Ferrari’s two drivers are going into this weekend using different brake manufacturers following a political fallout that has Brembo publicly pushing back at Charles Leclerc, while Mercedes has acknowledged it cost George Russell a shot at the title with two successive operational failures.
On top of that, F1’s governing bodies have agreed a significant rebalancing of engine regulations for 2027 and 2028, addressing concerns that have surfaced in the opening phase of the new power unit era.
Here’s the latest
F1 is set to reshape the technical framework underpinning its current generation of power units across the next two seasons, following an agreement between the FIA, Formula One Management, the teams, and the power unit manufacturers. The changes will go to the World Motor Sport Council for formal approval at a meeting in Macau on 23 June.
The package stems from concerns that arose once the 2026 season got underway, specifically around how energy is managed under the current hybrid power unit regulations. The agreement stages a gradual rebalancing toward more combustion power over the next two seasons.
The aim is to make qualifying sessions more flat-out and improve driver confidence under energy management without undoing what has apparently been positive racing under the current rules. Additional measures covering power unit supply conditions and race operations are also included.
The formal process to approve the changes has been described as expedited to give teams and manufacturers enough preparation time.
(Source: Formula1.com)
Ferrari arrived in Monaco with two drivers using two different brake disc manufacturers for the first time in the team’s history, and the fallout has been significant enough that brake supplier Brembo issued a public statement distancing itself from Charles Leclerc’s comments.
The Italian firm said it was “really surprised” by the Monégasque driver’s public criticism and added that it could not draw any technical conclusions until it had fully analysed the available data.
The story traces back to Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari in 2025. Hamilton, whose driving style depends heavily on late, precise braking with a firm pedal, repeatedly pressed team principal Frédéric Vasseur for permission to switch from Brembo discs to those produced by rival manufacturer Carbone Industrie. It took time, but Vasseur eventually agreed, and Hamilton raced on CI discs from the Japanese Grand Prix this year. In Monaco, he credited Vasseur directly for supporting the change and said he was now beginning to see the rewards.
Meanwhile, Brembo responded to Hamilton’s original feedback by developing new front disc materials, which were introduced to Leclerc’s car in Canada. The problem is that Leclerc, whose driving style relies on extensive braking overlap and superb feel through the pedal, found the new specification unsatisfactory across both the Canadian and Monaco weekends.
He was out-qualified by Hamilton at both events. In Monaco, he was also unhappy with a strategic call that brought him into the pits in order to free Hamilton to attack on fresh tyres. Leclerc is now planning to try CI discs at Barcelona, meaning the political situation at Maranello is far from settled.
(Source: Motor Sport Magazine)
Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has admitted that Kimi Antonelli’s dominant performance in Monaco caught much of the paddock off guard, describing the 19-year-old as having shown “a very serious pace” rather than a single fortunate lap. Mekies said that on Antonelli’s showing, the word that kept coming to mind was that he had simply “disappeared.”
The Italian teenager had qualified on pole position around the streets of Monaco, with Max Verstappen lining up second just 0.043 seconds behind him. Verstappen had actually been quicker through the first two qualifying segments, and Mekies acknowledged that his driver had “found the optimum” over the Saturday session. He said it would never be known whether Verstappen could have challenged Antonelli in the race, as an engine problem sidelined him early.
Verstappen himself described the weekend as outstanding up to race day and was candid about the frustration of not converting that qualifying form into a podium finish. Mekies was similarly open about the mechanical failure, saying the team had identified the cause and that the situation had given Verstappen “no chance” to compete for the win.
He described the work the driver had done to find pace around Monaco as outstanding and offered an apology to Verstappen on behalf of the engineering team. Red Bull is planning an engine change ahead of Barcelona.
(Source: Motorsport.com)
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has publicly conceded that his team has failed George Russell on two successive race weekends, handing a potentially decisive advantage to Russell’s teammate and title rival Kimi Antonelli.
In Canada, a battery failure while Russell was leading cost him a certain victory. In Monaco, a pit stop procedure error left Russell outside the points entirely, after the team did not serve the mandatory five-second wait before touching his car, triggering a penalty that dropped him to twelfth.
Wolff said of Canada that it was “Russell’s race to win” and that the team had let him down. On Monaco, he said the failure to execute the stop correctly was clearly the team’s error and that they needed to review their communication process around whether they had expected him to box at all.
For perspective, even if Russell were to outscore Antonelli in every remaining race, he would still need a significant swing of fortune to lead the championship at the end of the year. Wolff noted that luck moves in cycles in a long championship, and that the team was still in the fight, though the arithmetic increasingly favours the younger of his two drivers.
