Rumors confirmed as Otmar Szafnauer leaves Aston Martin
Aston Martin boss Otmar Szafnauer will be leaving the team following an announcement made on Wednesday.
January 2022
Speculation Wolff’s outrage in Saudi Arabian GP made Bose opt out of Mercedes partnership
Mercedes announced their 2022 title sponsors but big names such as Epson and Bose were missing.
Lando Norris confirms dating model Luisinha Oliveira
Lando Norris has confirmed his relationship with model girlfriend Luisinha Oliveira by posting the cutest Instagram to his millions of followers.
Ferrari celebrates 75th anniversary unveiling a special logo
The introduction of a special logo, as well as a movie featuring several of the legendary brand’s employees, is the first point of order to be dealt with as Ferrari celebrates their 75th anniversary in 2022.
Aston Martin claims 2020 Mercedes clone will help them in 2022
According to Aston Martin’s Chief Technical officer Andrew Green, their plan to basically clone the Mercedes car in 2020 will “certainly” aid the team in 2022.
McLaren fears on Norris move to Mercedes end after Hamilton is tipped to race in 2022
If Lewis Hamilton retires from Formula One, McLaren driver Lando Norris is widely expected to take his place at Mercedes.
Max Verstappen could be banned from racing in 2022
Max Verstappen is facing a potential one race ban if his rivalry with Lewis Hamilton continues into the 2022 season.
Dakar Rally 2022: Loeb tops Stage 2 as Al Attiyah maintains overall lead
With a commanding performance on day two, Sebastien Loeb won his first Dakar Rally stage win since 2019.
Supporting role at Mercedes affected Bottas mentally
Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas has opened up about the mental damage he took when he was forced to help Lewis Hamilton for the first time at Mercedes. Despite exhibiting flashes of brilliance, Bottas was never able to beat Hamilton throughout the course of a season, and was frequently forced to settle for second best. “I would say overall, yes,” The finn said in an end-of-season interview when asked if he felt he was treated properly during his time at Mercedes. “Especially always in the beginnings of the season until the halfway point for sure… very fairly. “If there was a points gap, then naturally people and the team started to think it’s most likely going to be this driver who’s going to fight for the championship and not this one,” Bottas added. “I think just unconsciously, it can change the behaviour of some people and decision making, et cetera.” The first blow to Bottas’ psyche came during his second season with the team, specifically at the 2018 Russian Grand Prix, when he was requested to give up a win to help Hamilton win the championship. “There’s been also very clear cases that I’ve been in a support role, and I would say, the first time when that happened, probably 2018, it was really hard to accept,” added Bottas. “It was pretty tough. “That wasn’t good for me mentally, the space I was in mentally. As time goes on, you accept it, if that’s the situation, that you’re behind in the points.” Bottas was asked if he is looking forward to being a team leader at Alfa Romeo. “Absolutely. It’s one of the big reasons why [I made] this change, and I think I’m going to enjoy it.” “I’m definitely ready to take big responsibility. It’s going to be crazy to think it’s my 10th season in Formula 1 [this year] so I’m sure I can put into good use everything I’ve learned with Mercedes and Williams over there [with Alfa].”
Hamilton snubs messages from new FIA President
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the newly elected head of the FIA, claims he has reached out to Lewis Hamilton but has not received a response. Since losing the Formula One title to Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton has kept a low profile and avoided the media. In the aftermath of the controversial race, the Briton was knighted at Windsor Castle and took part in the Mercedes team’s Constructors’ title celebrations at Brackely, but he has otherwise remained under the radar, avoiding the FIA’s prize-giving ceremony in Paris and avoiding social media. Sulayem told Spain’s Marca at the start of the Dakar rally-raid in Saudi Arabia this weekend that he hasn’t received a response from the seven-time world champion after sending him countless messages. “I sent him messages, yes, I think he is not 100 percent ready yet and I understand his position,” Sulayem said. According to the FIA president, Hamilton broke F1’s sporting rules by not attending last month’s gala in Paris, and he has promised to hold him accountable. “But there are also rules that must be accepted by all drivers. For me, there is no particular team or driver, out of respect for the integrity of the FIA. “But I cannot judge until I have all the data and the first thing on my agenda is to thoroughly analyse what happened in Abu Dhabi. “In the end, we are all human and the stress and pressure were there, so I think it will all work out. You have to look more to the future than to the past.” Despite a flurry of reports that Hamilton may call it a day in Formula One, Sulayem is skeptical that the 103-time Grand Prix champion will retire. “No, I don’t think so, they are rumours…” added Ben Sulayem. “Has he declared that he will not return? No. “When you are a driver, you speak for yourself and not what others say about you. “I trust that this is not the case, Lewis is an important part of the sport and of F1, his achievements. Verstappen is there… I am sure we will find a very exciting F1 next season.”
