David Coulthard sharply criticized Aston Martin’s decision to elevate Adrian Newey to team principal, calling the move a public relations “own goal” on the Up to Speed podcast. Coulthard, who worked with Newey at Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, said he would not have pictured Newey in that leadership role and described Newey as a technically driven problem solver better suited to design work than the political and media-facing demands of a team principal. Coulthard added that Newey, now in his 60s, was unlikely to pursue those skills and questioned Lawrence Stroll’s public presentation of Newey as a partner and shareholder, saying the messaging raised doubts about whether the promotion would work.

Aston Martin promoted Newey after he designed the AMR26, but the team’s 2026 campaign has been hampered by Honda’s difficult return and severe engine vibrations that disrupted drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. The move made Newey Aston Martin’s fourth different team principal in five years and formed part of wider leadership changes that included Andy Cowell’s move to chief strategy officer.

Newey is widely regarded as one of Formula 1’s greatest designers, with work that contributed to 14 drivers’ and 12 constructors’ titles and to Red Bull’s 2024 success. Coulthard questioned whether technical excellence alone would be sufficient to steer a team facing reliability and political challenges.

Fernando Alonso, 44, said he is not ready to retire from Formula 1 at the end of 2026, telling journalists at the Historic Grand Prix weekend in Monaco, “I hope it’s not my last season.” Competing in his 23rd season and out of contract at the end of the year, Alonso called the decision “a tough decision” and said “time will tell.” He earlier described 2026 as potentially his “last season” but said he still loves racing, expects to continue for at least another season and will keep assessing his options rather than making an immediate exit announcement.

Alonso’s uncertainty stems from Aston Martin’s difficult start to the 2026 season. The team’s new partnership with Honda under the 2026 regulations has been hampered by an underdeveloped Honda engine that has produced severe vibrations, causing physical problems for drivers and mechanical failures. More than half of Aston Martin’s performance deficit has been traced to the chassis, and technical setbacks, including Adrian Newey’s late arrival and wind-tunnel problems, left the program roughly four months behind schedule. Those issues have compounded Alonso’s frustration and left his future contingent on securing competitive machinery and negotiating a new contract.

Alonso is a two-time world champion with 32 Grand Prix wins and is the only driver in F1 history to start more than 400 races. Including junior years, he has raced continuously in top categories for about 27 years. Former driver David Coulthard said Alonso has “never stopped” being a child, suggesting a youthful mindset has driven his longevity. With limited options to replace him for 2027 and the possibility of team improvements or extra engine development leeway for Honda, observers say a swansong season remains possible if circumstances improve. Alonso also faces new personal considerations after his partner gave birth in March, which he has said factors into his timing.

Johnny Herbert urged Lewis Hamilton to be candid about any decline in competitiveness and to consider stepping aside when the time comes, speaking on the Stay On Track podcast. Herbert warned that the instinct which defines top drivers “is probably not going to be where it once was,” and he told Hamilton to accept when “it’s not quite where it was, and I’ve got to go.” Herbert framed the remarks as an honest request rather than a definitive prediction. Fellow veteran Damon Hill echoed those comments, saying Hamilton has “always done things his own way” and can “rest easy.”

Herbert argued that age and the rise of rivals can push champions toward a performance saturation point, and that having a young, fast teammate such as Charles Leclerc can accelerate that personal reckoning.

The context is clear: Hamilton, 41, is a seven-time world champion with 105 race wins, now in his second year at Ferrari after a difficult first season and a winless 2025. He experienced a 2026 resurgence in the Ferrari SF-26, secured his first Ferrari podium with P3 in China, and currently sits fourth in the 2026 drivers’ standings, seven points behind teammate Leclerc. Herbert’s comments added fuel to the ongoing debate about Hamilton’s future as he adapts to life at Ferrari and evaluates his competitive prospects. Hamilton has publicly signaled his determination to continue racing, and there has been no definitive announcement from him about retirement, leaving the matter framed as commentary and context around an illustrious career.

Audi appointed Allan McNish as Racing Director to strengthen trackside leadership and operations, assigning him a broad set of race-weekend responsibilities previously handled by team principal Jonathan Wheatley. McNish will report directly to CEO and team principal Mattia Binotto, who will retain overall principal duties while remaining largely factory-based, and Audi said the move centralizes race-day decision-making to streamline the link between the factory and the pit wall.

The appointment takes effect immediately, with McNish scheduled to assume trackside duties from the Miami Grand Prix. He will provide hands-on, on-track leadership and take charge of sporting and performance duties, including trackside engineering, race strategy, driver management, engineering coordination, garage operations and circuit liaison.

McNish, 56, has been with Audi since 2000, ran the manufacturer’s Driver Development Program, led Audi’s Formula E team to the 2017-18 title and is a world endurance champion and three-time Le Mans winner. The change followed Jonathan Wheatley’s abrupt departure on March 20 after ten months in the role, and comes as Audi seeks stability after a difficult start to its rookie F1 season, sitting eighth in the constructors’ standings after three rounds with Gabriel Bortoleto’s ninth place in Australia providing the team’s only points. Audi described the move as part of a longer-term strategy to progress toward championship contention by 2030 while emphasizing continuity and technical leadership.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the Turkish Grand Prix will return to the Formula 1 calendar in 2027 under a new deal he said will last “at least five years.” The agreement, reached with Formula 1 and the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation, was presented at an event attended by Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem. The race is set to be held at Istanbul Park and is listed as the 24th event on a 2027 calendar that Formula 1 has capped at 24 rounds.

