McLaren have handed Team Principal Andrea Stella a multi-year contract extension following a strong first-half of the season that has seen the iconic British team become genuine world championship contenders.
Stella joined McLaren in 2015, working as Head of Race Operations and Performance Director before earning promotion to Executive Director of Racing in 2019.
Since becoming Team Principal in 2022, the team has progressed rapidly – earning two Grand Prix wins, 18 further podiums and a Sprint victory.
McLaren are currently on a run of 10 successive podiums and sit just 42 points (less than the number of points you can earn in a single Grand Prix weekend) behind championship leaders Red Bull.
Within the last year, McLaren have agreed multi-year extensions with drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri as the team focuses on stability on their quest to return a first World Championship since 2008.
It’s a privilege to be part of the McLaren Formula 1 team, and I am honoured to continue in my role as Team Principal. We’ve made great strides forward in the past year and a half and we still have a lot more work to do to consistently fight at the front of the grid, which poses an exciting challenge. Success comes through the team working in synergy, and I am enjoying my role, which has allowed me to help unlock individual talent and empower people to work together towards our Team’s objectives. My thanks go to Zak for his confidence in me as a leader, to my entire leadership team and all my colleagues in the Team, for their continued collaboration and support. I am excited for what we can continue to achieve together. Stella on the news.
I am delighted to confirm we’ve extended Andrea’s contract as our F1 Team Principal for multiple years. His excellent leadership, expertise and the respect he holds within the team and Formula 1 means we could not have a better person in place to continue the pursuit of consistently fighting at the front of the grid. His impact on McLaren F1 in his role as Team Principal has been profound, not only through our results on track and the trajectory of the team but also in his development of our culture and mindset. With multi-year extensions already agreed with Lando, Oscar, and now Andrea, we can confidently continue on our quest to become World Champions. We’re all looking forward to the years to come under Andrea’s leadership. Zak Brown on the news.
Jonathan Wheatley will be leaving his role as Red Bull’s Sporting Director to become Team Principal of the Audi F1 Team.
Wheatley has become a significant senior figure during nearly two decades with the organisation and played a major key role in winning 13 World Championships.
Red Bull say Wheatley will remain in his position until the end of the 2024 season, before entering a period of gardening leave in 2025.
The news comes just after it was announced Audi CEO Andreas Seidl and Audi executive Oliver Hoffman were leaving the project with ex-Ferrari Team Principal, Mattia Binotto arriving to head it up.
Binotto’s official title is Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technical Officer with Audi saying he and Wheatley will together head the new management team at Sauber Motorsport AG. In their new positions, both will report directly to Dollner.
Wheatley is now the second major player to this year announce their departure from Red Bull, with design guru Adrian Newey set to leave after almost 20 years with the team.
It has been a long and successful relationship with Jonathan, over 18 years. His contribution to six World Constructors’ Titles and seven World Drivers’ Championship, first as Team Manager and latterly Sporting Director will forever be a marker in our Team history. Horner on the news.
I am delighted that we have been able to gain Jonathan Wheatley as Team Principal for our future Formula 1 team. Jonathan has played a major part in many Formula 1 race victories and World Championship titles in his Formula 1 career so far, and has extensive experience in the paddock. He is a very valuable addition to our team. Gernot Dollner, CEO of Audi AG.
I am extremely proud to have been a part of the Red Bull Racing journey over the last 18 years and will leave with many fond memories. However, the opportunity to play an active part in Audi’s entry into Formula 1 as head of a factory team is a uniquely exciting prospect, and I am looking forward to the challenge. Also I am glad to be working together with Mattia, whom I have known for many years and who is the right person to collaborate with in this exciting project. Wheatley on leaving Red Bull for Audi.
I have known Jonathan for many years and rate him highly as an experienced and committed motorsport expert. 2026 is not a long time away now, and I’m looking forward to setting up the new racing team for Audi along with Jonathan and leading it to success. Binotto on joining forces with Wheatley.
Alpine have confirmed that Oliver Oakes is joining the team as their new Team Principal, following the news during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend that Bruno Famin would step down from the role.
Famin stated at Spa-Francorchamps that he will depart the position at the end of August in order to focus on all other motorsport related activities for the Renault Group at Viry-Chatillon.
It has now been announced that Oakes – a former racing driver who was once a member of the Red Bull Young Driver Programme – will fill the role.
After competing in karting and single seater racing in the 2000s, Oakes moved into management and founded Hitech Grand Prix – a team that competes in both Formula 2 and Formula 3 – in 2015.
Oakes will start in his new role after the summer break and will report to Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo. At 36 years old, the Brit becomes the second youngest Team Principal in Formula 1 history.
I am extremely grateful to Luca de Meo and Flavio Briatore for this opportunity to lead BWT Alpine F1 Team back to competitiveness. The team has talented people and excellent resources at its core, and I am confident that we can accomplish a great deal together during the remainder of this season and the longer term. I look forward to getting started after the summer break. Oakes on the news.
It is a pleasure to welcome Oli to the team and for him to become one of the youngest Team Principals that this sport has ever seen. This team is being built for future success and this is highlighted by Oli’s appointment in a senior role. We look forward to harnessing his enthusiasm, energy and passion for racing and realising that mindset across the entire team. De Meo added.
