The Red Bull Formula 1 team is convinced it would have still won the Malaysian Grand Prix even if Ferrari had started at the front. Ferrari had looked quickest in Sepang practice, but engine problems consigned Sebastian Vettel to the back of the grid and then eliminated front row qualifier Kimi Raikkonen before the start.

Lewis Hamilton’s bid for a fourth Formula 1 world championship gained momentum with second place in the Malaysian Grand Prix, extending his lead over Sebastian Vettel to 34 points. But Vettel’s fight back from last on the grid to fourth, on a track that was expected to favour Mercedes, gives Ferrari hope that all is

Formula 1 title contender Sebastian Vettel fears a “bad surprise” as Ferrari assesses his gearbox for damage following his collision with Lance Stroll after the Malaysian Grand Prix. The left-rear corner of Vettel’s Ferrari suffered heavy damage when he tried to go around the outside of Stroll’s Williams, which was moving off line to pick

Valtteri Bottas says he is facing the most difficult moment in his Formula 1 career, after struggling for form again in the Malaysian Grand Prix. Having had a challenging start to the second half of the season, Bottas came home fourth and more than 40 seconds behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton at Sepang. “Being honest, it

Force India chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer says some rival Formula 1 teams broke the rules by drying their grid slots ahead of the start of the Malaysian Grand Prix. There was a heavy rain shower ahead of the race start at Sepang and although the track dried enough for the field to start on

Ferrari has fitted new engine parts to Sebastian Vettel’s Formula 1 car to boost his available pool of components, after identifying the cause of his Malaysia Grand Prix qualifying failure. Ferrari replaced Vettel’s engine after detecting a problem at the end of FP3, but a turbo pressure issue meant Vettel was unable to complete a

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says he feels sympathy for Sebastian Vettel after Lewis Hamilton’s championship rival suffered misfortune for the second successive Formula 1 race weekend. Vettel will start from the back of the grid for Sunday’s race at Sepang, with title rival Lewis Hamilton on pole, after a turbo pressure issue meant he

Formula 1 drivers struggle to overtake thanks to the negative effect the turbulent aerodynamic wake of a car has on the one behind. In this latest clip from weekly programme The Flying Lap, race-winning F1 car designer Willem Toet explains the problem with the help of new animations produced by Motorsport TV. This remarkable visualisation

Red Bull says it will take “major issue” with the FIA if its former Formula 1 technical department head Marcin Budkowski ends up working for Renault. Leading teams have already discussed the potential impact of Budkowski joining a rival, amid growing suggestions that he resigned from the FIA to take up a Renault job offer.

Lewis Hamilton says he does not want to call on Mercedes team orders to help his 2017 Formula 1 championship bid, and hopes to be ahead of Valtteri Bottas anyway. At the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, Bottas let the faster Hamilton through to see if he could attack the leading Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel

Felipe Massa believes the Williams Formula 1 team is split over whether to keep him for 2018. Massa reckons Williams engineers favour him but suggested other factions might not. “The team knows 100% my points to stay another year,” he said. “I was always a professional driver, and I stay and I will finish as

Equalising competition in Formula 1 to allow shock results like Leicester City winning the Premier League is part of a five-point plan created to improve grand prix racing. Leicester was tipped for relegation in the 2015/16 season but instead its shock title triumph made it only the sixth club to win the league in 24

Red Bull boss Christian Horner says his Formula 1 team is “absolutely open” to running an Aston Martin engine if the British carmaker decides to enter as a supplier. Aston will become Red Bull Racing’s title sponsor in 2018 as part of an enhanced relationship that has already yielded the Valkyrie hypercar. Aston is taking

Pierre Gasly’s imminent Formula 1 debut in this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix is the topic of the latest edition of The Autosport Podcast. On Tuesday, Toro Rosso announced Daniil Kvyat would be benched for Sepang, with reigning GP2 champion Gasly stepping in ahead of a possible full-time drive next season. Marcus Simmons and Glenn Freeman

Aston Martin’s new deal with the Red Bull Formula 1 team is all about title sponsorship, rather than engine manufacturing or branding – the chassis won’t be known as Aston Martins. In that sense this is a very similar deal to the one Red Bull had with another luxury carmaker, Infiniti, during its dominant years

