GP Racing UK April 2021

Finally! After seven long years, Red Bull looks like a potential champion again. Everything has seemingly come together with the RB16B – the car looks consistent and predictable, and Honda’s heavily updated engine looks leaner and meaner than ever. Of course, this is not the first time in the hybrid era a rival has put Mercedes under pressure, but never has Mercedes looked genuinely behind at the first race. In fact, this was the first occasion since 2013 that Lewis Hamilton hasn’t qualified on pole for race one… Mercedes admits Red Bull has a significant performance advantage right now, and Max Verstappen is champing at the bit. Only an amazing drive by Hamilton, allied to Max misjudging the move that should have sealed the victory for Red Bull, prevented a Mercedes defeat…

DAMIEN SMITH Our former editor-in-chief has penned another fantastic team history and this time it's Lotus in the spotlight. Part 1 starts on page 68 LUKE SMITH Just who Is Yuki Tsunoda? Luke gives us the lowdown on the young driver that AlphaTauri is expecting a lot from in 2021 (p64) MARK GALLAGHER Mark analyses the background to Lewis Hamilton's contract (p54) and delivers a personal tribute to Murray Walker (p32) STUART CODLING Codders interrogates Daniel Ricciardo on his move to McLaren (p40) and George Russell on what he has to achieve this season (p58)…

Glimmers of a return to form Formula 1 needs Ferrari to be strong, so a small but significant wave of relief washed over the paddock when Charles Leclerc and new recruit Carlos Sainz appeared to demonstrate that Maranello has found something. If you only tuned in for qualifying and Sunday’s race you might have been a little underwhelmed by Sainz, but until quali he’d been well up with Leclerc. This is him on his Q3 flyer where he couldn’t quite match his team-mate. By day, the Bahrain circuit can look a little flat, but the floodlights give you the opportunity to create interesting background effects if you slow the shutter speed down. Where Sakhir, Bahrain When 6.16pm, Saturday 27 March 2021 Details Canon EOS-1DX 70-200mm lens, 0.4s @ F10 Reflecting on a glorious triumph After pulling out a…

SPRINT RACES REOPEN BUDGET ARGUMENT 01 Controversial plans to experiment with a new format at three race weekends this year have hit another snag. Leading teams are now claiming any damage incurred during the 100km Saturday sprint races (to be evaluated at Silverstone, Monza and Interlagos) would threaten their ability to comply with the new budget cap. Financial pressures related to the Coronavirus pandemic prompted all competitors to agree last year not only to the principle of a budget cap – a notion many of them had previously fought against – but also to a lower figure than the $175million per year originally agreed. This season the cap for each team is $145million plus an additional allowance of $2.4m (the cap is based on there being 21 races, and 23 are on…

Q1 Max Verstappen has now started four F1 races from pole: Bahrain and which other three GPs has the Dutchman been the fastest qualifier? Q2 Which team won 33 world championship GPs during its 33 seasons in Formula 1? Q3 True or false: Martin Brundle was the last driver to score world championship points for Brabham? Q4 In which year did Ferrari finish 10th in the constructors’ championship, its worst ever finish? Q5 Which New Zealander had the most F1 pole positions to his name? Q6 In 2016 three drivers also made their F1 race debuts at the opening GP of the season. Who were the drivers concerned? Q7 Which current F1 circuit has had four different winners in each of the four GPs it has held? Q8 Who scored more points in their F1 career: Satoru…

JAPANESE HOPES PASS TO TSUNODA AlphaTauri’s new recruit, Yuki Tsunoda, has already achieved a new milestone in the list of achievements in Formula 1 by becoming the youngest Japanese driver to date. Hiroshi Fushida was the first driver from Japan to put his name in the F1 statistics book when he tried to qualify for the Dutch and British Grands Prix of 1975, but his Maki-Ford F101 simply wasn’t competitive enough to make the grade. So three drivers shared the honour of becoming the first official Japanese grand prix racers at Fuji in the nation’s first world championship event in 1976. While James Hunt battled his way through the rain to earn the title, notable achievements were made by home racers. Kazuyoshi Hoshino was the first to run in the top three…