Innehållsförteckning för October 2022 från AUTOSPORT

Lewis Hamilton is a driver who comes through unfiltered. He can’t – or won’t – mask his emotions. They play out in raw form across his face (and over the team radio) whether he wins or loses. Early on this season there were those who would write him off as a spent force – prematurely, as it turns out, and based on fundamental misunderstandings of both the man himself and how top-level motor racing works. Post-Imola, the twittering twonks of the tabloid press (and their ilk) were calling on him to retire while the going was good; an easy statement to make when you’ve never had to launch a Formula 1 car off the wet side of a grid when the other side is dry… Andrew Benson had compiled and…

PICTURES 01 PORSCHE OUT, AUDI IN Sovereignty issue scuppers Red Bull deal 02 McLAREN WINS CONTRACT WRANGLE Alpine defeated in battle for Oscar Piastri HOW THE RED BULL-PORSCHE DEAL COLLAPSED 01 The long-awaited Porsche-Red Bull partnership, which was agreed in March and originally planned to be announced in early July, has collapsed – largely, GP Racing understands, because the delay to Formula 1’s new engine rules left both parties with too much time on their hands. Porsche’s plans to return to F1 in an alliance with Red Bull were known since the beginning of spring. Over the course of six months, more details leaked regarding the shape of the partnership, which was to begin officially in 2026 when the new power unit regulations come into force. Porsche was not just…

PICTURES The European summer of 2022 will be remembered for record-breaking temperatures and the lowest rainfall seen for many years. In spite of this, seven sessions up to the mid-season break required wet or intermediate tyres: the events in Imola, Monaco, Montréal and Budapest were all affected at some point by wet weather. Experience can give some indications of what weather to expect and, for new circuits, teams will scrutinise the 30-year averages for the particular location at the time of year of the race in order to ensure the correct cooling packages are available for the cars. They are, however, only averages and extremes can still catch you out. Even Bahrain, the driest country we visit, has 10 days of rain a year and although we have only ever had…

Fernando, you’ve been at the centre of the Formula 1 news cycle over the summer break, so tell us – why Aston Martin next year? Well, yeah, it was [me at the centre] for two or three days, then it changed, there was more news coming. But, yeah, I had this possibility, the phone call from Aston Martin after Sebastian [Vettel] announced that he was stopping at the end of the year. So at that point we sat down and we got to this agreement. I think the project is very attractive. Obviously there is a lot of investment going on, a lot of new people came to the team, very talented engineers, designers, new facilities in Silverstone. So I felt it was a nice project for the future. They…

PICTURES MIKA’S FIRST FORMULA 1 TEST – WITH BENETTON That was a super-interesting day. Winning a Formula 3 race in England gave me the opportunity to test the Benetton in 1990 on the Silverstone South Circuit. Inside my head I’m the best driver in the world, full of confidence. Everybody’s saying: “Be careful. It’s a Formula 1 car.” I’m thinking: ‘No way I’m careful!’ There’s a long straight with a super-fast right-hander at the end of it. Behind that corner is the paddock they use for the South Circuit. There’s just a barrier between you and the mechanics, who were watching. I did my installation lap and then I was coming down that straight, absolutely flat out; full power, because the car felt very good. I saw the mechanics starting…

PICTURES OSCAR PIASTRI COULD EASILY HAVE painted himself into a difficult corner with his recent contract woes. Imagine the scenario: he walks into the McLaren garage at the first GP of 2023 to face a greeting like this from a person in papaya: “Er, ’scuse me. What you doin’?” “I’m getting into my car.” “Hang on. Who are you?” “Oscar Piastri. I believe I’m your driver.” “Just a minute, mate.” The papaya person fishes in his pocket and produces various scraps of paper, all headed: ‘McLaren Racing: Anything Considered’. “Nope,” he says. “Don’t have your name here… Oh, wait, this list is for IndyCar. Lemme see… what’s this one? Formula E – nope, you’re not on this one either. Hang on, here’s another – WEC, whatever that is. Looks like…

1 Verstappen enters unstoppable territory with second home win Winning has become a firmly entrenched habit for Max Verstappen. The world champion has entered that privileged space where even when things go wrong, somehow an upside presents itself. While Max is driving brilliantly, he got away with a couple of spins in Spain and Hungary, has occasionally been helped by the opposition (or, let’s just say Ferrari) flunking races, and in Zandvoort was assisted by a Virtual Safety Car at the right moment. Verstappen ended up winning his home race relatively easily, an outcome which had seemed unlikely. Max took pole by just 0.021s over his closest pursuer, Charles Leclerc. Carlos Sainz was third in qualifying, beating Lewis Hamilton, who had to abort his last attempt when Sergio Pérez went…

