Paulo) to notch an average-finishing result of 13.4 and a total of 16 points, which was enough to climb up to 15th place in the standings and be four spots better from his previous season. Magnussen’s best result in 2024 was seventh, which occurred at Mexico City in late October.

    Amid a successful 2024 season, Hülkenberg and Magnussen have both parted ways with Haas as the former transitions to Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber while the latter joins BMW Motorsport to pilot a M Hybrid V8 entry in 2025. The competitors who will represent Haas for next season are Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon. Bearman, a native of Havering, England, is promoted to a maiden F1 campaign after he spent this past season competing in Formula 2 for Prema Racing and serving as a reserve competitor for both Haas and Ferrari, the latter of which he notched an impressive seventh place during the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix while substituting for Carlos Sainz. Meanwhile, Ocon joins Haas following a five-year campaign at Alpine.

    Visa Cash App Racing Bulls

    With a rebranded identity and a midseason swap of a veteran notable for the return of an eventual Red Bull-promoted driver, the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team, which is set to be labeled Racing Bulls in 2025, capped off the 2024 F1 season in eighth place in the constructor’s standings for a second consecutive season.

    The result comes with 46 points recorded as the organization spent the 2024 season flirting within the midfield section of the standings and challenging for sixth place in the constructor’s category. The competitor who led the team’s charge was Yuki Tsunoda, who nearly doubled his recorded points from his previous season at 30, notched a career-high nine top-10 results and claimed a new points result in the standings from 14th to 12th. Tsunoda, a native of Sagamihara, Japan, notched a season-best trio of seventh-place results in 2024, which occurred in Australia, Miami and São Paulo.

    Tsunoda spent the first 18 Grand Prixs competing alongside veteran Daniel Ricciardo, the latter of whom returned to the grid for seven events with Racing Bulls after initially losing his full-time seat at McLaren following the 2022 season. Ricciardo, an eight-time Grand Prix winner from Perth, Australia, who returned to the Red Bull team in 2023, spent the first 18-scheduled events recording three top-10 results and with goals of being promoted back up to Red Bull from Racing Bulls. After Ricciardo was released by the team following the Singapore Grand Prix and amid a difficult 2024 campaign where he struggled to keep pace with Tsunoda, Liam Lawson assumed Ricciardo’s seat at Racing Bulls as he campaigned in the remaining six events on the schedule. During the six-race stretch, he notched two ninth-place results, which was enough for him to be promoted to Red Bull over Tsunoda.

    In 2025, Visa Cash App Racing Bull’s lineup will consist of Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar, the latter of whom is Red Bull’s reserve competitor and is coming off a runner-up result in the final standings to the 2024 Formula 2 season while competing for Campos Racing. Next season is set to mark Hadjar’s maiden campaign in F1 competition as both he and Tsunoda strive to make Racing Bulls competitive alongside Red Bull and place the team to its first top-five result or higher in the constructor’s standings.

    Williams

    Coming off a strong 2023 season, the Williams Racing organization dropped two spots to ninth place in the 2024 final constructor’s standings amid a midseason swap of competitors and a final combined points tally of 17. Like the previous two seasons, the team’s front-runner was Alexander Albon, a Thailand competitor who settled in 16th place in the final driver’s standings in a season mired with only 12 recorded points and an average-finishing result of 14.5. Albon, who is coming off his third consecutive season driving for Williams, also recorded the team’s best finish of the season in seventh place, which occurred during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in September.

    Logan Sargeant, the team’s second competitor from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, spent 14 of the first 15-scheduled events competing as a Williams competitor, where he racked up a season-best 11th-place result at Silverstone Circuit in July. Sargeant was then replaced by Franco Colapinto, a Formula 2 competitor for MP Motorsport and a Williams Driver Academy competitor from Pilar, Argentina, prior to September and for the remaining nine-scheduled events. The change for Colapinto occurred as Sargeant had racked up an average-finishing result of 17.1 with no points recorded and was involved in two accidents in Japan and the Netherlands that cost the team financially in damages. During his nine-race stint, Colapinto finished in the top 10 twice and notched a season-best eighth place on the track in Azerbaijan, which was enough to claim 19th place in the driver’s standings with five points.

    In 2025, the organization welcomes Carlos Sainz, a native of Madrid, Spain, who departed Ferrari after four seasons and despite recording his maiden four Grand Prix victories over the previous three seasons, including two this season at Australia in March and at Mexico in October. The pair of victories were enough for Sainz to settle in fifth place in the 2024 driver’s standings with a career-best average-finishing result of 5.7 and career-high stats in points accumulated (290) and podiums (nine). Sainz is set to compete alongside Albon, the latter of whom inked a multi-year contract extension in May to remain at Williams through 2027, as both attempt to contend for the team’s first driver’s and constructor’s titles since 1997. Amid Sainz’s first entrance as a Williams competitor, Colapinto is left without an F1 ride for the 2025 season.

