News

McLaren’s 26-year wait for a Formula 1 Constructors’ title has officially come to an end.

The team’s drivers — Lando Norris, 25, and Oscar Piastri, 23 — brought the trophy home to the papaya family on Sunday after maintaining the team’s lead ahead of Ferrari during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the 2024 season.

After taking pole position in Qualifying on Saturday, Norris ultimately won the race. As for Piastri, who was right behind his teammate on the grid going into the final race, he came in 10th place after an early incident with Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen.

Although there was only a 21-point gap between McLaren and Ferrari in the Constructors’ standings, Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc weren’t able to overtake the lead, especially since the team was already facing hurdles heading into the race as Leclerc had a 10-place grid penalty.

Exclusive: Iconic British driver James Hunt is the subject of a feature doc from Deep Fusion Films.

British production house Deep Fusion has entered into a creative partnership with the James Hunt Estate on the production of Hunt: We Need to Talk About James, a 90-minute film that will offer “an unprecedentedly intimate look at the life and legacy of the man who helped define the glamour and danger of Formula 1, both on and off the track.”

Hunt had a well-publicized reputation as a playboy and adrenaline junkie, and was considered a golden boy of motorsports during his seven-year Formula 1 career, which culminated in him winning the 1976 World Championship in a dramatic final race.

While his personality and attitude made him hugely popular with the public and a familiar face in newspapers, his ‘live fast, die young’ approach was less well received by Formula 1’s establishment, who...

ESPN’s latest alternate broadcast will star an active F1 racer and a budding F1 superfan who just so happens to be one of Hollywoo’s most in-demand comic actors.

The company has announced that F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, one of the sport’s most popular and charismatic drivers, and actor/comedian/F1 fan Will Arnett would host alternate broadcasts for three upcoming races. “The Grandstand with Daniel Ricciardo and Will Arnett” will debut for the June 18 Formula 1 Pirelli Canadian Grand Prix, followed by the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Tex. on Oct. 22, and the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix on Nov. 18.

“This is going to be a hoot!” said Ricciardo. “As you’d expect Will and I are going to have some fun with the show, but we’re hoping it just feels like you’re watching F1 with your mates. We will have some amazing guests, plenty...

Exclusive: Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, whose “Manningcasts” of Monday Night Football were a breakthrough hit when they debuted in 2021, is expanding its alternate telecasts to Formula 1.

In collaboration with ESPN, Omaha will produce three race telecasts hosted by actor Will Arnett and veteran driver Daniel Ricciardo. As with other sports, the pair will chat with each other as the action unfolds and also welcome guests.

The Grandstand with Daniel Ricciardo and Will Arnett will debut with the Pirelli Canadian Grand Prix on June 18, airing on ESPN2 while the traditional race telecast airs on ABC. The other two editions will be with the United States Grand Prix in Austin, TX, on October 22, and the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 18.

Last fall, Disney/ESPN renewed its long-running rights deal with F1 through 2025 after interest was expressed by Netflix and multiple other parties. Alternate telecasts were provided for in the agreement.

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The Kid Mero, who recently split up with his TV and podcast co-host Desus Nice, is making a return to audio with a Formula One live show hosted on Amazon’s live audio app, Amp.

Mero’s live simulcast show, co-hosted with the former ESPN sports reporter Michelle Beadle, is part of an overall U.S. programming and broadcast deal between Formula One and Amazon. The live F1-related programming, collectively called Fast & Loose, will launch on Aug. 28 to coincide with the Belgian Grand Prix race.

In addition to Mero and Beadle’s show, SmartLess co-host and actor Will Arnett has been tapped to lead a live, post-race show with two-time F1 world champion Mika Häkkinen and reporters Katie Osborne and Beadle, who will rotate as co-hosts with Arnett. During the show, Arnett will chat with listeners and drivers and offer his own takes on the races.

Touching reflections from his family and home movie footage make for an intimate biography of the F1 star, if one that leaves his flaws unexamined

‘I miss him every day, but Michael is here,” says Corinna Schumacher at the end of this Netflix documentary, blinking back tears as she talks about life with her husband since he suffered a devastating brain injury while skiing in 2013. That accident is awkwardly and glaringly unmentioned for most of this nearly two-hour film about his life, though of course you’re watching it all – the green-eyed boy wonder of Formula One, his successes, the rivalries and close shaves – in a brace position, waiting for the tragedy to come. Then, in the final 10 minutes, Corinna and the couple’s children, Gina and Mick (a F1 driver like his dad), speak about their loss.

The film is a collaboration with the Schumachers and massively benefits from...

Streaming

“Schumacher,” a documentary on champion German Formula 1 racing driver Michael Schumacher, will stream on Netflix from Sept. 15. The film follows his journey from his humble beginnings to the top of Formula 1 where he dominated with seven world championship titles and a total of 91 victories.

In addition to his father and his brother Ralf, Schumacher’s wife Corinna and his two children Gina and Mick, by now a Formula 1 driver himself, speak openly for the first time, as do his closest peers and competitors. Among them are Jean Todt, Bernie Ecclestone, Sebastian Vettel, Mika Häkkinen, Damon Hill, Flavio Briatore, David Coulthard, Willi Weber, Luca di Montezemolo, Piero Ferrari, his manager Sabine Kehm.