I am delighted that we have been able to recruit Oli Oakes for our Formula 1 project. Oli is highly talented with a great record of leadership and success in racing. His move into this role is a great example of the strength and belief we have in our team and by young, upcoming people, and I’m excited to work closely with him with a joint focus on moving up the grid and winning races. Briatore also commented.
Season 3 champion Lucas di Grassi will continue his long association with the ABT team as it heads into Season 11 as ABT Lola.
The Brazilian and the German team have extended their 10-year cooperation to enter a new era together and from next season.
ABT CUPRA will form a team with Lola Cars, using a powertrain developed by the iconic British brand together with Yamaha Motor Company.
Di Grassi has competed in 131 Formula E races, more than any other driver and is among the most successful – with an unparalleled 47 podiums alongside that Drivers’ title to his name.
The Brazilian has turned the first wheel of the new era himself, in mid-June at the shakedown of the Lola Yamaha race car in the UK – the first outing for the new GEN3 Evo design with a newly-developed powertrain.
After a one-year break, ABT returned to Formula E at the beginning of 2023 with CUPRA as its partner and has since started with a powertrain from Mahindra Racing.
The new set-up will see ABT continue to leverage its extensive experience to run the operations of the race team, with specialist support from Lola as manufacturer.
ABT Lola will decide in the coming weeks who will take the second cockpit alongside di Grassi, before all teams meet for the official test in Valencia, Spain.
We are delighted to continue our journey in Formula E with Lucas. Not only is he a great ambassador for our team and the entire championship, but like all of us, he is eager and fully motivated to finally be successful again. We know that working with a new manufacturer brings many challenges. This makes it all the more important for us to have the most experienced driver at our side in Lucas, in addition to the permanent members of the team. Thomas Biermaier, ABT CEO.
Having a driver with such experience, skill and dedication as Lucas is a huge boost as a new manufacturer entering the series. These attributes, combined with his existing relationship with ABT, make Lucas the ideal person to have at the wheel for our return to motorsport. His knowledge and feedback during testing have already proven invaluable and we look forward to hitting the track together in Season 11. Mark Preston, Lola Cars Motorsport Director.
ABT is my family. I have experienced the best moments of my career there and have full confidence in the people who work hard every day to achieve success – so I am happy that we are also tackling the new challenges together. It’s a very exciting project with people who know what it takes to be successful in Formula E, alongside two renowned brands in Lola and Yamaha with a wealth of motorsport heritage and technical prowess. We have a few busy weeks ahead of us. Together we will do everything we can to be successful as soon as possible. Di Grassi on the news.
Carlos Sainz has committed his future to Williams with the Spaniard agreeing a multi-year deal to race alongside Alex Albon.
The 29 year old has been on the look out for a seat for next season since he lost his Ferrari drive to Lewis Hamilton.
However, Sainz has had no shortage of teams, with Williams, Sauber/Audi and Alpine all keen to get his signature – but it was James Vowles’ Williams project that ultimately got the Spaniard’s seal of approval.
He will race for the British team for 2025 and 2026, giving Williams continuity across a major regulation change that will see a new aerodynamic profile and sweeping new power unit rules that include the use of 100% sustainable fuel.
With the confirmation that Sainz will be joining the Grove outfit, it also means that Logan Sargeant will be vacating the Williams seat for next year with the team saying they “will give Logan every support as he looks to continue his racing career for 2025 and into the future.”
I am very happy to announce that I will be joining Williams Racing from 2025 onwards. It is no secret that this year’s driver market has been exceptionally complex for various reasons and that it has taken me some time to announce my decision. However, I am fully confident that Williams is the right place for me to continue my F1 journey and I am extremely proud of joining such a historic and successful team, where many of my childhood heroes drove in the past and made their mark on our sport. The ultimate goal of bringing Williams back to where it belongs, at the front of the grid, is a challenge that I embrace with excitement and positivity. I am convinced that this team has all the right ingredients to make history again and, starting on January 1, I will give my absolute best to drive Williams forward alongside every single member of the team. I want to thank James Vowles and the entire Board of Williams for their trust and determination. Their solid leadership and convictions have played an important role in my decision-making. I truly believe that the core of every successful team lies amongst their people and their culture. Williams is synonymous with heritage and pure racing, the foundations of the project that lies ahead of us are very strong and I am really looking forward to being part of it starting next year. Sainz on the news.
Carlos joining Williams is a strong statement of intent from both parties. Carlos has demonstrated time and again that he is one of the most talented drivers on the grid, with race-winning pedigree, and this underlines the upwards trajectory we are on. Carlos brings not just experience and performance, but also a fierce drive to extract every millisecond out of the team and car; the fit is perfect. In Alex and Carlos we will have one of the most formidable driver line-ups on the grid and with huge experience to guide us into the new regulations in 2026. Their belief in this organisation’s mission demonstrates the magnitude of the work going on behind the scenes. People should be in no doubt about our ambition and momentum as we continue our journey back to competitiveness – we are here, we are serious and with Dorilton’s backing we are investing in what it takes to return to the front of the grid.I also want to thank Logan for everything he has done for the team and know he will continue to fight hard for us in the races ahead. Vowles on Carlos signing for the team.