    Kick Sauber

    Rounding out the field is Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber that will feature a complete overhaul of its driver lineup in 2025. This past season, the team featured Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu as its drivers for a third consecutive season. The team’s lone highlight was notching four points during the Qatar Grand Prix that was made by Guanyu, who finished in eighth place. The points accumulated by Guanyu were enough for the Shanghai native to climb up to 20th place in the final driver’s standings. Meanwhile, Bottas, who first joined Kick Saber in 2022 following a seven-year campaign at Mercedes, concluded a season with no points for the first time in his F1 career. With a career-low average-finishing result of 15.8 and finishing no higher than 11th, which occurred at Qatar, Bottas settled in 22nd place in the 2024 driver’s standings.

    In 2025, the team’s driver lineup will consist of Nico Hülkenberg, who departed Haas after two seasons, and Gabriel Bortoleto, the latter of whom achieved both the 2024 Formula 2 championship and the 2023 Formula 3 championship. While Bottas returns to Mercedes as a reserve competitor, Gyanyu is left with uncertainties for next season.

    Like the previous season, the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship season will feature 24 Grand Prix events that span across 21 countries and five continents in 10 months. The 2025 season commences with the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia, that will occur on March 16.

  • Yuki Tsunoda retained by AlphaTauri for 2023 F1 season

    Yuki Tsunoda retained by AlphaTauri for 2023 F1 season

    Scuderia AlphaTauri announced that Yuki Tsunoda will be remaining with the organization and compete in a third Formula One season in 2023.

    The 22-year-old Tsunoda from Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan, is currently campaigning in his second full-time season in F1 competition with the Faenza-based organization. Through 16 of 22-scheduled events, he has achieved three top-10 points-paying results, including a season-high seventh-place result at Imola Circuit for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in April, and has accumulated 11 points as he sits in 16th place in the drivers’ standings.

    “I want to say a huge thank you to Red Bull, Honda and Scuderia AlphaTauri for continuing to give me the opportunity to drive in F1,” Tsunoda said. “Having moved to Italy last year, to be closer to the factory, I really feel part of the team and am glad that I get to carry on racing with them in 2023. Of course, our 2022 season isn’t over yet and we’re still pushing hard in the midfield battle, so I’m fully focused on finishing it on a high and then we will look forward to next year.”

    Tsunoda, a graduate of the Red Bull Junior Team, made his inaugural presence in F1 at the start of the 2021 season, where he replaced Daniil Kvyat and competed alongside Pierre Gasly for AlphaTauri. In his maiden F1 event during the Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, Tsunoda collected his first two points in F1 after finishing ninth. He went on to achieve six additional top-10 results during the remaining 21-scheduled events, including his career-best result of fourth place during the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit, before finishing in 14th place in the drivers’ standings with a total of 32 points. The points he and teammate Gasly (110) earned were enough to place AlphaTauri in sixth place in the final constructors’ standings with the team achieving its highest-combined points of 142.

    Prior to his debut in F1, Tsunoda, whose racing career commenced with karts, competed in the 2020 Formula 2 Championship season with Carlin, where he earned three victories, seven podiums and a third-place result in the final standings with 200 points. He also claimed his first Formula 3 victory at Autodromo Nazionale Monza while driving for Jenzer Motorsport in September 2019 and the 2018 F4 Japanese Championship title with the Honda Formula Dream Project.

    “As we’ve seen since he joined us last year, Yuki is a very talented driver and has improved a lot this season,” Franz Tost, Team Principal of AlphaTauri, added. “The pace he has shown recently is clear evidence of a steep learning curve, which proves he deserves a seat in F1, and I still expect some strong results from him in the last six races of 2022. As I always say, a driver needs at least three years to fully get to grips with Formula 1, so I’m pleased he’s been given the time to show his full potential. In addition, it’s a testament to Dr. [Helmut] Marko and his driver programme that we’re able to bring these young talents up from the junior categories and develop them. I’d like to join Yuki in thanking Red Bull, AlphaTauri as well as Honda, for their continuous support and for allowing him to stay with us for another year.”

    Tsunoda is slated to compete alongside Gasly at AlphaTauri for the 2023 season, though Gasly’s future with the organization remains unknown as he is rumored to replace Fernando Alonso at the BWT Alpine F1 Team for the upcoming season. AlphaTauri’s official confirmation of its two-driver lineup for 2023 have yet to be announced.

    With his racing plans for 2023 set, Tsunoda’s 2022 season will next continue at Marina Bay Street Circuit for the return of the Singapore Grand Prix on October 2.

  • Formula One 2021-22 Silly Season Update

    Formula One 2021-22 Silly Season Update

    Thirteen races down and nine remain to a competitive 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship season highlighted with a new financial regulation and budget cap for every team, aerodynamic and technical changes to the current F1 cars, sporting regulations, race weekend and on-track activity changes, calendar and circuit changes amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a series of on- and off-track, competitive exchanges between two organizations (Mercedes and Red Bull) vying to emerge as champions of 2021.  

    Mixed into the competitive 2021 season are a series of changes pinpointing a number of drivers and teams prior to the 2022 F1 season, with nearly all of the 20 seats on the grid being filled and a majority having guaranteed spots to remain with their current organizations while others are bound to move to a new home for the new season. 

