F1 news: Max Verstappen 'threatens boycott' as driver addresses retirement claims

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George Russell believes this year's title challengers could 'pay the price' in 2026, citing McLaren as the favourites.

Red Bull will also be hoping to regain the Constructors' Championship after missing out in 2024, while Ferrari could be a dark horse.

"I think when you look at how dominant McLaren was in the second half of last year, without a doubt they are favourites going into this year," said Russell.

"When people had their strong weekends, McLaren were still there or thereabouts. I think they only had one off-weekend in probably the whole of 2024.

"I think why it’s going to be so interesting is whoever continues to develop will probably win the championship, but you’ll pay the price in 2026.

"So teams who come out of the blocks and it’s a close battle, they might continue to develop."

Lewis Hamilton has offered an insight into his mental approach over the winter as he prepares for his debut season with Ferrari.

"My resolution, my life, my mentality is like, ‘I need to elevate in absolutely every area on my side'," he said.

"This is who I am and I've just got to gel in. I've got to elevate in every single [aspect].

"My fitness, my time management, how I engage my engineers, how much time I spend in the factory, all these different things, and I've definitely done that.

"I'm doing tha, and I will continue to do that in this drive to help to achieve the success that I'm aiming to achieve."

Fernando Alonso believes Aston Martin are ready to start troubling the big boys after an underwhelming 2024 campaign.

"We think we will catch up pretty soon," said the Spaniard.

"We did learn a lot last year. The second part of the season [there were] a lot of experiments going on in the way of learning more things in the 2025 car.

"The simulator has been updated so we have been working a lot in the sim to develop the car a little bit more precisely than the last few seasons.

"We have new tools, new organisation, new people in place to tackle some of the weaknesses we identified last year, so we start in a much better place."

Pierre Gasly believes Alpine should sacrifice the 2025 season in order to put all of their resources into building a competitive car for 2026.

"If it was down to me, all the budget would be on 2026, but I am not in control of the budget," said the Frenchman.

"If that is good or bad, I don't know, but I don't care being eighth, ninth or 10th. I want to win.

"I want to finish on the podium and I know it is not going to be easy to make [the gap] up this year.

"But I know in 2026, we're starting with the same weapons as other teams and it is up to us to deliver the best car possible."

Peter Windsor believes Oscar Piastri has surrendered his 'God-given talent' by copying Lando Norris when it comes to his cornering technique.

"He seems to be sort of going the Lando way of driving," said Windsor on his YouTube channel.

"And I’ve said what a shame that is and what a mistake that is because he's got that natural ability to get into a corner quite early and to be sensitive enough to live with the understeer and get his rotation at exactly the right moment.

"It's a God-given talent that you shouldn’t play around with. I think it’s a huge mistake if McLaren are saying: 'Oh no, you've got to go Lando’s way'.

"Brake more in a straight line, get into the corner a little bit later, get on the power sooner, whatever they’re saying, higher minimum speed, some rubbish like that.

"I think it’s a great shame if that’s what’s happened. And I hope Oscar’s had the ability and got the brains to say: 'I’m going to do my own thing'."

Aston Martin have officially unveiled their 2025 challenger, the AMR25.

It will be their last car to use a Mercedes power unit before they team up with Honda next year.

Much of the bodywork has been reshaped from last season, with the floor also undergoing a revamp.

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu is adamant that Oliver Bearman will be a Ferrari driver in the future.

The young Brit is preparing for his debut F1 season with Haas, where he will race alongside Esteban Ocon.

"Ollie has shown enough in terms of potential, but what interested me most is that he really understood his role," said Komatsu.

"He learned what the team wanted to achieve, when the team transmits the information to him he is able to make changes and correct himself.

"I can’t believe he’s 18 years old and I see him as a future Ferrari driver. I don’t consider him a novice and we don’t treat him as such, because we pay close attention to what he has to say.

"He has a good experience, thanks to his training in Ferrari, and he drove the VF-23 and the VF-24. Every time he got into the car his feedback and approach were excellent."

Here's how the favourite list is stacking up ahead of the 2025 Formula One season:

Lando Norris - 9/4

Max Verstappen - 5/2

Charles Leclerc - 4/1

Lewis Hamilton - 11/2

Oscar Piastri - 8/1

George Russell - 11/1

Liam Lawson - 35/1

Kimi Antonelli - 55/1

Yuki Tsunoda - 70/1

Fernando Alonso - 80/1

Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz - 175/1

Odds via Betfair

Lando Norris is keen to break the Drivers' Championship-winning mould this season.

Speaking on The Fast and The Curious Podcast: "I feel like everyone's just so stuck with: 'you have to do this, everyone does this, this is the way you have to do it.

"But none of it is true. It's just finding your own way of living, your own way of thinking, your own way of talking - all of these things.

"There is never really a correct way and a wrong way of doing a lot of things, but people think too much of the time that there is."