Maserati MSG Racing announces all-new driver line-up of Season 8 World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Hughes.
Vandoorne heads into a seventh season in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, while Hughes sets about a third campaign – with Maserati earmarking him as one of the brightest talents on the grid since his and NEOM McLaren’s bow in Season 9 at the start of GEN3.
Vandoorne has been a fixture at the sharp end of the Formula E grid since joining from McLaren’s Formula 1 team. He claimed the Drivers’ World Championship in Season 8 with Mercedes-EQ and the Belgian has three wins, 16 podiums and eight Julius Baer Pole Positions to his name.
Hughes put together one of the strongest rookie campaigns in Formula E, with the British driver securing pole in his third race in the series.
After serving as Maserati MSG Racing’s Reserve Driver in Season 7, when the team previously competed under the guise of Venturi, Hughes is a familiar face to the team and as such will make a natural return in Season 11.
The drivers will make their first appearance with Maserati MSG Racing in Formula E’s pre-season test at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain in a critical week of preparation from 4th to 7th November.
I’m very happy to be joining Maserati MSG Racing next season and I’m proud to be associated with such an iconic name within motorsport as Maserati. I’m excited to start working with the team – although I haven’t worked directly with them before, I know the team well, both from my time at DS PENSKE but also from my time with Mercedes when we shared a powertrain with Venturi. They are a great bunch of people, very skilled, very determined and I’m really looking forward to working with together moving forwards. Hopefully we’ll have a lot of success and fight for victories and championships together. Vandoorne on the news.
I’m over the moon to be joining Maserati MSG Racing. The success that the team has had, as one of the founding teams in Formula E, speaks for itself. On a personal level, I have worked with the team previously so I know them well and I’m genuinely looking forward to going back. I know that the season has only just finished but I honestly can’t wait to get over to the HQ in Monaco and start working with the engineers, get on the simulator and really get cracking with our prep for Season 11. This marks the start of an exciting new chapter in my career, and I know that the best is yet to come. Hughes on the news.
NEOM McLaren has announced the departure of Jake Hughes. Hughes made his competitive debut in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in the 2023/24 campaign with the team.
He went on to score 96 points, four Julius Baer Pole Positions and a second-placed podium finish at the 2024 Shanghai E-Prix.
In his first Formula E race, the 2023 Mexico City E-Prix, Jake qualified third, finishing the race in a promising fifth. He then went on to secure the team’s first pole at only his third race weekend in Diriyah, before clinching a second at the 2023 Monaco E-Prix.
In 2024, Hughes notched another pair of poles and achieved a career best P2 finish, his first podium in the championship.
The team says Hughes has been crucial in its success for a long spell, going back as far as 2020, in which he started out as Reserve and Development driver for the Mercedes-EQ the team that laid the foundations of what is NEOM McLaren today.
Leaving the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team will feel very strange for me in the coming weeks, based on the fact this team has been my home for the last four-and-a-half years. I have a lot of thanks to give to so many different people within the team for what they have given me, and how they have prepared me and allowed me to grow into the racing driver I am today. Everything I am in Formula E is down to this team, and for that I am extremely grateful. I wish the team all the best, and I have no doubt that we’ll have some good times racing on track against each other in the future. Hughes on leaving the team.
Jake has made a significant contribution to this team over the years, both on and off the track, and we are incredibly grateful for his input and dedication throughout. During this time, he has flourished into a proven talent in Formula E; particular highlights being his four pole positions – of which one came in only his third ever event in Formula E – and his P2 finish in Shanghai this year. On a personal note, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Jake. Alongside his natural talent as a driver, he is a consummate professional and yet has an easy sense of humour which has endeared him to all in the Formula E paddock. Ian James, Managing Director and Team Principal.
Bruno Famin will move away from his role as Alpine Team Principal, the team have announced.
The Frenchman had been confirmed as the Enstone-based outfit’s Team Principal before the start of the current F1 season, following an interim period in charge after the departure of previous team boss Otmar Szafnauer at last year’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Just before last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix weekend, it had been announced that Famin will move away from his role by the end of August and will be in charge of all other Motorsport activities of the Renault Group at Viry-Chatillon.
The news comes after several changes at Alpine across recent months, with the squad undergoing a technical restructure that saw Technical Director Matt Harman and head of Aerodynamics Dirk de Beer leave earlier in the year.
David Sanchez was then appointed as Executive Director in May, having previously worked for the outfit earlier in his career. He was later joined by Michael Broadhurst and Vin Dhanani as Chief Aerodynamicist and Head of Vehicle Performance respectively.
In June, Flavio Briatore became Executive Advisor at Alpine, with the remit of his role being “predominantly focus on top level areas of the team” it was stated at the time.
On the driver front, charges are being made for 2025, with Esteban Ocon departing the team at the end of the season which was confirmed in June. While Pierre Gasly has singed a multi-year extension to remain with the squad, his team mate has not yet been revealed.
