Welcome to Friday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
The three-way title fight we’ve had for much of 2025 may look like a repeat of 2007, but don’t forget how competitive Felipe Massa was, says @Roadrunner:
Hamilton and Alonso did cost each other quite a few points points, but let’s not forget that Massa was racing for the title too that year. He finished only a dozen points or so behind the McLaren drivers and even won at the Turkish GP in front of Raikkonen at the late stages of the season. So while it’s probably true that he wasn’t fighting too hard at Brazil, he wasn’t exactly helping earlier on.
@Roadrunner
Social media and links
Unearth your greatness: building for 2026 with Adrian Newey (Aston Martin)
‘Some of the motivation is that fear of failure. I’ve tried to learn to use that constructively because it’s that difference between too much pressure or pressure mismanaged causing mistakes versus leading to quite a focused and tunnel vision-like state. My wife, over the last three, four months since I’ve joined the team, complains that I’m in a ‘design trance’ and I understand what she means that I don’t kind of see left and right and I’m probably not terribly sociable what limited processing power I have is all concentrated on the task in hand given these pressing deadlines. But that’s not a state to stay in for too long and that all sounds quite egotistical as well it’s really ultimately all about the team and how we work together.’
F1 Academy drives forward with full F1 team support in continued multi-year partnership (F1 Academy)
‘Cadillac Formula 1 Team, who will join F1 in 2026, have also confirmed that they will join the F1 Academy grid as a sponsor from 2027.’
‘Ryan joins the team with a wealth of experience and a proven championship pedigree, having made 395 IndyCar series starts over 21 seasons, earning 18 victories and 47 podium finishes. His storied open-wheel career is highlighted by success at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where he will attempt to qualify for his 18th Indy 500 in May. The veteran will be one of five active drivers competing who boast an IndyCar series championship and an Indy 500 victory alongside Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Alex Palou and Will Power.’
‘Utter hypocrisy’: tobacco firm lobbied against rules in Africa that are law in UK (The Guardian)
‘(McLaren sponsor) British American Tobacco has been accused of ‘utter hypocrisy’ for lobbying against tobacco control measures in Africa that are already in place in the UK.’
We didn’t mean to create a burger powerful enough to start a fan theory (Grill’d – Instagram)
‘Sure, we can take a joke about a curse — but let’s be real, we’d never bet against a guy like Oscar Piastri. He’s our homegrown Aussie hero, and we’ll always be in his corner.’
RaceFans always endeavours to credit original sources. Want to share a relevant motorsport link with us? Send it in via the contact form.