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McLaren to investigate Daniel Ricciardo-Lando Norris mismatch

Andreas Seidl has conceded McLaren “need to understand” why Daniel Ricciardo was unable to match Lando Norris’ performance at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Ricciardo has endured a torrid 18 months at McLaren despite leading the team to its only victory in a decade at last year’s Italian GP.

The recent weekend at the Hungaroring was another example of his difficult season as McLaren put both drivers on the same strategy, with Lando Norris coming home seventh after starting fourth, and the Australian finishing 15th from ninth.

Assessing the dramatic differences again between his two drivers, team principal Seidl said: “[We scored] important points, obviously, for our battle in the constructors’ championship battle with Alpine.

“But, of course, we need to understand why on Daniel’s side, with exactly the same strategy, we were falling off so much with the hard tires in the final stint which put Daniel out of the points.

“That’s what we need to analyze together with Daniel.”

McLaren encouraged by upgrade progress

McLaren started the season with a brake duct issue, dropping the team to the back of the field.

After bringing its latest upgrades to the track in France, McLaren is continuing to see improvement as it continues to fight to be the ‘best of the rest’ with Alpine behind the leading trio of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.

“In the end, P7 was a good outcome for us because we have to accept that when the cars of the top three finish a race without major incidents, they are clearly a step ahead,” added Seidl.

“Therefore, P7 for us was a good result for various reasons.

“I am very happy that we could also show in the race the encouraging signs we had already seen in Paul Ricard and also on Friday since we introduced our upgraded package in terms of performance.

“They have definitely made a good step forward which allowed us to score the P4 in quali and the P7 of Lando in the race.”

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Alpine abuse and Piastri furore as Hamilton makes American football move – GPFans F1 Recap – GPFans F1 Recap

Lewis Hamilton has become a part of the ownership group for the NFL franchise the Denver Broncos.
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Alpine and Ocon suffer vile online abuse after Alonso move

Alpine has been on the receiving end of vile online abuse after it was announced Fernando Alonso is to leave the team and join F1 rivals Aston Martin next season.
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Alpine face storm as Piastri denies F1 promotion

Alpine has been hit with another twist in its driver situation for 2023 after Oscar Piastri denied he will drive for the team in F1 next year.
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Verstappen issues Red Bull warning after Hungarian GP recovery

Max Verstappen has warned Red Bull it cannot afford a repeat of the problems he experienced at the Hungarian Grand Prix even though he holds a commanding lead in this year’s F1 title race.
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Hamilton’s Ferrari torment after Scuderia strategy that made “no sense”

Martin Brundle believes Lewis Hamilton’s drive to runner-up in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix will have ‘tormented’ Ferrari after it delivered a strategy which made “no sense”.
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Alpine reveal how it discovered Alonso Aston Martin switch

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer has revealed he only learned of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin switch via the latter’s press release.
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Red Bull and Honda extend power unit support agreement

Red Bull has reached a deal with Honda that will see the Japanese manufacturer continue its technical support of the team’s powertrains department for the next three years.
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Is the F1 title Verstappen’s already? – GPFans Stewards’ Room Podcast

Max Verstappen completed a stunning recovery drive from 10th to win the Hungarian Grand Prix but his path was eased by yet more errors from Ferrari.

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Australia’s Oscar Piastri could move from reserve driver to F1 seat for Alpine after Fernando Alonso signs with Aston Martin for 2023

Highly rated young Australian motor racing ace Oscar Piastri appears on the cusp of securing a prized Formula One seat after the shock defection of veteran Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso.

Alonso has signed a multi-year deal with British-based F1 team Aston Martin and Piastri is considered the two-time world champion’s obvious successor at Alpine for the 2023 season.

A winner of the 2021 Formula Two championship, Piastri has been Alpine’s reserve driver this season amid speculation he could be loaned out to another Formula One team in 2023.

But the 41-year-old Alonso’s switch from the Renault-owned Alpine — as a replacement for retiring four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin — makes Piastri a warm favorite to join Daniel Ricciardo in bolstering Australia’s presence in the F1 ranks.

Piastri — who is managed by Australia’s former Formula One star Mark Webber — is considered a rising talent in motor racing.

