F1 news: Max Verstappen to Mercedes teased as Lewis Hamilton accused of having it easy

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Alan Jones, who won the Drivers' Championship title back in 1980, says Daniel Ricciardo must improve to avoid being ditched by VCARB in the near future.

"At the end of the day we can’t be blaming the car all the time, which has been a bit of a tendency in the past," Jones told the Herald Sun.

"I would love to see Daniel go extremely well in Melbourne. I would like to see Daniel go extremely well period.

"I just think that his luck is going to have to change or he is going to have to lift his game if he has got any chance of getting back in that Red Bull team or getting back into a more competitive car.

"He is treading water. He really needs to have some very good results and put up a good show. He can’t be dwelling down where he is."

Johnny Herbert has sensationally claimed that Max Verstappen is 'getting close' to agreeing a deal with Mercedes for next year.

Discussing the situation at Red Bull in an interview with The Sun, Herbert said: "It's not a good thing for F1 with the whole thing going on and the belated heat on it.

"They're very close to pushing [Verstappen] out of the team. I've heard they are getting quite close with the deal with Mercedes."

Frederic Vasseur has admitted that Ferrari's treatment of reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi last year was 'a bit stupid'.

"I found it a bit stupid last year to ask Antonio to do 22 or even 24 races when he also had the LMH [Le Mans hypercar] programme," said Vasseur.

"The hypercar is quite important for us, a big challenge and I didn’t want Antonio and [Robert] Shwartzman will travel with us the week after a race, as Qatar was for them.

"That’s why we decided that when Ollie [Bearman] is with us, he will be our reserve driver. In the races where he is not travelling, he will work in the simulator."

Daniel Ricciardo is adamant that he is helping VCARB to improve despite coming under fire due to his poor form this season.

He told The Age: "I’ve been in F1 a long time, driven a lot of cars, seen a lot of things.

"The team was struggling a bit at the time and I could see that my experience was helping, the way the team responded to what I had to say [and] the questions they asked."

Toto Wolff is hoping that Mercedes can begin to understand why they were so poor through high-speed corners at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Speaking ahead of this weekend's race in Australia, the Mercedes boss said: "We've been hard at work since Jeddah building on the learnings from the first two races.

"It's encouraging to see the potential in the W15 but there are also clear areas of improvement. We have looked competitive in low and medium speed corners but high-speed has been a weakness so far.

"We have been working hard to understand why our performance hasn't reflected our expectations. Improving that is a major focus.

"We hope to make some initial progress for Melbourne and that work will guide our development in the weeks ahead."

Guenther Steiner has put Nico Hulkenberg forward as a potential option for Mercedes, who will lose Lewis Hamilton when he joins Ferrari next season.

Speaking to RTL, the former Haas team principal said: "If I were the team boss at Mercedes, I wouldn't say no to Nico Hulkenberg.

"He was often underestimated and he was usually in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe now he is in the right place at the right time."

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is being given a 'wake-up call' by George Russell after a comfortable few years as the nailed-on top dog at Mercedes, according to F1 legend Jacques Villeneuve.

The scores are currently at one season apiece after Russell finished ahead of Hamilton in his debut year with the Silver Arrows, and vice versa in his second.

"It's hard for a driver when you've spent years winning, and some years easy winning, especially when you had [Valtteri] Bottas as a team-mate," Villeneuve told GPFans.

"He was alone in the championship, basically. He got really comfortable with Bottas, and he had a little bit of a wake-up call in 2022 when George joined.

"George just had that young energy, wanting to destroy the world, and he did a lot better last year."

Daniel Ricciardo disagrees with suggestions made by former F1 world champion and fellow Australian Alan Jones that he is 'past his best'.

Ricciardo has made a painfully slow start to the year with RB and results will need to pick up if he is to secure his F1 future.

But when it was put to him that he may be 'past his best', the eight-time Grand Prix winner responded: "Not at all.

"It's been a bit of a steady, I'd say slow start to the year, but it's only been two races."

Former F1 boss Luis Perez-Sala has followed up his praise of Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey by insisting that nobody is irreplaceable.

Uncertainty exists around virtually every senior figure at Red Bull due to their turbulent few weeks.

And Perez-Sala insists that chief technical officer Newey would be a huge loss to the team.

"When I was driving he designed the Leyton House Marchs and they were already very futuristic cars," he told AS.

"He saw things aerodynamically that the rest of us couldn’t see and he still does. He was way ahead of everyone else and he was setting the standard.

"I usually say that Max is the goal-scorer, but Newey and the rest of the team provide the assists."

