Mick Rooney | Journalist & Broadcaster

  Alfa Romeo -Ferrari: Zhou Guanyu (24), Valtteri Bottas (77) Alfa Romeo are in their fourth season in Formula 1 after taking over the old Sauber team brand in 2019. But the Italian-Swiss team never regained their position since then and they have struggled during the 2021 season , only finish ing ninth in the constructors' championship. It ’s all change with a n ew driver line-up for Alfa in 2022 after Kimi Raikkonen's retirement from Formula 1 and the departure of Antonio Giovinazzi. Valtteri Bottas, a 10-time race winner with Mercedes, makes the switch from Mercedes AMG , while Guanyu Zhou becomes Formula 1's first Chinese driver after making the step up from Formula 2. This year will prove a big challenge for Alfa Romeo having only picked up a few points (13) last season and they only finished ahead of the USA Haas team (0 points). They remain ranked 9 th of the current ten teams on the F1 grid. But like their closest rivals, they spent much of last y...

They say a week can be a long time in politics and much can change. As much for the world of Formula One and football in the UK and Europe. Just a week ago, Liberty Media who own the rights to F1 and the governing body, the FIA, were very positive about F1 at least returning to a TV screen near you in early July. But like football in the UK and other leagues around Europe, F1, as with many sports, is beginning to realise the enormity and reality of kickstarting their respective sports. Like every facet of life impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, be it a restaurant, a football team, an F1 team.... the realities and practicalities of returning to anything that looked like 'normal' is so far removed from any kind of reality that we may all experience in our lives over the coming months. There are already serious question marks over UEFA's wish to ignite the Champions League, and Premier League UK football getting the green light in July from their respective bodies. ...