Formula 1: Articles & News Reports.

[Fortitude]

Ferrari director ‘rushed’ to stop Charles Leclerc ‘exploding’ as unplanned meeting emerges.
Ferrari sporting director Diego Loverno stopped Charles Leclerc ‘exploding’ in the media in Hungary.
7 August 2025
Kyle Archer
F1 Oversteer

Given the Monegasque’s fury over their radio, Auto Sport Web reports that Ferrari sporting director Diego Loverno ‘quickly rushed’ to speak to Leclerc after the Hungarian GP. Loverno was desperate to meet Leclerc in parc ferme and stop him ‘exploding in front of the media’. Loverno did not plan on speaking to Leclerc as soon as he got out of his SF-25 last Sunday. But, given how the Ferrari Driver Academy product’s race unravelled, the Bologna native did not want to risk Leclerc potentially continuing to vent his anger while he spoke to the media.

Ferrari sporting director Loverno’s frantic words in Leclerc’s ear right after the Hungarian GP seemingly did the trick, as the Monegasque then appeared to tow the company line and put his issues down to a possible chassis issue rather than blaming his engine or tyre pressures. But, while the Scuderia seemingly tried to hide the true cause for his collapse, how Leclerc’s race unravelled left them entering the summer break on a low. Hamilton was even only able to qualify and finish the Hungarian GP in P12 for the Briton’s worst classified result this year.

It has even been suggested that Ferrari’s rear suspension upgrade debuted at Spa has failed if Leclerc’s Hungarian GP unravelled due to fears about excessive skid plank wear. The team hoped the upgrade would let them run the SF-25 lower to the ground and unlock its speed.

‘Stop him exploding in front of the media’;

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/fer...eting-emerges/


What we know about Leclerc's strange Ferrari 'disaster'
Aug 4, 2025
Jon Noble
The Race

The way that Charles Leclerc's hopes of victory in Formula 1's Hungarian Grand Prix were derailed - by a poor final stint that Ferrari labelled a "disaster" - has prompted a great deal of intrigue. While a detailed explanation has not been forthcoming yet, the focus is very much on it being a car problem as opposed to anything power unit-related.

This is why Leclerc used the word "chassis" in his post-race remarks to the media as a general remark, rather than it being an actual broken monocoque. As Vasseur later clarified: "When he says chassis, it's because it has nothing to do with the power unit. Now we don't know exactly what happened."

The most likely explanation remains that something broke in the car and that triggered a loss of grip, which then manifested itself in the tyres sliding and overheating and the balance being derailed as a result. But it may take a deep dive back at Ferrari's Maranello base to fully understand things.

‘Great deal of intrigue’;

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/w...rari-disaster/


Gary Anderson rejects George Russell’s ‘wacky’ Charles Leclerc theory after Hungarian Grand Prix problem
5 August 2025
Rory Mitchell
F1 Oversteer

Gary Anderson explains why George Russell theory on Ferrari struggles is ‘wacky’. Ferrari has been dealing with the issue of excessive plank wear for most of the season, after both Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were disqualified in China. Russell’s suggestion would be consistent with those problems, but Anderson has explained why it would be tricky for Ferrari to make such a “strange” decision that would impact the driver on track.

“What Russell suggested is a bit wacky and far-fetched in my opinion. A team would not reduce performance in this way just to stop plank wear. There are numerous other, better and less dramatic solutions,” wrote Anderson. “Firstly, you would change the set-up of the car, running the rear of the car stiffer or raising the ride-height slightly to reduce plank wear. Yes, there will be a performance loss but not to the extent we saw after his last stop.”

“When it comes to tyre pressures, again, it seems unlikely. If you put the rear tyre pressures up you are guaranteed to lose performance from the rear tyres overheating. Doing this on a track where traction is absolutely critical is crazy. As we have seen in the past, Ferrari make some strange decisions but I do not for one second think that Russell is on to anything here. These changes are too much of a compromise.”

‘Gary Anderson explains why George Russell theory on Ferrari struggles is wacky’;

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/gar...-prix-problem/


Ferrari still looking for answers after last stint “disaster” for Leclerc in Hungary
AUGUST 4, 2025
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog

The Hungarian GP had a thrilling conclusion as Oscar Piastri failed to dislodge leader and McLaren team mate Lando Norris, but it could have been even more intriguing had Charles Leclerc still been in contention. We’ll never know if one or both McLaren drivers would have passed him without a fight had he not been slowed by a still mysterious issue in the last stint of the race that ultimately saw him drop to fourth, behind George Russell.

