Charles Leclerc drove his Ferrari Formula One car through the streets of Maranello on Thursday as the Italian team fired up for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic halted track activity in March. Ferrari said the 22-year-old Monegasque was the first driver of the modern era to have driven an F1 car through their home town.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri celebrated his 50th Formula One race with a pole-to-flag win in Bahrain on Sunday that sent him second overall.
Leclerc took pole in Monaco in 2021, but did not start the race due to a driveshaft failure, and 2022 when he ended up fourth.
Drivers returned to the pits, under a darkening sky, with engineers using torches in the garages before back-up generators came on and the session resumed about an hour later.
The racing scenes in Brad Pitt's new F1 movie are impressively authentic but the filmmakers have also made much of how the sport's past is woven into the plot -- with a hefty slice of Hollywood artistic licence.
Brazilian Felipe Massa wrote off his and Ferrari's Formula One championship chances on Sunday. Despite scoring his first points of the season with sixth place at the Spanish Grand Prix, Massa shook his head when asked whether he felt he could still fight for the title with just three points to Briton Jenson Button's 41 from five races.
Ferrari said on Thursday that the MotoGP champion was halfway through a three-day test with them.
F1 leader Oscar Piastri seized pole position from teammate and title rival Lando Norris by a hefty margin as dominant McLaren locked out the front row in Spanish Grand Prix.
'I know some people didn't understand it at the time but I was right to make the move then and it's the feeling I have again now. I'm excited to see what I can bring to this new opportunity and what we can do together.'
Ferrari have parted company with chief designer Nikolas Tombazis and engineering director Pat Fry, two of the men responsible for designing this year's car as the team endured their first season without a win since 1993.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday with the battle for the constructor's title going down to next weekend's Abu Dhabi season-ender
Formula One could live without Ferrari if they were to walk away in protest at the introduction of a budget cap, according to International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley. He made clear that he would not be backing down over allowing teams to compete with a voluntary 40 million pound ($59.56 million) cap in 2010 in exchange for greater technical freedom than others remaining with unrestricted budgets.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri celebrated pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, his 50th Formula One race, while dejected championship-leading teammate Lando Norris qualified sixth and said he had been "clueless on track".
Formula One needs to go through a 'real revolution' by 2017 with cars making the sort of noise that heavy metal rock fans would appreciate, according to Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene.
The win from fourth on the grid was Australian Oscar Piastri's third in a row, after Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and fourth of the season. McLaren have so far been beaten only once.
Australian Oscar Piastri roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris on Sunday.
Formula One may have to wait a decade for a return to screaming V10 or V8 engines and jettisoning the next generation V6 due to be introduced next year is simply not feasible, according to F1's former chief technical officer Pat Symonds.
Bernie Ecclestone says his money is still on Red Bull's Max Verstappen to win the Formula One championship
Andrea Kimi Antonelli showed he was a quick learner by becoming F1's youngest race leader and fastest lap setter on his way to sixth place for Mercedes in the Japanese Grand Prix
Ferrari's underwhelming pace was a surprise to their rivals and to Hamilton, whose quickest lap in the final qualifying session (Q3) was nearly nine-tenths of a second slower than Norris's.
Michael Schumacher's son Mick has followed in his father's footsteps by signing a contract with Ferrari to join the Formula One team's young driver academy. The 19-year-old German, whose father won five of his record seven championships with the Italian team, will be competing in Formula Two this year after winning the European F3 title in 2018.
Maya Weug will be given a season in the FIA-sanctioned Formula Four championship.
The German, a four times world champion, was given a 10 second stop-and-go penalty during the race for angrily banging wheels with his Mercedes rival while they were behind the safety car.
In the constructors' standings, Ferrari closed the gap to McLaren to 24 points.
Luca di Montezemolo's resignation as Ferrari chairman on Wednesday severs an historic link with the company's late founder Enzo and marks the end of an era for Formula One's most successful and glamorous team.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri seized the first proper pole position of his Formula One career at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday with the fastest lap yet around the Shanghai International Circuit.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen set the pace in Japanese Grand Prix free practice on Friday as Formula One's title contenders got to grips with the Fuji circuit for the first time.
Fernando Alonso on Thursday refused to categorically rule out leaving current team Ferrari as soon as next season for either former outfit McLaren or reigning champions Red Bull.
Lando Norris led a McLaren front row sweep in qualifying for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday
His Ferrari 312T car, in various guises, won four constructors' and three drivers' championships with Lauda and Scheckter.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz won the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday to end Formula One leader Max Verstappen's record run of 10 wins in a row.
Hamilton, who finished fourth on Sunday and joins Ferrari next year, has always raced with a Mercedes engine since his debut at McLaren in 2007.
Charles Leclerc seized pole position for the Italian Formula One Grand Prix and sent Ferrari hopes soaring on Saturday while Mercedes' George Russell joined him on the front row once penalties were applied.
Germany's Sebastian Vettel won an emotional Hungarian Grand Prix for Ferrari and the late Jules Bianchi on Sunday after a crazy race that turned into a rare nightmare for champions Mercedes despite Lewis Hamilton increasing his overall lead.
Stefano Domenicali resigned as Ferrari's Formula One team principal on Monday, and the company's North America president and chief executive Marco Mattiacci was appointed as his replacement.
Vasseur and his compatriot Nicolas Todt, son of Jean and manager of Ferrari's Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc, are close and founded the junior series ART racing team together.
A decade on from their last driver's title, courtesy of Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, Ferrari emerged from eight days of testing in Spain with the fastest lap times coupled with impressive reliability.
Ferrari and McLaren stand to lose millions as a result of the collapse of the Marussia Formula One team, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.
Vettel will be sharing Ferrari testing duties with the 20-year-old at Bahrain's Sakhir circuit next week after the second grand prix of the season.
McLaren's Lando Norris swept to victory in a wet and wild Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, holding off defending champion Max Verstappen in a white-knuckle finish to a Formula One season-opener littered with crashes and safety cars.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances