ESPN gained the rights to broadcast F1 in the United States from the start of the 2018 season, taking over from NBC Sports.

Its tenure as the rights holder has coincided with a boom for F1 in the US, accelerated by the success of the Drive to Survive series on Netflix. October’s United States Grand Prix in Austin enjoyed a record crowd of 400,000 fans, while a second US race will join the calendar this year with the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.

ESPN reported that 2021 was the most-viewed F1 season on American television on record, enjoying an average viewership of 934,000 per race that marked a 54% increase on 2020 and was almost 200,000 greater than the previous record set in 1995.

2022 marks the final year of the existing contract for ESPN to show F1 in the US, but the network is clear in its ambitions to keep building on the gains that have been made.

Speaking on the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast, ESPN president of programming and original content Burke Magnus said he felt “proud” of the growth the broadcaster had seen with F1 since taking on the rights.

“Kudos to Chase Carey and Sean Bratches, who came to us, and the conversation started and they were solving every problem or every complication that we raised,” Magnus said. “Under the guise of taking a fly at a low-risk, high-reward possibility, we were able to really put our shoulder behind it.

“Despite Drive to Survive being successful, I think we had something to do with it as well, in terms of building the fan base. They made the US fanbase a priority, the Liberty guys and F1. Miami is going to be off the charts. The interest there, I cannot even fathom.

“So yeah, we’re very, very bullish on it. Now that we’ve been in it for four years, we want to continue and ride this wave a lot longer.”

ESPN signed an initial two-year deal to broadcast F1 after taking over from NBC at the end of the 2017 season, but penned a fresh three-year agreement by the end of 2019.

F1 is currently ESPN’s sole major motorsport property, but Magnus was clear about his long-running passion for racing.

“I go way back in motorsports, one of my first big breaks at ESPN was I ran the motorsport category in the late 90s and early 2000s,” he said.

“This is back when we had everything. We had F1, we had IndyCar, CART, the Indy 500 on ABC, NHRA drag racing, motocross, super cross, everything - crazy stuff like hydroplane racing, if you recall.

“I’ve always loved the competition around motorsports. NASCAR was an enormous property for us back then, and maybe some day again.”

Haas have revealed a series of digital renderings showcasing their 2022 Formula 1 car, the VF-22, which is the first to be designed under sweeping new technical regulations.

To promote closer racing, the FIA and F1 rewrote the rules, with the new cars featuring a ground effect floor, simplified front wing and dramatic rear wing – plus new Pirelli 18-inch tyres

Having dropped towards the back of the field in 2020, Haas opted not to develop their 2021 car, in favour of putting 100% of their resources on this year’s machine in a bid to return to the midfield.

The VF-22 is the seventh Haas F1 car, and first to emerge from the American team’s all-new design office in Maranello, led by their Technical Director Simone Resta.

The livery is an evolution of last year’s predominantly white design.

Haas, who will once again run Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, finished 10th in last year’s championship, and were the only team not to score.

“It’s that time of year where you’re naturally optimistic that the hard work and effort of everyone will translate to a competitive entry on track,” said owner Gene Haas.

“We made the decision back in 2020 to really channel time and resources into the VF-22, foregoing anything track-related for 2021 – which wasn’t easy to watch. Hopefully that decision bears fruit and we return to challenging for points and taking something from the weekends.”

Team Principal Guenther Steiner added: “We all know what the team is capable of, we’ve proved that in the past, and with this new car – born out of a completely new set of regulations and with our new design team in place – I’m confident we can showcase once again that we can compete on weekends.

“It’s been a tremendous effort by everyone involved and now comes the fun part of getting the new car to the circuit and dialling in all the elements. Last season was a long one but I’m confident that 2022 will see us back in the mix with the VF-22.”

Resta said: “This is probably the most complex project the Uralkali Haas F1 Team has dealt with to-date for many reasons. It’s a completely new set of regulations and this season we’ve brought in a new team to manage the creation of the VF-22.

