#HappyBirthday Pierluigi Martini, 65. Pic: en route to a P8 grid slot in Monaco qualifying in ’90 in a Minardi M190. Sadly, he retired in the race - & scored no points all year. #AnorakFact: the M190 was designed by Aldo Costa, who went on to fame & fortune with Ferrari & Merc.

This tweet has just appeared on my X account, which has been hacked. I no longer have access to it, so I can’t delete it. Anyone who clicks on the link may lose their X account for ever, as I have. If you’re on X, please post a tweet advising all F1 twitterati to unfollow & avoid my X account. 😔

You know you’re a legend when an #F1 team names a car after you. #HappyBirthday Mario Andretti, 86 today, after whom the brand-new Cadillac MAC-26 has been named (MAC stands for Mario Andretti Cadillac). Here’s Checo Pérez testing the car in Bahrain.

Hehehe ....

#F1 Las fuertes críticas vertidas sobre Honda han propiciado que la marca responda públicamente. www.motor.es/formula-1/ho...

#F1 Todos los sponsors de WilliamsF1 para 2026

NEW: Ticktum describes rivals as ‘a*** lickers’ in social media rant over deleted comment Dan Ticktum called his critics "losers" and said his rivals "want to lick Autosport's a*** because they want good media." More:

#F1 Max Verstappen le dice que Oscar Piastri "vendió su alma" después de obedecer las famosas <papaya rules> de McLaren. www.f1oversteer.com/news/max-ver...

#HappyBirthday Howden Ganley, 84: an #F1 driver, a mechanic in McLaren’s early days, & a lovely guy. He gets a few honourable & affectionate mentions in a #MotorSport column I wrote about the team I’m so proud & privileged to have worked for. Click below. www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/sin...

Today is the shortest day here in the UK - the #WinterSolstice - because the northern hemisphere is tilted farthest from the sun. In London there will be 7 hours 49 minutes 42 seconds of daylight. But the good news is that the days will get longer from tomorrow. Summer is coming!

#OnThisDay 100 years ago the great but oft now forgotten Antonio Ascari lost his life at Montlhéry. His son Alberto was 7 at the time, & he went on to be a double #F1 world champion, but dad was a superb driver too. Click to read my new #MotorSport column. www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/sin...

#OnThisDay in ’73 Fittipaldi (pic; taken by Schlegelmilch) won the #SpanishGP at beautiful Montjuïc, having stormed through the field from P7 at the start. But, had his Lotus team-mate Peterson not had a gearbox failure on lap 57, it would have been a Lotus 1-2, Peterson ahead.

NEW: Friday's edition of the RaceFans round-up.

#HappyBirthday Anthony Davidson, 46. He entered one #F1 GP for BAR, 2 for Minardi & 21 for Super Aguri (pic), the latter 2 fielding poor cars, but he showed his talent in #WEC, for Toyota, winning 10 #LMP1 races & becoming world champion in 2014. He also won 3 times in #LMP2.

#OnThisDay in ’71 Jackie Stewart won the #SpanishGP, at mighty Montjuïc, the Tyrrell team’s first #F1 GP win in a car entirely of its own manufacture (the Tyrrell 003). #AnorakFact: the race was the first F1 GP in which slick tyres were used.

First outing in a while. What a machine!

#F1 @GeorgeRussell63 ha criticado los nuevos neumáticos @pirellisport para 2026. Las primeras pruebas no convencieron al británico, pero los italianos se defienden de las críticas. www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/geo...

I’m not sure there’s anything that can provide total relief from some of my lower moods, or my general anxiety about the world and life. But the drive to Brands Hatch on a blue skied sunny morning, with Springsteen blaring out the radio helps. A highlight of any regular week.

I hadn’t made that connection with the boat before! But that all makes sense.

Aquí el amigo @raimonduran.bsky.social acertando de pleno. Y es que sólo hay que tirar de hemeroteca.

Para comenzar el día, nada mejor que una imagen de gato de 1793.

Karun Chandhok has not seen ‘anything magical’

The story of the size, shape & configuration of wings has been an #F1 odyssey for a generation - & here’s an example of one of its most lurid chapters. #OnThisDay in ’69 Jackie Stewart raced this Matra MS10 to #SouthAfricanGP victory. High wings were banned a couple of GPs later.

