
2025 is F1’s most polite title battle ever – Up/Down in Austria
Describing this year's championship race as a 'battle' might be slightly over-egging it, writes James Elson
This week in motor sport from the Archive and Database, as Ligier begins the season with victory, plus nods to Gilles, Pedro and Foyt and more.
1903: Resistance fighter and Grand Prix winner, and all-but forgotten, W Williams is born. In profile
1930: Luki Botha, one-time GP starter, is born. In profile
1935: Le Mans winner and US racing great AJ Foyt is born. In profile
1937: Formula Ford winner and Grand Prix starter Luiz-Pereira Bueno is born. In profile
1952: F3 champ, F1 racer and sports car winner Piercarlo Ghinzani is born. In profile
1895: Le Mans winner John Duff is born. In profile
1938: Rally driver, and Le Mans starter, Rauno Aaltonen is born.
1940: The frighteningly fast Pedro Rodriguez is born. In profile
1942: Johnny Servoz-Gavin, F3 and F2 champion who qualified on the front row on F1 debut, is born. In profile
1950: Gilles Villeneuve is born. In profile
1950: Gianfranco Brancatelli is born. In profile
1971: IMSA champion Christian Fittipaldi is born. In profile
1907: Briggs Cunningham is born. In profile
1914: “Mr Bob” Gerard is born. In profile
1969: Carlo Salamano, Italian Grand Prix winner, dies aged 69. In profile
1980: Jenson Button is born. In profile
1984: Karun Chandhok is born. In profile
1957: Bentley Boy and father of the BRDC, JD Benjafield passes away. In profile
1975: Norberto Fontana is born. In profile
1991: GP2 champion and Renault F1 racer Jolyon Palmer is born. In profile
2004: Alan Brown dies of a heart attack. In profile
1975: Yuji Ide, former Super Aguri driver, is born. In profile
1979: Jacques Laffite wins the Argentine Grand Prix. Report
1959: Mike Hawthorn is killed in a road accident. In profile
2007: British Grand Prix winner Emmanuel de Graffenried dies at the age of 92. In profile
Describing this year's championship race as a 'battle' might be slightly over-egging it, writes James Elson
You had to read between the lines at the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix as George Russell dropped hints over about his dissatisfaction, and F1 sent a message to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem
From zero to hero: in a pacy McLaren, at one of his favourite F1 circuits, Lando Norris picked himself up from a disastrous Canadian race to reign supreme in the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix
Full F1 schedule for the year, including the next F1 race of 2025: the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the whole calendar and circuit guides for the 24-race Formula 1 season