Formula 1 Live Ticker: 2024 new name for AlphaTauri

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Dear Formula 1 fans, it’s time to end today’s live ticker and recharge for the upcoming race weekend in Spielberg.

Tomorrow, things kick off at the track with Media Day. Our two chief editors, Christian Nimmervoll and Stefan Ehlen, are already on their way to the Red Bull Ring, and we will be right there, providing exclusive insights and interviews, and keeping you up to date on everything.

Kevin Scheuren thanks you for your attention, and I’ll happily say see you tomorrow, because that’s when we’ll read each other here again.

Adios!

In this week’s Formula 1 podcast “Starting Grid”, we naturally discussed, among other things, the entry of US investors into Alpine, but also Sergio Perez’s difficulties, why Carlos Sainz is annoyed by the Audi rumors, and there’s also a preview of the Austrian Grand Prix.

Available wherever podcasts are found or as a video on the Formel1.de YouTube channel!

The sale of 24 percent of Alpine F1 Team’s shares has made some observers take notice. A consortium of various companies has decided to invest in the Formula 1 project.

The increasing Americanization of the sport also seems to be continuing in this context. Will we perhaps actually see franchises in Formula 1 someday, or are the teams already that?

Either way, this deal has advantages for all sides. My colleague Kevin Hermann has summarized them for you.

Max Verstappen can claim the solitary record for most wins at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend in Spielberg.

He currently shares the top spot with Alain Prost, who, like him, has three wins, but never won on the circuit we know today as the Red Bull Ring. Prost could “only” win on the Österreichring, an iconic track, during his career.

Gerhard Berger also commented on Sergio Perez’s current crisis in “Sport und Talk im Hangar-7” and the emerging rumors that Daniel Ricciardo might still be in the running as a replacement this season.

Fueled by the ORF interview with Red Bull motorsport consultant Dr. Helmut Marko and perhaps not surprising given Perez’s poorer performances in recent races. Berger, who himself has been in the position of a number two driver in a team, considers this role very important:

“You also need the second [driver] to win the Constructors’ World Championship. It’s always such a difficult lot, how strong should the second driver be? If he’s too strong, then you have stress in the team, because then there are constant tensions, friction, and it becomes very difficult to manage. If he’s too weak, then it’s usually too difficult for points.”

Regarding Sergio Perez, he further elaborated:

“He sometimes has highlights, but that hasn’t only been seen this year, it’s actually been seen all along. Even before the season, to really believe that Perez is fighting Max Verstappen for the title, that’s not realistic. However, to be fair, no one has looked good next to Max Verstappen.”

More quotes from Gerhard Berger are available in the new video on the Formel1.de YouTube channel; our chief editor Christian Nimmervoll listened very carefully to him.

There is a special connection between the driver and his race engineer.

This is characterized by mutual trust, understanding, and the occasional honest word. It’s no different for Max Verstappen and his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

Christian Horner describes the two as an “old married couple” in an exclusive interview with ‘Motorsport.com’. You can find out why and what Sebastian Vettel has to do with it in the article by my colleague Kevin Hermann.

Here, we always like to look back at what happened #OnThisDay in Formula 1 history, and today we come across the French Grand Prix in Magny-Cours on 28.06.1998.

For Jos Verstappen, his debut in the Stewart-Ford almost ended directly on the grid, as the Dutchman stalled the car at the first start and couldn’t get going. The race was then, of course, restarted, Verstappen got a second chance and finished 12th.

The winner of the race, however, was Michael Schumacher, his Ferrari teammate Eddie Irvine finished second, and Mika Häkkinen finished third. Immediately after the restart, Schumacher and Irvine were able to overtake Häkkinen, Jacques Villeneuve overtook David Coulthard in the second McLaren-Mercedes in his Williams.

It was a rather uneventful race; McLaren had problems with the fuel system, Häkkinen initially struggled with the car and then with Eddie Irvine, and Alex Wurz scored two points for Benetton with fifth place.

James Vowles didn’t move from Mercedes to Williams to clean up the track at the back for years to come. The man has visions and big goals with one of Formula 1’s most traditional teams.

He spoke about these in the new edition of the Formula 1 podcast “Beyond the Grid” with host Tom Clarkson.

Vowles talks extensively about where Williams currently stands in Formula 1 and what it takes to get back to the front. His drivers Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon seem to get along very well, but is that really the case? That’s also a topic in the podcast. Then, of course, it’s also about the experiences he brought from Mercedes to Grove and how he wants to implement some of what he learned in Brackley there.

A highly exciting guest who is ambitious and wants to bring a team forward that last won a world championship title in 1997 (!) and has been waiting for its next Grand Prix victory since 2012.

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AlphaTauri had a proper clear-out!

But the finds won’t end up in a landfill; instead, they might soon be in your living room or office if you’re among the lucky ones who can get their hands on either the entire Toro Rosso STR11 from the 2016 season or some smaller memorabilia like wheel nuts, wing flaps, or race overalls.

Together with their new partner “Catawiki”, they will organize more of these auctions throughout the year. A portion of the proceeds from the first auction will go to the Faenza city aid campaign to support those affected by the floods and heavy rainfall in May of this year. A portion of the proceeds from subsequent auctions will be donated to the non-profit Wings for Life foundation, dedicated to spinal cord injury research.