“Not everyone is new but a good chunk of people have joined with a revised structure now in place. I consider this as a great success in the process. We’re still early in the project and going through a transitional season of working together on a car for a full year, but if we look back where we started, this team is already a success."

As has been the case in previous years, following the release of the digital renderings, Haas will unveil the physical car in the Barcelona pit lane on the first morning of pre-season running.

It is anticipated that the car will look noticeably different to what the digital renderings show, with teams keen to keep significant parts of their design under wraps as long as possible, to avoid giving away any clever ideas they have had when designing to the all-new rules to their rivals.

Formula 1 is set to do away with the Q2 tyre rule, that one that stipulates that those making it into the final part of qualifying must start with the tyre they ran in Q2.

Instead the top 10 on the grid, along with the rest of the field, will have freedom to choose what compound they want to run.

Back in 2014 Formula 1 introduced a new rule that stated that “with the exception of any cars that are required to start the race from the pit lane, at the start of the race each car which qualified for Q3 must be fitted with the tyres with which the driver set his fastest time during Q2.

“This will only be necessary for these cars if dry-weather tyres were used to set the fastest time in Q2 and if dry-weather tyres are used at the start of the race.”

It was thought that this would give those starting outside the top 10 a strategic advantage, especially those willing to risk one-stopping and running a long first stint.

And it while it has done that to some extent, it has had very little impact on the sharp end of the grid and the podium results.

This led to discussions last year about axing the rule and allowing the entire field the freedom of choice from this season onwards.

According to the Italian edition of Motorsport.com, that has been now given the go-ahead.

“In the last session of the Strategy Advisory Committee, an important regulatory change was discussed and approved: the top ten drivers on the grid will no longer be forced to line up at the start with the set of tyres used to set the time in Q2,” read the report.

“Teams will be free to choose the most suitable compound for the start.”

The publication added that the rule will now “enter the new sporting regulations to be in force at the start of the 2022 season.”

This is good news for McLaren with their team boss Andreas Seidl telling The Race last year that he was not a fan of the Q2 rule.

“From our point of view, we were always pushing to get rid of this rule,” he said at the time of the discussions. “It’s the right thing from a sporting perspective.”

F1 managing director Ross Brawn supported the call.

“One of the unfortunate things about the Q2 race tyre is it gives those who are really quick even more of an advantage because they can easily choose whichever tyre they want for Q2,” said the former Ferrari and Mercedes man.

“It’s had a slightly contrary effect, I would argue. I don’t think removing it is a big issue.

“It’s certainly something we are looking at for the future, whether that Q2 race tyre is still something that overall is better or worse for the race.”

After a successful trial of three sprints last year, F1 owners Liberty Media had planned to expand the offering and run the Saturday qualifying races at six grands prix in 2022.

These were scheduled to be at the season opener in Bahrain, then Imola, Canada, Austria, the Netherlands and Brazil.

However, discussions about the sprint race format hit a snag over the winter amid resistance from the top teams over the finances of what was being offered.

F1 had offered a compensation package for the extra sprints that was a straight $500,000 allowance for the first five events, and then an extra $150,000 for each event beyond that.

For the original plan of six sprints, this effectively meant an extra $2.65 million for each team.

However, unlike in 2021, there would be no extra allowance in the cost cap for crash damage, as the evidence of last year showed that it was not really necessary.

While a majority of teams were happy with the offer from Liberty, F1's big spenders were against the proposal and instead wanted the cost cap limit to be raised to cover all the costs of the sprints.

It emerged that one team even made a push for the cost cap limit to be raised by up to $5 million, which drew criticism from McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

Brown said recently: "One team in particular wanted a $5 million budget cap increase, which was just ridiculous, and had no rational facts behind it."

The idea of lifting the cost cap does not have support outside F1's top three squads, which has left talks at a bit of an impasse because a rule change over sprints needs support from eight teams.

Ahead of the February 14 meeting of the F1 Commission, Liberty has put forward a compromise package that will cut back on the idea of having six sprints and instead mean there will be maximum of three.