As we know F1 cars can be incredibly sensitive to aero damage – in Hungary Oliver Bearman was forced to stop after he experienced similar symptoms to Leclerc, and afterwards the Haas driver had no explanation as to how any such damage had occurred. After retrieving Leclerc’s from parc ferme the Ferrari crew found nothing visibly obvious in terms of aero damage that could have been responsible, and still had no answers as of Monday morning.

‘Ferrari still looking for answers’;

https://adamcooperf1.com/2025/08/04/...rc-in-hungary/


Ferrari concerned Charles Leclerc wouldn’t finish F1 Hungarian GP due to car issue
3 Aug 2025
Jack Oliver Smith
Motorsport Week

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur believes Charles Leclerc was “lucky” to finish the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix after a chassis issue thwarted his chance of victory. Vasseur revealed that the team will “investigate” if part of the chassis had indeed broken, but was concerned that Leclerc would even make the chequered flag.

“Well, I must say that the situation was quite strange,” he told media including Motorsport Week, “that we were under control the first 40 laps of the race, that we were very in control the first stint, a bit more difficult the second one, but it was still manageable. And the last stint was a disaster, very difficult to drive, that the balance was not there and, honestly, we don’t know exactly what’s happened so far.”

“It means that we have to investigate if we have something broken on the chassis side or whatever, but at one stage I thought that we will never finish the race, that we can be lucky in this situation to score points of a P4. But yeah, it’s very frustrating for us because I think we did the first pole position of the season. “The first two stints went pretty well and we lost completely the pace and the pace of the weekend on the last run, but yeah, it’s tough.”

‘Lucky to finish’;

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2025/...chassis-issue/


Ferrari are ‘brainwashing’ Charles Leclerc as mysterious pattern emerges in his post-race interviews
6 August 2025
David Comerford
F1 Oversteer

Leclerc raged at Ferrari over the radio during the race, telling them ‘you have to listen to me’ and suggesting that they had taken the management of a mystery car issue into their own hands. He described the situation as ‘incredibly frustrating’. Charles Leclerc keeps doing the ‘criticise-and-retract routine’ at Ferrari. Speaking after the race, Leclerc struck a much more measured tone. He said his impression in the cockpit was ‘wrong’ and that the problem in question was beyond Ferrari’s control.

“In the car obviously I had no idea what was going on,” he explained. “I mean I had an idea, but it was a wrong idea because I thought it was something that was in our control. Unfortunately we had an issue on the chassis, so I don’t have much to add on that. It’s just extremely frustrating when you are fighting for a win and when we had the pace that we had at the beginning of the race, and we lose absolutely everything later on, it’s very frustrating.”

On the Auto Motor und Sport YouTube channel, journalist Michael Schmidt suggested that Ferrari had effectively ‘brainwashed’ their driver before he’d faced the media. That prevented him from being totally ‘honest’. “I think there was a bit of brainwashing going on between [Leclerc getting out of] the car and these press conferences and TV interviews,” said Schmidt. “He obviously says in the car what he thinks and what his feeling is. I think that was more honest than what he said afterwards.” ESPN journalist Nate Saunders has observed that Leclerc keeps adopting the ‘criticise-and-retract routine’. There is a ‘feeling’ that he may be too much of a ‘nice guy’ and needs to be harder on the team to drive them forward.

‘Criticise-and-retract routine at Ferrari’;

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/fer...ce-interviews/

[Fortitude]

Mercedes on the backfoot? Was George Russell in talks with these two F1 teams?
Aston Martin and Cadillac knock on Russell's door. George Russell has now become the hottest F1 commodity as of late…
8 Aug 2025
Norberto Mujica
GPblog.com

According to Sky Sports, the team currently fielding Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll reached to Russell to enquire as to his situation and where his F1 future stood. The British sports broadcaster also states that General Motors backed newcomers, Cadillac, were also in contact with the Briton.