    Here is a rundown of each team and their driver lineup for next season:

    For the first time since 2017, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, which entered this season as the reigning championship-winning team and currently leads this year’s constructors’ standings, will feature a new competitor to its two-car roster. That competitor is George Russell, who was named a Mercedes F1 driver for the 2022 season on September 7. Russell, a native from King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England, is currently competing in his third racing season with Williams Racing. Despite being mired back in 15th place in the drivers’ standings, he achieved his maiden podium result after qualifying and finishing second in the rain-shortened Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in late August. Russell will be a teammate to Sir Lewis Hamilton, the reigning seven-time F1 champion who has won four Grand Prix events this season and is runner-up in the current drivers’ standings. Hamilton, meanwhile, signed a two-year contract extension in early July to remain with Mercedes, a deal spanning to 2023, as he continues to his pursuit for a record-setting eighth Formula One title and 100 Grand Prix victories.

    Russell’s transition to Mercedes means that he will be replacing Valtteri Bottas, a native from Nastola, Finland, who has been competing with the silver arrow team since 2017 and has achieved nine career wins in F1. While he has yet to achieve his first Grand Prix victory of 2021, Bottas is up in third place in the drivers’ standings. The Finnish competitor, though, revealed on September 6 that he will be joining Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen on a multi-year basis, beginning in 2022. Bottas will be replacing Kimi Räikkönen, the 2007 F1 champion who announced his intention to retire from the sport on September 1. Alfa Romeo has yet to announce its full two-car driver lineup for next season, with the status of Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo’s current second competitor and a third-year F1 driver from Martina, Italy, unconfirmed. 

    Like Mercedes, the Williams Racing team will feature a new competitor to its organization next season. That competitor is Alexander Albon, a former Red Bull Racing competitor who has competed under the Thai flag, as announced on September 8. Albon made his Formula One debut in 2019 while driving for Toro Rosso, now know as AlphaTauri. Midway into the season, he replaced Pierre Gasly to drive for Red Bull and continued to drive for the team through 2020, where he earned two podium results, before being demoted to the role of reserve and development for Red Bull this season. Albon will be a teammate to Nicholas Latifi, a native from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, who is in his second full-time season in F1 and will remain with Williams for the 2022 season. Latifi is currently in 16th place in the drivers’ standings, one spot behind his current teammate, George Russell, while the Williams team is up in eighth place in the constructors’ standings following four top-10 points-paying results.

    Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing Honda, which is runner-up in the constructors’ standings behind Mercedes, will be retaining its two-driver lineup for the 2022 season. Max Verstappen, the current championship leader who has won seven Grand Prix races this season, including the recent Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort, is guaranteed to be with the team through 2023 while Sergio “Checo” Perez, an 11-year racing veteran who won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June, signed a one-year contract extension on August 27 to remain as a Red Bull competitor for another season. Perez is ranked in fifth place in the drivers’ standings.

    Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda, a sister team to Red Bull Racing, will also feature the return of Pierre Gasly and rookie Yuki Tsunoda as the team’s two drivers for 2022, which was confirmed on September 7. Gasly, winner of the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, has achieved a podium result at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June along with 12 top-10 points-paying results while Tsunoda, the 2018 F4 Japanese champion, a three-time Formula 2 winner and a newcomer to Formula One this season, has finished in the top-10 five times. Gasly is currently in eighth place in the drivers’ standings, five spots ahead of teammate Tsunoda, while AlphaTauri is ranked in sixth place in the constructors’ standings.

    Like the two Red Bull organizations, Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow, which is ranked in third place in the constructors’ standings, will feature no changes to its driver lineup for next season. Charles Leclerc, who has won his maiden two Grand Prix races since joining the historic organization in 2019 and is placed in sixth in the current drivers’ standings, is under contract with Ferrari through 2024 while Carlos Sainz Jr., the newest member of the organization who has achieved four podium results since 2019, is scheduled to retain his Ferrari seat for 2022. Sainz, currently, is a spot behind teammate Leclerc in the standings.

    Another team that will feature no changes to its driver lineup is the McLaren F1 Team, which is ranked in fourth place in the constructors’ standings. Lando Norris, who has achieved four podium results since 2020 and is in fourth place in the drivers’ standings, inked a fresh multi-year contract in May to remain as a McLaren F1 competitor for 2022 and beyond while Daniel Ricciardo, the team’s newest competitor and a seven-time Grand Prix winner, is slated to remain with the organization on a multi-year basis. Ricciardo is ranked in ninth place in the drivers’ standings, five spots behind his teammate, with nine top-10 results.

    Coming off their recent on-track successes, the Alpine F1 Team, which rebranded from Renault and is in fifth place in the constructors’ standings, will also feature no changes to its lineup for the 2022 season. Esteban Ocon, who won his maiden Grand Prix event in Hungary in early August and is 11th in the drivers’ standings, signed a contract extension in mid-June to remain with Alpine through 2024 while Fernando Alonso, a two-time F1 champion who returned to full-time competition following a two-year break, confirmed in late August that he will return to compete with Alpine next season. Alonso is currently a position ahead of teammate Ocon in the standings.

