F1 RUSH

Ferrari has radically updated its exhaust wing 🛠️
It now covers a much smaller area, both laterally (red arrows) and at the centre (yellow arrow)

The wing generates rear downforce at the cost of more drag and less power. Two reasons why it might be introduced at Monza:

1) Track characteristics (drag and power are paramount here)
2) The ADUO 2 engine introduced at this race

Reason 1 is likely the main driver. If it’s still used at the next race too, that would confirm reason 2 as well!
[📸: on X]

Former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley has warned Oscar Piastri that “the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere” amid reports linking him with a move from McLaren to Red Bull Racing.

Speaking on the High Performance Racing podcast, Smedley said: “I've seen drivers do that and I've never seen it work out well. I've never seen it where the driver's been happier.”

Reports claim Red Bull see Piastri as a ‘Plan B’ if Max Verstappen leaves, despite the Dutchman being contracted until 2028.

Former Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer backed Smedley’s view, saying: “That team also has to ascend to be the best team. And those two things are a bit more rare.”

Piastri lost last year’s title battle to teammate Lando Norris, but Smedley suggested remaining at a top team gives drivers the best chance of future success.

Would you stay at a championship-winning team as the number two driver, or leave to become a team leader elsewhere?

Former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley has warned Oscar Piastri that “the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere” amid reports linking him with a move from McLaren to Red Bull Racing.

Speaking on the High Performance Racing podcast, Smedley said: “I've seen drivers do that and I've never seen it work out well. I've never seen it where the driver's been happier.”

Reports claim Red Bull see Piastri as a ‘Plan B’ if Max Verstappen leaves, despite the Dutchman being contracted until 2028.

Former Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer backed Smedley’s view, saying: “That team also has to ascend to be the best team. And those two things are a bit more rare.”

Piastri lost last year’s title battle to teammate Lando Norris, but Smedley suggested remaining at a top team gives drivers the best chance of future success.

Guenther Steiner believes Max Verstappen is likely exploring options with Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren amid ongoing uncertainty over his Red Bull future.

Although Verstappen is contracted until 2028, performance clauses could allow him to leave early if Red Bull’s struggles continue. The team sits fourth in the constructors’ standings after four rounds, while Verstappen is seventh in the drivers’ championship.

Steiner named Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes as the only realistic destinations for the four-time champion.

"In my opinion, Max can only go to 3 teams: Ferrari, McLaren, or Mercedes."

He added that while seats may not currently be open, teams could still make room for Verstappen.

"Who is prepared to sacrifice what they've got now for Max, because Max is, in my opinion, the champ, he's the GOAT."

Steiner pointed to Ferrari replacing Carlos Sainz with Lewis Hamilton as evidence top teams will reshuffle for elite talent.

Mercedes links remain due to Verstappen’s relationship with Toto Wolff, while McLaren’s appeal has grown with long-time engineer Gianpiero Lambiase set to join the team by 2028.

"He will be looking and speaking with these three teams, but I don't think there is one which is focused on him."

Would you like to see Max Verstappen leave Red Bull — and if so, which team should he join: Ferrari, Mercedes or McLaren?

Carlos Sainz says Alpine is still “clearly” ahead of Williams despite the team’s stronger showing at the Miami Grand Prix, where Williams introduced an upgrade package originally planned for the season opener in Australia.

After a difficult start to the 2026 F1 season caused by development delays to the FW48, Williams scored only two points in the first three races. In Miami, however, Sainz and Alex Albon finished ninth and 10th.

Sainz finished nearly 20 seconds behind Franco Colapinto’s sixth-placed Alpine but described the Miami upgrade as a “positive” step forward.
He said: “We finally put the upgrade on the car that was supposed to come to race one, because of all the delays we had at the beginning of the season.
“Now we’ve finally put on the car what was supposed to be the race one package.
“Now it’s on the car, it’s performing at least at the level of the midfield cars. We know we still have a lot of overweight [issues] to set up the car.”

Sainz praised the team’s recent efforts but admitted Alpine remains well ahead.
He said: “Clearly, this weekend, we were I think sixth fastest, but then Alpine is 20 seconds in front of us.

“It would have been 25-30 [seconds] without a safety car, so to Alpine there’s still a big gap."
Still, he felt Williams had made clear progress against rivals such as Haas, VCARB and Audi.

He added: “At least the Haas, the VCARBs, the Audis, I think we managed to beat them on pace on merit, which is something a race ago we were half a second behind in terms of race pace, so we must have done a pretty decent step.”

Despite the improvement, Sainz stressed Williams is still far from its targets.
“So not where we want to be,” he said. “But we need to keep pushing because it’s still not where we expected to be at the end of last year when we were hoping for 2026.”

Sainz also warned that a full recovery will take time.
“It’s going to take some months to finish the turnaround,” he said.
“I think we’re going to need to get to the last third of the season to see a proper turnaround.”

Guenther Steiner believes Max Verstappen is likely exploring options with Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren amid ongoing uncertainty over his Red Bull future.

Although Verstappen is contracted until 2028, performance clauses could allow him to leave early if Red Bull’s struggles continue. The team sits fourth in the constructors’ standings after four rounds, while Verstappen is seventh in the drivers’ championship.

Steiner named Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes as the only realistic destinations for the four-time champion.

"In my opinion, Max can only go to 3 teams: Ferrari, McLaren, or Mercedes."

He added that while seats may not currently be open, teams could still make room for Verstappen.

"Who is prepared to sacrifice what they've got now for Max, because Max is, in my opinion, the champ, he's the GOAT."

Steiner pointed to Ferrari replacing Carlos Sainz with Lewis Hamilton as evidence top teams will reshuffle for elite talent.

Mercedes links remain due to Verstappen’s relationship with Toto Wolff, while McLaren’s appeal has grown with long-time engineer Gianpiero Lambiase set to join the team by 2028.

"He will be looking and speaking with these three teams, but I don't think there is one which is focused on him."

Tensions rose early at the Miami Grand Prix after a clash between Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen triggered confusion and debate.

On the opening lap, Verstappen spun at Turn 2 and fought back through the field, going side-by-side with Lawson at Turn 11. Both ran off track, but Lawson rejoined ahead. Verstappen reacted angrily, calling him an “idiot,” while Lawson said, “I don’t know what Max was doing there.”

Moments later, Lawson’s engineer Alexandre Iliopoulos issued a clear आदेश: “Liam, we need to give the position back to Max… Do it as soon as possible.” Lawson obeyed, but questioned it after the race: “I didn’t think I had to give the place back, but apparently I did.”

His race soon unraveled due to a gearbox failure, ending any chance of points. Reflecting on the car’s struggles, Lawson said, “At that point I didn't know, but I think a couple of laps after that I realised we had not a very good balance.”

Though the incident was brief, the forced position swap added fuel to ongoing debates about racing rules. For Lawson, it became a defining moment: “It’s close racing, but I wasn't really going to be fighting today anyway.”