The background is there are many things together. The main one is we are at a very interesting moment for the Alpine brand, where we have a project that is even stronger than one year ago. Then there is a project of reallocating the resources within the brand from the Formula 1 power unit, where we have equally skilled people, to the brand itself in developing these high-end technologies. On the other hand, we have our new Executive Advisor [Briatore] who has arrived a few weeks ago – I work well [with him], I’m fine with him, I work well since he has arrived. But I think he has seen things with his own eyes, and on one hand I need to dedicate my time to the Viry-Chatillon people, who are doing an amazing job, and we need to be together to be able to deliver this transformation if it’s confirmed, and on the other hand I think the global governance of the F1 team will be clear. Famin on his exit as Team Principal.
Maximilian Guenther and Jehan Daruvala are to leave Maserati MSG Racing, the team confirmed.
Guenther joined Maserati MSG Racing at the start of Formula E’s GEN3 era and made history by becoming the first driver since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1957 to win a World Championship single-seater race for the Trident.
Alongside a further victory at the inaugural Tokyo E- earlier in 2024, the German represented the team on Formula E podium on six occasions, while also claiming two pole positions across 32 races.
Daruvala who became the first Indian racing driver to compete in World Championship motorsport since 2012 in Season 10. He joined Maserati MSG Racing for Formula E’s most recent campaign and showed continual progression to secure two top 10 finishes in his time with the team.
I’d like to thank Max and Jehan personally and on behalf of the Maserati Family for all their commitment and all the work they have done. Both made contributions to the team’s achievements and did their best in every race to put both of the Maserati Tipo Folgore in the best possible positions. Max brought us so much excitement, taking the Trident back to the podium several times, whereas Jehan – the only rookie on the track in Season 10 – did an amazing job with his growth and had no hesitation in facing leading drivers with determination and passion. We’re proud to have had Max and Jehan with us, to have worked together and to have shared so much that will stay with us forever as part of Maserati’s history in Formula E. I’d like to wish them both a great future in motorsports. Giovanni Sgro, Head of Maserati Corse.
On behalf of the team I would like to sincerely thank Max and Jehan for the work they have put in over the course of Season 10. Since joining the team in 2022, Max has played a critical role in our development and has been responsible for some of our biggest achievements in Formula E’s Gen3 era so far. Being a rookie in this championship is not easy however Jehan showed his speed over one lap right from the second round in Saudi Arabia. He was consistently quick in qualifying and towards the second half of the season he was regularly challenging for points. It has been a pleasure to watch Max and Jehan grow as part of our team, and we wish them nothing but the best for the future. Jose M Aznar, Team Principal & Managing Partner, Maserati MSG Racing.
DS PENSKE has announced that Stoffel Vandoorne, the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Champion, will be parting ways with the team at the end of Season 10.
The team signed Vandoorne alongside double champion, Jean-Eric Vergne for Season 9 and the start of the Gen3 era in what was at the time hailed as something of a super line-up, counting three titles between the pair.
While he hasn’t added to his haul of three race victories over the last two years, he did finish on the podium in Monaco earlier this year. He rounded out the current campaign with a pair of ninth place finishes in London last week.
Vandoorne’s next destination is currently unclear, with speculation linking him to a move to NEOM McLaren – which was previously the HWA and Mercedes squad which Vandoorne raced for in Season 5 to 8.
The other Stellantis-affiliated team, Maserati is a more likely destination, as both drivers have left the team this season.
Outside of Formula E, Vandoorne currently drives for another Stellantis brand, Puegeot, in the World Endurance Championship and serves as a test and reserve driver for Aston Martin’s Formula One team.
We are truly grateful to Stoffel for his commitment and the outstanding performances he has delivered for DS PENSKE. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors. Jay Penske, Team Principal of DS PENSKE.
My journey with DS PENSKE has been an incredible experience. I am thankful to the team for their unwavering support and look forward to new challenges ahead. Vandoorne on leaving the team.
It was an all-PREMA front row with Beganovic on pole, though it was teammate Mini who made the better start to take the lead into Turn 1.
Just behind them, Tim Tramnitz had gotten ahead of Santiago Ramos for P3, while Arvid Lindblad made a fast start from P27 and was already up to 16th by the end of Lap 1.
But a Safety Car was required with Jenzer Motorsport’s Max Esterson having slowly spun into the barrier at Eau Rouge. The American driver was okay, and the field were back racing at the end of Lap 3.
The battles were well and truly on as Beganovic got ahead of Mini at the end of the Kemmel Straight just after the restart, while Leon took back the P5 spot he had lost to Luke Browning.
Lap 5 and Tramnitz was coming under pressure from Ramos and Leon and while he was able to hold on to P3, Browning was struggling and lost sixth position to Sebastian Montoya having ran wide at Turn 4.
The top six from Beganovic to Montoya were covered by just two and a half seconds as they started lap 9 of 12, with Mini told by his race engineer to keep the pressure on his teammate.
But making the moves was Leon as he got ahead of Ramos for P4 at the end of the Kemmel Straight, with Lindblad now up to 12th after getting past Rodin Motorsport’s Joseph Loake.
DRS had now been made available, as Mini came under pressure from Tramnitz for second. He was able to hold off the MP driver but as they squabbled, it meant Beganovic was able to pull out a one second gap.
As they started the penultimate lap of the race, Mini had closed back in on Beganovic while Tramnitz had fallen into the clutches of Leon. This was playing into the hands of Meguetounif, Browning and Leonardo Fornaroli in seventh, eighth and ninth place, as they close up to the top six.
