{"id":471649,"date":"2026-02-10T23:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/471649\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T23:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:58:08","slug":"rivals-unite-against-mercedes-as-damon-hill-issues-aus-gp-qualy-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/471649\/","title":{"rendered":"Rivals unite against Mercedes as Damon Hill issues Aus GP qualy warning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On the eve of Bahrain pre-season testing, it is time to round-up the latest F1 news headlines, after what was a busy day of key updates.<\/p>\n<p>Amidst all the chatter surrounding Mercedes\u2019 new engine, Cadillac F1 chief Dan Towriss spoke of a united opposition having been formed. 1996 World Champion Damon Hill meanwhile has warned of a sizeable field spread come the opening race in Melbourne. All this and more, so let\u2019s get to it.<\/p>\n<p>Mercedes facing united front against its engine?<\/p>\n<p>According to Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss, this is the case.<\/p>\n<p>Towriss claimed that talks are ongoing with the FIA over a solution, with reports pointing to Mercedes as a team which has exploited a compression ratio loophole in the new regulations.<\/p>\n<p>Towriss stated that \u201cthere\u2019s unanimous views outside of Mercedes\u201d about what the outcome should be.<\/p>\n<p>Read more \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/f1-engine-saga-cadillac-rivals-mercedes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cadillac F1: Rivals united against Mercedes on engine saga<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mind the gap in Australia?<\/p>\n<p>Excluding Liam Lawson and Esteban Ocon, the bottom two drivers, less than seven-tenths covered the Melbourne Q1 field in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>But, when the new-look F1 2026 cars debut in Melbourne, Hill is predicting that field spread to expand to 1.8 seconds.<\/p>\n<p>Read more \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/damon-hill-f1-2026-q1-gap-australian-gp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Damon Hill warns F1 could face big qualifying gap at Australian GP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fernando Alonso fears for F1 2026 driving joy<\/p>\n<p>Extensive energy management looks set to play a very prominent role behind success at the wheel of these F1 2026 cars.<\/p>\n<p>Two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso, the sport\u2019s most experienced driver, fears this could take \u201csome of the joy\u201d away from driving.<\/p>\n<p>Read more \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/fernando-alonso-f1-2026-robot-style-driving-warning\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fernando Alonso warns F1 2026 risks \u2018less joy\u2019 with robot-style driving<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kimi Antonelli unhurt after road traffic accident<\/p>\n<p>Kimi Antonelli walked away \u201ccompletely unhurt\u201d after he was involved in a car accident in San Marino on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The Italian will drive the Mercedes W17 on Wednesday afternoon in Bahrain.<\/p>\n<p>Read more \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/mercedes-kimi-antonelli-car-crash-italy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mercedes confirm Kimi Antonelli unhurt after road accident before Bahrain test<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bahrain testing: What to look out for<\/p>\n<p>The F1 2026 pre-season unofficially commenced in Barcelona. But, proceedings officially get underway on Wednesday with the start of Bahrain testing.<\/p>\n<p>From lap counts, to flow-vis, to new F1 technology and more, PlanetF1.com\u2019s Sam Cooper has compiled a list of things to watch out for in Bahrain.<\/p>\n<p>Read more \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/features\/f1-2026-pre-season-testing-what-to-watch-bahrain\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">What to watch out for at F1 2026 pre-season testing in Bahrain<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the eve of Bahrain pre-season testing, it is time to round-up the latest F1 news headlines, after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,818,945,44,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-471649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-home-page","14":"tag-mercedes","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}