    Despite enduring an up-and-down season, the Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team, which rebranded from Racing Point and is placed in seventh in the constructors’ standings, is expected to retain Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll as the team’s two drivers for next season. Vettel, a four-time Formula One champion who achieved his first podium result with the team at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June, is in 12th place in the drivers’ standings, two spots ahead of teammate Stroll, who has achieved six top-10 points-paying results.

    Finally, the Uralkali Haas F1 Team, which sits in the bottom of the constructors’ standings and has yet to score a single point through 13 scheduled Grand Prix events, is also expected to retain its two-driver lineup for the 2022 season. Mick Schumacher, an F1 newcomer and the reigning Formula 2 champion who is the son of seven-time F1 champion, Michael Schumacher, is in a tie at the bottom of the drivers’ standings with his rookie teammate Nikita Mazepin, who finished in fifth place in the 2020 F2 standings with two victories and is the son of Dmitry Mazepin, a Russian businessman who is also the chairman and core shareholder of Uralchem Integrated Chemicals Company.

    With the 2022 Formula One full driver-team lineup yet to be determined, the 2021 F1 season is scheduled to resume at Monza Circuit for the Italian Grand Prix on September 12 followed by Sochi Autodrom for the Russian Grand Prix on September 26.

  • Verstappen wins the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, secures first F1 victory of 2021

    Verstappen wins the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, secures first F1 victory of 2021

    Following his loss to Sir Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain, Max Verstappen responded back with vengeance after winning an eventful Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola Circuit for his first Grand Prix victory of the season and the 11th of his Formula One career.

    The 23-year-old Verstappen, who started in third place, wasted no time carving his way to the front at the start of the event, where he went on to dominate, leading all but two of the 63-scheduled laps, and claim the checkered flag by 22 seconds over Hamilton, as he and Red Bull Racing continued to display their early strengths for this year’s championship. 

    Verstappen also survived an event that was highlighted with wet, slick conditions and a high-speed crash involving Valtteri Bottas and George Russell past the midway section of the event.

    “It was very tricky conditions out there,” Verstappen said. “But, I think we managed it well. It was important to get that good start after [the] line, so very pleased with that. Very, very tricky out there. To make the right call, to go from intermediates to slick tires…It just shows you that it’s so tricky out there with cold tires, even in the wet, it’s super easy to make a mistake with these cars. Overall, we did a good job. Very pleased with that. It’s very close [with Hamilton], but it’s exciting like that.”

    Hamilton, who started the day on pole position for the 99th time in his career, endured a wild moment on Lap 31 when he locked up his tires and went off the course in the gravel at Tosa (Turn 7), where he also made light contact with the wall. Despite the incident and being pinned a lap behind, the reigning seven-time Formula One champion made a miraculous comeback in the second half to charge all the way up into second place behind Verstappen.

    With his runner-up result and by setting the fastest lap of the event, Hamilton retained the lead in the drivers’ championship standings by a point over Verstappen. 

    “Considering I was facing the barrier at one stage, a lap down, etc., it was a difficult day in that regard,” Hamilton said. “Max did a fantastic today. Congratulations to him. I had some really good pace in the rain and was catching, but just a little bit impatient with the back markers and caught me out. I’m unhuman, these mistakes happen. I’m grateful that I was back in the race and I could hunt down and get back to second…We got a great battle on our hands. Game on.”

    Unlike Hamilton, teammate Valtteri Bottas was left disappointed and strapped with a DNF following his on-track accident with Williams driver George Russel, where both competitors collided at over 200 mph entering Tamburello (Turns 2 and 3) before colliding into the barriers and coming to rest with destroyed race cars. Both competitors emerged uninjured, but upset at one another over the incident. As a result of the crash, the race went under an extensive red flag period before continuing.

    Behind Verstappen and Hamilton, Lando Norris emerged as a victor after the 20-year-old native from Bristol, England, started seventh and finished in third place and secured the first podium result for himself and for the McLaren F1 Team. The podium result was Norris’ first since the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix as he was also named Driver of the Day.

    “For myself, to repay the favor for the team, but most importantly do myself proud, I feel like I’ve accomplished something,” Norris said. “I feel like I gave it everything and we did the best we could. Definitely, we did that today. I tried hanging on for P2 at the end. Lewis was definitely too quick than us, but I’m definitely a happier guy than what I was yesterday, but just rightly so.”

    Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz came home in fourth and fifth followed by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. 

    Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly and Kimi Räikkönen finished seventh, eighth and ninth followed by Esteban Ocon, who recorded the first point of the season for the Alpine F1 Team.

    Fernando Alonso finished 11th followed by Sergio “Checo” Perez, who started on the front row but was penalized 10 seconds for overtaking the safety car under caution and spun late.

    Rookie Yuki Tsunoda, who started at the rear of the field after wrecking during qualifying session a day earlier, finished 13th after he spun on Lap 35.