Benjamin Seikel and Vanessa Nöcker from B|14 Film GmbH produced “Schumacher”. Hanns-Bruno Kammertöns, Vanessa Nöcker and Michael Wech directed the film.

London based Rocket Science is representing sales and distribution of the film worldwide and facilitated the partnership with Netflix.

Netflix has picked up global rights to Schumacher, a feature documentary about Formula One legend Michael Schumacher, and will release on September 15.

The streamer struck the deal with sales rep Rocket Science. Project comes from Benjamin Seikel and Vanessa Nöcker from B|14 Film GmbH; directors are Hanns-Bruno Kammertöns, Vanessa Nöcker and Michael Wech.

Schumacher features interviews with the driver’s family, including his wife, father and brother, as well as various prominent figures of the motorsport such as Jean Todt, Bernie Ecclestone, Sebastian Vettel, Mika Häkkinen, Damon Hill, Flavio Briatore and David Coulthard. The filmmakers also had access to never-before-seen archive material.

After a glittering career that culminated in him being widely seen as the greatest Formula One driver of all time following 91 race victories and seven world championships, Schumacher suffered a severe brain injury after a skiing accident in 2013 and has since been in recovery.

The timing of the...

Director: Paul Crowder; Writer: Mark Monroe; Narrator: Michael Fassbender; Running time: 112 mins; Certificate: 12A

1: Life on the Limit may be a veritable who's who of Formula 1 - featuring contributions from world drivers' champions such as John Surtees, Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher, Jody Scheckter, Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel to name but a few - but it's really the story of two men, Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley.

It's easy to be cynical about both Bernie and Max - particularly when you think about some of the things they've hit headlines for away from the track. But 1 - which uses the tension between speed and safety as its angle - sheds light on their determination to improve safety that some younger followers of motorsport - this writer included - may not have fully appreciated. Both Ecclestone and especially Mosley are...

Geez, these F1 2013 videos are coming on fast and furious (haha, cars!). In the most recent trailer for the upcoming racing sim from Codemasters, the focus is placed on the seemingly very important Ferrari 312 T2. I’m not intimately familiar with it or anything, but that doesn’t change the fact that it looks incredibly sexy coming around the bend at the beginning of this video.

Aside from slow motion car porn, the trailer is essentially a promo for the game’s new Classic Edition. In that version, you’ll be able to race famous cars, drivers, and circuits from various eras of F1 history. My knowledge on that is a bit stiff, but I imagine F1 junkies will really get a kick out of it. Other sports games have been doing this kind of thing for years, so it’s definitely a good move on Codemasters’ end.

For all...

I’m not enough of a Formula One junkie to instantly start drooling/sweating/other bodily function at the mention of a 1988 Ferrari F1-87/88C, but that doesn’t mean I’m not enough of a general geek for those things to start happening once I actually see a picture.

The car, which is shown above, is quite beautiful and so, I suppose it should be considered good news then that this very vehicle will be included in this year’s edition of Codemasters’ yearly F1 simulator, F1 2013.

The rest of the jargon is kind of lost on me, but I’m sure anyone more familiar with the series or the sport will eat this up. So for those folks, be sure to check out the press release below. The trailer below is both awesomely and comically dramatic, so that’s something as well.

As a casual fan I...

From the sublime Fire in Babylon to Mario Balotelli's ridiculous hat, what to put in people's stockings this year

DVD & Blu-ray

An absolutely bumper year for sport on film was dominated by two disciplines. Cricket gave us Fire In Babylon (all titles available at amazon.co.uk), a rousing account of the 1970s West Indies side, of their brilliant cricket and, importantly, its part in their assertion of pride amid the racial and post-colonial politics of the time.

Politics also sets the scene for From The Ashes, the gloom of Britain in 1981 providing a backdrop for an historic series. It's a gripping story, entertainingly told, but the real treats are the Australian contributions – amusing and enlightening. It doubles up with the The Ashes Series 2010-2011 Box Set, a mammoth celebration of an Aussie defeat that simply never gets old. The included two-disc documentary is also excellent.

Motor sport also provides some compulsive viewing.

America needs reality television like Top Gear. The fact that we don’t air this program on a mainstream network channel baffles me. Do Americans like cars? Yes. Do we like comedy? Yes. Do we watch far worse things than this on average? Regrettably, yes. Top Gear has the laughs, has stunningly good production values, and can keep audiences of all types entertained. It’s twelfth series sees an increase in runtime from last season by two episodes as well as an entire episode in the extra features. The set rounds out to about eight and a half hours of entertainment, a definite improvement over the paltry offerings in Top Gear 11.

Top Gear 12 has some of the more amusing episodes in recent memory. It starts off with a bang as the trio purchases a Lorry (comparable to a Mack truck) apiece and deck them out for a series of challenges.

Former tennis ace Boris Becker has wed for a second time in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

The German sports star exchanged vows with Sharlely Kerssenberg on Friday before guests including soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer and Finnish racing driver Mika Hakkinen.

R&B star Alicia Keys performed at the reception, which took place at the Badrutt's Palace hotel.