Motorsport News March 31, 2022

Briton Lewis Hamilton says it is impossible to fight for grand prix wins unless his Mercedes car is radically overhauled. The seven-time World title winner struggled in the SaudiArabian Grand Prix last weekend and could only manage 10th spot in a strategy-affected run. Team-mate George Russell secured fifth position, while Max Verstappen took his maiden win of 2022 after a tense battle with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Hamilton said that the Mercedes engineering brains needed to come up with a solution to unlock the pace from his W13 chassis. He also said that there could be several areas of the car that need beefing up to enable Merc to fight with Red Bull and Ferrari. Hamilton said: “We are down on speed and on the speed trace. I don’t know if that is just one…

There was a certain uneasy feeling surrounding the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah last weekend. And that was before the nearby missile attack on Friday, which caused late-night meetings and a genuine discussion about cancelling the race. The national media supposed that the reason the race was given the green light was due to the finances that underpin it, and, given grand prix racing’s track record (remember the Covid-hit Melbourne race in 2020, anyone?) that argument seems to carry water. It just added to the concerns. Firstly, the high-speed circuit is, perhaps, a step too far for Formula 1. Mick Schumacher’s accident on Saturday during qualifying highlighted just how dangerous the venue is. Given the focus on safety and all the measures that have been introduced into grand prix racing, it…

This could be quite a season. Two races down and it appears Charles Leclerc is going to be Max Verstappen’s biggest challenger for this year’s World title. After their duel in Bahrain, the former karting rivals put up another thrilling fight under the floodlights of Jeddah’s high-speed circuit on the corniche. The reigning World champion snatched victory from the Ferrari driver just three laps from the chequered flag. The pair had swapped positions a few laps before the winning move – and they had even tried to brake before each other going into the final corner in a bid to get the DRS activation. But it was Max who held on to clinch the 21st win of his career. “It wasn’t enough today, but I really enjoyed that race,” said Leclerc. “It’s…

Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes needs to find more grip and a more speed to be able to challenge at the front of the grand prix grid. While Hamilton’s teammate George Russell finished in fifth spot in the SaudiArabian Grand Prix last weekend, the seven-time World champion was scuppered by a late-race safety car and finished in 10th spot. Hamilton is fifth in the drivers’points but is 31 points behind leader Charles Leclerc. Hamilton said: “Right now we are not fighting for the top step, we are still far off the guys who are ahead and we’ve got a lot of work to do. It feels like a long way away. “I think we will keep working hard and keep fighting because that’s all we can do.” Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has promised hard…

British rising star Oliver Bearman has said losing FIAFormula 3 debut victory at Bahrain 10 days ago was related to him and his team missing official track-limit communications. The 16-year-old Ferrari Driver Academy member, competing with Prema Racing, was first home in the season-opening sprint race, but he was quickly handed a five-second track-limits penalty that dropped him to second in the results. Bearman at the time expressed confusion at this, stating he was only aware of exceeding track limits once. However he told Motorsport News last week that he now understands his sanction. “I was doing track limits at Turn 4, I did it four times, not really knowingly, I think they were super stringent with it,” Bearman told MN. “I must have been centimetres over, nothing crazy, not taking the mick…

Nico Hulkenberg finished 12th in what it likely to be his final grand prix appearance of the season for Aston Martin. The German, the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours winner, was drafted into the team again in Jeddah last weekend as Sebastian Vettel had yet to return a negative Covid test. Hulkenberg, who finished 17th in Bahrain after a last-minute call up, will return to the sidelines as the four-time title-winner Vettel is expected to be fit to return to the cockpit in time for theAustralian Grand Prix onApril 10. Aston Martin has yet to register a point in this year’s constructors’ competition. Hulkenberg’s finish in SaudiArabia matched the team’s best performance from its four starts so far.…