F1 bookie pays out on bets for Lewis Hamilton to win 2021 championship
Paddy Power, a well-known bookmaker, has declared “justice is served” after paying out on bets on Lewis Hamilton to win the 2021 Formula One World Drivers’ Championship. Following Lewis Hamilton’s loss in the 2021 Formula One World Drivers’ Championship, Paddy Power has decided to pay up to gamblers who bet on the seven-time World Champion adding to his score at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021. Hamilton dominated the race until a late Safety Car allowed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to take a chance on new tyres. With a lap to go, Race Control brought in the Safety Car to clear lapped cars out of the way of Verstappen, and Hamilton lost the race and the championship as a result, as Verstappen raced by on the final lap. The race’s contentious conclusion generated outrage, with Mercedes filing protests in the immediate aftermath due to the way the Safety Car period ended. Both appeals were dismissed, with Mercedes opting out of the process. Normally, such a turn of events would leave gamblers shaking their heads in disbelief, but Paddy Power chose to compensate both drivers after calling the season finale a “sporting injustice.” “Max Verstappen needed a miracle to win, and one duly arrived in the form of a dodgy decision from the race organisers who appeared to rip up the rulebook and go rogue for the final lap of the race,” said a statement on their website. “We have decided to pay out on both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to win the World Drivers Championship. “And, for good measure, we’ve paid out on both Verstappen and Hamilton to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix too. “Consider justice served,” concluded the message.
Ben Sulayem very sure Lewis Hamilton will race in 2022
Mohammed Ben Sulayem believes Lewis Hamilton will return to Mercedes for the 2022 Formula One season. Despite Lewis Hamilton’s radio quiet since losing the 2021 Formula One World Championship on the penultimate lap of the final race, newly elected FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem is certain that the seven-time World Champion will return to racing in 2022. Since that race weekend, rumors have circulated that Hamilton may not return in 2022, rumors that Hamilton has not sought to refute. While Mercedes has stated that its star driver will take up the baton again in 2022 at the start of the new regulation cycle, it is still possible that he will choose to retire. However, Ben Sulayem, who took over as FIA President from Jean Todt a week before Christmas, is certain that F1’s most illustrious driver will return and will not simply walk away. “No, I don’t think so, they are rumours…” Ben Sulayem said in an interview at the start of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. “Has he declared that he will not return? No. When you are a driver, you speak for yourself and not what others say about you.” “I trust that this is not the case, Lewis is an important part of the sport and of F1, his achievements. Verstappen is there… I am sure we will find a very exciting F1 next season.” Ben Sulayem said he understood Hamilton’s dissatisfaction with his decision not to attend the mandated FIA Prize-Giving Gala in Paris four days after the season finale. With Hamilton potentially facing disciplinary action from the FIA for failing to attend, the President stated that after reaching out to Hamilton, he has received no response. “I sent him messages, yes, I think he is not 100 percent ready yet and I understand his position,” he explained. “But there are also rules that must be accepted by all drivers. For me, there is no particular team or driver, out of respect for the integrity of the FIA. “But I cannot judge until I have all the data and the first thing on my agenda is to thoroughly analyse what happened in Abu Dhabi. “In the end, we are all human and the stress and pressure were there, so I think it will all work out. You have to look more to the future than to the past.”