It is understood that Liberty, the FIA and the majority of teams will not support any proposal for the cost cap to be lifted, meaning that the fate of the sprints is now dependent on finding a deal next week.

While F1 remains eager long term for there to be up to six sprints, it does accept that with teams facing struggles to get to grips with the new cars in 2022, then a halfway house of three would still be good for fans who liked the sprints.

But, without the support of Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari, there remains a chance that F1 could have to abandon the sprint race idea completely.

It is understood that no decision has yet been made about where the three sprints would take place if the plan is given the green light.

According to documents circulated to teams last year, F1 estimated that the addition of six sprint races in 2022 would lift the sport's revenues by around $10 million thanks to commercial and broadcast opportunities, with this being shared with the teams.

Oil and gas company Aramco has signed a name sponsorship deal with the Aston Martin Formula 1 team, it was announced on Thursday.

The "long-term strategic partnership" means the British squad will be known as Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team from now on.

The deal includes sponsorship rights, a licensing agreement, and joint research and development of sustainable fuels, advanced lubricants and non-metallic materials in vehicles, according to a team statement.

Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco already has an agreement with Formula 1, with its trackside advertising visible in several races over the course of the season.

The Aramco deal is primarily commercial, however, as Aston Martin will not be using fuel or oil from the company, instead continuing with Petronas like all the Mercedes-powered teams.

"We are in the sport to win so I am delighted to welcome an incredible partner of the stature of Aramco, who I have learnt from this process has a tremendous amount of intellectual property and technical capability, which I know will greatly assist our team to achieve our goals of winning Formula 1 world championships," team owner Lawrence Stroll said.

"Our historic partnership demonstrates the scale of our ambition to make our team a pioneering and winning force in Formula 1 and showcase the sustainability and performance of Aramco's products."

Aramco's senior vice-president Mohammed Al Qahtani added: "The partnership reflects Aramco’s efforts to reduce emissions in the global automotive and transport industries.

"Our ambition is to supply premium fuels and lubricants to the global automotive sector, and our tie-up with the Aston Martin team will help drive awareness of our high-quality products.

"It is an alliance that harnesses our shared commitment to engineering excellence and innovation, and has the potential to deliver winning results both on and off the track."

Aston Martin will unveil its 2022 Formula 1 challenger on February 10 in the car maker's headquarters in Gaydon.

The team finished seventh in the constructors' championship in the 2021 Formula 1 season, dropping three places from 2020, when it raced as Racing Point.

Aston Martin will retain an unchanged driver line-up in Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll this year.

Spying on the competition, you might have to be a bit more subtle than this! Taking trolling his rivals to a new level, Christian Horner has won a tour of the Mercedes factory.

The Red Bull boss put in a cheeky £4,000 bid at a charity auction to land himself the “money can’t buy opportunity”, although he did manage to spell his own name wrong.

The tour would take him inside the Silver Arrows’ factory and allow him to see the how the nine-time Constructors’ Champions design, test and build their F1 cars.

No wonder Horner joked he wants to take “about 20” Red Bull team members along with him.

“Adrian [Newey, Chief Technical Officer], myself, Pierre Waché [Technical Director] and probably Paul Field, our Director of Production,” he told RacingNews365.

“It’ll be interesting to go and see how they’re spending their budget cap.”

Fortunately, it’s all for a good cause. The Autosport Awards Charity Auction raised money for the Grand Prix Trust, which has provided help and advice to F1’s trackside and factory-based personnel for over 30 years.

Sadly for Horner, the T&Cs mean he isn’t going to be seeing much. It states that “employees of other Formula One teams are not eligible to take this tour.” Oops!

Although, we reckon Mercedes boss Toto Wolff would be more than happy to give him a tour of the trophy room instead.

​​​​​​​Day before the tour: Breaking news! Christian Horner fired from Red Bull Racing.
Day after the tour: Christian Horner to replace Christian Horner as Red Bull Racing team principal.

