Author: quyen1

Credits: IMAGO / Beautiful Sports

There’s been a lot of turbulence around Red Bull‘s driver lineup, especially since the start of the 2024 season. On one hand, Sergio Perez is serving his final year of contract with Red Bull. While on the other hand, Max Verstappen has been subject to Mercedes links with Toto Wolff approaching the Dutchman aggressively. Amid these speculations, Ralf Schumacher has advised the team to ascertain their driver lineup and not wait for the market to evolve.

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“We are now in an important phase, partly because Carlos Sainz is on the market. It has to happen now. Perez may have to give up his seat. Fernando Alonso is also still on the market. Red Bull really has to make a decision now.” – said Schumacher, as quoted by F1 Maximaal.

Amid a variety of drivers available to choose from, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso are the primary standouts. Perez is on the verge of departing from the team, and at one stage, Daniel Ricciardo was the prime contender to replace him.

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However, a dismal start to life in the 2024 season has sent him out of the running for now. Given the same, Alonso and Sainz are the two biggest and most experienced names that Red Bull could choose from.

Alonso is a two-time world champion and stands as the most experienced driver on the grid. With a personality similar to that of Verstappen, the Spanish driver could make the perfect partner for Verstappen in more ways than one. Meanwhile, Sainz is the only driver to defeat Red Bull in 2023 and 2024 (so far). Hence, the Milton Keynes-based outfit might also want to bring him on board.

Could Carlos Sainz be what Red Bull is looking for?

Sainz currently stands as the most desirable driver on the current grid, apart from Max Verstappen. He beat Red Bull to win the race on two occasions, with one win coming in 2023 and the other in 2024. The first win came at the 2023 Singapore GP, as the Red Bull drivers failed to make it to the podium.

At the 2024 Australian GP, Sainz once again won the race, with Sergio Perez finishing P5 after a Verstappen DNF. Despite his achievements, the Spaniard is out of a contract in 2025, owing to Lewis Hamilton taking his place in Ferrari.

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Thus, Sainz, too, is actively looking for an open seat. He is heavily linked with a move to Audi (currently Sauber), thanks to his father’s link with the team. However, the team won’t enter the grid until 2026, meaning Sainz will have to wait for at least a year before he can drive for Audi.

Moreover, the team will be heavily inexperienced in F1, and some experts believe a switch to Audi could be career suicide by the 29-year-old. Mercedes could also enter the foray and complete the perfect swap. While the likelihood of this happening remains little for now, the Silver Arrows could well keep Sainz’s name in their back pocket, should the need be.

Credits: IMAGO PanoramiC

Max Verstappen has reiterated on several occasions that he does not limit his love for motorsport to just Formula 1. But if there is one venture the Red Bull driver will never dip his hands into, it is Formula E – the all-electric single-seater racing series.

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Verstappen’s comments about the all-electric series come just months after their CEO Jeff Dodds took a dig at him and F1 for its dominance. The Dutchman said that Formula E is a series he would never like to take part in and he had his own reasons for that.

The 26-year-old appreciated how the track for the Tokyo E-Prix was in the center of the city. However, he revealed in the Japanese GP post-race presser how the track has a jump and he doesn’t like that.

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Verstappen said, “I don’t even know who signed that off. Must’ve been drunk.” 

This jump was like a ramp on the track from where cars would literally jump off during a race. It is quite a unique, but bizarre experience for drivers and viewers alike, in any motorsport category. So it is understandable why Verstappen criticized it.

The Formula E CEO, Dodds tried to put F1 down by talking about his own series’ competitiveness. However, F1’s (and arguably motorsport’s) biggest star at the moment, Verstappen, bashing Formula E’s track configuration in front of the media will surely not be a good advert for Dodds and Co.

Why Dodds called Max Verstappen and F1 out

Over the past few years, F1 has been a one-man and one-team show with Max Verstappen has dominated the drivers’ championship, and Red Bull have dominated the constructors’. Many have called this lack of competitiveness boring, which is something Dodds brought up, as reported by SoyMotor.

