RED BULL’S IMMEDIATE ADRIAN NEWEY ACTION, VERSTAPPEN DAMAGE DISCOVERED – F1 NEWS ROUND-UP

Hot off the heels of a memorable Miami Grand Prix, it is time to bring you up to speed with the latest major Formula 1 headlines.

Just like heading into the race weekend, Adrian Newey’s name continues to be at the centre of F1 chatter, while Red Bull has confirmed that damage was found on Max Verstappen’s car at the end of a race won by Lando Norris, his first ever F1 victory. Let us dive into the action…

Adrian Newey out in cold over Red Bull data

The bombshell announcement dropped ahead of the Miami Grand Prix that Red Bull’s design guru Newey will leave “after the first quarter of 2025”, though his involvement on the Formula 1 side is already over.

And team principal Christian Horner would explain how the process of restricting Newey’s access is underway, including access to data now being denied.

Max Verstappen floor damage discovered

Red Bull has dominated Formula 1’s ground effect era with Newey overseeing design of their record-shattering challengers, though Verstappen could not notch up another win in Miami, with Norris instead triumphing for the first time.

But, while there was no doubting the pace Norris had, Horner has revealed that Verstappen was carrying floor damage, possibly as a result of his rare mistake at the chicane, while Sergio Perez may have also added an extra “scratch” for good measure.

‘Ballsy’ Max Verstappen response to Safety Car question

With Norris having gone longer on his opening stint than those around him, the timing of the Safety Car – deployed after Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant collided – could not have come at a better time as Norris pitted and maintained the lead.

Verstappen was in no mood though to debate whether or not that handed Norris the win, using an “if my mum had balls” analogy to get his point across.

Blunt Lewis Hamilton response to Mercedes ‘fourth-fastest’ claim

While P6 was the best that Hamilton could manage in Miami, he was nonetheless happy with how his race went, especially as he was able to keep the pressure on Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in his final stint, while Sergio Perez was not far up the road either.

Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell meanwhile was a little more downbeat, casting his verdict that Mercedes are “the fourth-fastest team at the moment”. Hamilton saw little reason to make such a claim.

Toto Wolff delivers ‘good news’ on Lewis Hamilton pace

And with Hamilton in an optimistic mood, the same was true for Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, who took plenty of encouragement from Hamilton’s data which showed him matching Perez’s times on the medium tyre.

Our data analysis from the Miami Grand Prix revealed Hamilton’s mean lap time on the medium compound to be a 1:31.7 over the 25-lap stint. Perez, who ditched his hard tyres under the Safety Car having stopped eight laps previously, also ran the mediums to the end for a 25-lap stint and his mean time was also 1:31.7.

2024-05-06T21:40:38Z dg43tfdfdgfd