    Antonio Giovinazzi finished 14th while Sebastian Vettel, making his second start with the Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team, settled in 15th after retiring in the final laps due to a gearbox issue.

    Haas F1 drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin finished 16th and 17th, both two laps behind, following a difficult start, where Schumacher lost his front wing and slamming into the barriers while warming his tires and Mazepin was involved in an incident with Nicholas Latifi, who was trying to recover from a spin, past the opening lap in Turn 14.

    Latifi, who crashed into the wall, finished 20th, dead last, with a DNF.

    Results: 

    1. Max Verstappen, 25 points, 61 laps led

    2. Lewis Hamilton, 19 points, two laps led

    3. Lando Norris, 15 points

    4. Charles Leclerc, 12 points

    5. Carlos Sainz, 10 points

    6. Daniel Ricciardo, eight points

    7. Lance Stroll, six points

    8. Pierre Gasly, four points

    9. Kimi Räikkönen, two points

    10. Esteban Ocon, one point

    11. Fernando Alonso

    12. Sergio Perez

    13. Yuki Tsunoda

    14. Antonio Giovinazzi, +1 lap

    15. Sebastian Vettel, DNF

    16. Mick Schumacher, +2 laps

    17. Nikita Mazepin, +2 laps

    18. Valtteri Bottas, DNF

    19. George Russell, DNF

    20. Nicholas Latifi, DNF

    Hamilton continues to lead the drivers’ standings by a single point over Verstappen, with Norris trailing by 17 points, Leclerc by 24, Bottas by 28 and Sainz by 30. In addition, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team remains as the leader in the constructors’ standings by seven points over Red Bull Racing, 19 over McLaren and 26 over Ferrari.

    The next Formula One event on the 2021 schedule is Algarve International Circuit for the Portuguese Grand Prix on Sunday, May 2.

  • Hamilton prevails over Verstappen to win the Bahrain Grand Prix

    Hamilton prevails over Verstappen to win the Bahrain Grand Prix

    Sir Lewis Hamilton commenced the 2021 Formula One World Championship season in epic fashion by holding off a late challenge from Max Verstappen to win the 17th running of the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit.

    The reigning seven-time Formula One champion started on the front row alongside Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen, who won his fourth career pole position in F1 a day prior to the main event. Through the pit stops and the on-track battling, Hamilton and Verstappen took turns dominating the event over one another and the field. By Lap 40 of 56, though, Hamilton was out in front by more than eight seconds over Verstappen.

    On Lap 53, Verstappen, who was able to methodically decrease his deficit to Hamilton, drew himself alongside Hamilton’s Mercedes on the outside lane through Turn 3 and entering Turn 4. Though Verstappen was able to reassume the lead from Hamilton, he went wide and off the track during the process. In doing so, he had to relinquish the lead back to Hamilton to avoid a penalty.

    Despite keeping the pressure on Hamilton, the Dutchman was unable to gain another run to close back towards Hamilton, who had enough power to claim the checkered flag in first place by 0.745 seconds over Verstappen.

    The victory was Hamilton’s fifth at Bahrain and the 96th of his Formula One career as Hamilton begins his quest for a record-setting eighth F1 World championship. Hamilton also recorded his 75th victory with Mercedes and the 300th Grand Prix victory for a competitor from the United Kingdom. Prior to his victory at Bahrain, Hamilton established another record in the history books by surpassing Michael Schumacher’s record for the most laps led in F1 history with 5,126.

    “I’m so happy,” Hamilton said. “I really, really am absolutely over the moon just to see the response from the team, knowing how difficult today really was. It was so tough. For the first race, I was not expecting to be in that position, being able to keep up with [Verstappen] in the first stint. I was really grateful for that…We knew this weekend and through testing that we were gonna be on the back foot and there’s been a lot of worrying in the team, but we pulled it through…I knew [Verstappen] was catching me massively. I couldn’t do the laps he was doing and I guess in my mind, I was thinking, ‘OK, if I can just hold on to these tyres, make no mistakes, maybe just keep him at harm’s length out of my DRS, which wasn’t necessary in this case,’…it was so hard.”

    The runner-up result was one that left Verstappen with mixed emotions, disappointment in not winning the season-opening event but pleased and confident in challenging Hamilton and Mercedes for this year’s championship.

    “It is what it is,” Verstappen said. “I gave the position back and then, I tried again, but I didn’t have the tyres anymore. Of course, I had newer tyres, but as soon as you get within one and a half seconds, it also degrades very quickly and it’s super hard to follow with these cars, especially with how the wind was today. It was really not helping out of Turn 1, Turn 2 and all critical corners where you want to stay close. It was hurting even more. Of course, I’m disappointed about today, but last year, we would be super happy with a race like this. It also shows how much we have grown. It’s still a positive start to the season and it’s still a long season ahead. I see it as only seven points dropped, and we’ll try to do better next time.”

    Rounding out the podium in third place was Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, who trailed teammate and race winner Hamilton by more than 37 seconds to claim his 57th career podium result in F1 despite encountering a slow pit stop past the midway point of the event. Bottas also recorded the fastest lap of the event.