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“We are very focused on maintaining our great competitive nature,” he said. “And I know that I have made a bet recently. In which you have seen on a certain victory for Max Verstappen, on how sure I am that he will win the World Championship this year.”

Dodds added that he does not want Formula E to become like Formula 1. The former has been more competitive, admittedly, with new drivers and teams constantly shaking the pecking order up. However, in terms of viewership and fan following, F1 remains elite and it seems like they will remain the premier championship for years to come.

Verstappen, like he did in 2022 and 2023, is dominating F1 this season too, and is the favorite to win the championship comfortably. Still, he remains unbothered about the sport’s lack of competitiveness. To him, the only thing that matters is winning and he is doing exceedingly well in that.

Credits: IMAGO / Crash Media Group

Over the years, Carlos Sainz Sr. and Jos Verstappen have been rumored to have a heated rivalry because of their respective sons, who both compete in F1. Their sons – Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen – however, seemingly busted these rumors after a recent revelation during a press conference.

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Max and Carlos were talking about how dangerous their fathers’ rallying exploits are after the Japanese GP. They both agreed that they are more worried about their fathers than they are about themselves before suiting up for an F1 race weekend. Debunking the rumors surrounding any rivalry between their dads, Sainz Jr, told Verstappen something interesting.

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“You know, two weeks ago, I think at the Bahrain Test, your dad was showing my dad accidents and moments,” Sainz said. “So now they are sharing their accidents and moments.” 

It was a wholesome interaction between the two former Toro Rosso drivers, who made their debut in F1 together in 2015 for the same team. Between them, things never looked too tense, but reports suggested that their fathers rarely saw eye to eye.

Rumored rivalry between Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen

In 2015, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz were just finding their feet in the sport. Their fathers Jos and Carlos Sr., like any father would, wanted the best for their sons. This is why they both reportedly created a tense environment within Red Bull, asking the team to favor their son.

Eventually, Red Bull decided to choose Verstappen over the Spaniard, leading to the latter’s departure from Toro Rosso and the Austrian stable altogether in 2017. Now that reports are linking Sainz to the Red Bull seat once again, people are wondering if the old rivalry between their dads may reiginite.

However, going by what the two drivers exchanged after the recently concluded Japanese GP, there may not be a rivalry anymore. They were in the same team nine years ago, and both drivers have gone through a lot since then. Additionally, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen are not young talents anymore. They are stars in the world of Formula 1, which is why their fathers’ involvement is no longer essential.

Credits: IMAGO / Michael Potts

The 2024 Japanese Grand Prix was extremely frustrating from Lance Stroll’s point of view, especially towards the end. The Canadian was stuck behind Yuki Tsunoda and was unable to pass him before the chequered flag was waved. The Japanese driver finished the race in P10 to score points at home for the first time. But Stroll could have stopped his heroics with his soft compounds in the last stint. The only reason he couldn’t was because, of the “wrong adjustment for my rear wing”, among other issues he faced which he revealed in a post-race conversation. However, the Aston Martin TP Mike Krack has contradicted the Canadian’s stance and revealed the real reason behind his frustrations.

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Stroll also complained about the top speed of his Aston Martin challenger. However, as per the data, the VCARB01 of Tsunoda was merely 0.8 mph faster than the Canadian’s AMR24. Instead, the issue lay with the tires and the race conditions. After pushing on his softs and making rapid overtakes, Stroll burned out his fresh rubber leading to his frustration.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Krack explained the scenario and said, “What you see is that there is a very small difference between the top speeds across the entire field. But at different times in the race, you do have differences between the condition of the tires and the acceleration out of the corners. Such comments arise from such situations. If you look at the data in terms of power, you see that all the cars are very similar. But the tire status differs during the race.”

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On top of the on-track conditions, Lance Stroll can blame himself for his miseries as the Canadian botched his qualifying. Despite being in an upgraded Aston Martin, which was evidently Q3 capable, Stroll was knocked out in Q1. Starting towards the back in P16, he was already in for a difficult outing in Suzuka and that’s exactly what his race panned out.

