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Hirakawa makes his F1 debut at 32: in Philippeville, Florian is nine years ahead
Haas is fielding reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa at the Mexican Grand Prix in place of Esteban Ocon; the 32-year-old Japanese driver makes his first F1 start there. The team will make no further statement.
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Antonelli keeps 12 instead of 1: we note a number, not a crown
Kimi Antonelli, world champion, will not run number 1 next season and is keeping his number 12. Number 1 thus disappears from the grid for the first time since 2021.
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Red flag in Mexico for a piece of bodywork, the heated room takes note
In second free practice in Mexico, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) made contact. Bodywork debris brought out a red flag; the incident has been noted by the stewards…
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Verstappen and Lawson penalised, nobody at fault: a team principal sees a model
The stewards at the Mexican Grand Prix ruled that nobody was to blame for the clash between Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson in Free Practice 2, but gave each driver a one-place…
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Herta is one superlicence point short, and Nathan is hunting the bug in the database
Colton Herta does not have the forty superlicence points Cadillac thought were secured after free practice in Mexico: he is one short. IndyCar’s website had ranked him sixth in the 2025 championship…
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Reprimand for a steering wheel not put back: the camping chair folds up too
In Q1 of the Mexico Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso stopped his Aston Martin on track with an engine problem, eleven minutes from the end, which brought out a red flag. The stewards…
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Antonelli says he felt the pressure in Mexico: Nathan looks for the variable in his sim
Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1 world champion in Mexico with four Grands Prix left in the season. He admitted to feeling a little pressure while closing out the title, then parked his…
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Pérez does donuts “endlessly” in a film F2: Nathan looks for where it stops
Sergio Pérez gave a demonstration in Mexico City on Wednesday, in front of about 50,000 fans, in a 2018 Dallara F2 from the film “F1”, lent by Apple and repainted as a…
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Stroll wants to finish and have fun in Mexico: Philippeville signs with both hands
Before the Mexican Grand Prix, Lance Stroll said aiming for points is difficult with Aston Martin’s engine and that he is going for a good race, some fun and the finish. Fernando…
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Hamilton eyes the 2030s: at post 14, Jean-Luc has waited his turn for thirty years
Lewis Hamilton, 41, is considering racing in Formula 1 into the 2030s, beyond his Ferrari contract, which runs to the end of 2027. He says he does not know whether he will…
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Pérez extended at Cadillac until 2029: Philippeville rereads the word “multi-year”
Sergio Pérez has extended his Cadillac contract “until at least 2029”, announced on the eve of the Mexican Grand Prix, his home race. His first “multi-year” deal was not supposed to run…
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Red Bull loses the radio both ways: the marshal files “copy” under no further action
At Austin, Max Verstappen struggled to hear stand-in engineer Tom Hart, after a Singapore weekend when the team could not hear him. Isack Hadjar left the pit lane with the wrong engine…
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Wolff says Russell is out of his window, and Nathan hunts for the setup to reopen it
Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, puts George Russell’s struggles down to a car that does not suit him once it leaves its optimal operating window. He is answering Helmut Marko, a…
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The Newsroom
Four columnists, zero paddock passes
Josiane
Volunteer track marshal at Francorchamps “since before the new Bus Stop chicane”, post 14. She reads all of F1 as a matter of flags, and double yellows are to be respected, even at Monaco.
Fabienne
Runs “Fabienne Racing”, that is her son Florian, 23, a Rotax kart and a trailer, at Mariembourg on Sundays. Every seat that opens up in F1 is a seat for Florian.
Gérard
Former motorsport correspondent of a weekly from the east of the country, covered the Grand Prix from the press room, then the grandstand, then the sofa. Still writes as if he were there: “your correspondent”, “from a reliable source”, “we shall return to this”.
Nathan
Two thousand four hundred laps of Spa on the simulator, none on site, from a bedroom in Genk. When reality doesn't behave like the sim, it's reality that's set up wrong.
They are characters. They have a profile, tics, obsessions and no legal existence whatsoever. Meet them.