Hamilton to Ferrari
BREAKING:
Lewis Hamilton has agreed that he will make a shock move to the Scuderia Ferrari team in 2025, to become Charles Leclerc's teammate. Despite previously being very committed to staying with the Mercedes team, they are set to part ways with each other at the end of this season. It is though that he has been in talks with the Ferrari team for a while, however, Mercedes were apparently not made aware of this until Wednesday (31/01/24) just one day before the announcement was made to the public.
Breaking: hamilton and leclerc disqualified
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been disqualified from the United States Grand Prix after post-race checks by the FIA revealed the wooden planks on the bottom of their cars had excessive wear. Michael Schumacher was disqualified for this same reason at the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton finished the race in P2 so this disqualification removes valuable points he gained in Sergio Perez, his rival in the championship. Charles Leclerc finished the race in P6.
The disqualifications have caused much backlash online, with people questioning whether or not these random checks really are that random. The FIA have assured that these checks are random. The sensors on both Hamilton's and Leclerc's cars had flagged to the FIA that something may be wrong, so the FIA checked two other cars whose sensors did't show any issues. The fact that these cars passed the inspection means that the FIA have assumed that all the other cars, given that their sensors also didn't show issues, would pass.
Breaking: alternative tyre allocation to be trialed again
At qualifying for the Monza Grand Prix this weekend, Formula 1 are trialing their alternative tyre allocation again. Teams will have to run hard tyres in Q1, medium tyres in Q2 and soft tyres in Q3. This means that teams will not be able to choose which tyres to use for which session.
The first time they tried this system, teams gave mixed reviews. Some of the teams lower down the order did not like this system because their cars struggled on a certain set of tyres so were out earlier than they would have hoped as this system removes flexibility. This can remove some of the surprise drivers into Q2 and Q3 which is why some teams were not a fan.
The teams also have less allocated tyres - they have been given 11 sets rather than the ususal 13. Instead of 8 soft tyres, 3 medium tyres and 2 hard tyres, they have been given 4 soft tyres, 4 medium tyres and 3 hard tyres.
Alfa romeo's special livery
Alfa Romeo are sporting a new livery for their home race this weekend in Monza. The Italian flag has replaced the red that usually covers the car, and gold accents make the tribute to Alfa Romeo's new road car. The traditional red can be seen on the top of the car's nose, with green on the side. Can this new look propel them up the order and end their disappointing run of no points?
Ferrari's special livery
Ferrari are sporting a new livery for their home race this weekend in Monza. The added yellow and black to their signature red pays tribute to their win at the 24 hours of Le Mans earlier this year. Their drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are wearing race suits to match this new design and both have special helmets as well.
Ferrari's special livery
Ferrari are sporting a new livery for their home race this weekend in Monza. The added yellow and black to their signature red pays tribute to their win at the 24 hours of Le Mans earlier this year. Their drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are wearing race suits to match this new design and both have special helmets as well.
Breaking: Hamilton and russell extend mercedes contracts
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have both extended their Mercedes contracts and will stay with the team until 2025.
Hamilton has been at the team since 2013 and won 6 of his 7 championships with them, from 2014-2015 and 2017-2020.
Russell has been at the team since 2022 and took his first F1 victory with the team at the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Both drivers shared the news on social media, with Hamilton saying "Our story isn't finished".
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff believes they “have the strongest pairing on the grid”. Can George Russell and Lewis Hamilton live up to the bold statement from their team principal this weekend at Monza?
Breaking: Ricciardo breaks hand
Daniel Ricciardo has broken a bone in his hand after hitting the wall at turn 3 in FP2 in Zandvoort. Not only will he be unable to compete for the rest of this weekend, it is likely he will also miss out on the Grand Prix at Monza next weekend.
Prior to Ricciardo's incident, Oscar Piastri had hit the barrier at turn 3. Ricciardo was unaware of this incident until he was right there and, in his words, "it was either his Piastri or hit the wall". He still had his hand on the steering wheel when he crashed and this is likely the cause of the break.
Liam Lawson, a racing driver from New Zealand, will replace Ricciardo at AlphaTauri.
Breaking: Verstappen takes penalty
Max Verstappen has taken a 5-place grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix after using a fifth gearbox component this season. The Belgian GP is a sprint weekend, but the grid penalty is applied to Sunday's grid, meaning he will start P6 at best for the race on Sunday. Given his form this season, it is unlikely that this penalty will affect him too much.
Breaking: The honey Badger is back
If you've watched many races this season, you'll probably know that Nyck De Vries hasn't quite had the rookie season he dreamed of. Well, Alpha Tauri certainly thought that his poor race results couldn't carry on so made an unexpected change. Daniel Ricciardo will race for AlphaTauri F1, on loan from Red Bull, for the rest of the season. It is currently unclear whether Ricciardo will race for them next season as well. The reaction has been positive, with many fans eager to watch how Daniel performs in the rest of the season at AlphaTauri.
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