Motorsports
Mercedes explains how Hamilton’s move to Ferrari affected the team
Mercedes director of track engineering Andrew Schoulin commented on Lewis Hamilton’s impact on the car’s development a year after his departure.
Hamilton and Mercedes have formed the most successful partnership in F1 history, winning six drivers’ championships and eight constructors’ championships between 2014 and 2021.
But at the end of 2024, the Briton opted to switch to Ferrari, and in 2025 this turned out to be unsuccessful: Hamilton failed to reach the podium in a single Grand Prix.
The 40-year-old champion was replaced by Kimi Antonelli, who made significant progress alongside the experienced George Russell.
With his departure, Hamilton left the team leadership role to Russell. This allowed Antonelli to adapt to F1 without the pressure of being responsible for car feedback, although Shovlin stressed that his communication about the car was of a high standard.
“Honestly, George is fine. The important thing is that we don’t develop the car based solely on what the pilot says,” Shovlin said.
“Most of the work comes from simulations: we look for downforce, the stability of the car, we reduce aerodynamic drag and tune the suspension to ensure the car falls into the best aerodynamic window.
So most decisions are not based on the pilot saying “I need this” and we rush to find a solution. But it is very useful to have a consistent pilot like George. He knows these cars within those rules, so we didn’t have to worry about losing our mark in the development of the car.”
“Kimi also describes the behavior of the car perfectly, so there were no problems in that regard. The main thing is that we had a fantastic collaboration with Lewis and a lot of success, and then he decided to try a new challenge at Ferrari.”
“We always looked at Kimi as the future of the team and a training year was inevitable. We fully embraced that and overall I think it went well.”
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.
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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
Ex-Ferrari boss: “We were disappointed by the rule changes. We had the best car”
Former Ferrari boss Ross Brawn said the team was at a disadvantage due to the FIA’s changes to the rules.
The Scuderia was virtually unbeatable in the early 2000s. Michael Schumacher single-handedly won 48 of 85 races in the first half of the decade, while Rubens Barrichello added nine more victories.
In an interview with F1.com, Brown named the 2004 Ferrari car as his favorite. That year the team won not only three races but confidently won its sixth consecutive title in the Constructors’ Championship.
The legendary designer and strategist admitted that Ferrari was stopped after that due to changes in tire rules and that the team had become too dominant.
“Every year we put in extra effort and every year we did things a little better. That made the 2004 car, in my opinion, the best ever.”
“We were disappointed by the changes to the tire rules after that, but I think we did so well and had to be stopped somehow. This incredible car could not have been stopped any other way because everything worked so well for us.”
“Having lived on the other side of the fence ever since, I can understand Bernie’s frustration. [Экклстоуна, тогдашнего руководителя Формулы-1]Max [Мосли, тогдашнего президента FIA] and supporters. It was a shock when we didn’t win, not a shock when we won. “It was a very special car.”
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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