The final lap started, with Beganovic and Mini having pulled out a two second gap to the rest of the field. But in the battle for the final podium place Leon got ahead of Tramnitz at the Kemmel Straight.
The full top 10 are- P1: Beganovic, P2: Mini, P3: Leon, P4: Tramnitz, P5: Ramos, P6: Browning P7: Montoya, P8: Fornaroli, P9: Goethe and P10: Voisin.
Day 3-
It was a great start from pole-sitter Voisin as he kept hold of the lead, but the big gainer was Montoya as he was up to second from fourth.
Front row starter Alexander Dunne had a slow start and dropped to fourth while Fornaroli maintained third place.
But behind them, there was a huge moment in the title race as Gabriele Mini fell to the back of the field following a collision with Oliver Goethe. The contact left the PREMA Racing driver turned around at the back of the field, while the Campos was forced to pit with a puncture.
As they started lap 2, Voisin locked up heading into Turn 1, with both Montoya and Fornaroli right on the back of his Rodin car. He was able to keep the position, but Noel Leon could not do the same, losing P5 to Sami Meguetounif down the Kemmel Straight.
The Safety Car was then required on Lap 3 when Martinius Stenshorne spun at Stavelot. ART Grand Pric debutant Tuukka Taponen was having his own separate incident coming into the corner as he collided with Joshua Dufek before spinning into the side of the Hitech.
We were back racing on Lap 7 and Voisin had a great restart ahead of Montoya and Fornaroli, while Meguetounif’s charge continued as he overtook Dunne for fourth down the Kemmel Straight. But another Safety Car was soon deployed after Sophia Floersch and Joseph Loake collided and spun off at Turn 9.
The race restarted on Lap 10 of 15 and once again Voisin had a good start, but Dunne was struggling once more, dropping from P5 to P10.
A third Safety Car was needed after Christian Mansell hit the rear of Arvid Lindblad, sending the PREMA Racing driver into the gravel at Turn 9.
At the same time, Charlie Wurz touched the rear right tyre of Mari Boya, giving the Campos Racing driver a puncture, before he went into the barrier at Turn 11. The Austrian was then forced to come into the pit lane to replace a damaged front wing.
Voisin led the pack away on Lap 14 as we returned to green flag conditions, with Montoya and Fornaroli staying behind him. However, Leon dived down the inside of Meguetounif into Turn 7 to take back P4.
Onto the final lap and Voisin had built up a lead of nearly one second as he crossed the line to take the victory, with Montoya in second, while Fornaroli finished third to take the lead of the Drivers’ Championship.
The full top 10 are- P1: Voisin, P2: Montoya, P3: Fornaroli, P4: Leon, P5: Meguetounif, P6: Browning, P7: Esterson, P8: Ramos, P9: Tramnitz and P10: Dunne.
Even without scoring, the result means PREMA Racing take an unassailable lead into the final round in Monza, making them the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Team Champions.
Lewis Hamilton has won the Belgian Grand Prix after team mate George Russell, who had originally come home in first, was disqualified following the race for an underweight car.
The Mercedes duo had engaged in a thrilling late chase, with two-stopper Hamilton charging down his one-stopping team mate, but he was unable to pass on track for the victory, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finishing third.
However, following the conclusion of the Grand Prix, a technical delegate’s report stated that Russell’s car had been found to be underweight, with the matter referred to the stewards. The Brit was subsequently disqualified from the results with Mercedes acknowledging a “genuine error” by the team.
The full top 10 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Piastri, P3: Leclerc, P4: Verstappen, P5: Norris, P6: Sainz, P7: Perez, P8: Alonso, P9: Ocon and P10: Ricciardo.
Obviously gutting for George Russell, he did a wonderful drive and made a very good call for the one-stop. But sometimes this is racing… So Lewis now inherits the win, which he did somewhat deserve, he led quite a bit of the race, it makes the Brit the second driver to win two races so far this season!
A very good race for Piastri, he stuck with the Mercedes duo quite a bit during the race. He did overshoot his pitbox, which meant he lost a couple of seconds doing so, so it makes you think, what if he didn’t would the Australian be celebrating his second win?
And Leclerc, a very good race for him, unlucky for the Monegasque not to get the win, but he and the team should be very happy with the 3rd place. Sainz, didn’t have the best race he finished 6th but he seemed like he lost time if anything as Leclerc had pace?
An okay race for Verstappen, again he didn’t really make any massive steps forward apart from the start where he climbed a couple of places. The same also goes for his teammate, he finished P7 after starting P2, this isn’t good for the Mexican as he really needed to be on the podium this race to prove he should be in the Red Bull, so time will only tell what happens next…
A decent race for Alonso, back in the points again, which is probably is exactly what the Spanish driver would want going into the summer break.
Now, we have a bit of a wait for the next race, as it is the summer break which means we are not racing for quite a few weeks. But we are back on the 23rd to 25th August for Round 15 of 24 which is the Dutch Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen set the fastest time in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, but the Dutchman has a 10 place grid penalty for making a power unit change, so Charles Leclerc will inherit pole position.
