F1 LIVE: Lewis Hamilton reveals initial damning reaction to Mercedes car

Lewis Hamilton claimed that Mercedes “didn’t listen” to his concerns about the team’s new W14 car.

Hopes for an improved campaign for the team have been dented by a slow start to the season, with George Russell and Hamilton off-the-pace throughout the season-opening weekend in Bahrain. The seven-time world champion eventually came home fifth at the Sakhir Circuit, two places ahead of his teammate.

Hamilton has now suggested that the team ignored his concerns, calling for “accountability” and a collective effort to solve their problems. “Last year, I told them the issues that are with the car,” Hamilton said to the BBC. “Like, I’ve driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn’t need.”

Elsewhere, Nico Rosberg has taken aim at the team, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has confirmed the start of engine talks with McLaren - and Max Verstappen is basking in the glory of his first win of the season while Aston Martin’s great start has been widely met with acclaim.

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F1 NEWS AND UPDATES

• Lewis Hamilton criticises Mercedes for ‘not listening’ over W14 problems

• Christian Horner confirms Red Bull talks with McLaren

• Ferrari chief orders ‘full investigation’ into Charles Leclerc’s retirement at Bahrain Grand Prix

• EXCLUSIVE: Sky F1’s Rachel Brookes on paddock life and a run-in with Bernie Ecclestone

• Nico Rosberg doesn’t hold back in damning verdict of Mercedes after Bahrain GP

• COMMENT: Can Mercedes even build a ‘Plan B’ car in time to salvage season?

F1 news LIVE: Christian Horner confirms Red Bull talks with McLaren

11:29 , Kieran Jackson

Red Bull boss Christian Horner confirmed that McLaren have held talks over a potential engine deal from 2026.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown recently visited Red Bull’s factory in Milton Keynes, as he eyes an engine partnership for three years’ time when new F1 regulations come into force, with engines modified to produce net zero CO2 emissions.

Some were surprised that Red Bull, who will partner with Ford from 2026 to form Red Bull Ford Powertrains, opened their doors to Brown after his stinging criticism of Horner’s team in wake of last year’s cost-cap saga, when the world champions were fined and docked car development time for a breach.

Yet Horner insisted such talks are “only natural” as McLaren plot what avenue to go down next. The Woking-based team currently have their engines supplied by Mercedes.

“I thought he was coming for lunch,” joked Horner about Brown’s visit to Red Bull HQ.

Christian Horner confirms Red Bull talks with McLaren

F1 news LIVE: Mercedes boss Toto Wolff despondent after Bahrain GP

11:18 , Kieran Jackson

Toto Wolff revealed the Bahrain Grand Prix was “one of his worst days in racing” as he insists Mercedes need “radical” change to their car.

As Red Bull dominated with Max Verstappen leading home a comfortable one-two finish, Mercedes were woefully short of pace – losing around a second-a-lap to the Red Bulls.

While Lewis Hamilton made up places early on, the seven-time world champion couldn’t hold off Fernando Alonso’s roaring Aston Martin and could only manage fifth in the end.

George Russell finished behind the other Aston Martin – Lance Stroll – to come home seventh and despite showing slight improvements over the weekend from a tricky testing period, it marks a difficult start to the season for the Silver Arrows.

And Wolff was particularly despondent after the racing, telling Sky Sports: “One of my worst days in racing, lacking pace left right and centre.

‘One of my worst days in racing’: Mercedes boss Wolff despondent after Bahrain GP

F1 news LIVE: Lance Stroll reveals photos of arms in casts before start of F1 season in remarkable recovery from bike crash

10:59 , Kieran Jackson

Lance Stroll has detailed his remarkable recovery from injury that saw the Aston Martin driver defy doctors’ predictions and start the Formula 1 season in Bahrain.

Stroll was a major doubt for the season-opener at the Sakhir Circuit after breaking both wrists in a bicycle accident in Spain ahead of preseason testing.

The extent of his issues had not been publicly disclosed, but the 24-year-old has now revealed that doctors feared he would miss a significant part of the season.

Any prospect of racing in Bahrain was described as a “faint possibility”, but Stroll made a speedy recovery to record a sixth-placed finish.

“On Saturday, February 18th I crashed on my bike while training in Spain,” Stroll outlined on social media.

Lance Stroll reveals photos of remarkable recovery to start F1 season

F1 news LIVE: Exclusive interview - Sky F1’s Rachel Brookes on paddock life and a run-in with Bernie Ecclestone

10:39 , Kieran Jackson

A report published last week by Females in Motorsport revealed women spoke for just 1.54 per cent of the run time in the new season of Drive to Survive on Netflix, totalling six minutes and seven seconds out of more than six-and-a-half hours. Curious, too, when you consider the emphasis throughout Formula 1 on increasing opportunities and visibility for women, despite a woman not competing in the sport since 1976.

Yet look in the paddock or on your screens and women are present. Not enough yet, as Drive to Survive’s inadequate representation infers, but they’re in attendance. Rachel Brookes, heading into her 12^th year as a reporter and presenter for Sky Sports F1, is one such face, refreshingly familiar for all UK fans of the sport.

