Autosport

Two of motorsport’s true classics provided plenty of drama last weekend, albeit very different kinds, and two brilliant winners. For perhaps the first time this year, Max Verstappen and Red Bull faced a strong challenge from another team. Ferrari wasn’t as quick as hoped around Monaco, but Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin were. With one sector to go of his final qualifying lap, Verstappen looked vulnerable, but a superb, wall-skimming run through the tight final corners denied Alonso pole by 0.084 seconds. As Jake Boxall-Legge shows on page 16, Verstappen never really looked like losing, but Alonso and the tricky late conditions made the Dutchman work harder than he’s been used to in the RB19. With one of Red Bull’s trickiest weekends out of the way, the possiblity of the team winning…

LE MANS 24 HOURS A vision for all cars competing for overall victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours to be fuelled by hydrogen has been outlined by race organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest. Club president Pierre Fillon wants it to happen by 2030, he told the world last weekend. Fillon outlined a road map to introduce the alternative fuel at Le Mans and in the World Endurance Championship between 2026 and the start of the new decade during an appearance in Japan ahead of the Fuji 24 Hours in which Toyota competed with a hydrogen-powered Corolla. He made two key announcements on the new hydrogen class the ACO has been planning since 2018. The introduction of a category, which is intended to create machinery capable of winning overall from the outset,…

FORMULA 1 Lewis Hamilton has been joined by his Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff and Ferrari Formula 1 chief Fred Vasseur in rubbishing claims that the seven-time world champion has ever been in advanced talks to sign with the Italian squad for 2024. Hamilton’s current Silver Arrows contract is due to expire at the end of this season. In lieu of headlines from a cancelled Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, spurious stories emerged that Hamilton was weighing up an offer from Maranello. That’s despite him saying a new Mercedes deal was imminent and that he wanted to emulate Sir Stirling Moss by staying on as a marque ambassador until his dying day. Vasseur quashed any rumours by saying: “We are not sending an offer to Lewis Hamilton. We didn’t do it. We didn’t have…

FORMULA 1 There are no plans to sell the AlphaTauri Formula 1 team, but its presence in the UK is to be expanded. Helmut Marko, motorsport advisor to team owner Red Bull, has finally shut down speculation and explained that the Faenza base will remain the main hub of the operation while the stature of its Bicester outpost, home to the aerodynamic division, will increase. “The decision has been made,” said the Austrian. “AlphaTauri will remain fully owned by Red Bull and will continue to be run as a junior team. The cooperation with Red Bull Racing will be closer, also in terms of cost cap and synergies.” Rumours concerning the future of the team, with a possible buyout seen as an easier way for a new entrant such as Andretti to enter…

FORMULA 1 Williams boss James Vowles reckons that the team’s championship-winning legacy and the deep pockets of its owner will attract high-calibre recruits as it is rebuilt “from the foundations”. With the Grove squad tethered to the bottom end of the standings since 2018, former Mercedes chief strategist Vowles has been tasked with populating its depleted technical department as part of a “ground-up” development plan. “[We’re] clear on where we’re going,” said Vowles (right). “We’re in a good state in terms of getting what we need in terms of technical structure in place. There’s reorganisation going on all the time behind the scenes and pressure points really trying to squeeze the team and understand where we have strengths and weaknesses.” Thanks to the funds of American investment firm Dorilton Capital, which bought Williams…

FORMULA 1 Red Bull would never have created its own Formula 1 engine programme had its management known that Honda would return to the championship in time for the new power unit regulations coming into effect for 2026. This claim from team principal Christian Horner follows news that Honda will return as a works supplier to Aston Martin, reversing its decision that F1 is no longer incompatible with a push to electrify its road car range. The Japanese manufacturer quit F1 at the end of 2020, just in time to watch its rebadged engines propel Max Verstappen to back-to-back drivers’ titles and help Red Bull to the 2022 constructors’ crown. The split also prompted the team to create its own Powertrains division, which helped absorb staff who would otherwise have been lost…