Author Archives: PressBox

Toto Wolff said Lewis Hamilton has become a serious threat in the 2026 title race after the Ferrari driver won the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, his first victory for the team and his 106th career win. The result cut Hamilton’s gap to championship leader Kimi Antonelli to 41 points with 15 races left, and Wolff said he would rather not face Hamilton in a championship fight because he becomes especially dangerous when momentum builds. Wolff also said the championship remains open and praised Hamilton for being rewarded after several difficult seasons.

Wolff’s warning came during a tense Barcelona weekend in which he urged George Russell and Antonelli to keep their distance and avoid another costly crash at the start, after their collision in Canada. He referenced the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix clash between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg as a cautionary example, and said both Mercedes drivers were trying to prove themselves. Russell took pole position, beating Antonelli by 0.319 seconds, while Hamilton qualified between the two Mercedes cars and put Ferrari in the fight with a late lap that Wolff said showed the upgraded Ferrari was a serious threat.

Before the race, Wolff said Hamilton was one of the key drivers to watch and warned that if he got ahead early, he would be very difficult to beat. After the race, Wolff said Hamilton was in a stronger position because the 2026 cars suit his style better and his personal situation appears more stable. Antonelli’s race ended with a power unit problem, ending his five-race winning streak, and Hamilton said nothing is impossible as he pushed his championship challenge forward.

Ferrari’s latest Barcelona upgrade package improved its cornering pace enough to make it a serious threat, and Lando Norris said it could become much stronger if the team closes its power unit deficit. Norris said Ferrari already looks strongest through the corners, especially in medium-speed and low-speed turns, but its lack of straight-line speed is holding it back. He pointed to FIA ADUO rankings that showed Ferrari about 4% behind the benchmark in engine performance and said the team could “embarrass everyone” if it makes the right gains.

Lewis Hamilton’s victory at the Barcelona-Catalunya GP gave Ferrari its first F1 win since Singapore in 2024 and highlighted the impact of the new front wing, nose, floor, diffuser and sidepod package. Ferrari used race strategy and a Virtual Safety Car period to secure the win, while Hamilton also qualified on the front row for the first time in a Ferrari, 0.064 seconds behind George Russell’s pole time. Hamilton praised the factory staff behind the update, said Ferrari knows where its “North Star” is, and said the team still needs more race pace.

Andrea Stella also said Ferrari’s recent upgrades had turned it into a serious threat, while noting the team was not the fastest in a straight line. Norris finished third in Barcelona behind Hamilton and Russell after passing Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and he said McLaren still has significant ground to make up if it wants to challenge Mercedes and Ferrari consistently. The Barcelona weekend produced F1’s first all-British podium since 1968, with McLaren matching Ferrari as the highest-scoring team.

George Russell criticised Mercedes’ strategy call after the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, saying he was confused by the team’s decision to keep him on a two-stop plan when he believed he was on a three-stop strategy. Russell said the Lap 13 pit stop hurt his track position and cut his chances of victory after he started from pole and led into the first corner. He planned to ask Mercedes for answers after the race and said he would review why his pace faded during the longer stints on hard tyres.

Lewis Hamilton won for Ferrari after running an aggressive three-stop strategy, and a well-timed Virtual Safety Car helped him overtake the Mercedes cars. Russell said Hamilton probably would have passed him anyway, but he also said Mercedes had not anticipated Ferrari’s pace and described it as “insane.” Russell finished second, nearly 20 seconds behind Hamilton, and said his own pace in the final stints was not strong enough to make up the difference.

Kimi Antonelli briefly moved ahead of Russell before a late power-unit failure forced him out, which restored Russell to second and helped Mercedes salvage points. Russell scored 18 points, his best combined haul across the last two races, and said the result narrowed his championship gap from 68 points to 50. Mercedes was expected to review the strategy before the Austrian Grand Prix, and Juan Pablo Montoya said the early two-stop call may have cost Russell as much as eight-tenths of a second per lap.

Kimi Antonelli had a difficult Friday at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, saying overheating soft tires, balance problems, traffic on his quickest lap and brake issues hurt his one-lap pace. He finished fifth in FP2, nearly six-tenths behind Lando Norris, after Fred Vesti drove his Mercedes in FP1 as the team used one of its mandated rookie-running slots.

Antonelli said the brake pedal felt “horrible” on a used Friday set and that the car was tricky over one lap in Barcelona’s hot conditions. With limited running, he said he had “a lot of catching up to do,” but he was more optimistic about the car’s long-run pace and remained confident heading into Saturday.