THE MAIN EVENT Another returnee after two seasons out of the calendar owing to the pandemic, Suzuka is one of the most highly rated drivers’ circuits. Quite frankly, getting there is a challenge in itself thanks to the rural location – this year even more so thanks to extra-tough entry visa regulations. The teams’ logistics people will have been more than earning their salaries sorting that out… Suzuka’s figure-of-eight layout is unique in the F1 calendar, and there are plenty of tricky corners which reward finesse as well as downforce – not just the delightful Esses, but also the Spoon, which requires drivers to blend out of the brakes with pinpoint judgement or risk locking an inside-front wheel as the curve tightens. Overtaking is problematic but not impossible. 2019 RACE…

LOSE ON SUNDAY, SELL UP ON MONDAY Formula 1 is not a school sports day where everyone goes home with a medal. No, it’s where money and meritocracy meet to ensure the most successful teams are the ones that are slickest run and backed by deep pockets – even with cost caps. Audi wants to prove it can cut it among the best with a nascent engine programme and eventual Sauber tie-up for 2026. Former Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess publicly listed beating Daimler on track and at the forecourts as the reason for entering. Audi took an unsubtle swipe at the Silver Arrows, declaring this will be “the first time in more than a decade that a Formula 1 powertrain will be built in Germany” (take that, Brixworth!), while…

ANDREW BENSON Andrew explains why talk of Lewis Hamilton’s retirement is premature, and how Lewis and Mercedes are fighting to return to the top (p30) OLEG KARPOV A trip to Denmark for Oleg this month as he discovers why Kevin Magnussen chooses home over the bright lights of Monaco (p42) DREW GIBSON Once F1 Racing’s picture editor, now a renowned motorsport freelancer, Drew was on hand to record Mika Häkkinen’s life in pictures (p56) ANDREW FERRARO Former staff snapper Andrew has spread his wings beyond action photography. See p42 for his shots from the land of the Vikings…

@_markgallagher The 2026 engine regulations have finally been agreed. They make for interesting reading, both for what they do and do not include. Gone is the innovative, complex and hugely expensive MGU-H spinning at 125,000rpm, a piece of technology which added very little to the show but got some of those sitting around the table in Place de la Concorde terribly excited. Road-irrelevant as it turned out. Of far greater significance was the ability of the engine manufacturers to take the combustion efficiency of the fuel-flow-limited internal combustion engine (ICE) to an entirely new level: Mercedes reached 50% thermal efficiency five years ago. It’s not the first time in F1 history a regulatory wrong turn has occurred, but I don’t suppose anyone will add up all the time, effort and…

PICTURES Ken Tyrrell’s presence at the 1967 Dutch Grand Prix had not been deemed significant enough to warrant a mention in the news and gossip columns of Autosport – perhaps no surprise when the magazine’s esteemed founding editor and race reporter was proudly pictured formally and enthusiastically opening a new press bar sponsored by Heineken. There was no hint in print – not that the secretive Tyrrell would have given anything away – of Ken’s embryonic plan to start his own F1 team; an ambition fired by the stunning debut at Zandvoort of the Ford-Cosworth DFV engine in the back of Jim Clark’s winning Lotus 49. The fact that the V8 was not for sale at that point was an irrelevance as far as Tyrrell was concerned. The 3-litre engine…

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1 Safety over spectacle as Verstappen wins behind Safety Car Churlish booing echoed around Monza after the Italian Grand Prix finished under full-course-yellow conditions with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull ahead of plucky Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. In truth, though, it was highly likely Verstappen would have prevailed even if the race had been allowed to restart. The signs were there from the beginning of the weekend when the RB18s rolled out of the garage with more deeply dished rear wings than one might expect at this high-speed circuit. All through this season the Honda engine’s delivery characteristics, biased towards the top end, have given Red Bull the advantage in a straight line. At Monza the team was confident enough in its package to add downforce, boosting the RB18’s ability to carry…