Verstappen looked impressively quick as the qualifying session progressed and set an unbeatable lap of 1m53.159s in the Red Bull, half a second clear of Ferrari’s Leclerc.
The full top 10 after penalties are- Pole: Leclerc, P2: Perez, P3: Hamilton, P4: Norris, P5: Piastri, P6: Russell, P7: Sainz, P8: Alonso, P9: Ocon and P10: Albon.
A good result for both Red Bull cars! A pole is always what you want when you have a 10 place grid penalty looming over your head. Verstappen could quite easily get on the podium here, but I don’t think its going to be easy. His teammate Sergio Perez will be there to help him out if it comes to it, as he starts on second, which is a great qualifying from him!
A really good qualifying result for Charles Leclerc, I even think he was surprised himself, he will want to win this race, he will now have the confidence with the car, the only trouble is the drivers behind him have also got very quick cars…
Hamilton in P3! Again a good result for the 7 time world champion, he will be pushing everything to win here. It is going to be an interesting race as so many drivers will be wanting to go for the win.
A good result for McLaren, P4 for Norris and P5 for Piastri, hopefully this race we see a bit more team work from the drivers and work together to get further up the grid and onto those podium places.
A decent result for Esteban Ocon he will be starting 9th! The French driver will be wanting to score some valuable points, as Williams are only 5 behind them, and there’s still a long way to go this year. Gasly done quite well, he will be starting 12th, so improvements have been made with the car!
Lance Stroll is starting in 15th, not the best result for the Canadian driver, especially when his teammate is starting in 8th. But Stroll was lucky to be in this qualifying session as he had quite a crash in Free Practice 3.
That was a nice qualifying. Luckily the weather was ok – it was raining a little bit but at least we could do a decent qualifying. Everything worked well, every tyre set that we were on we could do good lap times and I was also of course thinking about Q3, not knowing if it was going to dry out so was trying to keep two new sets for Q3 and luckily we escaped Q1 and Q2. So, yeah, very happy. The car was working quite well in the wet so I could just do my laps and try to do clean lap times in the wet which is always quite tricky. But tomorrow I know it’s going to be quite a different day. It’s going to be warmer, normally no rain, so it’s all about tyre degradation and we just need to make sure we’re good on that. But of course I have to start 10 places back so this is the best I could do today and then go from there. I don’t know how quick we’re going to be, I hope we can be in the mix to try and move forward. Verstappen on going fastest in qualifying.
Isack Hadjar started the Spa-Francorchamps weekend on the front foot for Campos Racing, narrowly heading up ART Grand Prix driver Victor Martins with a 1:58.730, just 0.010s quicker than his compatriot. PREMA Racing driver, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was able to improve to third late on in the practice session to complete the top three.
There was no rush to get time on the board but once the first laps of the session were completed, Juan Manuel Correa led the way for DAMS Lucas Oil on a 2:02.634.
A red flag arrived with just over 23 minutes to go as Rafael Villagomez hit the barrier out of Turn 9. He was ok but the Van Amersfoort Racing needed clearing up before the session was resumed.
Practice got back underway with 14 minutes left, and this time there was a rush to get some running in compared to earlier in the session. Martins took over at the top for ART Grand Prix as the clock ticked into the final 10 minutes, setting a 2:00.773.
The track continued to improve lap after lap and Dennis Hauger became the first driver below the two-minute mark with a 1:59.682 on his next effort.
Martins restored himself at the top until Hadjar secured P1 for Campos Racing with a 1:58.761 to lead by 0.026s. The French duo could hardly be separated once again on their final laps, but it was Hadjar who recorded the fastest time of the session.
Qualifying-
It was Paul Aron that claimed an important pole position for Hitech Pulse-Eight around Spa-Francorchamps, his 1:56.959 putting him on top ahead of his title rivals.
Gabriel Bortoleto was closest to the Estonian, 0.168s back in P2 while Championship leader Isack Hadjar wound up third on the grid, 0.2s down on his nearest rival.
Before anyone could record a timed lap, there was a Red Flag as the ART Grand Prix car belonging to Victor Martins slowed to a half at the start of sector three.
The session resumed with 24 minutes on the clock, and when the first time filtered through, Hadjar set the pace with a 1:57.803 just 0.102s ahead of title rival Aron in P2.
Kush Maini and Franco Colapinto were one of the few that opted to put a second lap in on their first set of Soft tyres and the pair improved to fifth and sixth respectively.
Drivers then returned to the track with 10 minutes left of the session on a fresh set of tyres for their next attempts and there were improvements everywhere.
Aron improved his time to take provisional pole with three minutes to go on a 1:56.959. Hadjar couldn’t beat that and went second until Bortoleto went quicker still.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Aron, P2: Bortoleto, P3: Hadjar, P4: Crawford, P5: Antonelli, P6: Maloney, P7: Colapinto, P8: Verschoor, P9: Hauger and P10: O’Sullivan who will be starting on reverse grid pole for Sprint Race.
HiTech Pulse-Eight driver Luke Browning left it until the final moments of the session to top the Spa-Francorchamps Free Practice that started with rainy conditions before ending in the dry.
Browning completed a lap of 2:15.570 with his last lap on the slick tyres to finish 0.030s ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel Leon, with ART Grand Prix driver Christian Mansell in third.
