Author Archives: PressBox

George Russell publicly accused Ferrari of blocking the FIA from changing Formula 1’s start procedure ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, calling the team ‘selfish’ and ‘a bit silly.’

He tied the dispute to start problems at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, saying low battery levels on the formation lap—caused by the harvest-limit rule—had disadvantaged cars that qualified in the front half. Russell said the FIA wanted to remove the harvest limit to prevent repeats but could not implement the change because it required a super-majority of teams and Ferrari opposed it.

He noted that some Ferrari drivers had managed strong starts under the current procedure, and Lewis Hamilton described the revised start procedure as ‘exciting’ and expected it to improve as the sport transitions to the broader 2026 power-unit and chassis changes.

Ferrari will debut a radical rear wing—nicknamed the Macarena (also called the flip-flop wing)—on the SF‑26 at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai as part of an early-season technical development arms race. Team principal Fred Vasseur says the upgrade is part of an aggressive development program, and the team plans an evolved rear-wing specification by the Canadian Grand Prix in May; reports indicated three different specifications of the Macarena were sent to Shanghai for the sprint weekend.

Video from pre-season testing in Bahrain showed the wing’s top element rotating a full 180 degrees, effectively turning the flap upside down to reduce drag. Ferrari first ran the device on the penultimate day of testing with limited mileage and chose not to use it at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. In Shanghai the wing was positioned to operate along the circuit’s 1.1 km straight.

Rivals and Ferrari personnel framed the rollout as part of a rapid development battle. Lewis Hamilton said Ferrari ran the device “a full day or so” in Bahrain, praised Ferrari’s engineers for accelerating upgrades, and said he was keen to see its impact in China while warning the title fight will be decided by an ongoing “development war.” Hamilton also noted qualifying gaps of roughly eight tenths and race deficits of four to five tenths to Mercedes after Ferrari finished third and fourth in Melbourne following a pit-stop strategy blunder that likely cost a probable win. Others, including Lando Norris, have highlighted Ferrari’s strong cornering pace, and Ferrari has introduced other upgrades this season—including a smaller turbo intended to help race starts—as teams escalate technical development early in the season.

McLaren conceded after the Australian Grand Prix that the team is “nowhere near” the front. Lando Norris said there was “zero chance at the minute” of matching the top teams, estimating McLaren were roughly 0.5-0.6 seconds per lap off the pace. He singled out Ferrari as having “the best car” with “unbelievable” cornering, pointed to Red Bull’s pace when Max Verstappen nearly caught him, and warned the team faces a long, tough season unless it closes the gap quickly.

Team data and commentary pointed to a complex package shortfall rather than a single cause. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the team was “a little puzzled,” noting losses both on the straights and through certain corners and describing a performance gap of roughly 0.5-1.0 seconds that mirrored the near one-second qualifying deficit to George Russell. GPS analysis and team data highlighted straight-line time loss despite McLaren and Mercedes using the same power unit, and Stella added that limited information from Mercedes about their new engine hampered McLaren’s understanding.

Severe front-tire graining after only a few laps compounded the problem, masking some pace and forcing two-stop strategies that left McLaren more than 50 seconds adrift of the winner. Most sources put Norris about 51-52 seconds behind Russell, though one report cited a 35.5-second gap. Outside analysts flagged the need for aero and package upgrades — Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle said McLaren “need an aero upgrade” — and Stella warned corrective upgrades will take a few races to arrive. The result was George Russell’s victory and a Mercedes 1-2 in Melbourne; Oscar Piastri, who had topped FP2 and shown early weekend pace, was unable to start after a reconnaissance-lap crash, leaving McLaren with only Norris to assess the deficit.

The F1 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai (March 13–15) is the season’s first sprint weekend and the first of six sprint events. Key session times (Shanghai / UK): Friday practice 11:30 / 03:30; sprint qualifying 15:30 / 07:30; Saturday sprint 11:00 / 03:00; Saturday qualifying 15:00 / 07:00; Sunday Grand Prix 15:00 / 07:00.

Teams will have only a single hour of practice before sprint qualifying under the sprint format, producing a compressed schedule for teams and drivers.

U.K. viewers will be able to watch every session live on Sky Sports F1 (streamable via Sky Go; subscriptions from £22/month), with free highlights on Channel 4 and live text coverage on Crash.net.

Tensions boiled over after the season-opening Australian Grand Prix when Mercedes’ dominant new 2026 power unit prompted public complaints from its customer teams about information sharing and transparency. McLaren, Williams and newly aligned customer Alpine said they were caught off guard by the works team’s advantage under the new hybrid-centric regulations, with McLaren boss Andrea Stella saying his team felt “on the back foot” and asking Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP) for more data and operational tools. Williams principal James Vowles described himself as “a bit shocked,” estimating roughly a three-tenths-per-lap shortfall for Williams attributable to the engine, while McLaren pointed to an operational knowledge gap around the hybrid system. Reports varied on whether customers had identical tools: Vowles said he believed Williams received the same PU tools as Mercedes but had not unlocked the observed performance.

The complaints followed a commanding showing by Mercedes in Melbourne after the works team introduced its new power unit: George Russell topped all three qualifying segments, Mercedes locked out the front row and converted the advantage into a race win and a one-two result for the works cars. Qualifying gaps to Russell’s pole were reported up to 0.8 seconds and race deficits for customer cars exceeded 50 seconds, with McLaren’s Lando Norris the next-best Mercedes-powered driver in fifth and Alpine finishing a lap down in 10th; Williams failed to score. The scale of the on-track gap — and the central role of the hybrid system under the new rules — underpinned customer calls for more detailed technical cooperation or workarounds to close the deficit.

Mercedes and its defenders pushed back. Team principal Toto Wolff framed the situation as part of a steep technical transition and defended how Mercedes treated its customers, saying he had not heard specific technical complaints and warning that “you can never deploy things to make everybody happy.” Former driver Ralf Schumacher, speaking on a podcast, accused McLaren of using public complaints as a smokescreen for a poor start, argued Mercedes likely supplied the necessary information, and stressed that Mercedes built the 2026 power unit both for itself and its three customer teams. Alpine’s Steve Nielsen emphasized a positive working relationship with Mercedes and declined to blame the power unit for his team’s result. Observers noted that if the information-sharing issues are not resolved, the asymmetry in data and operating guidance could help shape the competitive order early in the 2026 season.