    McLaren’s Lando Norris finished in fourth place while Sergio “Checo” Perez, who started the race on pit lane after losing engine power during the formation lap, recovered to record a strong fifth-place result in his first start with Red Bull Racing. With his recovery and stellar drive back to the front, Perez was voted Driver of the Day.

    Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crossed the finish line in a decent sixth place followed by Daniel Ricciardo, who completed his first event with McLaren, and Carlos Sainz Jr., who completed his first event with Ferrari.

    Yuki Tsunoda, one of three newcomers in this year’s Formula One season, finished in ninth place driving for AlphaTauri while Lance Stroll completed the points-awarded results on the track in the top 10 by finishing 10th, thus recording a single point for the newly formed Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team.

    The first competitor to finish outside of the points in 11th place was Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen followed by teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, who finished a lap behind the leaders.

    Esteban Ocon settled in 13th place following an on-track incident with Sebastian Vettel on Lap 46, where Vettel, who had been overtaken by Ocon entering Turn 1, locked up his tires and ran into the rear of Ocon’s Alpine machine in Turn 1, sending both competitors around. Vettel finished in a disappointing 15th place in his first race with Aston Martin Racing and right behind Williams driver George Russell.

    Mick Schumacher, another newcomer in F1 this season driving for the Haas F1 Team, finished 16th after spinning early followed by Pierre Gasly, who damaged his front wing early in the race following contact with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and never recovered.

    Nicholas Latifi, the second Williams Racing competitor, settled in 18th place after retiring just shy of the finish due to a boosting system issue.

    In his return to F1 competition since retiring in 2018, Fernando Alonso, who had a decent run in the making with Alpine, retired in 19th place due to brake issues.

    Nikita Mazepin, the second Haas F1 competitor and the third F1 newcomer of this season, ended his race in 20th place and as the first retiree of the event after being involved in an opening lap wreck in Turn 3, where he slid sideways entering the turn while running at the rear of the field and made hard contact against the barriers, thus sustaining heavy damage to his Haas machine.

    Results:

    1. Lewis Hamilton, 27 laps led, 25 points

    2. Max Verstappen, 29 laps led, 18 points

    3. Valtteri Bottas, 16 points

    4. Lando Norris, 12 points

    5. Sergio Perez, 10 points

    6. Charles Leclerc, eight points

    7. Daniel Ricciardo, six points

    8. Carlos Sainz Jr., four points

    9. Yuki Tsunoda, two points

    10. Lance Stroll, one point

    11. Kimi Räikkönen

    12. Antonio Givinazzi, +1 lap

    13. Esteban Ocon, +1 lap

    14. George Russell, Williams Mercedes, +1 lap

    15. Sebastian Vettel, +1 lap

    16. Mick Schumacher, +1 lap

    17. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri Honda, DNF

    18. Nicholas Latifi, Williams Mercedes, DNF

    19. Fernando Alonso, Alpine Renault, DNF

    20. Nikita Mazepin, Haas Ferrari, DNF

    Following the first Grand Prix event of the 2021 season, Hamilton leads the drivers’ standings by seven points over Verstappen, nine over Bottas, 13 over Norris and 15 over Perez. In addition, Mercedes leads the constructors’ standings by 13 points over Red Bull Racing, 23 over McLaren and 29 over Ferrari.

    With the 2021 Formula One season underway, the next event on the schedule is Imola Circuit for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, April 18.

  • 2021 Formula One season preview

    2021 Formula One season preview

    With new names on the grid, new stakes on the line and a new start on the horizon for all teams, the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship season is hours away from commencing.

    Formula One is coming off one of its bizarre seasons to date, a season that was delayed until July and featuring a total of 17 Grand Prix events in 14 circuits due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With multiple Grand Prix events across several countries being canceled, the sport took on a new approach to the 2020 season by competing in familiar circuits like Silverstone Circuit and Bahrain International Circuit twice in two weekends while returning to historic circuits like Mugello Circuit and the Nürburgring. In the midst of a scrambling season, the highs and the lows experienced for every team and competitor during race weekends and the rivalry sparked between the teams both on and off the track, the sport was able to etch another season in the record books when the final checkered flag flew at Yas Marina Circuit in December.

    Now with 23 Grand Prix events slated on the 2021 schedule, featuring the return of many countries, the Formula One teams and competitors strive to display every amount of power, speed and competitiveness towards one another to win it all and complete the entire season as scheduled.

    With another pair of championships added to the team’s stable, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team enters the 2021 season with a continuous goal to extend their on-track dominance and leave their rivals in the dust for an eighth consecutive season. Having recorded the seventh drivers’ and constructors’ title for Mercedes, Sir Lewis Hamilton also made history on the track in 2020 by winning 11 Grand Prix events, becoming the all-time Grand Prix wins leader at 95 and tying Michael Schumacher for the most F1 championships in history with seven. While Hamilton sets his sights on winning his record-setting eighth F1 title in his 15th season in competition, teammate Valtteri Bottas, who won twice in 2020 and concluded the season in the runner-up position, aims to overtake Hamilton and leap into the spotlight with his first F1 title in his ninth season in competition. The 2021 F1 season will mark the fifth consecutive season where Hamilton and Bottas will represent Mercedes’ driver lineup as both fight with and against one another for the top spot on the grid and in the championship standings.

