Motorsports
Former F1 driver criticizes McLaren’s decision on Piastri and Norris
Former Formula 1 driver Derek Daly believes McLaren’s approach to managing its drivers is not sustainable in the long term.
In the 2025 season, the team allowed Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to freely fight among themselves for the championship because McLaren was at the head of the peloton from the beginning of the year. However, at the end of the season, Max Verstappen unexpectedly returned to the fray and benefited from Red Bull’s upturn in form.
In the end, Norris became champion by just two points ahead of Verstappen, while Piastri finished the season in third place in the general classification.
Despite Verstappen’s growing threat, McLaren refused to bet on a single driver, allowing the team to make a decision only before the final stage of the season when there was a danger of losing the championship.
“This will be a problem for them.
If Max Verstappen had not had a bad period in the middle of the season, he would have been world champion because Red Bull has unconditional support for him.
They will do everything possible, just like Ferrari did with Michael Schumacher. “McLaren has come through this year but it is extremely difficult, if not almost impossible, to support two drivers wholeheartedly when competing against a team like Red Bull that is only trying to get one driver to beat the other two.”
Red Bull’s form took a turn for the worse in the middle of the season, with Verstappen frequently missing the podium. According to Daly, this fall cost the Dutchman his fifth consecutive championship.
“Verstappen is undoubtedly the best driver in Formula 1. This season he has proven once again that to win, all components must work at the highest level. His failures in the middle of the championship have been very costly.”
That’s why Verstappen is still the best driver.”
Source: Sport UA
Ruth Waterhouse is an author and sports journalist who writes for Sportish. She is known for her coverage of various sports events and her insightful analysis of sports-related news. With a passion for sports and a keen eye for detail, she has become a respected voice in the sports community.
Motorsports
Formula 1. Presentation of the first Audi car. Watch LIVE online
One of the two new teams on the Formula 1 grid is preparing to introduce its car for the 2026 season. The Audi team will officially reveal the new car at a special event in Berlin on Tuesday, January 20.
Audi has fully taken over Sauber’s project ahead of the 2026 season and will start its first Formula 1 championship as a factory team and power unit manufacturer. The team has also retained a significant portion of its 2025 Sauber structure, including team boss Jonathan Whitley and drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg.
This will make Audi the fourth team to submit designs for its 2026 car, after Red Bull, Racing Bulls and Haas. The presentation will take place in the German capital in the format of a full-fledged seasonal launch.
Following the main event, a separate event will be held in Berlin on Wednesday, January 21 for selected fans and media to take a closer look at the new car and its livery.
The presentation will start on January 20 at 20:00 Kyiv time. During the event, the team will reveal the car’s full design for the 2026 season.
Let’s remember that Audi had previously put the 2026 car on the track during promotional races at the Barcelona-Catalonia circuit in early January, but only a limited number of images were released at that time.
Formula 1. Presentation of the first Audi car. Watch LIVE online
Source: Sport UA
Ruth Waterhouse is an author and sports journalist who writes for Sportish. She is known for her coverage of various sports events and her insightful analysis of sports-related news. With a passion for sports and a keen eye for detail, she has become a respected voice in the sports community.
Motorsports
Audi will pay 1 million 250 thousand Euros to the driver for winning the Formula 1 race
Formula 1 driver Nico Hulkenberg can count on a multimillion-dollar bonus in his first season with Audi if he can repeat the results in the 2025 season.
Last season, the German pilot reached the Formula 1 podium after 250 races for the first time in his career and finished the British Grand Prix in third place. At Silverstone, Hulkenberg was ahead of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and scored 15 points in one go.
Hulkenberg scored 51 points at the end of the 2025 season.
On the eve of Audi’s first season, specialized media reported that the 38-year-old pilot signed a contract providing a bonus of 50 thousand euros for each point earned in the 2026 season.
Given the large-scale changes in Formula 1, even the pilots themselves cannot yet predict the balance of power in the peloton. However, if Hulkenberg scores 51 points again, the bonus can reach 2 million 550 thousand euros in addition to his base salary at Audi.
If Nico manages to win the race and score the maximum 25 points, this will immediately earn him a bonus of 1,250,000 euros.
The team will present the appearance of its first car today at 20:00 Kyiv time.
Source: Sport UA
Ruth Waterhouse is an author and sports journalist who writes for Sportish. She is known for her coverage of various sports events and her insightful analysis of sports-related news. With a passion for sports and a keen eye for detail, she has become a respected voice in the sports community.
Motorsports
F1 pilot’s brother became Ukrainian pilot’s rival in Formula 4
Thomas Berman, the younger brother of Haas Formula 1 team driver Oliver Berman, will officially take part in Italian Formula 4 and Euro 4 in the 2026 season.
Thomas will represent the VAR team colours.
The 16-year-old Briton spent last year in British Formula 4, where he scored one win and finished eighth in the final season standings.
But the ones that are considered the most prestigious and promising are the Italian and European Formula 4 championships. They are often chosen by young pilots for further career advancement. In addition, Thomas’ older brother Oliver Berman also competed in these series and became the Italian Formula 4 champion in 2021 with 11 wins.
Let us also remind you that Ukrainian Alexander Bondarev will compete in the same championships with the Prima Racing team in the 2026 season. The Ukrainian pilot does not hide his ambitions and has repeatedly expressed his intention to fight for the championship title.
Bondarev now participates in Middle East Formula 4 in preparation for the European leg of the season. After the first stage, he took first place in the general rankings and became the leader in the rankings.
Thomas Berman will compete in the Formula Winter Series as part of his preparations.
The competition between the current “four” promises to be extremely high, and the appearance of the younger brother of the Formula 1 pilot will only increase interest in the series.
Check out this post on Instagram
Source: Sport UA
Ruth Waterhouse is an author and sports journalist who writes for Sportish. She is known for her coverage of various sports events and her insightful analysis of sports-related news. With a passion for sports and a keen eye for detail, she has become a respected voice in the sports community.
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