WOKING: If four-time world champion Max Verstappen were to quit Formula One, as he has hinted on numerous occasions, it would be a &quot;big loss&quot; for the sport, his McLaren rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri said on Wednesday. The 28-year-old Dutchman, who won four consecutive titles from 2021 to 2024 and narrowly missed a fifth last season, has struggled at the start of this campaign with Red Bull against Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren. Verstappen has repeatedly voiced his frustration at the sport&#39;s sweeping 2026 rules overhaul, which places greater emphasis on electric energy management in qualifying and races, as well as limiting car speeds. &quot;I think it would be a big loss for the sport as a whole. I think for us as drivers we want to race against the best and try and prove ourselves against the best,&quot; said Piastri. The 25-year-old Australian said Verstappen had &quot;shown his calibre in the last 10 years&quot; and added that the Dutchman had been the benchmark &quot;for the last five or six.&quot; Norris, the 2025 world champion, believes Verstappen&#39;s exit would leave F1 a poorer place. &quot;It would be a shame for the sport, it would be a miss for the sport if that does happen, because he probably is one of the best drivers you&#39;ll see in Formula One ever,&quot; said Norris. &quot;He&#39;s always been very open to say what he thinks, whether you agree or not.&quot; Verstappen has openly criticised his Red Bull car and likened the direction of F1 to &quot;Formula E on steroids&quot; or the video game &quot;Mario Kart.&quot; At last month&#39;s Japanese Grand Prix, he spoke of wanting to spend more time with his family and has increasingly turned his attention to endurance racing.

Racing

Verstappen has openly criticised his Red Bull car and likened the direction of F1 to "Formula E on steroids" or the video game "Mario Kart".



'Big loss' for F1 if Verstappen quits, say McLaren rivals 

NOTTINGHAM, UK: A dozen girls whizzed around an English karting track, part of a pioneering drive to draw women into motorsports and maybe even race to the top in male-dominated Formula 1. A special test day in October in Nottingham aimed to address a major gender gap in F1, one of the flashiest of sports. Italian Lella Lombardi was the last woman to compete in an F1 Grand Prix in 1976, and the absence of women on the circuit is linked to young girls&#39; limited exposure to motorsports, according to gender parity organisations. More Than Equal, a non-profit that supports women drivers, said girls start karting on average two years later than boys. Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, for example, got into the format aged just eight. &quot;These are the first steps that a girl could take,&quot; Cameron Biggs, coaching and academy pathway manager at Motorsport UK, told AFP. &quot;We&#39;re really trying to join the dots between grassroots and elite.&quot; The enthusiasm was palpable among the youngsters, who were mostly new to karting. Some attended the taster day, supported by makeup company Charlotte Tilbury, after watching F1, while others were encouraged by their parents. None seemed put off by F1&#39;s breakneck speed, the thrumming engines and the prospect of driving a vehicle years before they are old enough to have a driver&#39;s licence. &quot;On the second time, I came first and I&#39;m very proud,&quot; beamed 11-year-old Megan. &quot;I watch Formula 1 quite often, and so I kind of know how to get around the track,&quot; said Erin, also 11. F1 paradoxF1&#39;s official website boasts a global fanbase of 827 million people -- a 63 percent increase since 2018. But there is a paradox: F1 is one of the world&#39;s few non-gender-segregated sports yet one of the most male-dominated. &quot;We know that the pathway for female drivers hasn&#39;t successfully got a woman into Formula One competitively in the last 50 years,&quot; More Than Equal&#39;s head of driver development Lauren Forrow told AFP. That means that girls are &quot;not thriving within&quot; the current system, she said. The organisation has pledged to &quot;make history&quot; by training a woman not just to compete but to win. &quot;We know that this is a real challenge and that it&#39;s never been done before,&quot; CEO Tom Stanton told AFP. More Than Equal lists limited access to motorsports at an early age, cultural and structural biases, sponsorship gaps and a lack of role models at the top as barriers obstructing women&#39;s entry into F1. Forrow said the organisation&#39;s unique Driver Development Programme &quot;acknowledges the physiological, psychological and technical differences&quot; women face, such as the impact of menstruation on athletic abilities and daily life. These realities &quot;inform what the kind of right recipe is for supporting female athletes in this space&quot;, she said, of the programme created for young female racing drivers. &#39;Nobody to look up to&#39;Fifteen-year-old Skye Parker, from Trelogan, North Wales, told AFP she is determined to become &quot;Formula 1 world champion&quot;, having started karting aged six and now loving the &quot;feeling of excitement&quot; she gets on the track. On a wet December day, the assured teenager did laps in a Formula 4 car on Spain&#39;s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. It has a challenging layout and is used by More Than Equal to hone female drivers&#39; skills. F4, for junior drivers, is an essential stepping stone for drivers on their way to the top. Parker&#39;s personalised pink-and-green helmet distinguished her from other drivers as she drove for 45-minute stretches, concluding each session with a technical debrief. Parker told AFP there are more women than before, but noted &quot;boys definitely outnumber us&quot;. &quot;It is quite sad that there is nobody to look up to female-wise in Formula One,&quot; she said. On top of obstacles unique to women, F1 is an &quot;incredibly expensive&quot; sport to pursue, Forrow said. In Nottingham, Marcus McKenzie stood on the sidelines, using a headpiece to instruct his eight-year-old daughter Georgia as she rocketed around the karting track -- at 25 miles (40 kilometres) per hour, somewhat slower than the average speeds of 220 miles per hour characteristic of a Grand Prix. The single father conceded that the cost of the sport made things difficult, but he is hoping to secure sponsorship for Georgia and her 11-year-old brother, who is also passionate about F1. But money was far from the minds of the youngsters, who were exhilarated as they stepped off the track. &quot;Don&#39;t be shy to do it. Just be brave and have fun,&quot; was eight-year-old Thea&#39;s message to other girls her age.