A wet Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps greeted the drivers with Browning the early pacestter on a 2:22.089, putting him 0.683s clear of his ART title rival Mansell in second.
As the drivers rounded the track, they began to find more grip and pace, but no one could quite match Browning’s time with VAR’s Leon going closest.
But the Hitech driver continued to be the benchmark, and later completed a lap of 2:21.310 to improve on his earlier effort, as AIX Racing’s Nikita Bedrin followed him across the line to finish 0.620s off the top time.
With 20 minutes left, the sun had started to come through and the track was drying out. The teams then started sending their drivers out for some exploratory laps on the slicks.
But it wasn’t until the final six minutes that a dry line began to appear with MP Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne using that to great effect to go fastest with 2:20.474.
Times continued to tumble as the track conditions improved with Sebastian Montoya, Santiago Ramos, Leon, Arvid Lindblad, Leonardo Fornaroli and Tramnitz all topping the timesheets within the span of five minutes.
The drivers running was then hampered by a yellow flag in the final sector following Ramos’ spin at the bus stop chicane, while his Trident teammate Sami Meguetounif would run wide at the same corner.
Qualifying-
Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin took his first ever Formula 3 pole position after coming out on top in a frenetic Spa-Francorchamps qualifying session.
The British driver completed a lap of 2:04.321 to beat MP Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne to pole by 0.123s, with Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli taking third place.
But after the first set of laps, it was the ART Grand Prix cars that set the pace, with Laurens van Hoepen completing the early benchmark time of 2:05.507 to lead Mansell by just 0.011s.
Hitech Pulse-Eight chose a different strategy by sending their drivers out early on the second set of tyres, giving them an empty track. However, it did not work for Luke Browning as he ran wide at Pouhon after losing the rear, leaving him down in P18.
His teammate Martinius Stenshorne was one of several to lose their first laps for exceeding track limits but on the latest attempt he went to P11, while Cian Shields jumped to P14.
The Hitech trio ducked into the pitlane while the rest of the field emerged on to the track with 10 minutes to go. But then came the rest with first Sebastian Montoya, then Fornaroli and later Dunne going fastest before Voisin went to the top with a 2:04.321.
However, as the drivers prepared for their final laps there was huge queue heading into the final chicane, meaning that the like of Fornaroli and Leon did not get to the line in time to set off another attempt.
Some drivers did improve in the first sector, but they were so close to each other there were no improvements through the technical middle sector.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Voisin, P2: Dunne, P3: Fornaroli, P4: Montoya, P5: Leon, P6: Esterson, P7: Browning, P8: Meguetounif, P9: Tramnitz and P10: Ramos.
Haas have signed Alpine’s Esteban Ocon on a multi-year contract to partner rookie Ollie Bearman in 2025.
The team announced last week that Kevin Magnussen would be leaving at the end of the season, leaving a vacant seat that was widely believed to have been allocated to 27 year old Ocon.
On Thursday in Belgium, ahead of the final race before the break and at the track where Ocon first made his F1 debut in 2016. Haas announced Ocon would become the first Grand Prix winner to race one of their cars since they entered the sport in 2016.
Ocon has 146 career starts under his belt and has driven for Manor, Force India, Renault and Alpine – scoring 425 points in that period including three podiums, one of which was his maiden win in Hungary in 2021.
The Frenchman has know Haas Team Principal, Ayao Komatsu a while, as the Japanese boss engineered Ocon in his first F1 test back in 2014, with Lotus (which now operates under the Alpine banner) at Valencia.
I’m delighted we’ve secured Esteban Ocon’s services for Haas. I’ve obviously been aware of his talents for a long time and our personal history dates back to Esteban’s maiden run in a Formula 1 car – I was his race engineer that day with Lotus. He displayed his talents back then coming off the back of strong performances in the junior categories – he’d just won the 2014 European Formula 3 Championship. Esteban’s gone on to become an established talent in Formula 1 and of course a Grand Prix winner. The experience he brings, not just from his own talent base but also from working for a manufacturer team, will be advantageous to us in our growth as an organisation. It was vital we had a driver with experience in beside Oliver Bearman next year, but Esteban’s only 27 – he’s still young with a lot to prove as well. I think we have a hungry, dynamic driver pairing and I look forward to welcoming Esteban into Haas for 2025. Ayao Komatsu on the news.
It was important to me that we have a driver with a known pedigree in Formula 1, and as a Grand Prix winner, Esteban undoubtedly fits that brief. Esteban’s proved himself in the teams he’s raced for as someone who’s continually in the mix and scoring points – it’s that continuity we’re keen to capitalise on as we look for increased performance gains on-track. We have a blend of youth and experience in our future driver line-up and I’m excited to see the results. Owner, Gene Haas on the news.
I’ll be joining a very ambitious racing team, whose spirit, work ethic, and undeniable upward trajectory has really impressed me. I’d like to thank Gene Haas and Ayao Komatsu for their trust and support, and for our honest and fruitful discussions these last few months. On a more personal note, I’m very happy to be working with Ayao again, as he’s been a part of my debut when I first stepped into a Formula 1 car during my Lotus Junior days more than 10 years ago. Haas has exciting plans and clear targets for the future, and I’m very much looking forward to working with everyone in Kannapolis, Banbury and Maranello, and being part of this great project. Ocon on the news.