Sources said the reintroduction of Istanbul Park comes alongside the return of Portugal’s Algarve circuit and coincides with the Dutch Grand Prix not appearing on the 2027 calendar after its contract expired. The sources said Istanbul Park and the Algarve will replace this season’s rounds at Circuit de Catalunya and Zandvoort, and Circuit de Catalunya is scheduled to return in 2028 under a rotational arrangement. Officials warned the 24-race limit makes further new events unlikely until at least 2028, despite expressed interest from Argentina and Thailand and discussed concepts such as a Bangkok race and a pan-African Grand Prix that have not materialized into contracts.

Istanbul Park is a permanent circuit designed by Hermann Tilke that first joined the world championship in 2005 and last staged a round in 2021. The venue is known for its long, high-speed Turn 8 and its history of memorable races: Felipe Massa won there three times from 2006 to 2008, Lewis Hamilton clinched a record-equalling seventh world title at the rain-affected 2020 race, and Valtteri Bottas won the 2021 event. The 2027 running will be the 10th edition of the Turkish Grand Prix, and Formula 1 leadership publicly welcomed the track’s return.

The FIA has extended Free Practice 1 at the Miami Grand Prix from 60 minutes to 90 minutes and moved the session to 12:00–13:30 local time. The change followed a crunch meeting between Formula 1 and the FIA that produced a series of rule refinements after negative feedback from drivers and fans, and the FIA framed the extension as a sporting and logistical measure rather than a change to competitive formats.

Officials and organizers said the longer opening practice will give teams extra on-track time to reacclimatize and to evaluate setups and updates amid technical tweaks, including adjustments aimed at energy management in qualifying, race-start procedures and wet-weather rules. The extension also responds to confirmed tweaks to the 2026 engine regulations, which organizers say will alter power-unit behavior and require more running to adapt.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said improved simulation tools and closer collaboration with HPP, the power-unit partner referenced in sources, have helped teams better predict power-unit performance, but warned that “simulators can’t replicate every real-world scenario.” To accommodate the change, the FIA moved all track activity that precedes FP1 30 minutes earlier and organizers issued a revised timetable that advances other sessions, including Formula 2, by the same amount.

The rest of the Miami weekend schedule remains unchanged: Sprint Qualifying on Friday at 16:30, the Sprint on Saturday at 12:00, Saturday’s Grand Prix qualifying at 16:00 and the Grand Prix on Sunday at 16:00. The extended FP1 will be the first official F1 track session since the Japanese Grand Prix on March 29 after the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races; teams have used filming days and Pirelli tire tests for extra running. Heading into Miami, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli leads the Drivers’ Championship and Mercedes tops the Constructors’ standings. The next event, Montreal, is in three weeks and is also a sprint weekend.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown warned that growing A/B-team links and common ownership in F1 threaten the sport’s competitive integrity and urged that such ties be reduced “as much as possible, as quickly as possible.” He said cross-team relationships should be limited to customer power-unit supply and that he raised the issue during Concorde Agreement discussions, summing up the risk bluntly: “A-B teams threaten sporting integrity.”

Brown cited several examples to illustrate his concern, including Daniel Ricciardo taking the fastest-lap point at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, the Aston Martin and Racing Point brake-duct intellectual property dispute, and rapid staff moves and compensatory deals that can distort competition and complicate cost-cap compliance.

He pointed to established technical and ownership links such as Red Bull’s dual ownership structure and Ferrari’s technical partnership with Haas, including shared gearboxes, rear suspension and hydraulic and electronic systems, as relationships that should be closely monitored and limited. The comments came amid reports that Mercedes was assessing a possible minority purchase of a 24% stake in Alpine, a move Brown said would deepen the A/B relationships he opposes. He explicitly criticized any Mercedes or Toto Wolff buy-in and said his stance “applies to anybody and everybody.” Mercedes and Wolff have said they would not intend to make Alpine a junior team. Brown also welcomed speculation that former Red Bull principal Christian Horner could return to F1, calling him “a great personality” and “a great operator,” and saying he would be “shocked” if Horner did not return to the sport, whether with Alpine or another team.

McLaren will introduce a “completely new” aerodynamic B-spec MCL40 at the Miami Grand Prix on May 3 and plans to run the revised car again at the Canadian Grand Prix. Team principal Andrea Stella called the package an “entirely new MCL40” and a “philosophical shift,” describing it as a planned technical overhaul to make the car more competitive.

The move follows a difficult start to this season for the defending constructors’ and drivers’ champions, who have struggled for pace and reliability. Lando Norris finished fifth at the Australian Grand Prix. Oscar Piastri failed to score in the opening races before scoring a podium in Japan. The team also endured problems in China that reports variously described as a double-DNF or failures to start. Cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds created an enforced April break that gave McLaren extra factory time to concentrate on the upgrades.

McLaren will use Miami to measure the upgrades’ effectiveness and hopes the B-spec will restore last season’s competitiveness; the team has won the last two editions of the Miami Grand Prix. Stella cautioned the package “may not dramatically reshuffle the order,” noting rivals Mercedes and, to some extent, Ferrari have also had development time and that outcomes will depend on both McLaren’s changes and concurrent work by competitors. The team drew confidence from a past mid-season turnaround, with reports pointing to either 2022 or 2023 as the precedent.