    After concluding the 2020 Formula One season as victors in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and as the championship runner-up in the constructors’ standings, Red Bull Racing Honda enters the 2021 season with a simple goal of dethroning Mercedes from their dominance and reclaim their glory as champions since 2013. Leading the way for the team is Max Verstappen, who won twice in 2020 and concluded the season in third place in the final standings. Entering his seventh season in F1, Verstappen will continue his ongoing pursuit to intimidate his fellow competitors and become the next F1 champion. New to the team for this upcoming season is veteran Sergio “Checo” Perez, who is coming off a career-best season in F1 competition where he claimed his maiden Formula One victory at Bahrain in December 2020 and became the first Mexican F1 winner in five decades. Having been released from Racing Point despite a productive 2020 season that nearly brought his racing career to a halt, Perez was picked up by Red Bull Racing, replacing Alexander Albon, and has been given an opportunity to extend his on-track momentum and become a potential championship contender in his 11th season in competition.

    Another team on the rise following a productive, consistent 2020 season is the McLaren F1 Team. With a third-place result in the constructors’ standings, their highest since 2012, McLaren aims to return as race winners for the first time since 2012 and as world champions since 1998. Returning for a third full-time season with the team and of his career is Lando Norris, who claimed his maiden podium result in the 2020 season-opening Austrian Grand Prix and went on to finish in ninth place in the drivers’ standings, though he strives to become the 20th competitor from the United Kingdom to win in Formula One this upcoming season. Like Red Bull Racing and a majority of teams on the grid, McLaren will feature a new face to its stable, this season being veteran Daniel Ricciardo, who spent the previous two seasons with Renault and recorded two podium results in 2020. Entering his 10th full-time season in Formula One, Ricciardo aims to return as a race winner for the first time since 2018.

    Coming off a season surrounded with controversy off the track but an abundant of success on the track, Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team, rebranded from Racing Point, aims to take the next step from their fourth-place result in the 2020 constructors’ standings by becoming a regular contender for victories and the overall title in years to come. After claiming two podium results and a career-best 11th-place result in the drivers’ standings in 2020, Lance Stroll returns for a fifth full-time season in Formula One as he strives to become the third Canadian competitor to win in Formula One. New to the team is Sebastian Vettel, four-time F1 champion who spent the previous six seasons with Ferrari. After finishing 13th in the drivers’ standings in 2020. Vettel, who enters his 14th full-time season in Formula One, looks to rejuvenate his career and return to the top of the competition since winning his last title in 2013.

    Next is the Alpine F1 Team, rebranded from Renault, a team that earned three podium results and concluded the 2020 season in fifth place in the constructors’ standings. Returning for a second full-time season with the team and fourth of his career is Esteban Ocon, who claimed his maiden podium result in the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix and finished in 12th place in the drivers’ standings, though he aims to become the 14th French competitor to win in Formula One. Joining Ocon as a teammate at Alpine this season is two-time champion Fernando Alonso. Regarded as one of the sport’s well-accomplished competitors, Alonso will also be making a triumphant return to the sport since retiring in 2018 and to Alpine, the team where he claimed his two Formula One championships in 2005 and 2006.

    Following their worst recorded season in nearly four decades that was highlighted with on-track issues with speed and capped off with a sixth-place result in the 2020 constructors’ standings, the Scuderia Mission Winnow Ferrari team enters the 2021 season with a return to the top of the competition being the central focus. Remaining at Ferrari for a third full-time season is Charles Leclerc, who won his first two F1 career races in 2019 but only recorded two podium results in 2020. With Leclerc returning, Ferrari welcomes Carlos Sainz Jr. to its stable for the 2021 season. A rising star in Formula One, Sainz enters his seventh full-time season in F1, having spent the previous six seasons competing for teams like Toro Rosso, Renault and McLaren, and will attempt to become the second competitor from Spain to win in Formula One.

    The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda team is coming off its first full-time season since being rebranded from Toro Rosso, where the team emerged victorious in the 2020 Italian Grand Prix and settled in seventh place in the final constructors’ standings. The competitor who recorded the team’s first victory since being rebranded was Pierre Gasly, who became the first French winner in Formula One in over two decades and notched a 10th-place result in the 2020 drivers’ standings. The 2021 season will mark Gasly’s fourth full-time season in the sport as he aims to repeat the on-track success he experienced the previous season. New to the team and in F1 for this season is Yuki Tsunoda, a 20-year-old native from Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan, who settled in third place in the 2020 Formula 2 standings while competing for Carlin and replaces Daniil Kvyat as a rookie Formula One competitor.

    Ending up in eighth place in the constructors’ standings last season and for a second consecutive season was the Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen team, which was rebranded from Sauber since 2019. Despite standing as a bottom mid-field team, Alfa Romeo is one of three teams retaining its driver lineup from the previous season for this upcoming season, featuring Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi. Räikkönen, the 2007 Formula One champion, will enter his 21st season in F1 competition in 2021 while Giovinazzi will be making his third full-time season start in Formula One.