Australia's Oscar Piastri drives a Formula 1 car in testing, with his back left wheel just off the track.
Oscar Piastri is a reserve driver for the Alpine F1 team, but he could grab a prized seat for the 2023 season. (Getty Images: Formula 1/Joe Portlock)

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The 21-year-old from Melbourne claimed the Formula Three championship in 2020 to announce his arrival on the world stage.

Should Piastri secure a seat with Alpine in 2023, he will become the first Australian driver to make a Formula One debut since Ricciardo stepped up in the 2011 British Grand Prix.

While confirming Alonso’s departure, Alpine says it is premature to add to speculation that Piastri will be his replacement.

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“The team will announce its driver line-up for the 2023 Formula One season in due course,” Alpine said.

“We look forward to finishing the remainder of the 2022 season with Fernando in blue, and we’ll keep pushing to the maximum until the final lap in November.”

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Fernando Alonso signs two-year deal to remain in Formula 1 with Aston Martin

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso will extend his Formula One career by joining Aston Martin next season.

The 41-year-old Spaniard will replace Sebastian Vettel, who announced his retirement last week.

Aston Martin said on Monday that it signed Alonso to a multi-year deal.

“No one in Formula One today is demonstrating a greater vision and absolute commitment to winning, and that makes it a really exciting opportunity for me,” Alonso said of Aston Martin.

“I still have the hunger and ambition to fight to be at the front, and I want to be part of an organization that is committed to learn, develop and succeed.”

Alonso will be going into his 20th season in F1.

He won his titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006. He took two years off in 2019 and 2020 to race in other series, including runs at the Indy 500.

Fernando Alonso celebrates F1 title win in Brazil
Fernando Alonso twice won the Formula 1 drivers world title for Renault.(Reuters)

“I have witnessed the excitement in the engineering team and throughout the whole organization at the opportunity to work with Fernando,” Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack said.

“We know that nearly everyone can learn from someone of Fernando’s caliber and experience. We are confident that he will inspire everyone to lift their game.”

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Daniel Ricciardo penalized as Max Verstappen wins F1 Hungarian Grand Prix

Daniel Ricciardo has missed out on a points finish after being penalized for causing a collision during Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen climbed from 10th to take another victory and extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship after Ferrari again threw away another potential victory.

Ricciardo was driving well and comfortably challenging in the top 10 around the Hungaroring in Budapest.

But the Australian’s day came unstuck when his brand new hard tires locked up just a few corners after exiting the pits and led to him running into the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.

Stroll was attempting to pass the Australian before the collision, which sent the Aston Martin driver spinning.

Ricciardo was given a five-second penalty which took him out of contention for a top 10 finish.

Ricciardo had provided one of the highlights of the race on lap 24 with a double-overtake of the Alpine drivers Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.

Ricciardo was chasing Alonso down the main straight when Ocon came out of the pits trying to stay ahead in 10th.

The Alpine drivers got in each other’s way, allowing Ricciardo to showcase his skills by passing both of them on consecutive corners.

Ferrari blunder again

Ferrari changes tires on the car of Charles Leclerc
Poor tire strategy has cost Charles Leclerc a chance at winning in Budapest.(Pool via Reuters: Attila Kisbenedek)

Ferrari’s hopes of winning either the Drivers’ or Constructors’ Championships in 2022 have taken a massive blow after Max Verstappen took the checkered flag.

Heading into Sunday’s race Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said his team needed a first and second place finish at a track where they were favourites.

But Ferrari’s tire strategy robbed Charles Leclerc of a chance of victory and he finished sixth.

Leclerc was leading at half-distance and was the fastest on track, but was forced to go onto the hard compound tire during his second stop after starting on the mediums.

The hard tire was the worst performing on Sunday, with many drivers including Ricciardo struggling on it.

Max Verstappen wins the Hungarian Grand Prix, holds the trophy.
Max Verstappen has extended his lead in the drivers’ championship.(Reuters: Lisa Leutner)

Meanwhile, Verstappen was able to storm home on the medium tire but had his own drama when he spun on a slippery part of the surface.

“I was hoping I could get close to a podium [finish],” he said.

“We had a really good strategy, we were really reactive, always pitting at the right times.”

Verstappen now holds an 80-point lead over Leclerc in the Drivers’ Championship.

Post race Leclerc said he wanted to stay out on his medium tires and pit later for a set of the faster soft compounds.

“We need to speak with the team and understand the thought behind putting on the hard [tyre],” he said.

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