He expressed his frustrations during the race as well when he got on his radio to criticize the straight-line speed. “It’s unbelievable how bad our speed is on the straight,” Stroll was heard shouting on the radio. Continued frustrations for the Canadian which highlights the uncertainty surrounding his future in the sport once again.

Experts suggest Lawrence Stroll cut his losses with Lance Stroll as performances pile on the misery

Lawrence Stroll has made his son’s place in F1 and his team permanent since 2019, but so far it’s hurting them. So for a couple of years now, experts have suggested the Canadian billionaire to replace his son if he wants to achieve the ultimate F1 goal. Experts like Joe Saward said, “There will come a point when Lawrence, or Lance Stroll, has to ask himself if they want to keep doing this because he’s not good enough.”

His output in 2024 so far is sadly proving Saward right. In the first four rounds, the Canadian driver has finished three and scored points in just two. He has scored only 9 points with his best result coming in Australia so far. It gets worse when we pit Lance with his teammate, Fernando Alonso.

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The Spaniard has made light work of his teammate. Since 2023, Stroll finished ahead of Alonso in only 4 races. The qualifying head-to-head makes Stroll look worse as he out-performed his teammate only thrice with Alonso faster over one lap on 19 occasions. In 2024? It’s 3-1 in favor of Alonso in both qualifying and race results.

Any other driver in any other team would be looking at the exit door or at least be extremely concerned about their long-term future in the sport. However, with continued criticism, we might see Lance Stroll sweat as well with the pressure piling on. With yet another disappointing race result, the Canadian needs to pull up his socks soon.

Credits: Imago

Lewis Hamilton stands in a league of his own in F1 as the sport’s most successful driver of all time. To fans, he is skilled not just in the world of racing, but also off it. Music, fashion, filmmaking are just some of the things the 39-year-old has invested time and effort in. But, there are things he isn’t good at, as hard as it is to believe.

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In a recent interview with GQ Sports, Hamilton spoke about a variety of things, including what he cannot do. The seven-time world champion said,

“I’m terrible at languages. I am terrible at Tennis. Not very good at Golf. Terrible at Maths. There’s plenty of stuff that I’m not good at.”

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Hamilton added that he still gives things a go, even though he doesn’t excel in them. He doesn’t want to give up, despite the frustration he endures when he fails at them. Stemming from the same determination, Hamilton has excelled at a handful of things or maybe more away from F1. An adventure sports lover, Hamilton is an expert in skydiving and surfing. He also loves to snowboard and is really good at it.

Music plays an important role in Hamilton’s life, and he continues to learn the art. Aside from perfecting his vocals, Hamilton is also neat with the guitar and the piano. The Mercedes driver already delved into this world professionally, when he featured in Christina Aguilera’s song ‘Pipe’ under the pseudonym XNDA.

There are other surprising things Hamilton excels in and he doesn’t really have any major secret behind it. His exemplary handgun skills for example, are down to his perseverance and determination- the two elements which can never stop someone from achieving what they want.

Lewis Hamilton’s nifty hand gun skills

Being a great marksman with a gun wasn’t a skill many expected Hamilton to possess. The Mercedes driver once left an expert shooter stunned with his skills when the 39-year-old visited his ranch four years ago. Express.co.uk quoted Taran Butler as he referred to Hamilton as the “best shooter to have ever walked the Earth.”

Butler is a firearms expert who even trains Hollywood actors, but was stunned to see what Hamilton had to offer, especially because it was the first time he ever held a gun.

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Butler added that Hamilton was “literally at an A-class level” for his first time on a shooting ranch. While on Butler’s ranch, Hamilton hit a number of targets using an assault rifle and a pistol. He had both guns under immense control and was swift in his movement and targeting. Butler ended up contacting Hamilton after their session. He asked the Briton if he was lying about never holding a gun before. To his surprise, Hamilton replied that he once shot a rifle in the snow somewhere, but that was it.