(Source: GPFans)
As Ferrari’s internal tensions continue to surface at every race weekend, Mark Hughes poses a pointed question about Charles Leclerc’s career trajectory: is the Monégasque driver now so committed to Maranello that he has, in effect, determined how his entire F1 story will end?
Leclerc recently extended his contract with the Italian constructor through at least the end of 2028, meaning he will have spent a minimum of a decade at Ferrari. By the time that deal expires, he will be 31 years old.
Hughes observes that in seven seasons at Ferrari, Leclerc has accumulated just eight victories. That figure is not a reflection of Leclerc’s ability, as Hughes regards him as among the outright quickest drivers F1 has seen during this period — but rather of a team that has consistently underperformed against its resources. Ferrari has operated through considerable internal turbulence since 2019, including the death of president Sergio Marchionne, a period of regulatory infringement, three different team principals, the difficult departure of Sebastian Vettel, and the complicated integration of Lewis Hamilton.
Hughes argues that two factors explain Leclerc’s decision to stay. The first is a sense that the team, under Frédéric Vasseur, is currently moving in a better direction than at any point during his tenure there. The second is loyalty: Ferrari funded Leclerc’s junior career and brought him to Formula 1 via Sauber, and that debt shapes how he views the relationship.
Whether the team can ultimately reach the heights of past eras, when Ferrari dominated with genuine organisational cohesion, remains the central question for the rest of Leclerc’s career.
(Source: Motor Sport Magazine)
Audi will make its first mandatory rookie practice substitution of the season at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix this weekend, fielding Alpine reserve driver Paul Aron in Nico Hulkenberg’s car for Friday’s opening session. Aron will then appear again for Audi at the Austrian Grand Prix two weeks later, this time replacing Gabriel Bortoleto.
F1 rules require each team to field a rookie driver (broadly defined as a driver with limited prior F1 experience) in two practice sessions per car across the season. The arrangement with Aron is essentially a loan deal: the Estonian, who finished third in the 2024 Formula 2 season and worked as a test driver for the team when it operated under the Sauber name last year, will complete both sessions before returning to his role with Alpine. Audi described the opportunity as providing Aron with “valuable track time” as he continues to develop his understanding of Formula 1 machinery.
Aron will not be alone in getting his first laps of the Barcelona circuit this Friday. Luke Browning is set to run for Williams in the same session, and Leonardo Fornaroli is due to make his Formula 1 debut with McLaren. Racing Bulls is the only team exempt from the full rookie obligation, as their driver Arvid Lindblad already satisfies the requirement by virtue of being a first-year driver himself.
(Source: Motorsport.com)
Racing Bulls have unveiled a special one-off livery for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix weekend, drawing on the visual language of football culture to coincide with the start of the FIFA World Cup. The tournament begins on 11 June, just as the F1 paddock arrives in Spain, and the design acknowledges both the competition and the city of Barcelona, one of the most football-obsessed locations on the European calendar.
The VCARB FC campaign, as the team is calling it, includes matching teamwear across the race weekend and a custom club crest that blends a chequered flag motif with three stars, each representing one of the World Cup’s three host nations: Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer positioned the activation as a natural cultural connection between two sports with similarly passionate global communities, and argued that events like this allow the team to push boundaries beyond the racing itself.
The campaign was also used as a platform for emerging creative talent, with three designers from the Racing Bulls Creator Platform contributing to the visual execution. Fashion designer Hattie Crowther, graphic designer Florence Burns, and photographer Ezra Alexander were each involved in shaping the campaign’s creative identity. The livery will be on track across qualifying and the race on Sunday.
(Source: Formula1.com)
Alex Albon will this weekend surpass Nigel Mansell as the most experienced driver in Williams Formula 1 history, and has chosen to mark the milestone with a helmet design closely modelled on the one Mansell wore in 1992, the year he won the world championship with the team. Both drivers were level on 95 starts heading into Barcelona, with Albon having tied the record in Monaco.
The tribute helmet replicates the blue, white and red colour scheme of the 1992 original, and Mansell himself was warm in his response, saying the achievement was one Albon thoroughly deserved and that the helmet design had touched him. He also offered a relaxed challenge regarding his own record of 28 wins for the team, saying he would not rule anything out when asked whether Albon might eventually threaten it.
For Albon, the milestone carries particular significance given how his career trajectory unfolded. A difficult 2020 season at Red Bull left him without a seat the following year before Williams provided the platform to rebuild. He has since proven a consistently strong performer for the team, helping it develop from a backmarker outfit into a competitive midfield presence.
Williams currently sits eighth in the constructors’ standings following a difficult opening to 2026. Mansell, reflecting on Albon’s five years of commitment to the team, said that everything about it spoke to Albon’s character as both a driver and a person.
(Source: Motorsport.com)
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