However, Perez-Sala claims that the team is more important than the individual and even someone like Newey could be replaced.

"No-one is irreplaceable, no matter how good they are," he continued. "I’ve always believed more in the team than in individual leadership and Red Bull is making a difference because of all the people who work there."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has held talks with Helmut Marko and Jos Verstappen to agree a 'public ceasefire', according to reports.

Jos Verstappen, father of Red Bull star Max, publicly called for Horner to step down in Bahrain.

While motorsport advisor Marko is believed to be at loggerheads with the team boss amid a power struggle behind the scenes.

However, all three have reportedly agreed to stop firing shots publicly for the time being, in order to give Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez the best chance of thriving on track.

F1 legend Ralf Schumacher has called on Christian Horner to resign 'as soon as possible'.

The Red Bull boss, who denies wrongdoing, has been cleared following an investigation into alleged inappropriate behaviour.

But friction between Horner, Jos Verstappen and Helmut Marko has sparked further drama at Red Bull in recent weeks.

"I'm sorry for his family, but there was only one person who started this whole thing - him," Schumacher told Sport1. "And I can't accept that he keeps saying he doesn't want to talk about it.

"I can say from my own experience, from my divorce, yes, it is difficult at the beginning when such a private matter is carried out in public. But there comes a time when we have to talk about it because it's what's best for all parties.

"For example, you don't hear anything from the employee and that's not good. Nobody talks about her. And one thing is certain - as long as this goes on, it does immense damage to Red Bull.

"Horner said himself that no one is more important than the team. Well, he should follow this command and resign as soon as possible."

Max Verstappen has arrived in Melbourne ahead of this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman is gunning for a 10th race victory in a row, which would equal the F1 record he set last season.

Verstappen has dominated both races in 2024 and already has a commanding lead in the Drivers' Championship.

But turbulence among senior figures at Red Bull has posed a distraction so far this year.

Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan agrees with Adrian Newey in that sticking with last year's F1 car design would have been the wrong course of action.

The team made several big changes before unveiling the RB20 despite dominating in 2023.

They had time to do so, switching their attention to developing this year's car long before last season came to a close.

And after Newey explained that sticking with the same formula would have left them vulnerable, Monaghan added: "Complacency would be the wrong thing for us to do.

"We have tried to make a decent step with this car, which is comparable to 2022 into 2023.

"The magnitude of evolution, if you’re judging visually, isn’t necessarily indicative of what we’ve achieved in terms of lap time.

"You’ve got to make it safe. It’s no good having it peaky and behaving itself in one aspect of the track and not in others."

Red Bull majority owner Chalerm Yoovidhya has reportedly sent a family member dubbed 'the Thai Spy' to the drinks company's Austrian headquarters.

German news outlet Bild claim that he has arrived in Salzburg with the brief of analysing each department and keeping tabs on the Christian Horner scandal.

Yoovidhya is reported to have thrown his weight behind Horner as soon as he was cleared of inappropriate behaviour by a Red Bull-led investigation.

But a more hands-on approach from Yoovidhya has sparked speculation around the possibility of change behind the scenes.

It should be noted that Horner, boss of Red Bull Racing, operates from the F1 team's Milton Keynes base rather than the wider company's Austrian HQ.

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Max Verstappen has been told that walking away from a winning Red Bull car would be 'stupid'.

That's the view of three-time Grand Prix winner Giancarlo Fisichella, who has weighed in on recent speculation around the Dutchman's future amid tension at Red Bull.

"Anything is possible in Formula 1 and in life, you just never know," he told OCB Scores.

"But we don’t know if Max will join Mercedes, next year or in the future. In the place where he is now with the best team and the best car, it’s stupid move to another team."

Former F1 star Johnny Herbert has criticised Mercedes for 'going around in circles' as they attempt to close the gap on Red Bull and Ferrari.

The Silver Arrows have been off the pace ever since the new ground effect design regulations were introduced at the start of 2022.

And despite several major shifts away from their original design concept, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell remain frustrated at the gap between themselves and the leaders.

"They went through the winter, and they again said 'We know what we need to do'," Herbert told RacingNews365.

"But they've come out of it, and it's the same. They are literally in the same position, with Lewis saying their problem is... the bouncing again!

"So they haven't been able to get rid of that, and that's a worry, because this is the third season effectively where they haven't got it, they're just running around in circles."

Much has been made of the break clause in Max Verstappen's contract which allows him to leave Red Bull if the team's motorsport advisor, Helmut Marko, is forced out.

According to Motorsport.com, Marko and the Verstappen camp inserted the clause after the contract was originally signed in 2022, without the knowledge of team principal Christian Horner.