Credits: IMAGO ABACAPRESS

Although Max Verstappen is the driver who has grabbed all the limelight due to his relentless domination over the past few seasons, he would not have reached this stage had it not been for Red Bull’s beast-like cars. The Milton-Keynes-based outfit has produced some of the quickest cars during the recent era of ground-effect regulations thanks to the efforts of Adrian Newey and Co. It is for the same reason that several teams have been keen to sign him. As per reports, the latest side is Aston Martin. Amidst such rumors, Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has interestingly denied any attempt to poach Newey from Red Bull.

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When asked if Aston Martin had approached Newey, Krack replied (as quoted by mirror.co.uk) with a smile, “No”. When pressed on the same further, the 52-year-old went on to praise his own technical team.

Krack added, “Look, we have a very strong technical team with Dan [Fallows], with Tom [McCullough], with Luca [Furbatto]. We were joined lately by Bob Bell. We’re quite happy with what we have at the moment”.

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Interestingly, Fallows is one of the key senior figures whom Aston Martin poached from Red Bull. The 50-year-old worked alongside Adrian Newey for a while at Red Bull and was a key figure in designing some of the team’s championship-winning cars. Hence, it is no surprise why Aston Martin’s AMR23 looked similar to Red Bull’s RB19 last season.

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner even joked last season that the AMR23 was his side’s “old car“ and that he was happy to see it perform well. Moreover, it was not just Horner from Red Bull who took a dig at Aston Martin.

Red Bull leaders took a dig at Aston Martin last season

Since Red Bull produced an utterly dominant car last season, several of their rivals began imitating the RB19’s design. Reports claimed that Aston Martin was one of them.

With Fernando Alonso having grabbed multiple podiums for Aston Martin last season, the likes of Christian Horner, Helmut Marko, and even Sergio Perez could not resist taking a dig at the Silverstone-based team. For example, Horner said (as quoted by Autosport), “Imitation is the biggest form of flattery and it is good to see the old car going so well”.

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Similarly to Horner, even Helmut Marko took a sly dig at Aston Martin. After Fernando Alonso joined Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez on the podium for the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix, the Austrian claimed that it was nice for him to see “three Red Bulls” finish in the top three.

Perez also made a similar remark to Marko as he cheekily claimed during the post-race press conference that three Red Bulls had finished on the podium. On hearing the same, both Verstappen and Alonso could not help but smile.

Credits: IMAGO / PanoramiC

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez finished P1 and P2 respectively in qualifying ahead of Sunday’s Japanese GP. In what has been a common trend for the last two seasons, Verstappen is the favorite to win the race in Suzuka, as he has been at most circuits. However, there are things about qualifying in Japan that upset Verstappen on Saturday, and he feels he may not win for the second Grand Prix in a row.

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As per De Telegraaf, Verstappen isn’t happy with his car’s performance on the long runs. It is an area where Ferrari is doing much better in, on this particular weekend. While he does not discount a win completely, Verstappen is not pleased with himself.

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“We will see how it turns out tomorrow.” said the 26-year-old on Saturday. “I am just not happy with myself, with how the long run looked.”

Verstappen also pointed out the areas they need to work harder on in detail. Tire degradation, which was one of Red Bull’s biggest strengths in 2023, seems to be something the Dutchman isn’t a fan of this season. Keeping that in mind, the Red Bull driver asked his engineers to make some changes ahead of the qualifying session. Unfortunately, it affected his feeling with the car.

Max Verstappen hoping for a dominant Japanese GP

Despite facing some close competition, Verstappen qualified in pole position for the 2024 Japanese GP. For most drivers, things do not get much better than that. But for Verstappen, it’s not enough, because the problems he faced on Saturday makes him way of whether he can bounce back from his DNF in Australia.

Verstappen feels that Ferrari is much more comfortable on the long runs. The Maranello-based outfit compromised on qualifying pace in favor of getting more out of the SF-24 on race day, something which Carlos Sainz admitted to.

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Sainz starts the race in P4, and is aiming P3 at the most, despite what Verstappen says about Ferrari’s advantage. Behind Verstappen, Sergio Perez starts and the Mexican driver will be oozing with confidence, after finishing just 0.066 seconds behind his teammate on Saturday.

