F1 news LIVE: McLaren launch 2022 car and Lewis Hamilton latest as drivers slam ‘ridiculous’ season finale

The controversial end to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which saw Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton to the title on the last lap of the season, has been described as “ridiculous” as Formula One was accused of putting entertainment ahead of its own rules. At Thursday’s Aston Martin car launch, Canadian driver Lance Stroll said race director Michael Masi’s controversial decision to let some but not all cars pass the safety car was “not right” as the pre-season car launches continued to be dominated by the events of last campaign.

“The rules are the rules. You can’t be modifying the rules for entertainment, it has to be sport first,” Stroll said. “I don’t think it’s right what happened in Abu Dhabi.” Stroll’s team-mate and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel defended Masi and sympathised with the difficult position he found himself in, but agreed that the Formula One had got its priorities wrong. Meanwhile, speculation continues to surround Hamilton’s future in the sport amid an ongoing investigation into the season-deciding race.

Mercedes are set to launch their car next week but today it is the turn of McLaren, who announced that star driver Lando Norris has signed a new four-year contract with the team earlier this week. In doing so, McLaren revealed their ambitions of challenging for the world championship as Formula One enters a new era of rules and regulations, and the unveiling of their MCL36 car is another important step ahead of the start of the new season at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 20 March. Follow all the F1 news updates below:

F1 latest news

• McLaren set to launch 2022 car

• Lando Norris reveals interest from rival F1 teams

• Sebastian Vettel defends under-fire Michael Masi

• Max Verstappen rejects claims F1 title was tarnished

• Lewis Hamilton breaks his silence: ‘I’m back’

• F1 remove pre-race taking of the knee

F1 drivers won’t take the knee together before races in 2022

08:38 , Jamie Braidwood

Lewis Hamilton will stop taking a knee at the front of the grid after Formula One bosses revealed they are removing the gesture.

Hamilton – and a number of his fellow drivers – have knelt ahead of every race for the past two seasons in a show of solidarity against racism.

But F1 is set to pull the allocated slot from its pre-race schedule for the new season which starts in Bahrain next month.

The sport has instead vowed to build on the impact of the gesture – announcing on Tuesday that it will extend its funding commitment to the Formula One Engineering Scholarship programme for underrepresented groups until 2025 – and will carry on screening an anti-racism message ahead of every race.

“The [knee] gesture was important for the ones that believed that was an important gesture, because we need to respect everyone,” F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told Sky Sports. “But now is the time to move on and take some other action. The action is the focus on the diversity of our community, and this is the first step.”

F1 drivers won’t take the knee together before races in 2022

‘I’m back’: Hamilton breaks silence after missing out on title

08:37 , Jamie Braidwood

Lewis Hamilton has broken his social media silence as speculation continues over his future in motor racing.

The 37-year-old Mercedes driver has been conspicuous by his absence since December’s debacle in the desert, when he was denied a record eighth world title in the controversial conclusion to the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hamilton, who is said to be debating whether to return to the grid in 2022, hinted he is close to making a decision when he announced on Twitter on Saturday evening: “I’ve been gone. Now I’m back.”

Mercedes announced earlier in January that they would launch the first car of F1’s revamped technical era at Silverstone on February 18, five days before the first winter test in Barcelona.

Hamilton is expected to be on site for the launch, alongside new team-mate and compatriot George Russell.

‘I’m back’: Lewis Hamilton breaks silence after missing out on F1 world title

Norris reveals interest from rival F1 teams before McLaren contract extension

08:35 , Jamie Braidwood

Lando Norris has revealed he held talks with other teams in Formula One before agreeing to a new contract with McLaren, a deal which extends his commitment to the British manufacturer through to the end of the 2025 season.

Norris signed a contract extension with McLaren last May before a new agreement was reached and announced on Wednesday ahead of the 2022 season. In revealing the deal, McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl said it was a significant step in the team’s “journey to world championship contention”.

Seidl added that McLaren were keen to “lock Norris in place”, with the British driver then revealing that there had been interest teams who were also in a position to contend for the championship. Norris said he held “little chats” with other teams but insisted that he been upfront with McLaren about any discussions he was involved in.

While the 22-year-old did not say who he had held talks with, Norris dropped a clue that fans could “probably be able to guess reasonably well” who those teams were, suggesting that Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari may have enquired about his future plans.

Lando Norris reveals interest from rival F1 teams before McLaren contract extension

Verstappen not feeling pressure to defend title as Red Bull reveal 2022 car

08:35 , Jamie Braidwood

Max Verstappen insists the pressure is off as he prepares to open his Formula One championship defence.

Red Bull became F1’s first major player to take the wraps off their new machine – the foremost of the sport’s new technical era – at their Milton Keynes base on Wednesday.

Verstappen clinched last season’s championship in deeply controversial circumstances after he beat Lewis Hamilton in a one-lap shootout at the concluding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The fallout from the 12 December race continues with FIA race director Michael Masi’s position under intense scrutiny amid an ongoing FIA inquiry into a result Hamilton claimed was “manipulated”.

Hamilton was back at Mercedes’ Brackley factory this week – all but ending suggestions he will quit the sport – with the Silver Arrows to unveil their car for the forthcoming campaign at Silverstone a week on Friday.

Max Verstappen not feeling pressure to defend F1 title as Red Bull reveal 2022 car

Aston Martin launch 2022 car ahead of new F1 season

08:33 , Jamie Braidwood

Aston Martin has launched its new Formula 1 car for the 2022 season, which driver Sebastian Vettel hopes can bring the team up the grid order and lead to closer wheel-to-wheel racing.

The four-time world champion switched to the Silverstone-based squad for the 2021 season after being dropped by Ferrari, and endured a difficult debut season trying to earn good results in machinery which was often among the slowest midfield runners.

Team owner Lawrence Stroll is investing an enormous amount of money into the squad’s operation, including a 400,000 sq ft operations campus which will be in working order by 2023, and has stated that his aim is for the team to win the world championship within the next five years.

Aston Martin launch 2022 car ahead of new F1 season

Vettel defends Masi and hopes he stays on as race director

08:25 , Jamie Braidwood

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel believes Michael Masi should remain in his role as FIA race director.

Masi’s position is under intense scrutiny after he was accused of bending the rules to allow Max Verstappen the chance to beat Lewis Hamilton to the title following a late safety car period in last season’s finale.

Masi’s supporters have been few and far between since the race in Abu Dhabi on December 12.

But Vettel, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, has thrown his weight behind the under-fire Australian

“For Michael, it has been a pity,” said Vettel, 34. “There are two interests clashing – one is the sport and the other is the show. I don’t care so much about the show because I look at is a sport and from a competitive point of view.”

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Sebastian Vettel defends Michael Masi and hopes he stays on as race director