‘Knock on Russell's door’;

https://www.gpblog.com/en/rumors/mer...out-to-russell


The ‘myriad reasons’ behind Mercedes’ delayed reveal of F1 2026 drivers
6 Aug 2025
Thomas Maher
PlanetF1.com

With much of the furore surrounding the link between Verstappen and Mercedes coming as a result of a reveal by Russell himself, Mercedes‘ team boss Toto Wolff has hinted the British driver is now in a secure position and continued to re-iterate the position that the intent is for Mercedes to continue with its current drivers.

“As a driver, he is so mature and stable that I don’t think it makes any difference to his performance,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1 during the Hungarian Grand Prix. “On the contrary, I would have wished to have him in a safe place a little bit earlier, but we haven’t managed to do that. But I am optimistic that he is going to sleep well over the summer break.”

‘Myriad reasons’;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/bradle...kimi-antonelli


Charles Leclerc takes aim at 'vocal' George Russell after F1 penalty
Charles Leclerc received a time penalty for his aggressive George Russell defence in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
4 August 2025
Jake Nichol & Ian Parkes
RacingNews365

Charles Leclerc has taken aim at "vocal" George Russell following the incident which led to a double penalty for the Hungarian Grand Prix pole-sitter. Reflecting, Leclerc singled out Russell's "vocal" nature on the team radio. "I knew I was on the limit, but I don't have much opinion about it," Leclerc told media, including RacingNews365.

"I felt like I moved before braking and then I braked, and obviously angled my car towards the apex, which is what I normally do. But I can imagine George being quite vocal on the radio, which is normally the case.”

"I don't mind it happening in a race like this. If there was a safety car late in the race and I took a five-second penalty, I would have probably been a lot more frustrated, but it wasn't the case."

“I can imagine George being quite vocal on the radio, which is normally the case”;

https://racingnews365.com/charles-le...ter-f1-penalty


George Russell admits surprise after podium finish at Hungarian GP
3 Aug 2025
Samson Ero
GPblog.com

George Russell admitted his surprise at his podium finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The 27-year-old who had started the race in fourth place clawed up the grid to finish in third place at the Budapest race.

The Mercedes driver, who was locked in a battle with Charles Leclerc for a few laps, effectively got past the Ferrari driver to claim his first podium since the Canadian Grand Prix. Reacting to his podium finish following the conclusion of the race, the British driver stated: “Really happy with the race today, yesterday in qualifying was a bit of a surprise. This race weekend is been a bit surprising for everyone. But so happy to be back on the podium, obviously dicey with Charles [leclerc] at some point.”

George Russell speaks on his battle with Charles Leclerc. George Russell also took time to touch on his battle with Charles Leclerc. Both drivers were locked in wheel-to-wheel action before Russell got past the Monegaque during the race. Explaining how the battle played out he stated: “It is one of those when you sort of commit to a dive bomb, if the driver in front moves, you will be right on the limit of grip and there is not much move for manoeuversi think we made contact on the second time but just gald to get though it and nice way to go through the break.”

“This race weekendhais been a bit surprising for everyone”;

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/georg...t-hungarian-gp


Toto Wolff reveals 'creep' issue that drained confidence of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes finally appears to have shaken off a gremlin in the car for the last few months.
4 August 2025
Ian Parkes & Aaron Deckers
RacingNews365

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has explained how "a mechanical upgrade" introduced on the W16 earlier this year resulted in another problem 'creeping' into the car. Explaining the upturn in form at the Hungaroring, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, Wolff said: "We tried to solve a problem with the Imola upgrade with a mechanical upgrade.

"It may not have solved the issue, but what it did do was let something else creep into the car, an instability that took all confidence from the drivers, and it took us a few races to figure that out. Also, we were misled a little bit by the win in Montreal, which left us thinking that maybe it's not so bad. It [the upgrade] went off [the car], and we're back to solid form."

"Upgrades are there to bring performance," added Wolff. "A lot of simulations and analysis go into putting parts on the car, and then they're just utterly wrong. So you need to go back to the analogue world and put it on the car and see what it does, and if it doesn't do what it what it should, that's the tricky bit, I guess, for everyone in Formula 1. How do you bring correlation from what the digital world tells you into the real world? That has been a feature, and this is the latest example of how it's tripped us over."

‘What it did do was let something else creep into the car, an instability that took all confidence from the drivers’;

https://racingnews365.com/toto-wolff...kimi-antonelli


'It tripped us all up' – Wolff admits reverting back to older suspension package helped Mercedes in Hungary
Going back to a previous specification of suspension was key for Mercedes in Hungary, according to boss Toto Wolff.
5 Aug 2025
Formula One - Official Site

Toto Wolff admits that reverting back to an older package made the difference for Mercedes in the Hungarian Grand Prix, having "let something else creep into the car" which caused a lack of pace at previous races.