This photo taken on November 15, 2025 shows 15-year-old Skye Parker posing during a day out at the Shenington Kart Racing Club track in Shenington, central England. A dozen girls whizzed around an English karting track, part of a pioneering drive to draw 

F1 is one of the world's few non-gender-segregated sports yet one of the most male-dominated. There has been no woman in Formula One competitively in the last 50 years.

The race to find Formula 1's first-ever woman champion

Web Desk/AFP

LAS VEGAS: McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix after race officials ruled that both cars failed to meet technical regulations, stripping Norris of his second-place finish and Piastri of fourth, stewards confirmed on Sunday.&nbsp; The decision came after post-race inspections showed excessive wear on the rearmost skid blocks of both McLaren MCL39 cars. Technical delegates found the plank thickness to be below the minimum 9 millimeters required under Formula One rules, prompting a mandatory review by the stewards. <div class="fr-embed instagram-embed" style="width: 50%; display: block; max-width: 600px;"><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-0" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/DRZPxZ2jZQQ/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=14&wp=592&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com&rp=%2Farticles%2Fnew#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A146574.30000001192%2C%22ls%22%3A935.4000000357628%2C%22le%22%3A3003%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="1077" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-0" scrolling="no" style="background: white; max-width: 540px; width: calc(100% - 2px); border-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219); box-shadow: none; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 12px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div> The disqualification reshapes the final race standings and removes what had been a strong double-points finish for McLaren. The team had initially celebrated one of its most competitive outings of the season.

McLaren's British driver Lando Norris exits his car after winning the pole position during the qualifying session for the Las Vegas Formula One Grand Prix at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 21, 2025. (Photo by Frederic J. Bro

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McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix after race officials ruled that both cars failed to meet technical regulations, stripping Norris of his second-place finish and Piastri of fourth, stewards confirmed on Sunday. 

Norris and Piastri disqualified from Las Vegas GP: stewards

AUSTIN: Formula 1 on Sunday announced an eight-year extension with the Circuit of the Americas to continue hosting the United States Grand Prix through 2034.&nbsp;The central Texas track has been a key US footprint for the global motorsports series since it opened in 2012. The race has become one of the highest-attended events on the schedule every year, with officials claiming more than 400,000 fans in 2022 and 2023.&nbsp;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re glad Formula 1 has found a home in Texas, and are grateful to the fans, teams, and the entire F1 community who have consistently supported us and made the United States Grand Prix a favorite stop on the global calendar,&quot; track president Bobby Epstein said in a statement.&nbsp;The extension was announced just a few hours before Sunday&#39;s race. According to track officials, this year&#39;s race weekend included fans from all 50 states and 60 countries.&nbsp;The Circuit of the Americas is the only purpose-built F1 track in the country and hosted the only F1 race in the US from 2012-2021. The series has now expanded to include races in Miami and Las Vegas, and recently extended the Miami Grand Prix through 2041.&nbsp;The US Grand Prix also has a unique arrangement with the state of Texas that allows race officials to apply annually for tax revenue to help pay F1&#39;s license fee for staging the event. Since 2012, the state has paid more than $300 million.&nbsp;Formula 1 officials say the race has generated an economic impact of about $7 billion for Austin and Texas since it began.&nbsp;Stefano Domenicali, president and chief executive officer of Formula 1, noted the track&#39;s role in &ldquo;establishing the strong foundation we now enjoy in the US&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;As Formula 1 continues to grow and thrive in the United States, we are proud to extend our partnership with Bobby Epstein and his outstanding team in Austin, as well as with Governor (Greg) Abbott, whose leadership has been instrumental in supporting the sport&rsquo;s development in Texas and beyond,&quot; Domenicali said.&nbsp;The race contract comes three days after Formula 1 announced a five-year deal with Apple to be the series&#39;s US broadcast partner beginning next season.

Formula 1 extended its deal with Austin’s Circuit of the Americas through 2034, ensuring the United States Grand Prix remains a major fixture, generating billions for Texas as F1 expands its growing footprint across the US.