McLaren have locked down one of Formula 1’s most impressive young talents by handing Lando Norris a huge contract extension that keeps the Briton at the team until the end of 2025.

The 22-year-old had a stellar 2021 campaign, scoring four podiums, his first pole position and coming agonisingly close to his maiden victory in Russia on his way to a career-best sixth in the drivers’ standings.

Norris signed a long-term deal on the eve of last year’s Monaco Grand Prix that would keep him at McLaren for 2022 and beyond, but after another strong year together, both parties moved to lengthen that arrangement with a new four-year agreement, starting this year.

“The opportunity to extend our relationship with Lando reflects not only our commitment but our belief and confidence in his talent,” said McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl. “It is also a strong sign of trust and commitment from Lando in us as a team and our journey to World Championship contention.

“Lando has shown impressive growth as a Formula 1 driver over the past four years and has been an instrumental part of the team’s momentum and performance trajectory,” Seidl added. “We are still on our journey to fight at the front and Lando is a key element of our plan, so to lock him into place, alongside Daniel [Ricciardo] and our senior leadership, gives us stability and continuity as we build towards our ultimate shared goal of World Championships.”

Norris, who has been part of the McLaren family since 2017, added: “Teams are about people, and I love the people and feel at home at McLaren. I have grown up in this team and I’m part of this journey we’re all on.

“Last season was another great step, both in my career and the team’s performance, and I see and feel all the work, investment and commitment for the team to be in a position to challenge for wins and titles in the future. This all gives me huge confidence looking forward, so it was a natural decision to extend our relationship for the next few years.”

Norris will join team mate Ricciardo, whose three-year deal expires at the end of 2023, on Friday at McLaren’s HQ in Woking to pull off the covers and reveal the British team’s 2022 machine – the MCL36.

Red Bull have launched their 2022 Formula 1 campaign with what appeared to be a showcar in a bid to keep the RB18 under wraps for a little longer

The four-time world champions, who are the second team to launch their 2022 programme after Haas did so on Friday, showcased a new livery on a car that bears a striking resembelance to the showcar F1 produced to showcase the new regulations with a digital launch from the Red Bull Racing Technology Campus.

The car unveiled "won't look very much like this" by the time we get to the first race of the season in Bahrain, said Team Principal Christian Horner with teams keen to keep their new designs hidden from rivals for as long as possible.

This is also the first car Red Bull have created since engine partner Honda left the sport. The power unit they will use this year was created by the Japanese manufacturer, however it will be badged under the operation's new engine division Red Bull Powertrains.

Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton to the title on the last lap of the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi but Red Bull came up short versus Mercedes in the constructors’ championship

Verstappen will run the number one on his car for his title defence, with team mate Sergio Perez returning for a second season with the team.

Also on Wednesday, Red Bull also announced an expanded partnership with Oracle, with the American cloud company becoming title sponsor.

Working with Oracle, the team said they increased the number of simulations they ran 1,000x to improve the accuracy of their predictions.

We’ll see the car hit the track in anger later this month when all the teams complete three days of running at Barcelona.

The car unveiled "won't look very much like this" by the time we get to the first race of the season in Bahrain, said Team Principal Christian Horner with teams keen to keep their new designs hidden from rivals for as long as possible.

Aston Martin have become the third team to launch their 2022 season with a digital event that revealed the new AMR22, featuring a revised livery.

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll will form the Silverstone-based team’s line-up, in what will be their second season under the Aston Martin banner.

The AMR22, which was revealed on the factory production line at Aston Martin Lagonda’s headquarters in Gaydon, features a curvy aerodynamic design required by revolutionary new rules making their debut this year.

The livery has been updated, too, with lime detailing blended with what the team described as a “refined version of the traditional green livery”.

Billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll, who was joined at the launch by Chief Technical Officer Andrew Green and Performance Director Tom McCullough, last year set in motion a five-year plan to make the team a World Championship contender.