    Compared to a majority of Formula One teams that will feature one change to a two-driver lineup, Uralkali Haas F1 Team will enter the 2021 F1 season with a completely new driver lineup with hopes of being competitive and becoming a top midfield team on the grid. Following a ninth-place result in the 2020 constructors’ standings, Haas dropped the hammer by releasing fellow competitors Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean. Replacing them for 2021 will be Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, both of whom will also be making their inaugural presence in Formula One. Schumacher, the son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher, is coming off a Formula 2 championship-winning season with Prema Racing while Mazepin, the son of Dmitry Mazepin, Chairman of Uralchem Integrated Chemicals Company, won two 2020 F2 races with Hitech Grand Prix before settling in fifth place in the final standings.

    After concluding the 2020 season with zero recorded points, the 2021 Formula One season will mark the first full-time season that Williams Racing will compete under Dorilton Capital and without founder/co-owner Frank Williams and deputy team principal Claire Williams. Despite a new ownership, the Williams team retains its driver lineup for the 2021 F1 season, featuring George Russell and Nicholas Latifi. This upcoming season will mark the third full-time season in F1 competition for both Russell and Latifi.

    With 10 teams and 20 competitors on the grid, the 2021 Formula One season is set to commence on Sunday, March 28, at Bahrain International Circuit for the 17th running of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

  • Yuki Tsunoda joins AlphaTauri for 2021 F1 season

    Yuki Tsunoda joins AlphaTauri for 2021 F1 season

    Scuderia AlphaTauri announced that Yuki Tsunoda from Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan, will be joining the organization for the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship season, where he will embark on his first full-time season in F1 competition and be a teammate to Pierre Gasly.

    The 20-year-old Tsunoda is a current member of the Red Bull Junior Team and the Honda Formula Dream Project. He is coming off his first full-time season in Formula 2, where he competed with Carlin and achieved two Feature Race wins, a Sprint Race victory, seven podium results and a third-place result in the Drivers’ standings with 200 points, which was enough for him to earn a Formula One Super License.

    “Like most racing drivers, it has always been my goal to race in Formula 1, so I am very happy with this news,” Tsunoda said. “I want to thank Scuderia AlphaTauri, Red Bull and Dr. [Helmut] Marko for giving me this opportunity, and of course everyone from Honda, for all their support so far in my career, giving me great opportunities to race in Europe. I must also thank the teams that I have raced with to get to this point, particularly Carlin, with whom I have learned so much this year. I realise that I will be carrying the hopes of a lot of Japanese F1 fans next year and I will be doing my best for them too.”

    Starting off his racing career in karting, Tsunoda made his first two career stats in the F4 Japanese Championship season with Sutekina Racing Team in 2016. A year later, he returned for a full-time season in the series with the Honda Formula Dream Project, where he won his first three races and finished in third place in the final standings. He went on to capture the 2018 F4 Japanese Championship in a season where he won seven races.

    The following season, Tsunoda, who became a member of the Red Bull Junior Team along with the Honda Formula Dream Project, moved to Europe and competed in the inaugural FIA Formula 3 Championship season with Jenzer Motorsport, where he captured his first career victory at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza and finished in ninth place in the final standings. He went on to compete in the 2020 Toyota Racing Series with M2 Competition and in F2 with Carlin.

    In early November, Tsunoda ran his first test session in Formula One and in a 2018-spec AlphaTauri at Imola, where he covered 352 km and earned a Friday super license. He recently participated in the Young Driver Test with AlphaTauri at Abu Dhabi following the 2020 Formula One season, where the official announcement of him joining the team was made shortly after.

    “Red Bull has been following Yuki’s career for a while now and I am sure he will be a great asset to our team,” Franz Tost, Team Principal of AlphaTauri, said. “Watching him in Formula 2 this year, he has demonstrated the right mix of racing aggression and good technical understanding. During the test in Imola in November when he drove our 2018 car, his lap times were very consistent over a race simulation, he progressed throughout the day and gave our engineers useful feedback. In addition, his integration with the Honda engineers has been seamless, which certainly helps. At the test in Abu Dhabi this week, he proved to be a fast learner and that he is ready to make the step to Formula One.”

    Tsunoda’s entrance to Formula One means that he is set to become the 18th competitor from Japan to compete in Formula One, first since Kamui Kobayashi in 2014, along with the first competitor born in the 2000s to do so. His move also completes AlphaTauri’s two-driver lineup for the 2021 F1 season, with Pierre Gasly, winner of the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, returning for a fourth full-time campaign.

    This means that Daniil Kvyat, AlphaTauri’s second competitor, enters the 2021 season as a free agent. The 26-year-old Kvyat from Ufa, Russia, is coming off his sixth season in F1, where he earned seven top-10 results and finished in 14th place in the 2020 Drivers’ standings.

    Tsunoda is set to make his Formula One debut in the 2021 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit on March 21.