F1 extends US Grand Prix at COTA with 8-year deal 

Formula 1 announced a five-year deal Friday with Apple, which will be the global motorsports series&#39; US broadcast partner beginning next season.&nbsp;ESPN had been the broadcast partner since 2018 and through the explosion of popularity of F1 in the United States,but notified the series at the start of this year it would not be extending its deal.&nbsp;At the same time, Apple was working with the series on &ldquo;F1 The Movie,&rdquo; an original film released internationally in cinemas and IMAX in June.&nbsp; It will make its global streaming debut on Apple TV in December, has already grossed nearly $630 million globally as both the most successful sports movie in history and most lucrative of Brad Pitt&#39;s career.&nbsp;The relationship made Apple the frontrunner to land the US broadcast rights. Financial terms were not released.&nbsp;&ldquo;I feel like I am on the podium, this is amazing,&rdquo; said Eddy Cue, Apple&lsquo;s senior vice president of services. &quot;Our vision for Apple TV, we wanted to deliver customers the best story from the most creative storytellers.&nbsp; We launched in 2019, we started with nine original series, and now we&rsquo;ve got a deep library of over 300 shows and movies and 1000s of hours.&nbsp;&ldquo;And everyone on Apple TV in the US will now get Formula 1,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re going to get everything that Formula 1 has to offer.&rdquo;&nbsp;Apple plans to air F1 on Apple TV as well as amplify the series across Apple News, Apple Maps, Apple Music, Apple Sports and Apple Fitness+. Apple TV will also host all practice, qualifying, sprint sessions and races.&nbsp;Select races and all practice sessions throughout the season will also be available to watch for free in the Apple TV app. F1 TV Premium, F1&rsquo;s own premier content offering, will continue to be available in the US via an Apple TV subscription and will be free to Apple subscribers.&nbsp;Apple TV is available in over 100 countries and regions on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone and other products, including PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles.&nbsp;Cue said Apple&#39;s reach will only help grow F1 in the United States, which currently hosts races in Miami, Las Vegas and this weekend in Austin, Texas.

Apple secured exclusive US media rights for Formula 1 under a five-year deal starting next season, ending ESPN’s tenure, and expanding F1 coverage across Apple platforms including TV, Music, and News.

Apple clinches US media rights for F1 races under five-year deal

SINGAPORE: Less than two weeks on from its best Formula 1 finish in years, Williams saw both cars disqualified for a technical infringement in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday.&nbsp;Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, qualified 12th and 13th but will now be dropped to the back of the grid for Sunday&rsquo;s race.&nbsp;F1 technical delegate Jo Bauer reported that part of the rear wings of the two Williams cars &ldquo;exceeded the maximum limit&quot; allowed by the regulations during a check of the Drag Reduction System overtaking aid.&nbsp;&ldquo;This is bitterly disappointing for the team and we are urgently investigating how this happened,&rdquo; team principal James Vowles said.&nbsp;&ldquo;At no point were we seeking a performance advantage and the rear wings had passed our own checks earlier in the day, but there is only one measurement that matters and we fully accept the FIA ruling.&nbsp;&quot;We have a car capable of scoring points here this weekend and will do everything we can to fight from the back of the grid tomorrow, and will immediately review our processes to make sure this doesn&rsquo;t happen again.&rdquo;&nbsp;George Russell took pole position for Mercedes, with Red Bull&#39;s Max Verstappen second and McLaren&#39;s Oscar Piastri third.&nbsp;Sainz achieved Williams&#39; first podium finish in four years at the last race in Azerbaijan, where he finished third.&nbsp;The team&#39;s previous podium finish before that was in a rain-affected race in Belgium in 2021. Russell placed second thanks to his qualifying position after no green-flag racing was possible. Before that, Williams last had a top-three finish in a competitive race in 2017.

Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz were disqualified from Singapore GP qualifying after Williams’ rear wings breached DRS regulations. The team accepted the FIA ruling, calling it unintentional and pledging to review procedures before Sunday’s race.

FIA disqualify both Williams from F1 Singapore qualifying after rules breach

<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;' id="isPasted">BAKU: Standings leader Oscar Piastri crashed on the first lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday to hand his McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris a chance to slash Piastri&#39;s lead in the Formula 1 title fight.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>Piastri seemed to false-start and then nearly stall off the line, dropping to the back of the field before sliding into the barrier as he tried to recover places.&nbsp;<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>The Australian crashed for the second day in a row in Baku after also hitting the barrier in qualifying.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>The incident was a blow to McLaren&rsquo;s chances of sealing the constructors&rsquo; title.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>Norris started seventh and his McLaren teammate Piastri ninth for Sunday&#39;s race after a chaotic qualifying session with plenty of crashes, rain, and red flags.&nbsp;<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>Red Bull&#39;s Max Verstappen took pole position in Azerbaijan for the first time in his career.

Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix in Baku

Oscar Piastri crashes on lap one of the Azerbaijan GP, giving teammate Lando Norris a chance to close the gap in the F1 title race.

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