If you want to know more, I recommend my colleague Norman Fischer’s article, who has summarized everything for you.

At McLaren, it currently seems that many can’t wait for the important updates to the MCL60, but are still showing the necessary patience until everything is in place. One of them is Lando Norris.

The Brit keeps his new teammate Oscar Piastri at a much closer distance than Daniel Ricciardo, is considered a future Grand Prix winner and for some even a world champion, but until then, it seems to be a long way for McLaren this season.

Even though Norris has good memories of Spielberg with two podiums in 2020 and 2021, it probably won’t happen this coming weekend. However, Norris remains patiently anticipatory of what will happen at McLaren with the current car, as he reported to our colleague Adam Cooper from ‘Autosport.com’:

“Of course, there’s a lot of work behind it. I think we’ve been pretty patient with what we’ve had. We’ve been working on a lot of other things at the same time. We haven’t put much pure lap time on the board since the beginning of the year. Of course, we had the new floor in Baku, but that was more a question of philosophy than absolute performance.”

“But if you put it all together and weigh the work we’ve done, then I think we’ve done a good job with what we had and made the most of the opportunities we had. Maybe we missed one or two, but that’s about it,” Norris continues.

As one knows Norris, he tends to keep expectations at a low level, but is nevertheless happy that something is happening:

“I’m confident it will be a step forward. But the question is, how far. So I don’t want to get too excited about it, which I never do anyway! But yes, a lot of work has gone into it. I’m excited to see how it all develops and what we’ll be capable of.”

Me too, because I believe that McLaren will otherwise lose too much ground to the leading group this season if these far-reaching updates also don’t fundamentally improve the MCL60’s performance. This will then also increase frustration for Norris and Piastri, which certainly won’t be beneficial.

Michael Italiano is Yuki Tsunoda’s physiotherapist at AlphaTauri. Previously, he also worked with Daniel Ricciardo, among others.

Italiano’s influence on Tsunoda’s performance, especially in the mental area, is noticeable. It was important to Italiano that Tsunoda improve there, become calmer, and act smarter. His outbursts on the radio have become far less frequent; generally, Tsunoda appears very fit. Nyck de Vries has been joined by Pyry Salmela, Pierre Gasly’s former physiotherapist.

In the “Sky Sports F1 Podcast”, Salmela and Italiano conducted a very interesting interview about his work with Formula 1 drivers, also in comparison with other athletes. Among other things, it was also about how breathing differs:

“For example, when they drive in Barcelona, they don’t breathe for two-thirds of the lap because they hold it while they have a lot of muscle movements in the car,” Salmela said.

Stress, travel, media appointments, concentration, and training were other topics of this very exciting podcast, which I highly recommend to you.

Let’s take a moment to look back, as Gerhard Berger also did in “Sport und Talk im Hangar-7”, at the dominant McLaren era.

The MP4/4 from the 1988 Formula 1 season was developed by Steve Nichols and won an incredible 15 out of 16 season races, eight for Ayrton Senna, seven for Alain Prost. The car also achieved 15 pole positions and ten fastest laps. Senna and Prost scored 199 points, and they stood on the podium a total of 25 times.

You can explore even more data in our comprehensive Formula 1 database if you want to dive really deep. It’s worth it!

In our photo gallery, you can now take another look at this legendary car with which Senna celebrated his first world championship title.

Photo Gallery: McLaren MP4/4 from 1988: Pure Dominance!

Gerhard Berger was once again a guest on “Sport und Talk aus dem Hangar-7” on ServusTV this week, and as we know him, he spoke very authentically and honestly about various topics surrounding Formula 1.

Among other things, it was about Max Verstappen, who celebrated his 100th Grand Prix victory and the 41st of his career in the last race, placing him on par with Ayrton Senna in the list of winners. Berger also made the popular comparison between the two exceptional talents:

“I have to say, Max already has outstanding material, so Red Bull is an absolute top vehicle, and Senna had that during his McLaren time, but not during his Lotus time.”

“During his Lotus time, he also achieved pole positions and victories with a car that was very good, but not outstanding. But the two are on par,” said ten-time Grand Prix winner Berger.

You can find out more about Berger’s appearance on the ServusTV sports talk show in our video on the Formel1.de YouTube channel.

Yesterday, I wrote in the Formula 1 live ticker that Williams will hold celebrations for its 800th Grand Prix at Silverstone and the Hungaroring.

Not only will Jenson Button drive the 1992 championship-winning car, but there will also be a special livery to honor the late team founder Sir Frank Williams.

We can certainly look forward to that!

Formula 1 is on its way to Spielberg; our two chief editors, Christian Nimmervoll and Stefan Ehlen, will also travel today and then report live from the venue starting tomorrow.

But first, I want to sweeten your Wednesday with the Formula 1 live stream, and I’m happy you’re here. Kevin Scheuren says good morning.

If you have criticism, suggestions, or especially questions, please send them to me via Twitter with the hashtag #FragMST or via Instagram. I will gladly include them here throughout the day and answer them.

You can read yesterday’s live ticker again here.

I wish you a nice day!

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