Marko is believed to have the authority to do this as a director of Red Bull Racing.

And with the Austrian's future under threat in recent weeks, before Verstappen stepped in and threatened to leave, the clause could eventually come back to bite Red Bull.

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George Russell has revealed that he signed to drive for Mercedes for 2022 before qualifying on the front row with Williams at the Belgian Grand Prix the previous year.

"I always look back at qualifying for Spa in 2021," said Russell.

"I had signed the contract to join Mercedes the week before so I knew I had the full support of everyone, including Toto [Wolff] and the board.

"Qualifying on the front row in a car that had finished last for the previous three seasons gave me more adrenaline than I had ever experienced in my life."

Lewis Hamilton is convinced that Mercedes will return to winning ways one day, even if it comes after his move to Ferrari next year.

He said: "I’m excited about this year, and I know this team is going to win another championship and I will be proud to know that I’ve been a part of it.

"A lot of the things [that] were put in place in terms of how much more diverse our team is, the processes that we go through.

"I, in the long haul, will always be a part of that process and that development the team has gone through."

Alpine boss Bruno Famin says he is surprised by just how bad the French outfit have been this season while expressing the importance of their recent technical revamp.

Reflecting on last month's Bahrain Grand Prix, Famin said: "It was a shock because we were really expecting a difficult start of the season.

"We knew this and this is what we said during the launch of our car. To be on the last row in the qualifying was a shock, to be honest.

"It just confirmed the need of changing in our team and we made the change."

Esteban Ocon has overlooked Lewis Hamilton by naming Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc as the two most talented drivers on the F1 grid.

Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Ocon said: "Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. I’ve raced with them, well with Charles since 2005 [and] Max 2010.

"It doesn’t matter what the conditions were, we were always neck and neck or in the top three always. So, them."

Alex Albon says Williams 'can't access' their full potential at the moment but is confident things will start to improve as the season progress.

"We know where our weaknesses are, we know there's lap time to find," said Albon.

"We know where the lap time is. Hopefully within the next six or seven races we can start finding that performance and out-develop our rivals.

“We know there's a good chunk of time in the car. We can't access it right now. It's a bit of a shame, because I think at least [in Saudi Arabia] there was a chance to score points.

"We can do it, so let's see for the next few races. Hopefully we're going to just chip away at it and get quicker and quicker."

Pierre Gasly has become a co-owner at French club Versailles, a semi-professional team who play in the country's third tier.

In a statement, Gasly said: "I am delighted to get involved with FC Versailles because I have always wanted to get involved in professional football.

"With Alexandre [Mulliez, club president] and Fabien [Lazare] we share values, ambition and a keen competitive spirit which will allow us to positively develop the club.

"This is the start of a very beautiful story. Go Versailles!"

Liam Lawson has declared that he is 'absolutely' ready to replace Daniel Ricciardo at VCARB if the struggling Aussie is ditched halfway through the season.

Asked by Fox Sports if he is ready for a full-time seat at Red Bull's junior team, Lawson said: "Absolutely.

"I think Daniel knows that the potential is there, but I’m sure he’s probably expected to step it up."

Fernando Alonso has offered his thoughts on the current situation at Alpine, his former team who have endured a dramatic fall from grace in recent months.

He said: "It is difficult to comment from the outside, but it is a team I love and gave me a lot of great things in my career.

"I hope that they can get better. Maybe when I was there, obviously the team was maybe different, it was a great atmosphere and we had good performance as well, especially in 2022.

"We were within the top five or six in every race so it is a little bit surprising to see the current results, but hopefully they can fix things quickly."

Lewis Hamilton has been tipped to move to an ambassadorial role within Ferrari when he retires from professional racing.

Hamilton cited the team's willingness to engage with his projects outside of Formula One as a reason for the move and ex-F1 driver Mark Blundell believes that he has one eye on the future.

"It's great for Formula One in many ways," he told AceOdds. "It's great for British motorsport that we got a Brit back in Ferrari, although we just had a youngster in there over the weekend, so he beat Lewis on that occasion, but I think you could look at it from many ways.

"Is it one of the biggest marketing deals that's ever been done in the pit lane? You could put a flag in and say, yeah, that's been achieved even without them even turning a wheel together. The impact of maybe putting 6 or 7 billion on the stock price of Ferrari was sort of impressive.

"Is there a bigger picture with Lewis and Ferrari after his time in the car? Does that go on to be a global ambassador role and is that something that's going to stimulate Lewis in time to come?

"I really hope that the question is, can he deliver driving a red car which is every boyhood dream and every Formula One driver's dream? I think to drive a Ferrari and do it where he can win the Grand Prix and win a World Championship.