Verstappen is worried about his race result, but Red Bull enter the Japanese GP as favorites not just to win, but to also get a 1-2 finish.

Credits: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire, IMAGO Eibner

Red Bull have had the perfect start to the Japanese GP weekend as Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will lock out the front row for the Grand Prix on Sunday. Although both Verstappen and Perez managed to qualify first and second respectively with ease by the end of the session, the senior bosses of Red Bull yet never felt comfortable. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has explained how it was the pace of Charles Leclerc during the free practice sessions that concerned him. However, with the Monegasque now having qualified P8, the Austrian’s relieved.

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Speaking of the same, Marko said (as quoted by f1ingenerale.com), “We must pay attention to McLaren and Ferrari. Leclerc starts relatively back, thank God, I might add. He was the fastest in long runs. It will be a challenge between us, the McLarens and the Ferraris”.

Marko’s most recent remarks come after he referred to Leclerc’s long runs during FP1 on Friday as “a bit annoying”. However, sadly for the 26-year-old, he just didn’t seem to have the pace during Saturday’s qualifying session.

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Leclerc registered a 1:28.786 during Q3 and was almost a whopping six-tenths slower than Max Verstappen’s pole time. Since Leclerc was so off the pace, he couldn’t believe it and let his feelings known on the team radio. The Monegasque said, “It’s the best I could do honestly”.

Since Carlos Sainz managed a lap time that was over a tenth quicker than Leclerc, he will start Sunday’s race in fourth. Such were the fine margins during an enthralling qualifying session at Suzuka on Saturday. With Sainz starting fourth, he’s optimistic about fighting for the podium in the main race.

“I think it should be an interesting battle for the podium. I think Red Bull are ahead on the rougher tarmac and high-speed circuits,” the Spaniard said.

While Sainz is optimistic about having another strong performance during this weekend’s race, Leclerc can only think of one thing. The Monegasque is keen to make things right on what is a special weekend for him, after his disappointing qualifying performance.

Charles Leclerc disappointed he could not qualify better to honor Jules Bianchi

Former Marussia driver Jules Bianchi, who was Charles Leclerc’s godfather, sadly passed away on 17 July 2015. In order to honor the late Frenchman, Leclerc is wearing a special tribute helmet for the Japanese GP this weekend.

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Suzuka was the same circuit where Bianchi suffered a fatal crash 10 years ago. Hence, Leclerc believes it was only appropriate to honor his godfather this weekend.

However, after his disappointing qualifying performance, Leclerc is unsure if he honored Bianchi in the best way possible. In his post-qualifying interview, the 26-year-old explained how he now hopes to have a better race on Sunday to make up for his poor qualifying.

Bianchi was not just Leclerc’s godfather but also his inspiration and mentor. Even when Leclerc secured a race seat with Ferrari in 2019, he explained how it should have been Bianchi in his position.

Credits: IMAGO / NurPhoto

Martin Brundle has become a legend in F1 media owing to his famous grid walks and expert opinions for Sky Sports F1. As Sky Sports is the principal global broadcaster for Formula 1, Brundle’s grid walk interviews and his takes garner a lot of following and some criticism too at times. Naturally, even for a man of his experience, mistakes can happen. The Briton made one such major gaffe at the 2018 Chinese GP with the CEO of AMD, Lisa Su. Attending for Ferrari as one of the team’s sponsor representatives, Lisa interacted with Brundle and had an awkward interaction, something fans today are watching and not taking in the best taste.

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According to some resurfaced footage on Twitter (now X) from the 2018 race in China, when the 64-year-old pundit was on his grid walk, he approached Lisa Su and asked her, “Excuse me, ma’am. Do you speak English?”.

Upon this, Su gave a modest affirmative reply. Brundle deemed her as a “random person” he interacts with on the grid and asked her what she was doing on the grid.

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This was the major goof up and Lisa flexed her Ferrari association as the reason for her presence on the grid. She mentioned how she is the CEO of AMD, a multinational semiconductor and computer processor company. Su said, “We’re sponsoring the Ferrari car”.

