Listen to Pit Talk here ><\/a><\/p>\nDe la Rosa conceded that Stroll was too inconsistent to make the most of his apparently Alonso-level speed, though he said Aston Martin\u2019s difficult 2026 car was partly to blame.<\/p>\n
\u201cLance is extremely quick in all types of corners, it\u2019s just that sometimes he\u2019s had some mistakes in qualifying or little things that then eventually, if you don\u2019t qualify up there, it just compromises the whole weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where he\u2019s missing. It\u2019s just sometimes putting everything together in quali.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut sometimes he gets it in quali and he outqualifies Fernando, which is like \u2014 I mean, we\u2019re talking about Fernando Alonso, you know.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd in races, his race pace is impressive as well. He\u2019s very good managing tyres.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we improve the car and make it a bit more driver-friendly \u2026 whenever the car is driving properly, he\u2019s as quick as Fernando. There\u2019s no question about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Tell me if you’re going to fix it!” | 00:48<\/p>\n
MERCEDES EQUALS LONGSTANDING FERRARI RECORD AFTER SPAIN WIN<\/p>\n
Andrea Kimi Antonelli\u2019s victory in Madrid was the 251st win for Mercedes as an engine manufacturer, equalling a record held by Ferrari for more than two decades.<\/p>\n
Ferrari is Formula 1\u2019s longest serving manufacturer and engine builder, having contested every season of the world championship. It\u2019s also the sport\u2019s most successful team, having won more races and titles than any other team.<\/p>\n
Enzo Ferrari, the founder of his eponymous team, famously considered his power plants to be the cornerstone of his success, having once espoused that aerodynamics is for those who can\u2019t build engines.<\/p>\n
He was also historically influential in shaping the Formula 1 regulations around engines, most notably in the decision in the late 1980s to shift the sport away from smaller turbocharged engines and back to naturally aspirated ones, signalling the short-lived return of the Ferrari V12 to grand prix racing.<\/p>\n
Ford Cosworth had taken the record for victories in the interim, moving ahead of Ferrari in 1972 \u2014 painfully, at the Italian Grand Prix \u2014 thanks to its model as a supplier rather than a works constructor.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until Ferrari developed its V10 engine that it started racking up victories, with the changed configuration coinciding with the arrival of Michael Schumacher in the mid-1990s. By the early 2000s the team was winning races for fun, and at the 2004 French Grand Prix it surpassed Ford for the most victories by an engine builder, with 176 wins.<\/p>\n
It has gradually extended that record ever since, with Charles Leclerc\u2019s win at the British Grand Prix the 251st for the Italian marque.<\/p>\n
Mercedes, however, has equalled that record with remarkable speed.<\/p>\n
Its first nine victories came in the 1950s, in the early days of the world championship, but it didn\u2019t win its 10th until 1997, after entering a works partnership with McLaren.<\/p>\n
When Ferrari took the record in 2004, the brand had only 42 victories. They ended that season with 182-43 in Ferrari\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n
In the 432 races since then, Mercedes engines have won an astounding 208 times, or 48.2 per cent of all events. Ferrari has won just 69 times or 16.0 per cent of races.<\/p>\n
Mercedes has been aided by having competitive customer teams. McLaren has contributed 102 victories to Mercedes\u2019s total, with Brawn \u2014 which was later bought by Mercedes \u2014 adding eight to the tally.<\/p>\n
Only one Ferrari customer has ever won a race: Toro Rosso, now known as Racing Bulls, which won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix with Sebastian Vettel.<\/p>\n
Engine performance is a major battleground in 2026, with Ferrari\u2019s lack of deployment in particular leaving it on the back foot in the battle with Mercedes, which by consensus has developed the best hybrid power unit this season.<\/p>\n
Ferrari has used both upgrade concession for the season; Mercedes will deploy its singular upgrade chance likely in October.<\/p>\n
Lando refuses to ditch the Coca-Cola! | 00:17<\/p>\n
FORMULA 2 DOUBLES UP ON BAKU RACES AS F1 CALENDAR CALL LOOMS<\/p>\n
Formula 2 will add an extra race to its schedule at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in what is being widely interpreted as a move to compensate for the likely loss of rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi later this season.<\/p>\n
F2 organisers insist, however, that the Middle Eastern rounds will go ahead as scheduled.<\/p>\n
Just three rounds remain in this year\u2019s Formula 2 season, with appearances on the F1 undercard in Qatar and Abu Dhabi following next week\u2019s race in Baku.<\/p>\n
But the Qatar and Abu Dhabi grands prix are in doubt due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The F2 championship is poised to go down to the wire, with Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov leading Ferrari prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Rafael C\u00e2mara by just seven points. Alpine juniors Gabriele Mini and Alex Dunne trail by 24 points and 38 points respectively.<\/p>\n
The sudden cancellation of the final rounds could all but eliminate Mini and Dunne from contention effectively via press release while also robbing Tsolov and C\u00e2mara of chances to battle for the title. <\/p>\n
Adding an extra feature race to the Baku weekend is therefore being read as a way to bolster the points available for the season.<\/p>\n
F2 CEO Bruno Michel insisted, however, say the decision was driven purely by a desire to serve fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Formula 2 is the only support event at the Azerbaijan Formula 1 Grand Prix, together with the promoters, we have opted for a super-sized F2 race weekend, with one free practice, two qualifying sessions, one sprint race and two feature races,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the only weekend where the timetable allows the additional sessions, which will increase the level of entertainment even further for the attending crowd and all our fans. The Baku City Circuit always provides us with amazing racing, so we\u2019re very pleased to make the 12th Round of our season pretty unique.\u201d<\/p>\n
F2 added in a statement that \u201cthe final two rounds of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will resume with the usual weekend format\u201d.<\/p>\n
The title reality for Formula 2 could sharpen minds in Formula 1 headquarters too, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli skipping out to an 81-point lead after victory in Spain.<\/p>\n
At his current score rate relative to George Russell, he could be on track to wrap up the title as soon as the United States Grand Prix, four rounds from now, assuming the Middle Eastern rounds are cancelled.<\/p>\n
However, if he were to enjoy one or two more big points swings over Russell in the next two races, his coronation date could be brought sooner \u2014 which in turn raises the possibility that a late cancellation of the final two rounds could hand the Italian the title between events.<\/p>\n
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali had previously earmarked a decision on cancelling the two races in the middle of September owing to logistical considerations.<\/p>\n
The World Endurance Championship has already abandoned season-closing rounds in Qatar and Bahrain, while MotoGP is expected to announce imminently that it will also cancel its Qatar Grand Prix, due in November.<\/p>\n
If the races are cancelled, Formula 1 is expected to replace them with a final race in Imola, in central Italy, on 6 December. It has already scheduled an additional race in Malaysia next month to bolster the calendar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lance Stroll is \u201cvery underrated\u201d and \u201cas fast as\u201d two-time champion Fernando Alonso, according to Aston Martin ambassador…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":893634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-893633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893633","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=893633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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