Toto Wolff says Verstappen’s car is cause of driver’s misery, not new regulations
Toto Wolff has dismissed criticism of the new Formula One regulations from Max Verstappen as a result of the “horror show” Red Bull car the four-time world champion is having to drive,Verstappen has not been alone in his outspoken criticism of the new rules, and after he was forced to retire from the Chinese GP on Sunday he delivered his most damning condemnation yet of the emphasis on electrical energy deployment and recovery,“It’s terrible,” he said,“If someone likes this, then you really don’t know what racing is like,Not fun at all.
Playing Mario Kart.This is not racing and I would say the same if I would be winning races because I care about the racing product.”Wolff’s Mercedes team have one‑two victories in the first two grands prix of the season, with the 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli securing his first F1 win in China.Their car is comfortably the best of the field, with a fearsome engine and excellent balance, and Wolff attributed much of Verstappen’s dissatisfaction to the poorly performing Red Bull.At best, it has been fourth-fastest in the opening two rounds and, at Verstappen’s own admission, a handful to drive.
“Max is really, I think, in a horror show,” Wolff said.“When you look at the onboard he has in qualifying, this is just horrendous to drive.”F1 was due to consider adjustments to the rules in order to address some driver complaints after China, but the race proved to be successful.Lewis Hamilton and his Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc, enjoyed a race-long contest and there was overtaking and wheel-to-wheel competition throughout the field that went down enormously well with the crowd.Hamilton said it was “the best racing I’ve ever experienced in Formula One”.
It is believed the meeting will still take place, but decisions on whether the rules will be adjusted will now not take place until after the Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.The race at Suzuka precedes a five-week gap until the next round in Miami after the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi meetings.Wolff was adamant that, from a neutral standpoint, the show in China was a success.“From an entertainment perspective, I believe what we’ve seen between Ferrari and Mercedes was good racing, many overtakes.We were all part of Formula One when there was no overtaking.
Sometimes we’re too nostalgic about the good old years, but the product is good in itself.We saw quite some racing in the midfield also and that is the positive.”Wolff also stressed that while the opinions of drivers were important, the metric the sport and its chief executive, Stefano Domenicali, were most interested in was the reaction of spectators.“You look at the fans and the excitement that is there live, the cheering when there are overtakes, and also on social media, the younger fans, the vast majority through all the demographics like the sport at the moment,” he said.“We can always look at how we’re improving it but all the indicators say, and all the data say, that people love it.
That’s why I spoke with Stefano, he says that too.”
Labour MPs have no reason to oppose new welfare reforms, says minister
Labour MPs have no reason to oppose a fresh government attempt to overhaul the welfare system, the work and pensions secretary has said, as he unveiled a £1bn youth employment scheme.The announcement by Pat McFadden, who said the public wanted the system to promote work and “value for money”, is regarded as a prelude to a renewed effort to change the welfare system after plans by his predecessor, Liz Kendall, were blocked by a Labour backbench rebellion last year.Companies will get a £3,000 grant for each hire of a person aged 18 to 24 who is on benefits and has been looking for a job for at least six months, under a new policy designed to tackle the rising rate of youth unemployment.The funding, which is aimed at creating 200,000 jobs, is part of what was described by McFadden as a “new deal for young people”.It was announced alongside a new apprenticeship incentive, under which small and medium-sized businesses will be paid £2,000 for every new employee aged between 16 and 24 they take on
UK not obliged to support every demand of ‘transactional’ US president, minister says
Donald Trump is a “very transactional” president, whose repeated demands on Iran must be seen in this context, one of Keir Starmer’s most senior ministers has said in an unusually blunt UK assessment of relations between the countries.Asked about the US president’s threats of some sort of retaliation against allies who do not supply ships to try to free up the strait of Hormuz, Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, said the UK was not obliged to agree to every US request.After Trump again criticised the UK for a perceived lack of enthusiasm in helping the US-Israeli war against Iran, McFadden said it was important to separate the US president’s “rhetoric” from the more important issues.In an overnight interview with the Financial Times, Trump reiterated his frustration at the UK for not sending ships to the strait of Hormuz, the vital sea freight passage that has been all but closed by Iranian retaliatory attacks.“It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said
UK complicit in desecration of international law in Gaza, says Corbyn-led tribunal
The Labour government has been complicit in crimes committed by Israel in Gaza and in the desecration of international law, according to an unoffical tribunal on Gaza chaired by the former party leader Jeremy Corbyn and two specialists in international law.The tribunal’s findings to be published on Monday are likely to be cited in May’s local elections, in which Labour faces a rearguard action to beat off challenges from the Greens and Your Party, in part driven by anger that the government has not done enough to back the Palestinian cause.The tribunal took evidence from lawyers, medical professionals, former Foreign Office officials and Palestinians, and focused largely on whether the UK should have done more to end its cooperation with Israel to avoid being accused of failing to meet its duty to prevent a genocide.It finds that the government should have ended all arms exports to Israel, stopped sharing intelligence and reviewed its trade relations with the country, especially after the international court of justice (ICJ) said in a July 2024 advisory opinion that Israel was occupying Palestine unlawfully.The tribunal’s report reads: “Britain’s failure to meet its legal obligations has contributed to the mass killing of Palestinian civilians and the wholesale destruction of civilian objects, the desecration of international law and the further erosion of Britain’s status as a nation committed to the rule of law in the international arena
Phil Woolas obituary
The former Labour minister Phil Woolas, who has died aged 66 of brain cancer, was a clever and committed politician. He dedicated his working life to Labour politics in an attempt to secure the sort of changes in society that would be of widespread and universal benefit. To this end he believed his best achievement during his 13 years in parliament, which coincided exactly with the lifetime of the last Labour period of government, was as a member of the team that introduced a national minimum wage in the UK.He was not an idealist, but a tough-talking, hard-headed pragmatist who wanted to smash the idea that politicians were out of touch with the reality of most people’s everyday lives. As someone who was raised in Burnley and became the MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth – both areas of Lancashire that have seen considerable levels of postwar immigration – he regarded the need for what he called a “mature debate” about immigration policy, in particular, as his lifelong purpose
Row over university fees shows UK’s ‘reset’ with EU may not be so simple
This week is “Brexit reset” week for the British government, as ministers engage in a flurry of activity intended to highlight their determination to forge closer ties with Brussels almost 10 years after the country first voted to leave the EU.On Monday, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of negotiating the government’s reset with the EU, will arrive in Brussels for a meeting of the joint EU-UK parliamentary partnership assembly. He travels mob-handed, to be joined by the Europe minister, Stephen Doughty, and the trade minister, Chris Bryant.A day later, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will give her second Mais lecture to the finance industry, during which she will argue that closer alignment with the EU forms a central part of the government’s growth agenda.But even as ministers put the finishing touches to their pro-European messages, a fresh row is breaking out over Brussels’s demand for lower university tuition fees for European students
Digital ID won’t work if you live in rural areas | Letters
What needs to be spelled out to the politicians looking to consult people about digital ID is that you cannot have a universal digital anything until you have universal phone coverage (UK digital ID scheme to have limited use before next general election, minister says, 10 March). When the old copper phone lines are switched off, we will be cut off because no provider will invest in our area, and this is not untypical of large areas of Devon.That means that any digital ID accessed by phone will not be available to us unless we go and park in a layby every day where we can get signal. Does Darren Jones, the prime minister’s chief secretary, even understand this point? We are not refuseniks. We just live near a hill, and so we won’t be able to do our car tax, get our medical records or anything else as things stand
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