Can it really be 50 years since local hero Jody Scheckter (Tyrrell) won the #SouthAfricanGP, just 3.74sec ahead of Carlos Reutemann (Brabham)? Yes, it happened #OnThisDay in ’75. Pic: pretty car, Scheckter’s Derek Gardner-designed Tyrrell 007.

#OnThisDay in ’80, at Kyalami, René Arnoux scored a 2nd successive #F1 GP victory, having also won the previous time out at Interlagos. Pic: if you like early-’80s F1 cars - & who doesn’t? - you’ll love Arnoux’s gorgeous winning Renault RE20.

Winston Churchill: "hay tres tipos de enemigos: los enemigos a secas, los enemigos a muerte y, los compañeros de partido". Buen sábado. #ProUcrania #TrumpMafioso

Contiene todo el sentido común:

And what about the astonishing Heikki Kovalainen? Fresh from his major shunt in Japan, Heikki dominated this weekend's Union Rally in Italy. Spectacular. I love the hill-climb spec (with diffuser) of his Citroen C3

Here’s the online version of Damien Smith’s lovely interview with Jake Hill & his father Simon in the latest issue of #MotorSport. If you don’t already subscribe, you can buy the magazine, or indeed subscribe online, via the same link. (2/2) www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/arti...

Lovely father & son double interview, beautifully written by Damien Smith, featuring 2024 #BTCC champion Jake Hill & his dad Simon, in the latest issue of #MotorSport. (1/2)

The moon's a balloon.

It could end up being the reason he never earns his 'dream' Red Bull promotion

#OnThisDay 3 years ago Michael Masi made a grave error; Max Verstappen was thereby crowned #F1 world champion, having driven superbly all year; & Lewis Hamilton, having driven equally superbly all year, behaved with remarkable restraint & good sportsmanship.

Remembering German-born Peter Hahn, who died #OnThisDay 33 years ago, at 82, & was 19 when he sailed from Bremen to New York in ’28. He soon found work as a gardener, & he later raced sports cars & drove a #Nascar-spec Hudson Hornet like this one in the ’52 #CarreraPanamericana.

#AnorakFact: when McLaren last won the #F1 constructors’ world championship (at Suzuka in ’98; pic), no fewer than 9 drivers who’ve raced in this year’s F1 world championship hadn’t yet been born. So it’s been a very, very long wait. Congrats to all my old mates at Woking. 👏

Such an impressive drive from Leclerc from P19...

So, if Kevin Magnussen never races in #F1 again, remember him this way: on the podium, in his first F1 GP, in Melbourne: fast, triumphant & looking forward to a glorious F1 future. OK, it didn’t work out quite like that, but he made his mark, & those who know him love him. ❤️ (3/3)

But, if Kevin Magnussen never races in #F1 again, then, despite the fact that he was punted off by Valtteri Bottas in today’s #AbuDhabiGP, he went out in indefatigably fine style, driving the fastest lap, which was lovely to see. (2/3)

I wrote this #MotorSport column in January this year. If you’re fond of Kevin Magnussen, as I am, very much so, for he & I are extremely good friends, it’s a sad read. Why so? Because, yes, today, in Abu Dhabi, perhaps he drove his final #F1 GP. (1/3) www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/sin...

Amazing to be at Monza this weekend for the Pirelli Rally Show. The old banking in use again! Fun, too, watching Abu Dhabi F1 with all the rally guys.

It seems X has crashed big way ...

Happy 40th birthday to: Robert Kubica! https://www.racefans.net/robert-kubica/ #F1

I’m delighted that my comms agency Diagonal Comms is managing the PR-ing of Tom Hartley Jnr’s handling of the sale of Bernie Ecclestone’s magnificent collection of 69 GP & #F1 cars. Click the link in our tweet below to watch a fascinating chat between Ecclestone & Hartley Jnr.

#HappyBirthday to my old friend Keke Rosberg, 76. It so happens that my latest #MotorSport column is all about him & his son, Nico: #F1 world champions both. Click below to read it. (1/2) www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/sin...

‘Seeing this…’

NEW: Max Verstappen says he is proud of the Dutch GP organisers for their work on the event after they confirmed it won't continue after 2026.