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[ad_1] SYDNEY: Rookie McLaren driver Oscar Piastri Sunday said he believed he could beat new teammate Lando Norris in his maiden Formula One season, but admitted a steep learning curve awaited him. The 21-year-old, seen as one of the sport's hottest young talents, will make his bow in Bahrain testing this month after replacing fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo , who has returned to Red Bull as a reserve driver. Piastri said he had confidence in his ability to better Britain's Norris, but was also realistic about expectations. Asked if he could beat Norris, Piastri told Australian national broadcaster ABC: "Yeah, I think so. "I think everyone has to have that self-belief that they can win, or if they're not in a position to win to do the best that they can with what they have." But the Australian said his main focus in 2023 was to set the foundations for a long F1 career. "Putting (points and wins) numbers on my expectations is pretty diff

[ad_1] MELBOURNE: A fourth DRS zone will ensure the fastest Australian Grand Prix ever at Albert Park with cars reaching speeds of up 340kph (211mph), race boss Andrew Westacott said. The decision to add another DRS section was among a raft of regulatory changes made by the Formula 1 Commission late Tuesday ahead of the new season which gets under way with testing at Bahrain this week. A fourth DRS zone – the most at any Grand Prix – was implemented at Melbourne after a circuit revamp last year, but removed before the race on safety grounds after concern from some drivers. DRS, which stands for drag reduction system, was first introduced in 2011, with drivers able to open a flap mounted on the rear wing to increase top speed and aid overtaking manoeuvres on parts of the track. But it has now been reinstalled, pushing racing at the circuit, which will host the third Grand Prix of the season, to new levels. "It will be the fastest we've ever had," Australian Gr

[ad_1] MONACO: Lewis Hamilton said he was "really happy" with the Mercedes upgrades package that improved his car and helped him finish fourth ahead of team-mate George Russell in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix. "I'm really happy - we've moved forwards," said the seven-time world champion. "Coming into this weekend, I didn't know where we would stand so to take fourth and fifth is good points for the team - a huge thank you to everyone at the factory for the upgrades on our car." Referring to the conditions in a challenging race in changing conditions, he added: "We kept it in one piece, we brought it home. We beat the Ferraris and we really got some great points as a team. "And now we go to Barcelona which is the best circuit for us. It was difficult to know here - the car felt stiff, there are a lot of bumps and it's tricky, but I noticed one particular part of the car that was better, but I don't know how that

[ad_1] MEXICO CITY: A surprised Charles Leclerc admitted he did not expect his success on Saturday after he secured pole position ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz as Ferrari locked out the front row for Sunday's Mexico Grand Prix. In a chaotic and confusing qualifying session that seemed set to see Max Verstappen on pole again, Ferrari emerged in Q3 with a surge of pace that surprised almost everyone. The Monegasque clocked a best lap in one minute and 17.166 seconds to beat the Spaniard by 0.067 seconds, leaving newly-crowned three-time world champion Verstappen third for Red Bull. "It's two weekends in a row where we say that we don't know if we have the pace," said Leclerc. "People will start not believing us anymore! To be honest, I did not expect to be on pole today -- I thought we were lucky after FP3. "But once we put everything together it all went well. The new tyres gained a lot, but I am already focusing on tomorrow's race. We

[ad_1] LONDON: Sauber-run Alfa Romeo, which will race as the Audi Formula One team from 2026, announced the return of James Key as technical director on Wednesday. The Briton, who left McLaren in March and was technical director at Sauber from 2010-12, will start at Hinwil on Sept. 1 as replacement for Jan Monchaux. The move reunites Key with former McLaren principal Andreas Seidl, now the Sauber Group chief executive heading up the transition to Audi. Seidl said Key's appointment was a "crucial step" in the process. "He has an outstanding amount of experience in the sport, not just as technical director, but also in various other roles within the technical organisation of a team," he said. "He will lead the transformation process of the technical side of the team, giving us the tools and direction we need to tackle the future." Key left McLaren in a restructuring after the former champions failed to score a point in the first two races of

[ad_1] MIAMI: The Miami Grand Prix is considering a switch to becoming a night race, Tom Garfinkel, the event's managing partner, said on Sunday. Garfinkel said that talks were ongoing with Formula One management about options for the future and said a night race was one item on the agenda. "We've had some discussions about potentially doing that," Garfinkel told reporters on Sunday. Sunday's race, won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen , was the second Grand Prix held in Miami, with the event taking place around Hard Rock Stadium, home to the NFL's Miami Dolphins. Garfinkel, who is also president and chief executive of the Dolphins, indicated that the intense heat of last year had contributed to the idea. "Obviously at this time of year, the weather is a little unpredictable," he said. "This year is pretty nice and the breezes have helped a lot, but last year was unseasonably hot." Moving the race to the night would, however,

[ad_1] SILVERSTONE: Sergio Perez shrugged off mounting speculation about his future with Red Bull on Sunday after finishing a battling sixth at the British Grand Prix. After starting 15th on the grid following another qualifying flop – it was the fifth consecutive event at which he failed to progress to the top-10 shootout – he experienced a scrappy race. But he remained feisty and confident about his future despite reports that Red Bull are preparing to replace him. "In F1 in 13 years, I've seen it all," he said. "So, I am not worried about any of that. I'm mainly focused about getting my season back on track and making sure I keep enjoying this. "I have full support from Helmut (Marko) and Christian (Horner). The whole team is fully supporting me, they know what I can do, they know my potential, and they are fully behind me." Following Sunday's race, won by his team-mate and defending double world champion Max Verstappen , Perez rema

[ad_1] SPIELBERG BEI KNITTELFELD: Defending champion Max Verstappen continued his relentless charge towards a third world title on Sunday when he claimed a record fourth Austrian Grand Prix victory in emphatic style. The 25-year-old Dutchman finished 5.155 seconds clear of a revived Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, in second, with Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez , showing revitalised form, taking a battling third after starting 15th on the grid. It was a race of attrition, punctuated by safety cars and influenced by a high number of drivers' receiving penalties for exceeding track limits. Several drivers served pit penalties during the race but after a stewards' investigation, eight received further late-night punishments including Carlos Sainz, demoted from fourth to sixth and Lewis Hamilton from seventh to eighth. During the race, Verstappen's unbroken run of laps led ended on 249, when he pitted. But it was only a pause in his serene progress to a fifth consecu

[ad_1] LOS ANGELES: The Daniel Ricciardo of old is back and with a spring in his step, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said on Friday amid talk of the Australian making a Formula One return with sister team AlphaTauri. Ricciardo, 33 and an eight-time grand prix winner with Red Bull and McLaren, is spending a year on the sidelines as Red Bull's reserve after losing his seat at McLaren to rookie compatriot Oscar Piastri. He said recently it would be a fairytale scenario to race for Red Bull again and has been linked to AlphaTauri as an eventual replacement for Dutch rookie Nyck de Vries, who has yet to score in eight races. Horner told reporters at the Austrian Grand Prix that it was still 'very early days' to talk about 2024 and it remained to be seen how Ricciardo got on in tyre testing at Silverstone next month. "When he first arrived (back at Red Bull) after Abu Dhabi last year, it was a little bit of a shock because we didn't really recognise hi