Motorsport 🏁

🏎 José Mourinho believes Formula 1 has a different approach to handling pressure before the biggest moments.

“But I feel that they are one step ahead of us in terms of the way they approach the big moments. These guys, the drivers, there’s huge pressure, but before that time in the car, they are together, they meet people, they do a little bit of PR, they do a little bit of media. I think we have to learn with them, the way they can be relaxed, and half an hour later they can be in the car fighting for their lives, because they take risks.”

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🇦🇹 Yuki Tsunoda has admitted that relying too heavily on Max Verstappen’s set-up hindered his adaptation to Red Bull’s car during the 2025 season.

“What I did most – and what I think now was the biggest mistake last year – was to try to replicate the set-up, what he’s doing; even knowing that sometimes, if I feel the car very oversteer, Max’s set-up in theory makes the car worse, more sensitive in the direction change, or makes the car slide more. I tend to choose the set-up, even though I’m already struggling with oversteer. It can happen sometimes the opposite way as well: even though I’m struggling with understeer, his car is more understeer. I try to replicate that.”

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⬆️ Video from our subscriber. Please comment it

In 2026, Ayrton Senna would have turned 66. He died on May 1, 1994, and 32 years have already passed since that tragic race in Imola.
There’s a lot that could be said about Ayrton Senna da Silva. And how much has already been said and filmed!
So, I’ll just leave this video here as a tribute to the great racer and his equally great opponent and counterpart, Alain Prost, without whom, in my opinion, it makes no sense to talk about Senna.

🇲🇨 Charles Leclerc reflects on fourth place at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid.

“The race was good and we brought home what was realistically the best result possible, given that this track is so difficult to overtake on. We did a good job with the strategy, playing our cards to suit our situation. We decided to take our chance and wait for a Safety Car to come up before the end of the race to gain an advantage, but it didn’t play out that way in the end.”

Leclerc led 32 of the 57 laps at the Madring before Ferrari brought him into the pits on Lap 48. With no late-race Safety Car, the Monegasque had to settle for fourth.
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🇮🇹 Andrea Kimi Antonelli reflects on his eighth win of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix.

“It was a very difficult race, especially with tyre management. It’s always nice to win, but today it feels a little different because Lando deserved this victory. We’ll take the result nonetheless. We had very strong pace, especially on the hard tyres towards the end. It’s been an incredible week, and I’m already looking forward to coming back here next year.”

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🏳 Antonelli and Verstappen reflect on P2 and P3 ahead of tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid.

🇮🇹 Kimi Antonelli — P2

“I think I put together a good lap, but Lando was able to beat me, so great job by him. Qualifying was very intense, and with the track temperatures so high, it was difficult to find the right balance.
My lap was still quite clean. On a track like this, it’s difficult to put everything together, so overall I think we did a good job. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

🇳🇱 Max Verstappen — P3

“I think qualifying went really well for us. We managed to get the car into a good window, so I could attack every corner in the way I like. P3 is a very good result for us.”

The top three will line up separated by just 0.058 seconds.
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🇬🇧 Lando Norris reacts to pole at the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid.

“I'm shocked, I really didn't expect to be here. It was probably one of the best laps of my career. I'm very happy and proud of myself and the team. It was one of those laps where everything came together and worked almost perfectly.

I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do — I just had to see if my brain would allow me to execute it on the final lap. In the end, almost everything worked out perfectly. When I saw the time after crossing the line, I thought: ‘Damn, that was pretty good.’”

Norris secured pole at the new Madring circuit with a 1:31.824, edging Kimi Antonelli by just 0.011 seconds.
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🇬🇧 George Russell calls Madring one of the most challenging and risky circuits on the F1 calendar.

Ahead of the Madrid Grand Prix debut, the Mercedes driver admitted that the track’s combination of high-speed corners, close walls and heavy braking zones leaves virtually no room for error.

“When I heard there were 20 red flags in F3, I was a bit surprised. And then, after driving it on the sim, I was surprised there were only 20 red flags. So, it’s a crazy circuit.
I would put it arguably as the most risky circuit of the whole calendar, because you have real high-speed corners, sort of Jeddah-esque. The walls are very close, so there’s no margin for error.
But then, you have other corners that are quite like Baku, where you’re coming from a high speed into a slow braking zone. You’re braking and turning at the same time, so locking tyres is going to be easy, and if you lock up, you’re straight into the wall. So, I’m excited to try that out.
I think it’s going to be really challenging for us as drivers. The race is going to be challenging to overtake. So, on the whole, it’s not an easy one.”

— George Russell, speaking ahead of the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix.

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“When necessary, I am a winning machine. But I can also switch off and enjoy life outside of competition. In everything related to racing, though, I am certainly a winning machine.

I am very demanding of the people in my team. But they also expect results from me and expect me to do my job to the best of my ability. After all, that’s what we are paid for. We have one task, one common goal.”

— Max Verstappen 🇳🇱
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🇲🇨 Charles Leclerc addressed the fans after his early retirement from the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

“Not how I wanted the weekend to go. Thanks for all the messages. Physically, that was a big one but I’m okay. Emotionally, it hurts even more for something like this to happen here at home, in front of all of you, the tifosi.
Thank you for the incredible welcome and support all weekend. Monza with you is always something so special.”

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🍾 George Russell and Max Verstappen reflected on Kimi Antonelli’s breakthrough victory and their own podium finishes at Monza.