Al Attiyah maintains lead after winning Stage 1, bad day for Audi
Nasser Al-Attiyah of Toyota strolled to victory on the first stage of the 2022 Dakar Rally, while Audi’s electric RS Q e-tron competitor had a dreadful day. Al-Attiyah was under heavy pressure from the three Audis during the first half of the 333km special near Ha’il, Saudi Arabia, with the German marque’s lead runner Stephane Peterhansel only six seconds behind him after the first 120km. However, en route to the following waypoint, Audi’s issues began to unravel, with 14-time Dakar winner Peterhansel becoming the first to drop out after sustaining serious damage to his RS Q e-tron in a crash. The Frenchman had been waiting for help vehicles to arrive to repair the damage for more than four hours, with the back axle fractured and the left-rear suspension badly damaged. However, Audi’s problems did not end there, as Carlos Sainz Sr soon lost more than two hours searching for a difficult checkpoint near the finish of the stage, after falling six minutes behind the leaders due to unrelated issues earlier in the day. With Mattias Ekstrom in the third Audi slipping behind as the stage drew to a close, Al-Attiyah was able to expand his lead in the leading Toyota, finally winning by a respectable margin of 12m44s. Due to Audi’s problems, rally great Sebastien Loeb jumped to second place overall, spearheading the charge for the Prodrive-run Bahrain Raid Xtreme team. In the later half of the stage, Loeb and Al-Attiyah were the only two frontrunners to cross the correct checkpoint on the first attempt. This allowed the duo to establish a significant lead after the first stage, with Benzina Ford’s Martin Prokop finishing over 10 minutes behind them. Lucio Alvarez (Overdrive Toyota), Vladimir Vasilyev (VRT BMW), and Sebastian Halpern (X-raid Mini) finished fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively, while Giniel de Villiers (Toyota Factory Racing) finished seventh. The top ten was completed by Jakub Przygonski (Orlen Mini), Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Overdrive Toyota), and five-time bikes champion Cyril Despres (GPX Peugeot). Nani Roma (Prodrive), the 2014 event winner, was classified 23rd after losing a significant amount of time due to navigational troubles of his own, three places ahead of Ekstrom’s best Audi. Sainz is currently ranked 32nd overall, having finished the stage 2h07m behind winner Al-Attiyah. After a puncture at the 142km mark, Toyota driver Henk Lategan had yet to complete the stage at the time of writing. Dakar Rally 2022 Stage 1 results: Pos # Driver/co-driver Team Time Gap 1 201 N. AL-ATTIYAH (QAT)M. BAUMEL (AND) TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 03:30:53 2 211 S. LOEB (FRA)F. LURQUIN (BEL) BAHRAIN RAID XTREME 03:43:37 00:12:44 3 209 M. PROKOP (CZE)V. CHYTKA (CZE) BENZINA ORLEN TEAM 03:53:32 00:22:39 4 222 L. ALVAREZ (ARG)A. MONLEON (ESP) OVERDRIVE TOYOTA 03:58:35 00:27:42 5 208 V. VASILYEV (RAF)O. UPERENKO (LVA) VRT TEAM 03:59:51 00:28:58 6 223 S. HALPERN (ARG)B. GRAUE (ARG) X-RAID MINI JCW TEAM 04:00:30 00:29:37 7 207 G. DE VILLIERS (ZAF)D. MURPHY (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 04:04:26 00:33:33 8 203 J. PRZYGONSKI (POL)T. GOTTSCHALK (DEU) ORLEN TEAM 04:12:44 00:41:51 9 205 Y. AL RAJHI (SAU)M. ORR (GBR) OVERDRIVE TOYOTA 04:14:33 00:43:40 10 221 O. TERRANOVA (ARG)D. OLIVERAS CARRERAS (ESP) BAHRAIN RAID XTREME 04:20:20 00:49:27 11 218 Y. SEAIDAN (SAU)A. KUZMICH (RAF) X-RAID MINI JCW TEAM 04:22:26 00:51:33 12 204 N. ROMA (ESP)A. HARO BRAVO (ESP) BAHRAIN RAID XTREME 04:49:27 01:18:34
Stephane Peterhansel’s hopes of Dakar win dealt a big blow after crash
Following serious damage to his Audi on Sunday’s opening stage, reigning Dakar Rally champion Stephane Peterhansel has effectively gone out of contention for victory in 2022. Peterhansel had been running an excellent second in his electric Audi RS Q e-tron, barely six seconds behind overall leader Nasser Al-Attiyah of Toyota, after finishing 14th in Saturday’s Prologue. However, after hitting “something” in a patch of camel grass 153 kilometers into the stage at Ha’il, the Frenchman destroyed the rear axle of his Audi RS Q e-tron. Both Peterhansel and his co-driver, Edouard Boulanger, were unharmed in the incident, although they were detained for 6h20m while waiting for help. To