F1 news LIVE: Emilia Romagna GP build-up as Red Bull try to catch Ferrari

George Russell admits it is a “crazy” feeling to be second in the drivers’ standings but is aware there’s a long way to go this season.

Despite Mercedes’ difficult start to the new campaign, Russell was able to snatch third at the Australian Grand Prix after Carlos Sainz was forced to retire from the race and the British driver claimed he was shocked when found out that he was the closest challenger to Charles Leclerc in the championship.

“Somebody told me that and I didn’t believe them,” he said. “It’s pretty crazy to think but this is a championship based on results and not necessarily based on pace.”

Mercedes engineers are said to be doing “enormous” work on their cars ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in a bid to catch up with the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull.

Russell admitted the solution won’t be found overnight but insisted Mercedes can continue to get good results in the meantime.

“We know if we want to keep that position we need to find more performance in the car and I believe in my team back at base to be able to bring more performance but it’s going to take a lot of time,” he added. “For the time being, let’s just keep capitalising.”

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will take place this Sunday with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc looking to extend his lead at the top of the driver standings.

So far the star has won two of the opening three races and is currently 34 points ahead of second place George Russell. Defending champion Max Verstappen will bid to get his season back on track after having to retire from two races. He did bag a win in Saudi Arabia but the disappointing ends in Bahrain and Australia sees him in fifth.

And though Leclerc holds a commanding lead, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto says they aren’t ready to give team orders to Carlos Sainz to play second fiddle.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz has added his voice to the number of drivers saying F1 must keep their European races with “heritage” and has suggested a rotation policy could work out, if finances dictate other cities end up as Grand Prix hosts instead.

“I think there needs to be a limit for the number of races that we keep adding, so in the end some other races are going to pay the price of having to stay out,” said Sainz.

“Obviously big fan of having to go to Miami and Vegas, but at the same time, big loss having to lose classic European races, I think.

“Hopefully, for the future, we can find a compromise where maybe races that cannot afford to be in the calendar every year, year-in, year-out, can be in the calendar once every two years, once every three years, you know?”

Sainz acknowledged that while there must be an eventual limit on race weekends, “business is business” and an increase was likely.

F1 Insider report that negotiations over the length of Carlos Sainz’s new contract with Ferrari are causing a delay to any agreement.

The report claims that Sainz wants to sign a two-year deal to remain with the Scuderia, however, the team are pushing for him to sign a one-year extension with the option of a second year. Such a clause would provide the Spaniard with less security over his future on the grid if Ferrari decided to go in a different direction.

That sticking point may explain the hold-up in the deal being announced after Sainz said in February that he and Ferrari “are both happy with the situation and want to continue working together”.

Sebastian Vettel has called on Formula 1 to do more to help Ukraine amid its ongoing invasion by Russia.

Four-time champion Vettel, who drives for Aston Martin, has been seen sporting a helmet this season that bears the colours of Ukraine’s flag and the words “No War.”

Drivers gathered around a banner carrying the same message ahead of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, while teams have donated to Unicef’s fundraising appeal to help victims of the war.

“I think a lot of the things that are required to help people are basic,” Vettel said.

“Basic things, other than shelter: making sure they have got food, they have got blankets, nappies, whatever you can think of. And to supply all these things in the end, you need money, so I think we should set up something and collect money.”

Mercedes’ George Russell currently sits in second place in the drivers’ championship after capturing his first podium finish for the team at the Australian Grand Prix.

His team mate and seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, has been full of praise for Russell’s performance so far this season saying that Russell has been doing an “amazing job”, both in Australia and more generally in his first races as a Mercedes driver proper.

Russell finished in third ahead of Hamilton at Albert Park, after fourth and fifth-placed finishes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia respectively.

“It’s incredible, he’s done an amazing job,” said Hamilton after the Australian Grand Prix. “He did an amazing job today, had great pace, he’s been so solid these first three races. He’s working and really grafting away; he’s doing an amazing job.”

Hamilton also spoke about whether Mercedes could catch up with their rivals, Ferrari and Red Bull, in challenging for the F1 world title and Hamilton was fairly optimistic.

“I prefer to stay optimistic. There are 20 races to go,” he said. “If you think realistically with the way our sport goes in terms of everyone’s development… the top teams often develop at a similar pace, a similar rate.