Stroll said: “The Aston Clinton hill climb is about an hour's drive from Gaydon and it was there that Lionel Martin launched Aston Martin into the heat of competition. That was the start of the climb that our Formula 1 team is still on today. We have a five-year plan to keep climbing and get to the top.”

Vettel added: “Look at that car, who wouldn't feel excited about the prospect of racing that? And when it comes to hopes for the season, I do not think anyone really knows what to expect. There are new rules and of course all the teams will be hoping that they have got it right.

"Everyone wants to win, me included, and no one would be in Formula 1 if their dream was not to win. I am no different. The main thing is to keep moving forward and moving up. This is only year two of a five-year plan, so we are still quite near the start. But this team has big ambitions and big plans, and I am hugely excited to be a part of that.”

Lance Stroll said: “This is not only a big opportunity for Aston Martin, but also for all the teams. We just have to believe that we have done a better job and I know that everyone involved is working unbelievably hard to give Seb and me the best chance. At the same time, we have to be realistic heading into the new season.

“Our main aim is to move nearer the front than we were last year,” Stroll continued. “That would be progress. As Seb said, it is impossible to know where every team will be until we all get on track, and even then you might not know who has really got it right until qualifying in Bahrain. Aston Martin has some really clever people so I am optimistic we can make good progress this year.”

Performance Director Tom McCullough added: “All the teams and all the drivers will be addressing a new set of regulations, so having the ability to learn and adapt will be crucial. It throws something new into the mix and we will be generating vast amounts of critical data when the new cars, fitted with 18-inch tyres, take to the track for the first time. How we deal with that will be a test of where we are as an organisation.

"The new rules mean that everyone will be starting with a relatively clean sheet of paper. You have to suspect that those teams that have been winning recently will start as favourites, but if any team gets a handle on something vital before the rest that could make a crucial difference.”

The Mercedes-powered Aston Martin team finished down in seventh in the constructors’ championship last year, with Vettel scoring the team’s best result with second in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Owner Stroll will be expecting a significantly better performance this time around.

They will be led by new Team Principal Mike Krack, who will begin his role before pre-season running in Barcelona on February 23. He takes over from Otmar Szafnauer, having previously headed up BMW’s motorsport division.

BWT has been heavily linked with a switch to Alpine in recent months, but the deal was finally announced by the team on Friday ahead of the new season.

The team will be known officially as 'BWT Alpine F1 Team' with immediate effect and the "renowned pink colour of BWT will be incorporated into Alpine's famous blue livery", according to the announcement.

The strategic, long-term partnership will see BWT and Alpine "spread the message of sustainability around the world utilising the combined global platforms of Formula 1 and the automotive industry".

BWT - which stands for 'Best Water Technology' - is one of the world's leading suppliers of water treatment systems across the world, and has enjoyed heavy involvement in F1 dating back to its partnerships with Force India.

The company served as the title sponsor for the team in 2020 following its evolution into Racing Point, and continued as a smaller partner upon the rebrand of 'Team Silverstone' into Aston Martin for 2021.

But the end of the partnership led to a deal being struck with Alpine for the 2022 season. It is also expected that former Racing Point and Aston Martin F1 chief Otmar Szafnauer will take over at Alpine as team boss in the near future.

"We are excited to announce that BWT will be the title partner for Alpine F1 Team for the next years," said Cedric Journel, Alpine Sales and Marketing Vice President.

"Both Alpine's and BWT's sustainability agendas are fully aligned on eliminating single use plastics and we are pleased to join forces to convince many people around the globe, our employees, partners, customers and fans to reduce plastic waste.

"In parallel we will use the huge global platform F1 provides to support BWT in their fight against the unfair distribution of clean, safe and healthy drinking water."

The deal will see BWT's famous pink branding be carried on the Alpine A522 car, which will be driven by Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon this year. Ocon previously raced with Force India when the team was sponsored by BWT, turning the whole car pink.

Alpine will unveil its new car for the 2022 season on 21 February.