Everything to he who waits… Kumhobocht is Zandvoort’s penultimate corner and as fraught with peril as my attempts to pronounce its name properly. Drivers are looking to carry as much speed as possible through here so they can carry on building pace through the banked section which follows. I had an inking someone would go off here sooner or later so I got myself in position for qualifying, when the stakes would be highest. There was a bit of a delay in Q2 while some fools threw flares on the track. Come Q3, just as it seemed that my prediction was off, Sergio Pérez obligingly binned it just where I’d pre-focused my lens a few moments earlier. Where Zandvoort, Holland When 4.04pm, Saturday 3 September 2022 Details Canon EOS-1D X…

@benedwardstv PICTURES Ten years ago, the atmosphere in the paddock in Singapore was electric as Lewis Hamilton’s plans for the future sparked the Formula 1 media pack. I was part of the BBC’s broadcasting team at that time and had heard the news direct from our pundit Eddie Jordan, a prediction he’d made at the previous race at Monza and which was confirmed a couple of days after Singapore: Lewis was leaving McLaren for Mercedes. While Hamilton was keeping quiet about his discussions with a new team, his style on the night-time street track was as accomplished as ever. He took pole position and was leading the race for McLaren when a gearbox failure sapped his chances for the title, dropping him from second to fourth in the points. It…

PICTURES AND MERCEDES Lewis Hamilton says coming back to Formula 1 this year – after losing a record eighth title in such controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi last year, after setting out determined to avenge what he saw as an injustice and finding Mercedes had produced their worst car for a decade – has been “a tough wave of emotions”. Most people in F1, whether they believe Max Verstappen or Hamilton were the rightful champion last year, accept that race director Michael Masi failed to implement the rules correctly during that fateful final Safety Car period. But hardly any believe it was deliberate. For Hamilton, though, this was more than an injustice caused by a referee making a mistake. For him, it was manipulation, constructed to stop him winning the…

PICTURES McLAREN, ALPINE AND RED BULL CONTENT POOL FOLLOWING THE INTRODUCTION OF Formula 1’s budget cap, the one thing which seemed inevitable was that its limits would soon be tested. Coping with factors inside F1 was one thing: financial allowances were made for the addition of sprint races and the ever-expanding nature of the calendar. Turn to factors outside F1’s control, and the shrinking nature of the global village and its impact on every facet of staging a world championship becomes evident. COVID-19 proved that. F1 ground to halt in spring 2020 and is still dealing with the pandemic’s effects on global travel, supply chains and logistics. As a result this year’s budget cap, a ceiling of $140m on each team’s race car design, manufacturing and operations, was already at…

1 Verstappen romps to most commanding win yet If any intrigue remains in the championship, it lies chiefly in whether Max Verstappen will be able to break the record for the number of victories in a single F1 season. And this is well within reach. Max’s win at Spa was his most convincing to date this season, perhaps the most impressive of his F1 career – so much so that it reminded team principal Christian Horner of the glory days when Red Bull collected trophies in heaps with Sebastian Vettel. “[It was] probably one of the most dominant performances that we’ve had as a team since either 2010 or 2013. I think it’s right up there with that period,” Horner said. “And I don’t think we’ve ever won a race…

THE MAIN EVENT Formula 1’s original night race remains one of the toughest physical and mental challenges on the calendar owing to the remorseless rhythm of the lap, the proximity of the barriers, and the attritional effects of the equatorial humidity. Drivers often lose as much as 4kg of bodyweight during the GP through perspiration; worse, since this event is an incident magnet, Safety Car deployments usually means the race runs right to the two-hour cut-off. Still, it’s a popular return for a venue which has been off the calendar during the pandemic. Not only is Singapore a fascinating destination, it’s a business hub – and it’s during this weekend where many of the commercial deals for the following season are tied up. Generally in a nice, air-conditioned hospitality suite…

F1 MANAGER 2022 Price £44.99-£47.99 f1manager.com While we’ve grown used to annual updates to Codemasters’ action-packed licensed Formula 1 franchise, strategy games based in our world have come and gone without leaving much of a long-term impact. This may all be about to change with the arrival of F1 Manager, potentially the beginning of a new franchise, and the work of Frontier Developments – renowned for Elite and a host of other titles blending action and strategy. The game pitches you into the high-pressure role of team principal, juggling development focus against financial resources between weekends and then trying to maximise performance on track. Races play out in real time as you direct strategy, with a choice of views – as blobs going around the track, like on a real…