make room for the technicians of their assistance vehicle, they first disassembled the entire left rear axle. The Frenchmen continued their journey through the stage after the truck arrived and replaced the broken pieces. However, after losing another half-hour on an unexplained issue 40 kilometers later, they decided to abandon the stage at the neutralisation point at 207 kilometers and return to the bivouac by road, avoiding the dangers of driving at night, arriving at 20:15 local time. These setbacks have practically killed Peterhansel’s ambitions of winning the Dakar for a record-tying 15th time in 2022, but he is set to return to the race on Monday to continue developing Audi’s sophisticated electric competitor. After three seasons with X-raid Mini, the 56-year-old is leading Audi’s comeback to cross-country rallying this year, with former teammate Carlos Sainz Sr and two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom rounding out the three-car lineup.
Red Bull heads to court over Fallows departure
Red Bull and exiting aero chief Dan Fallows have made their first court appearance regarding Fallows’ departure from the team. Dan Fallows was announced as Aston Martin’s new Technical Director for 2022, back in June 2021. Nonetheless, Red Bull indicated that they would not allow him to leave without serving an enforced period of notice. Fallows accepted the offer from Aston Martin, intending to start on January 1st, 2022. Fallows’ contract with Red bull states that he must serve a six-month notice period, which will only be triggered by December 31st, 2022 at the earliest. With this, he won’t be eligible to join Aston Martin until 2023, on July 1st. His appointment as Aston Martin Technical Director appears to be a breach of his contract, and given that construction on the 2022 car has already begun, Red Bull is keen to prevent the knowledge he gained while working with Adrian Newey’s technical departments from leaking to Aston Martin. According to court documents from the hearing, Fallows was removed from the F1 side of the Red Bull organization and assigned to the development of a Red Bull road car. Following the demotion Fallows subsequently gave his notice two months later, requesting an immediate termination from Red Bull. According to court records, he believes his notice period is unenforceable since it is “in restriction of trade.” Despite Fallows’ examples of other ex-Red Bull employees who left without serving their full notice period, Red Bull declined his resignation, claiming that their jobs were not comparable to his. The court hearing was set for December 17th, 2021. A decision is expected by the end of January, but Red Bull appears to be in good shape. The case will be heard in court from January 25th to January 28th, despite the fact that the judge has already denied Fallows’ application.
Mercedes drops a hint that Lewis Hamilton will race in 2022
The Mercedes team has hinted there is no doubt Lewis Hamilton will return to racing in 2022. Mercedes Formula 1 team shared a social media update recently suggesting that Lewis Hamilton will drive one of their cars in 2022. Since the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, rumors have swirled that Hamilton may not return in 2022, due to the nature of his title loss to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Despite being in the lead for most of the race, Hamilton was overtaken by Verstappen on the final lap after a controversial Safety Car intervened late in the race. Apart from one TV interview before the podium and a public appearance to receive his knighthood in the UK, Hamilton has remained silent since that day and even removed every follower from his own social media accounts. With the image of Hamilton, Mercedes posted a status saying, “Adversity causes some to break; others to break records.” Having said that, it is likely that Hamilton will return in 2022 in a bid to surpass the record he shares with Michael Schumacher – seven Drivers’ World Championship titles. Earlier this week, Hamilton’s brother, Nicolas, offered an update and revealed that the seven-time Champ is currently taking a break from social media. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said that Hamilton was left “shell-shocked” by the title outcome, while Helmut Marko believes he will return for next season.