“Will that be the case with this new car? Who knows, but I am really, really hopeful we can get in the fight soon. But with every bit of improvement we will probably make, [Ferrari] and Red Bull will probably make a similar sort of step, so it’s not going to be easy. And yes, the gap is pretty big right now but there is a long way to go.”

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says Formula 1 has the luxury of choosing where they race due to how in demand the sport is.

Las Vegas has been added to the race calendar from the 2023 season and many more locations are interested in being involved. Steiner says this is thanks to the F1 having a good commercial standing.

“I think in general, Las Vegas, a lot of people cannot wait to go there, we all like Sin City,” Steiner told GP Fans. “I think with the sponsors coming in, it will help.

“In general, Formula 1 is in a good place commercially. There are a lot of places that want a race, we can almost choose where we want to go.

“I think Stefano [Domenicali, F1 CEO] and his team are doing a great job to organise it all and get the best out and getting into the American market is very good.”

Ex-Formula 1 driver Mika Hakkinen believes Lewis Hamilton may be looking to leave Mercedes after a bad start to the 2022 season.

Hamilton has been on the podium once this campaign, a third-place finish in Bahrain, leaving him in fifth in the driver standings. The British driver would have been targeting a record eighth title this season but he is currently 43 points behind leader Charles Leclerc.

The same can’t be said for Hamilton’s teammate George Russell who slid into second after a podium finish at the Australian Grand Prix.

“George comes from a team with little or no success. He had some good results in qualifying but not in races. All these achievements with Mercedes are new to him. Everything feels super-good,” Hakkinen said.

“For Lewis, this is a disaster. And with George being ahead, it’s even worse. I wonder how Lewis behaves in the team meetings – I bet he’s sulking. I can imagine the sulking. There’s lots of complaining and whining.

“And now starts the natural thought process of drivers. ‘Should I go somewhere else?’

“It’s a fact. He’s been at Mercedes for years and won multiple championships. Now that things are not going well, he’ll start thinking of switching teams.”

The Formula 1 sprint format returns for the first time this season after a successful trial run last year. There will once again be sprint races as part of qualifying for three different Grand Prixs but there are a few changes to the format in 2022 as well as some of the races being held at different tracks.

The FIA said it decided to maintain the same number of sprints (three) for 2022 given the pressures on the teams with the introduction of sweeping changes to the aerodynamic rules.

Imola and the Red Bull Ring gets the first chance to run the format and the Sao Paulo Grand Prix will see its second helping of the F1 Sprint, after Interlagos played host to Lewis Hamilton’s stunning comeback drive that saw the seven-time world champion make up 15 places in just 24 laps last year.

What is the Sprint?

The F1 Sprint will be a 100km dash with no mandatory pit stops and drivers racing flat-out to the chequered flag. One of the changes this season sees points awarded to the top eight drivers (previously it was the top three) and the driver who wins will now receive a more lucrative eight points, rather than three, with a sliding scale down to one point for eighth place. These points will apply in both drivers’ and constructors’ championships.

The finishing order of F1 Sprint will continue to define the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix where the traditional format remains unchanged.

This year the driver who sets the fastest time in qualifying which takes place on Friday’s on Sprint weekends will be given pole position for the Sprint on Saturday. The driver who wins the Sprint will then start P1 in Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Aston Martin technical director Andrew Green believes the team must fix its porpoising issue before it can find the pace to compete better on the grid.

Aston Martin are the only team yet to win a point this season while Sebastian Vettel has endured a nightmare start, missing the opening two races due to Covid before failing to finish the Australian Grand Prix.

Green admitted the team are still struggling to solve the issue after designing the car to go “low and hard” in the hope of maximising downforce.

“It wasn’t possible to shoot in all directions in detail,” Green said. “Instead, you try out different paths in the initial phase and see how they develop. To do that, you set a target where you’d like to end up with the field flow and the lap time. Where the jumps are the biggest and where you think it’s most likely to land at the target, you stay.

“That’s what the geometry of your car tells you. If you choose a different flow field than a competitor at the beginning, you’ll end up with two different cars.

“To [maximise the downforce], you set a vehicle height for yourself that you think will give you the most performance. Then the shape of the car evolves from that,”

“We went low and hard to the road. We could see the goal, so it seemed like the right way to go. None of our simulations suggested that it would give us a problem with the instability of the car.”