Mercedes still enjoyed a strong opening day, with George Russell leading FP1 and finishing second in FP2, just 0.009 seconds off Norris. Russell said the car felt consistent, while Antonelli said the team planned overnight changes to improve the W17. Bradley Lord said qualifying could hinge on which team manages tire temperatures best, with McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull also in the mix.

Kim Kardashian ended a bizarre F1 Monaco Grand Prix towel dispute by sending Kimi Antonelli a personalized replacement during the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix weekend. The embroidered towel, marked “To Kimi from Kim,” came after a viral Monaco moment in which Kardashian, attending the podium ceremony and supporting Lewis Hamilton, picked up Antonelli’s designated white towel and used it to wipe champagne, her hands and face after the race.

Antonelli said he was surprised the towel really came from Kardashian and joked about whether it was actually from her. Mercedes later documented the handoff in the garage, and Antonelli thanked Kardashian on camera for the gesture. The episode, nicknamed “Towelgate,” drew online mockery and became a wider talking point, while also highlighting Kardashian’s growing presence in the F1 paddock. Entering Barcelona, Antonelli led the standings by 66 points over Hamilton, with Mercedes driver George Russell third, two points behind Hamilton.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is pushing a major reset for Formula 1’s future, calling for cars to be cut to about 630kg and for the sport to move back to V8 engines by 2030 or 2031. The current minimum weight for the new-generation cars is 768kg, and the target would leave future machines more than 100kg lighter than today’s cars and nearly 150kg lighter than the direction set by the 2026 regulations.

Ben Sulayem said the lighter, simpler package would reduce costs, improve the sound for spectators and make the cars safer. He argued that Formula 1 cars have become too heavy, too complex and too expensive, with safety systems and hybrid components among the reasons for the weight gain. He also said the FIA could impose the engine change even if power unit manufacturers do not approve it.

Under his vision, the V8 concept would include about 10% electrification, sustainable fuels and an internal combustion engine producing roughly 760 horsepower. Ben Sulayem said the proposal would require major engineering changes and a redesign of much of the current approach, but he said it would simplify the regulations and lower research and development costs. Formula 1 is already planning a 30kg weight reduction for 2026, and drivers Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have criticized the current cars as still too heavy.

George Russell took pole position for the Barcelona Grand Prix with a late lap of 1:14.679, his first pole since Australia. Russell had also topped both Friday practice sessions. Lewis Hamilton qualified second, 0.064 seconds behind, and Kimi Antonelli took third. Lando Norris lined up on the second row, Max Verstappen was fifth, and Isack Hadjar, Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg filled the next spots in the top 10. Mercedes left qualifying with a strong result after Russell’s pole and Hamilton’s front-row place.

Charles Leclerc was in the pole fight before he lost control and hit the barrier in Q3, triggering a red flag and ending his challenge. He walked away unharmed, but the crash left him 10th on the grid. Elsewhere, Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly and Oliver Bearman were among those knocked out, while Arvid Lindblad narrowly missed Q3 in 11th and Carlos Sainz qualified 16th after getting through Q1.

At Aston Martin, Lance Stroll outqualified Fernando Alonso for the first time in 42 qualifying sessions, by 0.057 seconds in Q1. Both cars failed to get out of the opening segment, leaving Stroll and Alonso on the last row for Sunday’s race, with Alonso 22nd and last at his home circuit. Alonso had said before qualifying that this could be his final F1 appearance at Barcelona, which is not scheduled to return to the calendar until 2028.

Red Bull spent the Barcelona weekend searching for grip, balance and tyre performance on a hot circuit that made lap time hard to find. Max Verstappen said the car felt sensitive in practice and that nothing worked well on any of the three tyre compounds, with the team looking only midfield-fast on single-lap pace after Friday. He was fourth in FP1 and sixth in FP2, and both he and the team said there was still a lot of work to do before qualifying.

After major setup changes overnight, Verstappen said the car improved in qualifying and Red Bull cut the gap to the front to about three tenths from roughly six or seven tenths in practice. He said a slide and time loss in the final sector of his last lap, along with overheating tyres and a disrupted Q3 session after Charles Leclerc’s red flag, kept him from turning that improvement into a stronger result.

Even with the turnaround, Verstappen said Red Bull was still not quick enough to fight at the very front. He said the race should depend more on tyre degradation, pit stops and strategy than on grid position, with overtaking expected to be difficult at Barcelona. Verstappen also said he had no new hard tyres left after using his allocation in practice, which could make Sunday tougher in the expected heat.