"I just think it's going to be a really tough task. I just can't see it being an easy one, and I'm just hoping that he's still got the motivation and the determination to go and fulfil that and that's the biggest thing for me. Formula One is tough. It's a tough season.

"It's tough mentally, tough physically, and then a whole new challenge and one, what's got pressure on it, like beyond. It doesn't matter where you go in the world, everybody knows Ferrari. Everybody has a Ferrari flag.

"And it's pretty much the same when you mention the name Lewis Hamilton these days. It's going to be a formidable combination, but one that really will have expectations beyond what everyone's going to expect."

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has refused to rule out a potential move to Mercedes in the future.

The Silver Arrows are best placed to capitalise on the uncertainty at Red Bull, with a vacant seat after Lewis Hamilton decided to leave for Ferrari, as Verstappen is seemingly open to a future switch.

"Well you know the thing is that no-one would have ever realised or seen that Lewis would have moved to Ferrari," Verstappen said.

"In my life, and it doesn't matter that it is not related to F1, just general life, you never know what is going to happen or what comes to you, whatever happens around you or what might influence you.

"So you can never say 100 per cent that that is how it is going to be (and I won't go to Mercedes in the future).

"I approach my life like that, but I also don't think about it too much, I am very relaxed and happy at the team, and happier that the performance is there."

Max Verstappen's father Jos has warned Red Bull that their "power struggle" will continue for some time as a result of the saga surrounding Christian Horner.

The team principal has been cleared of any wrongdoing through a Red Bull investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour, which led Jos Verstappen to previously call for him to be sacked.

Now, the father of their star driver has warned Red Bull that the furore is doing them no favours as they prepare for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.

“It's definitely hard for the outside world to follow," Verstappen Snr said. "I think it is a necessity for them to get calm within the team, but given the circumstances, I think it will continue for a while. I'm curious, but it doesn't help the whole process."

He later added: “There is definitely a certain power struggle going on. We'll see, I can't say too much about it. I hope peace returns soon and they start concentrating on racing because that's what it's all about. But this is not good."

1980 World Champion Alan Jones has called on Lewis Hamilton to "pull his finger out" and address a disappointing start to the season.

Hamilton has bemoaned a lacklustre Mercedes car after seventh and ninth-placed finishes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, but Jones feels that the driver has to do more.

“I don’t know whether (Hamilton) going to Ferrari is going to be the end all and be all of what Ferrari needs,” Jones told the Herald Sun.

“Okay, it was good because when he signed for Ferrari their share price just went up by about $20 billion or something.

“But at the end of the day, Lewis has really got to start to pull his finger out a little bit quite frankly. George Russell is now starting to give him a bit of a hiding now most times and the more that goes on, the more that will play on him.

“Once again the more fashion shows that he goes to and the more that he sprouts around the place, that is not going to help him either.

“I really don’t think it was (the right move for Ferrari) to be honest. In terms of increasing their share price, yes. But I just don’t think he is going to be the (answer).”

Former Haas chief Guenther Steiner has claimed that some key figures within Red Bull will be "rethinking" their futures as a result of Christian Horner's saga.

The English executive was cleared in an investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct against him, but controversy has reigned over the team.

"In the higher ranks of the company, there will be… some people rethinking what they want to do," Steiner told ABC. "I hope that for the sake of Formula One … they put an end to it… and we move on."

Former F1 team principal Eddie Jordan has claimed that Aston Martin and owner Lawrence Stroll need to "think" about Lance Stroll's place in the team.

Team owner Lawrence Stroll installed his son in the seat alongside Fernando Alonso, but the 25-year-old has consistently been outperformed by his team-mate.

“Lance Stroll, he doesn’t qualify well enough, maybe creeps into the top 10 If he’s lucky, but Alonso was always quicker than him," Jordan said on the Formula for Success podcast.

“So, I’m at a confusion. How does Lawrence Stroll go out and get the best technical people worldwide and make his team into a consistent race-winning team?” Jordan pondered.

“Either Lance has to move up a scale and really get himself together and continually finish on the podium, and then people will totally believe in what he’s able to do.

"But at the moment, his results are not good enough. And I think he’s (Lawrence Stroll) going to have to think about this once and for all.”

Mercedes are set to make "fundamental" changes to this season's car after Lewis Hamilton bemoaned a difficult start to the campaign.

The Brit called for "big changes" after a ninth-placed finish at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin is planning to deliver just that.

“We started to converge back in the general direction of where we came from arriving there," Shovlin said.