George Russell claimed his sixth podium of the season after a late pass on polesitter and early race leader Charles Leclerc at the Hungaroring, while the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli finished P10 – the young Italian's first points in four races.

The upturn in form, with Russell also only half a tenth away from pole position, comes as the Silver Arrows returned to an older suspension specification having realised the introduced of a newer package back in May was causing issues.

'It tripped us all up';

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...EdP51Mn7gezLNG

[Fortitude]

“For me, it’s qualy laps until the end”: How Alonso responded to “threat” from Verstappen.
“Beautiful! Beautiful,” Alonso said when crossing the line. “Sixteen points, isn’t it?” “Good at driving, good at maths,” Vizard joked in response. “Nice way to go into the summer.” “Absolutely,” Alonso agreed. “Thank you, guys. We need four or five of these ones…”
5th August 2025
Will Wood
RaceFans

Alonso was encouraged by race engineer Andrew Vizard to turn up his power unit and increase his speed, due to his team’s concern’s Verstappen may catch him before the end of the race. But Alonso wanted to save his power boost until the end of the race in case he had to fight the Red Bull. “HPP on,” Vizard instructed him at the start of lap 40. “Verstappen is just now in the pit lane, he could be a threat at the end. So just make sure you have good tyres at the end of the race – that is the key.”

“I would prefer strat-11, rather than HPP?” Alonso suggested. “We’ll go HPP-on and then we can do strat-11 later,” Vizard replied, before the team appeared to change their mind, telling him “now we can do strat-11” at the start of lap 41. “I don’t need it for the moment,” Alonso said. “It’s better to save it, no?”

With fresh tyres, Verstappen quickly caught up to Liam Lawson in eighth place. Alonso was warned that the Red Bull driver was eight seconds but four cars behind him. Despite Verstappen being unable to get by Lawson, Alonso ahead continued to push. “For me, it’s qualifying laps until the end,” he told Vizard. “Tell me otherwise.”

“We need four or five of these ones…”;

https://www.racefans.net/2025/08/05/...om-verstappen/


'180 turnaround' boosts 'concerned' Alonso’s spirits
5 Aug 2025
Kada Sarkozi
GPblog.com

Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin completed quite a turnaround at the Hungarian GP. Where is Belgium, both green cars were towards the end of the field, both the Spaniard and Lance Stroll scored points at the Hungaroring. "I think it can't go any better than this. Someone told me that the two McLarens were very close to each other at one point. That would be even better, but it didn't happen," the two-time world champion smiled, as a potential incident could have meant him finishing on the podium.

Talking to GPblog among others he added: "Apart from that, I think we maximised the performance of the car yesterday in qualifying and today in the race. Not much more to do on our side. The biggest threat was Verstappen on the two stops but then he had some traffic and at the end we were able to be more relaxed." He continued: "It's a nice surprise. The good thing is that we were competitive and we were fast. The concerning thing is that we don't know why," the Spaniard laughed.

"We need this week at the factory to analyse exactly what are the differences between Spa and Hungary, what are the differences on the car as well, on the setup, on the aero devices that we were racing with. The main theme for us was the front wing that was new this weekend. If that front wind gives us that much of performance, that's very good news, but I think that has to be understood at the moment."

'180 turnaround';

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/180-t...mising-hungary


Gary Anderson: Why Aston Martin upgrade looks Newey-inspired
26 Jul 2025
Gary Anderson, Scott Mitchell-Malm
The Race

Aston Martin’s Belgian Grand Prix upgrade package includes a modified nose for its Formula 1 car. This is attached to the second element of the front wing, creating a slot gap, rather than being connected to the first, lowest element as before.

I’m pretty sure this nose development comes from an Adrian Newey suggestion. As everyone says he can see airflow, and for a critical area like this that is exactly what you need to be able to see. As I have said many times, it will be very difficult to quantify an improvement from windtunnel data by separating the most forward front wing element from the nose to open up that slot gap.

This is mainly because it is impossible to run the windtunnel model as low in the tunnel as the actual car runs on the track. It is at very low ride heights when airflow separation problems really start to affect the underfloor performance, and in turn the diffuser performance.