Swapping duties with Natalie Pinkham and Simon Lazenby, the 48-year-old is a well-respected and trusted voice not just for the viewers at home, but for the drivers in the paddock too. This year, she will be at 19 out of a record 23 races, starting with Saudi Arabia next week. Speaking with passion about a job she adores, Brookes is insistent that F1 is improving when it comes to female representation.

“I have seen it change – there’s a lot more women now working in all sports as well as Formula 1,” she says.

“It’s been really positive. One of the first things Sky did was send me out to cover cricket, they’d never had a women on the boundary edge before doing live match updates but I loved it.”

Exclusive: Sky F1’s Rachel Brookes on paddock life and a run-in with Bernie

F1 news LIVE: Red Bull’s Christian Horner backed to be F1 CEO over current boss Stefano Domenicali

10:15 , Kieran Jackson

Christian Horner has been backed to become the next CEO of Formula 1 – by the sport’s former supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

Horner, the boss at Red Bull, is the sport’s longest serving team principal having been in charge of the current world champions since 2005.

The 49-year-old executive is overseeing Red Bull’s current domination of the sport, having won both world championships at a canter last year and claiming a one-two finish at the 2023 season-opener on Sunday with Max Verstappen, the double world champion, triumphant in Bahrain.

But Ecclestone – who caused controversy last year after stating he would “take a bullet” for Russian president Vladimir Putin – insists Horner should aim for the sport’s top job next.

“If you had to pick anyone today, I’d say he [Horner] would be as good as there is,” 92-year-old Ecclestone said.

Red Bull’s Christian Horner backed to be F1 CEO over current boss Stefano Domenicali

F1 news LIVE: Ferrari chief orders ‘full investigation’ into Charles Leclerc’s retirement at Bahrain Grand Prix

10:07 , Kieran Jackson

Frederic Vasseur, the new Ferrari F1 team team principal, has said a “full investigation” is required to determine what caused Charles Leclerc’s retirement at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Monegasque driver was forced out of the season opening race at the Sakhir Circuit in a disappointing start to the 2023 season for the Italian team.

Having been running third, Leclerc encountered an engine issue after 39 laps in an early blow to his hopes of mounting a serious title challenge. Vasseur, who replaced Mattia Binotto at the helm for Ferrari during the offseason, has now admitted that the issue came as a surprise.

The former Alfa Romeo chief clarified that it is not a problem with the team’s engine, but said that it was “a shame” for Leclerc’s season to start in such a manner.

“We never expected to have something like this because it’s the first time that we have had it,” Vasseur said to the Formula 1 website after the race in Bahrain.

“We haven’t faced the same issue at all during the six or seven thousand kilometres that we did with the engine last week, with the three teams [Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Haas], and… with the dyno.”

Ferrari chief orders ‘full investigation’ into Charles Leclerc’s retirement

F1 news LIVE: Nico Rosberg doesn’t hold back in damning verdict of Mercedes after Bahrain GP

10:05 , Kieran Jackson

Nico Rosberg insists Mercedes’ car concept is “in a river” as the team reveal they are set to change course just one race into the new Formula 1 season.

Mercedes decided to stick with their unique ‘no-sidepod’ design this year despite a troubled 2022 in which they only won a single race and finished third in the Constructors’ Championship.

However, after a tricky testing period, the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix saw Mercedes lose around a second-a-lap compared to the victorious Red Bulls out in front, while a rejuvenated Aston Martin also had more pace than Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

As such, team boss Toto Wolff says the team will have to change their philosophy if they want to be competitive and Rosberg – who won his World Championship in 2016 with Mercedes before retiring – has concerns about how quickly Mercedes can reverse their fortunes in an era of cost-cap.

The 2023 budget cap is set at £111m.

Nico Rosberg doesn’t hold back in damning verdict of Mercedes after Bahrain GP

F1 news LIVE: Lewis Hamilton criticises Mercedes for ‘not listening’ over W14 problems

10:03 , Kieran Jackson

Lewis Hamilton has claimed that Mercedes “didn’t listen” to his concerns about the team’s new W14 car.

Hopes for an improved campaign for the team have been dented by a slow start to the season, with George Russell and Hamilton off-the-pace throughout the season-opening weekend in Bahrain. The seven-time world champion eventually came home fifth at the Sakhir Circuit, two places ahead of his teammate.

Mercedes dealt with major performance problems in 2022, with their W13 vehicle struggling particularly with ‘porpoising’, and it appears that off-season tweaks have not significantly altered the car’s competitiveness.

Hamilton has now suggested that the team ignored his concerns, calling for “accountability” and a collective effort to solve their problems.

“Last year, I told them the issues that are with the car,” Hamilton said to the BBC. “Like, I’ve driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn’t need.

“And I think it’s really about accountability, it’s about owning up and saying ‘yeah, you know what, we didn’t listen to you, it’s not where it needs to be and we’ve got to work’.”