"But the learning of it is just that when you change things you can see the differences. So one car making changes, you can see how it performs run to run.

"We can also look at the global performance of the two cars but fundamentally the limitations that we had in qualifying and the race, they were broadly the same for both.

"So it's telling you it's not a small difference, it's not a tiny bit of camber or a spring or bar here and there. It's something more fundamental that we need to dig into and understand."

Max Verstappen's rivals have been told that the Red Bull driver is not even competing at maximum capacity so far this season.

The Dutchman has won the opening two races of the season at a canter, but Johnny Herbert believes that there is more to come.

He told RacingNews365: “My only little worry is that I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Max this season, because he doesn’t need to show it.

“That’s the worry, that he still has something in his back pocket where he can go: ‘OK, you think you’re closer? There’s another couple of tenths.’

“I think that’s probably the only thing that’s going to be a little bit more of a headache for Charles (Leclerc) and Ferrari, and for when Carlos (Sainz) comes back, because (Verstappen) is so comfortable in the car and they are in total harmony together.

“It is still a very rare thing to see someone so at ease with his driving in the car and we still haven’t seen the best of Max anyway.

“I know there’s been all the chitchat over the advantage [Red Bull] have and all the teams have said: ‘Well, they’ve done a better job.’

“That’s all it’s down to – they’ve done a much smarter job than everybody else, but there are smart people in Ferrari that I think can challenge.

“Can they challenge for the Championship? That’s probably the biggest question but I’m not sure they’ll be able to do it quick enough to stop Max going on to win another one.”

Lando Norris has been the second Formula One driver to complain about the comfort of their cars, after Max Verstappen.

The Red Bull man had hit out at the need to run their cars low to the ground in order to maximise performance, with Norris now joining in his request for the FIA to make a change.

He said: “Could it be better? And was it better a few years ago with the old cars? 100 per cent. There's definitely certain people who think it's not bad and that it used to be worse many years ago and all of this stuff, but I think times have changed.

“I think we do complain sometimes, but certain things are also for good reason, for our own bodies and the safety and health side of things. So I think there's areas to improve on it for sure.”

Daniel Ricciardo has been warned that this could be his last season in Formula One unless his results start to improve.

A result in his home Grand Prix this coming weekend could kickstart the Aussie's campaign but ex-McLaren mechanic Marc Priestly has made a grim prediction over Ricciardo's fate this year.

“Daniel Ricciardo, at the other end of his career [to Alex Albon], he’s getting a hurry up from Helmut Marko," Priestly said on YouTube. "He’s getting the world starting to talk about him in terms of questioning him.

“Is he really what everyone thought he was? Is it the excitement we thought it was going to be when he came back into the sport?

“He’s not beating his teammate consistently enough and that is the very first step to becoming a legendary driver in Formula 1. You have to beat your teammate.

“He’s not doing that enough and I think for exactly the same reasons I just talked about with young drivers poking their heads up and saying, ‘Look at me’, Daniel Ricciardo has got time running out on his Formula 1 career.

“It’s a shame because I think he’s a great guy, a great character in the sport and has been a great driver but he seems to have made some poor decisions that have cost him dearly over the course of the last few years. And I wonder if we might be seeing the last of him in 2024.”

Lewis Hamilton has been called out for not knowing how to hell Mercedes build a fast enough car this season.

Hamilton has often stated that he would like more of an input into the vehicle during off-seasons, but ex-F1 technical director Gary Anderson claims that the seven-time world champion cannot help the Silver Arrows.

He told the Telegraph: "The critical parts on these cars is the underfloor and Hamilton does not know what the other teams are doing there.

"What you can see is not necessarily what makes the car work. He seems to be of the frame of mind that if Mercedes make their car look like a Red Bull it will go as fast as one. It will not.

"The W15 needs a lot more work than the visual concept but the worry is that they still do not understand what a ground-effect car needs."

Ferrari have been backed to pair Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton together and the Brit would be "clever" to accept such scenario.

Verstappen's future has never been more unclear at Red Bull and F1 pundit and professional racer Mike Hezemans believes that the Dutchman with Hamilton together at Ferrari would excel.

He told the Dutch edition of RacingNews365: “Of course, a contract says nothing in Formula 1.

“If I were (Ferrari team principal Fred) Vasseur, I say yes. Then you do bring in the best. But does Hamilton want that? Maybe he does, I would think that would be clever.

“That would be a lot of fun. But whether it will happen? I don’t think so. But if Verstappen were to go to Ferrari, that would give a kind of boost to Ferrari.”

Hello and welcome to Express Sport's live coverage of the Formula One as we prepare for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.