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This made Brundle stutter a bit and he pointed out how she has several VIP access and paddock access passes. Thereon, the Sky Sports pundit mentioned how the secret of becoming a VIP on the F1 grid is to “become a sponsor of Ferrari”.

He said, “Good to meet you on the grid today! Sorry I randomly interrupted you on my gridwalk.”

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After the race though, the 64-year-old retweeted and closed off the loop with Lisa, as she posted about her Chinese GP visit. Naturally, one cannot blame Brundle for not knowing who Lisa Su was. Now, as this video is doing the rounds on social media. many fans are stating that he did not need to ask the question of whether she knew English or not.

How Martin Brundle has experienced some awkward celebrity interactions on his grid walk

While Martin Brundle was the one making a gaffe in China in 2018, he has also experienced some awkward moments with other celebrities. One such moment happened with Brad Pitt at the 2022 US GP.

Pitt was present at the Circuit of the Americas to research for his upcoming F1 feature film. So, when the Hollywood star was on the grid before the race, Brundle tried to approach him for an interview. This created an awkward moment between the two as Pitt tried to avoid an interaction with Brundle.

This enraged fans immensely on social media. Many opined how Pitt should have respected the Sky Sports pundit, who is also an F1 veteran driver. However, Pitt made things right when he interacted with Brundle in an exclusive feature video for Sky Sports F1 in 2023 at Silverstone.

The former McLaren driver has also experienced a similar incident with Megan Thee Stallion. She is an American rapper who attended the 2021 US GP. During the event, her bodyguards restricted Brundle from getting to her for an interview.

Half of British men admit basing their hairstyle on celebritites styles – with 3 per cent even saying Simon Cowell‘s mop is an inspiration.

A poll for health platform Hims found that 48 per cent wanted to look like stars, with David Beckham (16 per cent), Brad Pitt and Ryan Reynolds (both 11 per cent) on top.

But a third would shave their head at the first sign of baldness.

Known for pushing style boundaries, Beckham has sported several ‘dos that have often sparked debate over the years, such as his frosted tips faux hawk haircut in 2003.

With shorter sides and a central strip of slightly longer hair styled upward, the style is one of his most enduring and is as popular now as it was 20 years later.

Other hairstyles he has worn with confidence include long locks which he often tied back, to nineties style curtains and a quiff.

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Known for pushing style boundaries, Beckham has sported several ‘dos that have often sparked debate over the years, such as his frosted tips faux hawk haircut in 2003

View gallery

Three per cent even said they had taken Simon Cowell’s mop is an inspiration

View gallery

A poll for health platform Hims found that 48 per cent wanted to look like stars, with David Beckham (16 per cent), Brad Pitt and Ryan Reynolds (both 11 per cent) on top

READ MORE: How modern life is ‘making men lose their hair earlier’ – and what they can do about it: Ultra-processed food, certain drinks and stress have all been linked to accelerating baldness… but there ARE treatments that work 

The health and wellness platform found British men also look to stars such as Idris Elba, Chris Hemsworth, Jason Momoa and Justin Bieber for hairstyle inspiration.

Over a third (36 per cent) of the 1,000 men polled said their hair is the most important part of their look, with 21 per cent saying they think about how it looks all the time.

On average men touch up their locks at least three times a day, with Generation Zs (aged 18-29) going even further and refreshing their hair five times daily.

The prospect of going bald is a serious worry for men based in the UK, with 37 per cent admitting they would feel far less confident if they lost their hair.

Almost a fifth (18 per cent) admit worries about receding hairlines and going completely bald play on their mind constantly.

Three in ten (31 per cent) are breaking a sweat about feeling less attractive, while a fifth dread others making jokes about them at their own expense.

Dr Mia Jing Gao, medical advisor at Hims, which provides a range of treatment options for men experiencing hair loss, said: ‘Our research shows that male hair loss significantly impacts men’s confidence and, consequently, their day-to-day lives.

‘Despite concerns, many men are either unaware that treatments are available or are too afraid to seek treatment due to the substantial stigma surrounding the issue.’