Sebastian Vettel put a few noses out of joint early in his career but his retirement from Formula 1 prompted an outpouring of affection for the four-times champion.
Claire Cottingham's articles on RaceFans
Claire has worked in motorsport for much of her career, covering a broad mix of championships including Formula One, Formula E, the BTCC, British GT and W Series. In doing so, she has worked for an extensive list of companies including the BBC, Channel 4, Formula One, 5 Live, Eurosport, BT Sport and ITV in a variety of roles - including lead presenter, writer, pitlane reporter and a historic role as the first female motorsport commentator on terrestrial TV. Claire’s extensive experience goes far beyond motorsport however, and has seen her cover a wide and varied selection of sports on a local, national and international level - ranging from reporting on county cricket matches through to being part of the Olympic Broadcast Services team for both the Olympic and Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.
Gasly would not change time at Red Bull “for anything”
2022 F1 season
Posted onPierre Gasly says that he would not change anything about his tenure at Red Bull as he departs AlphaTauri for Alpine.
McLaren to give Piastri more tests in new year
2022 F1 season
Posted onMcLaren will give rookie Oscar Piastri more tests in the new year as they aim to ensure his first race in Bahrain “doesn’t actually feel like the first race for him.”
Norris dissatisfied with solitary podium finish: “One isn’t enough”
2022 F1 season
Posted onLando Norris says scoring a single podium in 2022 “isn’t enough” for himself or the team, saying McLaren finished “way ahead of where we deserved” in Imola.
Magnussen’s experience makes him ‘positive’ ousted Schumacher can return to F1
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onKevin Magnussen says his Formula 1 career shows how Mick Schumacher might make it back onto the grid one day.
Pirelli confirms off-season F1 test plans involving Mercedes, Ferrari and others
2022 F1 season
Posted onPirelli will conduct tests with teams over the winter using this year’s Formula 1 cars as it continues to develop new dry and wet-weather tyres.
Mercedes explain their ‘table of doom’ which predicted worst tracks for W13
2022 F1 season
Posted onMercedes referred to its internal metrics which predicted which circuits would be best and worst for its problematic W13 as the “table of doom”.
Overtaking still difficult at Yas Marina despite 2021 track changes, say drivers
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onFormula 1 drivers say overtaking at Yas Marina remains difficult despite the changes made to improve racing at the circuit last year.
Depressing to consider points lost says Gasly after AlphaTauri slump to ninth
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onPierre Gasly said it’s best not to dwell on the narrow margin by which AlphaTauri lost eighth place to Haas in the constructors championship.
Schumacher’s mind “set on coming back in 2024, if not already in ’23”
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onMick Schumacher says his mind was already “pretty much set on coming back in 2024, if not already in ’23” during his last race weekend in F1
Paddock Diary: 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onThe Formula 1 paddock said farewell to four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel with tributes throughout the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend including a lap of the circuit on foot.
McLaren’s failure to take fourth not just down to Ricciardo’s struggles – Seidl
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onMcLaren team principal Andreas Seidl says missing out on fourth in the constructors’ standings cannot be pinned solely on Daniel Ricciardo’s performance.
Title defeat this year less painful than controversial 2021 decider – Wolff
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onMercedes’ failure to compete for the championships this year isn’t as painful as their defeat in the controversial 2021 finale, says team principal Toto Wolff.
No driver can match Verstappen in the same car right now – Horner
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onMax Verstappen has improved his performance to a level which his team principal Christian Horner doubts any rival could match, even in the same car.
Ferrari claim they used a “dummy” pit stop for Leclerc to outfox Red Bull
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onFerrari team principal Mattia Binotto says a “dummy” pit stop was the key to getting Charles Leclerc ahead of Sergio Perez in yesterday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hulkenberg called Haas about F1 return when ‘the desire to kick ass’ came back
2023 F1 season
Posted onSpeaking to media for the first time since his F1 comeback was announced, Nico Hulkenberg said he watched this year’s races thinking he could “do better”.
Ocon takes “good satisfaction” from out-scoring “very fast” team mate Alonso
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onEsteban Ocon said out-scoring his two-times world champion team mate Fernando Alonso was a satisfying result
Hamilton’s tactics were “cheeky” but I’d have done the same – Sainz
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onCarlos Sainz Jnr accused Lewis Hamilton of “cheeky” driving when he was told to hand a position to Ferrari driver during their tussle over the opening laps in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“Don’t do it to me again, Abu Dhabi”: Bottas feared 2021 repeat in tense final lap
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onValtteri Bottas had “deja vu” for last year’s controversial final lap in Abu Dhabi as Alfa Romeo narrowly beat Aston Martin to sixth place.
Aston Martin “threw away” sixth in championship with one-stop strategy – Vettel
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Posted onSebastian Vettel says his Aston Martin team “threw away” sixth place in the constructor’s championship with a one-stop strategy.