Lewis Hamilton is said to be learning Italian following his move to Ferrari.

Ahead of the move, former Ferrari chief and current F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali gave the seven-time world champion some valuable advice. “He will bring a lot of interest,” he told Autoracer.

“He is learning to speak Italian and to understand how to integrate into our culture. I told him it is fundamental for him to be able to do this as well. In Ferrari, he will find a different environment than before.”

Hamilton has since been captured attempting to speak the language - albeit in small phrases - during interviews with Italian broadcasters.

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Carlos Sainz has been named as the new director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA).

In a statement on social media, Sainz said: “I am passionate about my sport and think we drivers have a responsibility to do all we can to work with the stakeholders to forward the sport in many aspects.

“So I’m very happy and proud to do my part by taking on the directors’ role in the GPDA.”

Former team principal Otmar Szafnauer has hit out at how Formula One teams are being run.

He stated: "In the days of Eddie Jordan and Frank Williams and Ron Dennis and Adrian Reynard at British American Racing you had owners that deeply understood motor racing. he began in the Formula for Success podcast. He also added that previously, owners came from a background in racing, being drivers or engineers and mechanics themselves.

"It takes sustained and long and good work to end up winning, because everyone else is competent too. But the new ownership isn’t like that. They have very little understanding of motor racing."

He said: "They look at Formula 1 as a sport, they look at football teams that can change five players from one year to the next and go from mid-table to winning and they think the same can happen in Motorsport. Especially in Formula 1, that can’t happen"

For any British Formula One fan, the final race of the 2021 season is remembered as a dark day.

Lewis Hamilton was one lap away from becoming the all-time record Drivers' Championship title holder. In the three seasons since, he hasn't come anywhere near.

The actions and outcome from that day are understandably frowned upon, but that shouldn't be an excuse to boo his victorious opponent.

Like him or not, Max Verstappen has enjoyed a stellar impact on the sport. Some might say he's the face of Formula One.

And while grudges are only natural, fans shouldn't let their emotions spill over.

An FIA spokesperson has hit back at the booers during Tuesday's F1 75 launch event in London.

Max Verstappen and fellow Red Bull man Christian Horner received a hostile welcome at the event in London.

Responding to the incident, the governing body said: “Great rivalries throughout the history of motorsport have contributed to making it such an exciting experience for fans.

“But what underpins sport at all levels is a culture of respect. As such, it was disappointing to hear the crowd's tribalist reaction to FIA Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen and his Red Bull Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner, at the F1 launch in London.

“Max and Christian have both contributed greatly to the sport we love. In the season ahead we should not lose sight of that.

“As part of the FIA’s commitment to protect the integrity of the sport, we are leading a coalition tackling online abuse in sport under the banner of our United Against Online Abuse campaign.

“We stand with all of our competitors, officials, volunteers, and fans to unite against this growing threat. We urge the sporting community to consider the impact of their actions both online and offline.”

Lance Stroll, driver for Aston Martin, has rubbished claims he's set to ditch Formula One in favour of a switch to tennis.

Sky Sports pundit David Croft had flirted with the idea that Stroll would leave the world of F1 for tennis in the past.

But the son of billionaire Lawrence Stroll says it's all nonsense.

He told the Fast And The Curious podcast: “Be careful, don’t believe everything you read!

“No, I’m really not that good at tennis! Someone came up with that, I don’t really know how that started brewing.

“I mean, I always grew up playing a lot of sports, for sure. They were saying like I was going on the ATP World Tennis tour. Am I good enough to do that? No.

“Someone came up with this, I think it was Crofty [David Croft], Crofty said it. Pulled that one out of somewhere, I don’t really know where.”

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Max Verstappen is said to be considering a boycott of future launch events following the Dutchman's hostile treatment in London.

The Red Bull ace was booed by the crowd as he appeared on screens at the event earlier this week.

On top of that, Christian Horner was also greeted by jeers when he arrived up on stage.

Reacting to the incident, Max's father, Jos told RaceXpress: “Max has no appetite for that, to be booed like that in front of 25,000 people.

“He also says: ‘If this is in England next year, they definitely won’t see me.’

“I couldn’t agree more with him. You’re there to promote the sport and showcase the new colour schemes of the cars, but when they go on a rampage like that, the question is: what are you there to do?

“He has to get ready to go there anyway, but then you get booed like that.

“I think they should take a hard look at that because that doesn’t belong in this sport."

He continued: “That Christian Horner was booed like that and Max was booed too.

“You do it for Formula 1, you are there to promote the sport and then you are booed by the public.

“I don’t think that’s acceptable.

“I get it because Max is the only one who fires up those Englishmen and says exactly where it’s at.

“But I don’t think this is acceptable. It really is a disappointment what happened there.”

The nights are getting brighter and the days are getting longer, which can only mean one thing... Formula One is almost back!

We're less than a month away from the opening weekend of race action, so stick around as we provide all the latest news, views and updates from the world of Formula One.