Author Archives: PressBox

Formula 3’s two-day in-season test at Madrid’s new Madring circuit was intended to give drivers their first laps of the track and help validate the venue ahead of Formula 1’s debut there on September 11-13. All 30 F3 drivers and 10 teams took part on the 5.4-kilometer layout, with officials using the running to test race control, communications, marshal operations, medical services and recovery procedures.

The test was repeatedly interrupted by red flags as drivers learned the circuit. Campos Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu set the quickest lap in Tuesday morning running with a 1:49.034, 0.193 seconds faster than Hiyu Yamakoshi, before championship leader Freddie Slater went quickest in the afternoon with a 1:49.685 and finished fastest overall, with Ugochukwu second.

Slater, who leads the F3 standings by eight points with two rounds remaining, described the circuit as “incredible,” praising its old-school character, interesting corners and elevation changes, and singling out the Turn 5-6 chicane. The Madring will host the F1 Spanish Grand Prix in September, with F2 and F3 also set to join the support bill. Carlos Sainz has already driven a lap there in May, and Ferrari later completed a filming day at the venue.

Lewis Hamilton apologized after a frustrated radio outburst at the Dutch Grand Prix, saying he had crossed the line while stuck behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc and that his reaction was not the best version of himself. He said he had reviewed his comments, taken responsibility for them, and would do better after a tough weekend.

Hamilton was frustrated after running on older tires behind Leclerc and felt Ferrari’s strategy was unclear. After Leclerc pitted on lap 43, Hamilton told the team, “Great way of wasting time guys, good job,” and during a Virtual Safety Car period he asked, “Are you using me as a guinea pig?” Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said the team had held back its strategy to avoid helping rivals.

Hamilton said the delay behind Leclerc cost him several seconds and may have stopped him from catching George Russell for the final podium place. He finished fourth at Zandvoort, with Leclerc fifth and Russell third, and later repeated on Instagram that he had listened back to his radio and TV comments, taken responsibility, and would do better. The race also featured a late near-collision between Hamilton and Leclerc.

Oscar Piastri’s Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort summed up a difficult McLaren run, as he finished sixth, 32.332 seconds behind teammate Lando Norris after Norris took pole and won. Piastri started on the second row alongside championship leader Kimi Antonelli, briefly moved ahead of George Russell and Charles Leclerc after the red-flag restart, then lost track position with a slow first pit stop. He said the race was “painful” and added that the slow stop and the lack of pace afterward mattered more than McLaren’s strategy call, which he said was worse than some rivals’ plans.

Andrea Stella said Piastri’s problems were mainly technical, not psychological, and said he has to adapt his driving when grip is low. Stella said Piastri cannot always rely on instinct, which can cost him a couple of tenths while he works out what the car needs. He also pointed to the slow stop, trouble getting the second set of hard tires into the right operating window and the possibility that Piastri’s two early DNS results left him with a data disadvantage because the 2026 cars are different enough. Stella said he was encouraged by the progress Piastri showed over the weekend and described the season as a “brutal” reality of Formula 1.

Piastri said he has struggled to extract the same pace from McLaren’s upgraded MCL40 as Norris and said he was still searching for speed. The Australian failed to finish the opening two Grands Prix in Australia, where he crashed on the way to the grid, and China, where he had a battery issue, before adding a sixth place at Zandvoort to his results. Norris has won the last two Grands Prix in Budapest and Zandvoort from pole, leads Piastri by 55 points in the standings, sits fourth overall to Piastri’s seventh, and also leads their qualifying head-to-head 13-4 this season, including sprint events.

Max Verstappen is set to return to karting on Sept. 16 for the “Max vs 100” race at Silverstone, a one-off event billed as the world’s biggest karting race. Verstappen will start from the back of a 101-kart field and try to pass all 100 rivals before time runs out, swapping his Formula 1 car for a kart in a challenge staged three days after the Spanish Grand Prix.

The race will take place on a specially designed Silverstone layout created by race director and former karting world champion David Terrien. Red Bull is organizing the event, and Terrien said the 101-kart setup has never been done before. The track was tested with sim racer Sebastian Job, and the broadcast is set to include live race data, game-style graphics, drone footage and direct communication between Verstappen and his rivals.

The field will bring together Red Bull athletes, celebrities, content creators, personalities and invited fans from around the world. Confirmed entrants include Arda Saatçi, Chris “Lethal Shooter” Matthews, Matt Jones, TheGrefg, Caedrel and TheDonato. The race will stream live worldwide on Disney+, with ESPN App coverage in the United States for ESPN Unlimited subscribers and a delayed ESPN2 broadcast later the same day.

Lando Norris is reportedly close to agreeing a new McLaren contract, with talks said to have been underway since June and a proposed deal expected to begin in the 2027 Formula 1 season. The package would reportedly pay him about €60 million, or £51 million, a year, which would make him the third-highest paid driver on the grid behind Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Norris has also revived his season with back-to-back wins from pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix and the Dutch Grand Prix. At Zandvoort, Max Verstappen’s first-lap crash led to a restart, Kimi Antonelli briefly reclaimed the lead, and Norris later passed him on track before pulling clear for his 13th career victory.

Norris said he is performing better on and off the track this season than he did during his title-winning campaign, but he does not think McLaren yet has a complete car to fight for the Formula 1 title. He said the car is trickier to drive this year, that McLaren is strong in high-speed corners but loses too much time in slow-speed sections, and that upgrades have mattered more this season under the new aerodynamic and power unit regulations. After 12 rounds, Norris was fourth in the standings, 83 points behind Antonelli, who extended his championship lead at the Dutch Grand Prix and led George Russell and Lewis Hamilton by 59 points.