Author: Miles Fast

For the first six races of 2026, Mercedes was largely racing itself. That comfort disappeared at Silverstone. Charles Leclerc took the checkered flag ahead of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, securing Ferrari’s second victory in three Grands Prix. Meanwhile, championship leader Kimi Antonelli fell out of contention after part of the front-left wheel cover assembly broke around the brake duct. He had been closing rapidly on Leclerc with fresher, harder tyres when the damage left his car almost impossible to turn. What could have been a late fight for victory became two extra pit stops, repeated trips beyond the track…

If anyone expected Oscar Piastri to clear a path for Max Verstappen at McLaren, Mark Webber has now shut down that theory. Piastri’s manager rejected claims that the Australian wants to leave and dismissed the latest speculation as nonsense. His response supports everything Piastri and McLaren have said publicly. The driver remains under contract through at least the end of 2027. Team principal Andrea Stella continues to describe him as part of McLaren’s future, while Zak Brown insists the team has no Formula 1 vacancy. Verstappen’s uncertain position at Red Bull has kept McLaren at the centre of the driver…

Max Verstappen was running 3rd at Silverstone with 4 laps remaining. Then the rear wing failed to close properly, the RB22 snapped away, and his British Grand Prix ended in the gravel. It was his 3rd retirement of 2026, his 9th race without a victory, and the 2nd straight weekend in which a rear wing problem had thrown him off the road. For a driver who won 4 consecutive championships from 2021 through 2024, this is no routine slump. Red Bull has spent much of the season with the 4th fastest car, behind Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren. Its recovery has…

When Charles Leclerc guided the Ferrari SF-26 out of Madring’s completed pit lane, Madrid’s Formula 1 project stopped looking like a construction promise and started behaving like a race track. Leclerc handled the morning running before Lewis Hamilton took over later in the day. Together, they completed 37 laps around the 5.4-km circuit. That distance works out at roughly 199.8 km, taking Ferrari to the edge of the 200-km limit permitted during a promotional filming day. This was the first time a current Formula 1 car had attacked Madring’s 22 corners. Ferrari used Pirelli demonstration tyres rather than normal race…

Max Verstappen is no longer simply deciding whether Red Bull can give him a winning car. He is judging whether Formula 1 still deserves his time. That is the real force behind the noise linking him with McLaren for 2027. Verstappen sits 7th in the championship on 76 points, trailing George Russell in 2nd by 78. With only 50 points available before the summer break, he cannot reach the position reportedly required to prevent a performance clause in his contract from becoming active. His Red Bull deal runs through 2028, but that clause could hand him control over an early…

When Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc take Ferrari’s 2026 challenger onto fresh Madrid asphalt, the team will not simply gather footage for a promotional reel. It will get the first live Formula 1 reference point on Spain’s new Grand Prix stage. The run falls under the sport’s promotional event rules, which cap current car filming days at 200km and require special tyres made for that purpose. That framework prevents Ferrari from turning the outing into an open development test. Yet the opportunity still matters. The IFEMA layout is new, technical and politically significant, with Madrid preparing to take over Spain’s…

Max Verstappen does not scare easily. But after high-speed crashes in Austria qualifying and at Silverstone, the Red Bull driver has forced a technical argument into a safety argument. The FIA is now reviewing the rotating rear-wing concepts used by Red Bull and Ferrari, with Verstappen’s British Grand Prix crash at Stowe acting as the trigger. Red Bull says Austria and Silverstone involved different faults. That defence only goes so far. Both incidents left Verstappen without the rear downforce he expected at the worst possible moment, as he turned into fast corners. The issue sits at the centre of Formula…

When Verstappen lost control at Stowe late in the British Grand Prix, the immediate concern was the violence of the moment. The deeper consequence came once the championship math settled. Verstappen is now 7th in the drivers’ standings on 76 points. George Russell sits 2nd on 154. That 78-point gap cannot be closed before the summer break, even if Verstappen wins the next 2 races. That matters because Verstappen’s reported Red Bull exit clause is tied to his place in the standings before the break. What once sounded like paddock noise is now active leverage for the 4 time world…

McLaren left Silverstone with points on the board and a much harder truth in the garage. Lando Norris had dragged the MCL40 to P3 in the Sprint and P4 in the Grand Prix, yet the car’s real pace told a colder story. Oscar Piastri’s weekend was even more damaging. He finished P7 in the Sprint, then fell to P11 on Sunday after lap 1 contact left him needing repairs. The problem was not execution alone. It was speed. McLaren looked behind Ferrari and Mercedes across the British Grand Prix weekend, and the gap was wide enough for Andrea Stella to…

Zak Brown said all the right things at Silverstone, but in the F1 paddock, a firm no rarely kills a story this big. McLaren’s chief executive denied any talks with Max Verstappen and backed Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri as the team’s 2027 pairing. On paper, that should have ended the matter. It has not. Verstappen remains under contract with Red Bull until the end of 2028, but his deal is widely understood to include a route out for 2027 if he sits lower than second in the drivers’ standings at the summer break. After the British Grand Prix, George…