Renault Formula 1 academy driver Jack Aitken hopes the French manufacturer will organise further F1 outings following his test at Jerez last week, when he “deserves it”. Aitken, who says he is now refocused on his GP3 title campaign with the ART Grand Prix squad, drove Renault’s Lotus-built E20 2012 F1 car at the Spanish

Formula 1’s rules have been tweaked to help its new owners pursue their plans to organise more demonstration events similar to July’s F1 Live event in London. The FIA World Motor Sport Council has formally approved a change which will allow teams to run current 2018 machinery, or year-old 2017 cars, in demo events next

Valentino Rossi’s enduring ability in MotoGP against a host of young rising stars is an inspiration to Daniel Ricciardo in Formula 1. Ricciardo has faced intense pressure from teenage team-mate Max Verstappen at Red Bull over the past two seasons, and says coping with the situation has been a significant learning experience. Rossi, 38, is

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff believes this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix street circuit will favour Formula 1 rivals Ferrari and Red Bull. Though it has excelled on low-downforce tracks this year, Mercedes has had to work on developments to improve its high-downforce performance, with Valtteri Bottas admitting recently he did not expect them to be ready

Sauber plans to increase its workforce by almost 100 personnel as it bids to haul itself back into the Formula 1 midfield in 2018, according to team principal Fred Vasseur. Vasseur is in the process of overhauling the team, having taken over from Monisha Kaltenborn, and is turning his attention to the staff numbers after

Formula 1 managers are evaluating ways to increase the number of Formula 2 drivers regularly participating in Friday grand prix practice sessions, according to Ross Brawn. Several F1 stars – including Ferrari’s current title contender Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica – made names for themselves when young drivers regularly took part in practice sessions during

Carlos Sainz has signed a deal to join Renault and trigger a series of domino changes that will secure McLaren the French car manufacturer’s engines for 2018, Autosport has learned. While news of McLaren’s progress in its efforts to switch from Honda engines has not been forthcoming in public, behind-the-scenes developments have been taking place

McLaren says it is unlikely to allow Lando Norris to go to any other Formula 1 team even for a learning season as he is “our star of the future”. The Formula 3 European Championship leader and McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Norris impressed when he tested for McLaren in the post-Hungarian Grand Prix running.

Formula 1 commercial chief Sean Bratches says there have been around 40 expressions of interest from potential grand prix venues since he became involved earlier this year. Liberty Media will now choose new events on the basis of what they can bring to F1, with a focus on street races in major cities, rather than

Mercedes is working on developments to improve its high-downforce performance in Formula 1 this year, but Valtteri Bottas does not expect them to be ready for the Singapore Grand Prix. While Lewis Hamilton has won three of the last four races to take the lead in the drivers’ championship for the first time this year

Red Bull is certain it will take more engine grid penalties before the 2017 Formula 1 season is over. Both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen dropped to the back of the Italian Grand Prix grid last weekend as Red Bull switched to new engines to ensure no risk of problems in Singapore – where it

Formula 1 sporting chief Ross Brawn says he plans to discuss with the FIA ways to change the under-fire grid penalty system. Fans were in uproar ahead of the Italian Grand Prix when nine drivers had been handed grid penalties totaling 150 places – with only Lewis Hamilton unaffected and guaranteed to start in the

Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll’s last lap battle in the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix was “scary” to watch, says deputy team principal Claire Williams. Stroll, who started the Monza race from second, was running seventh when he picked up a flat spot, which allowed Massa and Sergio Perez to put pressure on him on

Honda fears it cannot do enough to convince McLaren to continue their Formula 1 partnership into 2018, but will not stop trying. McLaren is expected to make a final decision on its future with Honda this week, with their relationship at breaking point after a season of unreliability and poor performance. If McLaren decides it

Formula 1 bosses are doing ‘everything they can’ to keep Honda in the championship beyond the end of the 2017 season. McLaren is expected to reach a final decision on its future with Honda this week, as it works to secure a supply of Renault engines instead. Should that happen, Honda will be forced out