harles Leclerc has officially claimed one of the most painful records in Formula 1 history, and it's a statistic that perfectly captures the frustration of his career with Ferrari.
With 1,905 career points, Leclerc has surpassed Valtteri Bottas, who finished his career with 1,797 points, to become the driver with the most points in F1 history without winning a World Drivers' Championship.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Nine Grand Prix victories. 56 podium finishes. 27 pole positions. And yet, despite all that success, Leclerc is still chasing the one achievement that matters most in Formula 1: becoming world champion.
When Leclerc joined Ferrari in 2019, the expectations were enormous. He was viewed as one of the sport's brightest young talents, and his early victories at Spa and Monza immediately showed why Ferrari had invested so heavily in him.

#leclerc #history #bottas

Valtteri Bottas admits the team principal change at Cadillac F1 was bigger change than the changes he expected, in first response.
Over the summer break, Cadillac F1 announced the arrival of Marcin Budkowski as its new team principal in place of Graeme Lowdon. The transition was on expected lines as per TWG Motorsports' Dan Towriss, but he agreed that it happened earlier than what was penned to happen.
He saw the right opportunity to bring in Budkowski, whose technical experience made the difference. There is a communication problem between the factory and trackside, which Towriss hopes can be filled by the experience of the Pole, who has been part of Alpine and also the FIA in the past.
For Cadillac F1 driver Bottas, the news came as a surprise. The Finn reckons it is a big change in the middle of the season, a change which he probably didn't see coming. But he respects the decision taken by Towriss and welcomes Budkowski, whom he doesn't know yet.
He also has praise for the work done by Lowdon, to built Cadillac F1 team from scratch. "I think a big change like this in the middle of the season is always initially surprising," said Bottas to media at Dutch GP. "But then speaking with Dan, etc, explained to me all the reasons why this change and I respect that.

#team #lowdon #expected

Kimi Antonelli will miss first practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix as Mercedes fulfiil one of their mandatory rookie driver sessions.
Antonelli, who leads the world championship by 45 points after 10 rounds, will step aside for Mercedes reserve driver Frederik Vesti at the Hungaroring.
F1 teams are mandated to run a rookie twice in each car over the course of the season and usually opt for a normal race weekend – with three practice sessions – at a well-known circuit to give their youngsters a chance.
As such, four other teams will also use FP1 on Friday to run a rookie, with F2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli replacing Oscar Piastri at McLaren.
Another notable rookie is former IndyCar star Colton Herta, a test driver at Cadillac, replacing Valtteri Bottas on Friday.

#driver #Friday #sessions

One of the key investors behind the Cadillac Formula 1 project is linked to a federal investigation involving businesses he controls. Mark Walter, whose initials form part of TWG Global’s name, is **** ociated with companies under investigation by federal prosecutors, with the FBI and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also involved.
The Cadillac F1 team has not had what one would call a great start to its debut in the premier class of motorsport. As a new team adapting to Formula 1 and the sport’s latest regulations, Cadillac’s 2026 campaign has largely been a learning experience rather than a competitive one.
Cadillac is the only team on the grid that has not scored a point through the first 10 races of the season. The team’s best finish was when Valtteri Bottas finished 13th in the Chinese Grand Prix. However, leaving performance aside, one of its owners, Walter, is now dealing with developments away from F1.
Bloomberg reports that Walter’s investment firm, Guggenheim Partners LLC, as well as insurance companies Delaware Life Insurance Co. and Clear Spring Life and Annuity Co., were served with grand jury subpoenas in February. The filings have only recently become public.
Prosecutors in Manhattan are reportedly examining whether the companies failed to disclose that billions of dollars in private credit investments were tied to Walter’s other business ventures.

#life

Buckle up, gearheads — the weekend of June 25–28, 2026 served up a little bit of everything: a Mercedes resurgence in the Austrian hills, a Kiwi steamrolling a road course in California, and an endurance classic that turned into a demolition derby before the first hour was even up. Two of the big six were dark this weekend, but the ones that ran absolutely delivered. Here's your fast-paced rundown of who won, who wrecked, and who's sweating the championship math.
George Russell finally woke up. The Mercedes man grabbed pole after Max Verstappen crashed late in qualifying, then converted it into his first win since the season opener in Australia — a 1.6-second victory over Verstappen, with teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli completing the podium just 0.3s further back. It was, in Toto Wolff's words, a "cold-blooded" drive, and exactly the kind of statement Russell needed after a sleepy start to 2026.
The race itself was a strategy chess match. Red Bull gambled by leaving Verstappen out five laps longer than Russell at the second stops — and it backfired hard, dropping Max 10 seconds back with fresher-shod Russell sailing away. Behind the leaders, Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton staged a gloriously old-school wheel-to-wheel scrap, trading the Turn 3 hairpin and Turn 5 multiple times before Max finally made it stick. Hamilton hung on for fifth as Ferrari, again, chewed up its tires and faded into a midfield brawl.
Crashes and controversy: Verstappen's qualifying shunt was the big talking point — and Red Bull publicly apologized, admitting a technical issue on the car caused it. Antonelli had a scrappy afternoon, running wide at Turns 1 and 3 on the opening laps and copping criticism for a qualifying yellow-flag blunder that Fred Vasseur argued sent the wrong message. Oscar Piastri, meanwhile, was investigated but escaped punishment, bringing his McLaren home fourth. Carlos Sainz (power loss), Lance Stroll, and both Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas all failed to finish.
Championship implications: Antonelli still leads on 171 points, but Russell's 25 hauled him up to second on 131, leapfrogging Hamilton (125). The teenager's lead is now 40 points — healthy, but no longer untouchable with a charging teammate in the other Mercedes. In the Constructors', Mercedes (302) is romping clear of Ferrari (204) and McLaren (159).

As Kimi Raikkonen famously said after winning in Austin in 2018: finally. He may have added another word before it, beginning with the same letter, to underline just how long he'd waited since Melbourne 2013.
George Russell didn't have to wait five and a half years for his Spielberg victory. But after everything that's happened over the past three months, it must have felt almost as long.
Finally, he won again.
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Who slept worst last night: Valtteri Bottas

Cadillac veteran Sergio Perez says he has now "proven" to himself that he still has what it takes to be a top line F1 driver.
Perez was unceremoniously dumped by Red Bull Racing at the end of 2024 following 18 difficult months during which he couldn't get out of a downward spiral of performance. While team-mate Max Verstappen clinched a fourth driver's ******* le with the tough-to-tame RB20, Perez's confidence gradually took a nosedive, with the Mexican veteran often seemingly at odds with his own team over the how and why.
Following a much-needed sabbatical last year, Perez returned to F1 with newcomer Cadillac alongside fellow series veteran Valtteri Bottas for 2026. While the team's modest early performances, affected by operational gremlins, have made it tough to read too much into the performance of either driver, Perez has made a strong start to his second F1 career.
With that renaissance, the 36-year-old insists he has now proven to himself that he still has what it takes to be among the elite drivers in the world, and that his death spiral at Red Bull was as much down to circumstances within the team, and the pressure he feels his side of the garage was put under, as anything within his own control.
"Obviously, when you look at my last six months at Red Bull, you wouldn't think that I'm one of the best out there," Perez said ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. "But when you understand the circumstances I was in at that point, when you see the level of performance that I'm putting in with my team, you realise that I'm one of the best out there.