‘Newey-inspired’;

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/a...wey-influence/


Fernando Alonso sends five-word message to Lance Stroll after brilliant Hungarian Grand Prix weekend
4 August 2025
Ben Evans
F1 Oversteer

Aston Martin were the slowest team at Spa, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll qualifying 19th and 20th. It was the worst result in the team’s Formula 1 history, and neither driver came close to scoring points despite the torrential rain and rolling start in the Ardennes forest.

However, the Hungarian Grand Prix proved to be the complete opposite for Andy Cowell’s team. Alonso got off to the perfect start to Sunday’s race, jumping ahead of eventual race winner Lando Norris on the opening lap. He wasn’t able to hold onto that position for long, but he executed a perfect one-stop strategy to finish P5 and secure his fifth points finish in the past six Grand Prix. Stroll had a tougher start, falling behind Bortoleto and Max Verstappen.

However, Red Bull didn’t do the best job with the Dutchman’s strategy, and after finally succumbing to a second pit stop, Stroll finished seventh ahead of the leading Red Bull-backed driver, Liam Lawson. Posting on Instagram after the race, Stroll said: “P7 in Buda – Signing off for a couple weeks.” Alonso replied to the Canadian driver’s post and said: “Great job all weekend! Congrats.”

‘Five-word message’;

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...BB5uaLKHoiQSpy


Why Fernando Alonso is ‘concerned’ by Aston Martin resurgence at F1 Hungarian GP
5 Aug 2025
Jack Oliver Smith
Motorsport Week

Alonso was shocked by how competitive the AMR25 was around the Hungaroring, saying after qualifying that “the layout, the characteristics of the circuit, is suiting our car, apparently.” The team brought what was described as “more aggressive” design of its front wing flap, an addition to its front nose upgrade for Spa, which seemed to make no positive impact.

“The concerning thing is that we don’t know why. In a way, we need this week at the factory to analyse exactly what are the differences between Spa and Hungary, what are the differences on the car as well, on the setup, on the aero devices that we were racing with. The main thing for us was the front wing that was new this weekend."

‘Why Fernando Alonso is concerned’;

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2025/...-hungarian-gp/


Fernando Alonso warns F1 rivals Adrian Newey is preparing ‘something big’ at Aston Martin for 2026
1 August 2025
Shay Rogers
F1 Oversteer

Fernando Alonso promises Adrian Newey is preparing ‘something big’ at Aston Martin for 2026. Newey is ‘pushing the boundaries’ at Aston Martin and wants to make sure that everyone at the team is as prepared as possible for next season. And now Alonso has warned that the Briton is already preparing something that might scare his rivals at this early stage. “The cars are very different, and the things we’ve already learned, like improvements or wind tunnel data, have been checked,” he told Marca.

“We’re just waiting until January 2026 to see how fast we are. Something big is coming, and we’re 100% focused.” Newey has a pass to be as creative as he would like, and he comes into his own particularly at the start of new regulations. He loves to find a loophole. Another bonus will give Newey a ‘major advantage’ at Aston Martin, with Honda supplying their power units for the future.

‘Something big’;

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/fer...rtin-for-2026/


Adrian Newey admits Aston Martin are ‘playing catch-up’ on 2026 F1 rules after mistake they made before he joined
16 July 2025
Kyle Archer
1 Aug 2025

Aston Martin made Newey a 5% shareholder to secure his signature, as well, having battled competition from most of the grid. But his task to turn Aston Martin from midfield regulars into title contenders has been hindered by what the Silverstone team did before he arrived.

Newey admitted, via quotes by F1-Insider: “You’re practically always playing catch-up. Until March, little had been done here for 2026. A little, of course, but we’ve had a huge amount of work to do since then.” So, with Aston Martin ‘playing catch-up’, Newey concedes that compromises may be key for the start of the 2026 F1 regulations era. It also does not help their situation that Newey has raised concerns about Aston Martin’s simulator as he quickly saw issues with its correlation.

Newey added: “These are the layout of the front and rear suspension, the fuel tank size and the wheelbase. On the one hand, we don’t have enough time and, on the other, our simulation tools may be a bit weak. So, we have to try to make the best possible assessments. If necessary, the body and wings can be adjusted during the season.”

‘Playing catch-up’;

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/adr...ore-he-joined/