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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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Nine drivers without a 2027 deal: at the marshals’ post, the sign-in sheet stays blank
Nine drivers are officially without a contract for the 2027 Formula 1 season, while thirteen already hold a seat at least until then. Since Max Verstappen extended with Red Bull until 2030,…
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A 24-degree banked corner where the drivers lift off: Josiane notes the slope
The Madring hosted its first Spanish Grand Prix the weekend before 18 September. Its turn 12, the “Monumental”, banked at 24 degrees, did not produce the advertised action: short of available energy,…
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Virtual safety car on lap 15: at post 14, the flag is made of cloth
On lap fifteen of the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, Lance Stroll’s retirement brought out the virtual safety car. Starting from pole, Lando Norris pitted a lap after his rivals and his…
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Vasseur promises equal treatment, and Philippeville has it laminated on the gazebo
Fred Vasseur told Autosport that both Ferrari drivers get “equal treatment”, and that the call will be his if one of them drops out of the title fight. Ferrari sit second in…
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Antonelli won’t say the word “championship” in the car: procedure, not superstition
Kimi Antonelli, 20, leads the 2026 world championship after wins at Monza and Madrid. In a long interview with the Italian outlet Automoto Italie, the Mercedes driver says he refuses to speak…
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Vesti knows the Mercedes simulator “better than anyone”: Nathan has applied
Frederik Vesti, 24, Mercedes reserve driver, tells the Danish paper Ekstra Bladet about a job where the simulator takes up much of his week, without ever getting behind the wheel on a…
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Wolff and his “couch warriors”: your correspondent writes from the sofa
Toto Wolff says he does not want his drivers colliding the way the two Ferraris did at Monza, admits Mercedes came close to the same incident at the same corner late in…
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Norris told off over a can: a remark isn’t something you can wave a flag at
After the Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring, where he finished second behind Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris was told off by an official as he was about to drink a Coca-Cola in…
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Hamilton says he asked for no one’s head: Fabienne Racing keeps the envelope
Lewis Hamilton has answered the Italian rumours that surfaced after the Spanish Grand Prix, which credited him with wanting personnel changes at Ferrari. In a statement on Instagram, he says he has…
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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.