🇬🇧 George Russell:

“First of all, congratulations to Kimi. It’s an incredible result for him. I was looking at the screens in the early laps and seeing him come through the field, so it was clear pretty quickly that he was going to be in the fight for the win. My race was pretty smooth until the tyres started to go off towards the end, as we effectively had to do the whole race on one set of Hard tyres. Still, I’m happy to accept this result. It was a much more positive weekend than the races before the summer break. Of course, I wanted to win. During the VSC, I thought we would both stay out and was surprised when Kimi pitted. But at that point, the strategy was a gamble for everyone, and splitting the cars made sense. Either way, Kimi had great pace today.”

🇳🇱 Max Verstappen:

“There was plenty of fighting out there and I had to attack regularly, including a few overtakes around the outside. I was struggling with energy deployment through Turns 2 to 4, and our top speed wasn’t our strongest point today either. I tried to stay with the leaders for as long as I could, but the others simply had more pace. I had to take some risks and make some aggressive moves, and at one point I even missed the apex. After that, I just focused on keeping my rhythm. Still, I’m happy to finish third and be back on the podium.”

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🇮🇹 Kimi Antonelli reflected on his sensational Italian Grand Prix victory at Monza, admitting he never expected to win from P19.

“I could never have imagined to be here today. It's unbelievable. When I went over the gravel, I got quite scared because the car immediately went straight and I thought I had lost the win. Luckily, we still had the pace and managed to bring it home. After the second restart, I realised that the win was possible, but George was always there because the tow was so strong, so it was very difficult to pull away. This victory is a dream come true. I couldn't have done it without my team and my family. We have worked so hard for a moment like this, and now it's time to relax a little bit and celebrate.”

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🏆 George Russell and Oscar Piastri also shared their thoughts after qualifying at Monza, with Russell missing out on pole by just 0.060s and Piastri securing third.

🇬🇧 George Russell:

“First of all, congratulations to Pierre on an incredible result. About 15 minutes before qualifying, we were playing chess and he beat me. I thought I’d get my revenge on track, but he ended up ahead of me again!
Of course, I’m disappointed not to take pole. The beginning of the final lap wasn’t ideal because of the situation with Max, but otherwise I got pretty much everything out of the car. Pierre and Alpine were very quick from the start of qualifying, so I’m really happy for them and for this result.”

🇦🇺 Oscar Piastri:

“I don’t think I had the pace for pole today. The first lap was pretty decent, but I made a small mistake under braking on the final attempt and locked up.
Overall, it was a pretty good session. After a little while without a really strong result, I’m happy with third.”

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🇫🇷 Pierre Gasly reflected on his maiden Formula 1 pole position after a sensational qualifying session at the Italian Grand Prix.

“It was an incredible quali. It felt good from my first lap in the car, and I was trying to chip a little bit away every session. In the end, it felt like a very good lap.

I’m so happy, it’s been nine years trying to chase and get a pole. Win my first race at Monza, win my first pole at this track, I think it’s something special around here.”

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George Russell says he has no interest in seeing Kimi Antonelli suffer reliability issues or retire from races. His focus, instead, is on beating his Mercedes teammate on merit — race after race.

“I don’t want Kimi to retire. I’m just focused on finishing ahead of Kimi from race to race and beating him fair and square.”

The quote comes amid an increasingly intense intra-team battle between the two Mercedes drivers.

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🇲🇨 Charles Leclerc on yo-yo racing at Monza:

“From the outside, it always looks simple, but the difference can sometimes be so big that it’s very difficult to react to the car in front. You can’t really avoid yo-yo racing if you end up in a situation like this. We’ll just try to do the best possible job and do better.”

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🇦🇹 Red Bull have confirmed that Tom McCullough will join the team as Head of Racing at the beginning of the 2027 Formula 1 season.

The former Aston Martin engineer will take over the senior trackside responsibilities currently held by Gianpiero Lambiase, who is set to leave Red Bull for McLaren when his current contract expires at the end of 2027.

“We're delighted to welcome Tom to the team at the beginning of 2027 and look forward to the wealth of experience and expertise he will bring to the role,”

Red Bull said.

McCullough will return to a prominent trackside role after more than a decade with the Silverstone-based outfit and its Force India and Racing Point predecessors.
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🇬🇧 Guenther Steiner believes Fernando Alonso’s ninth-place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix was down to the Spaniard himself rather than Aston Martin’s upgrades.

“After Friday and Saturday, I thought: maybe we overestimated their resurgence. But this was a ‘special Fernando edition’ — the one-stop strategy saved them.”

Steiner also pointed out that Aston Martin benefited from having three clear backmarker teams behind them, all of whom were significantly off the pace compared to the rest of the field.

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🇬🇧 McLaren CEO Zak Brown has also shared his thoughts on Lando Norris’ new contract, highlighting the Briton’s role in the team’s rise back to the front of the grid.

Zak Brown:

“I’m incredibly pleased to sign a new contract with Lando, as his partnership with McLaren is a fantastic example of our commitment to developing and supporting world-class talent. His achievements speak for themselves.
Alongside Andrea, Oscar and the entire team, Lando is helping McLaren achieve new heights. The team has gone from the back of the grid to the front, winning the Constructors’ Championship twice and securing the Drivers’ title last year — our first in 17 years.
We’re excited about what the future holds for the team and remain fully focused on continuing to fight for race wins and Championships.”

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