Alpine will be racing with a special red and black livery for this weekend’s Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix to celebrate the release of Deadpool & Wolverine.
Alpine will drop its usual black, pink and blue livery for a one-off Deadpool vs Wolverine – inspired livery.
The livery features the red and black of Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool character as well as yellow slashes as a nod to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. The team’s mechanics will also wear Deadpool red at Spa.
Esteban Ocon will recreate the red Deadpool mask with his helmet, while Gasly will sport a yellow and black Wolverine design. Ocon first used a similar design as one-off at the Las Vegas Grand Prix last year.
Reynolds was a part of the investment group that acquired a 24% stake in Alpine’s F1 team in June last year.
This is far from the first film-inspired F1 livery and its fair to say there’s been mixed results over the years. The fact it was Red Bull’s first podium made its one-off Superman Returns livery at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix and driver capes all the more iconic.
But there hasn’t been a properly good film tie-up that’s fully committed to it in the way that Alpine has. To ditch its traditional Renault colours and go with red – about as un-Renault-like as you can get.
The last Grand Prix before the summer break takes place at Spa-Francorchamps, one of the most awe-inspiring race tracks in the world.
Eau Rouge, Raidilon, La Source, Kemmel, Stavelot and Malmedy are just some of the names that have made the venue for the Belgian Grand Prix famous around the world.
There’s been racing in the Ardennes for over a century with the first race, for motorcycles, taking place in 1921. The first Belgian Grand Prix was held the following year on a road circuit making use of three sides of a triangle which joined the towns of Spa-Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot.
Pirelli has already been able to assess the new asphalt, a month ago during the 24 Hours of Spa, the classic GTWC race for which the Italian company is the sole tyre supplier.
For this, the 14th round of the season, Pirelli has chosen the same trio of compounds as used for the last two years, C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium) and C4 (Soft).
In terms of stress on the tyres, it is one of the tracks with the highest average levels, even if it does not reach the peaks seen at Silverstone and Suzuka.
The track features all corner types, linked by very fast sections, which makes it difficult for the teams to identify the ideal aerodynamic compromise. In fact, it is not unusual to see cars that are very strong in the fastest first and third sectors, struggling in the second slower one or vice versa.
If there is a single venue on the motor racing calendar, not just F1, where variable weather can play a role, it is this one. not only can conditions change from one day to the next, but also grip levels can be dramatically different at various points on the track at the same time. Furthermore, because it is such a long lap, the slightest little mistake in judging the right moment to switch from dry to wet tyres or vice versa can carry a severe penalty in the race and even more so in qualifying.
Nico Mueller won’t be racing for the ABT CUPRA from Gen3 Evo onwards, as the German team shared the news of his departure ahead of the London race weekend.
Mueller, who currently sits 14th in the standings has been a part of the team since Season 9. He experienced a season best result of fourth in Misano earlier this year, narrowly missing out on the podium, and finished in fifth and sixth respectively in Portland last time out.
Nico Mueller, has been a part of the ABT family for a long time, driving for them in DTM from 2016 until 2020, and was twice runner-up in the championship.
He then joined ABT CUPRA for Season 9, as the all-electric championship embarked on its Gen3 era.
Nico has decided to take on a new motorsport challenge and leave the team. It was our wish to keep Nico in the team and to be successful with him again. Now we have to accept his decision and wish him all the best for the future. On behalf of the whole team, I would like to thank Nico for his commitment and dedication. Of course we would all have liked to have seen more success, but even in these difficult times he has always led the way and shown strong performances. Nico remains part of the ABT family and is always welcome here. Thomas Biermaier, ABT CEO and Team Principal.
This is going to be a very special weekend for me. On the one hand I’m looking forward to the location, the track and the fans. On the other hand, I feel melancholy and a lot of gratitude after two years in this team. It was an extremely challenging time, but it also brought us closer together. We’ve always pulled together and I’m sure this is what we will be doing in London for the last time. We want to give it our all with the whole team, enjoy the days and try to get two good results. London is a cool track – very tight, with indoor and outdoor sections and walls, as we know from Formula E. I will give everything to make the team proud again one more time. Mueller on the news.
Audi have announced former Ferrari Team Principal, Mattia Binotto is returning to Grand Prix racing as the new leader of their Formula 1 project.
Earlier this year German car maker Audi took full ownership of the Sauber team, which will be run under the Audi banner from 2026, with an all-new power unit currently being developed in-house in Germany.
Binotto, 54, will assume leadership of the operation on August 1st, as Chief Operating and Chief Technical Officer based at the Sauber factory in Hinwil, Switzerland and will report directly to the board of directors.
As part of a restructure, former McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl – who joined Sauber in January 2023 and was CEO of the Audi team – is leaving alongside Audi executive Oliver Hoffmann, who was overseeing the project.
Binotto was Chief Technical Officer at Ferrari until being promoted to Team Principal in 2019. He left Maranello in 2022 after three years in the job, and having been with the Scuderia since the mid-1990s.
The first driver confirmed to be part of Audi’s new F1 project is Nico Hulkenberg, who will make the switch to Kick Sauber from Haas at the end of the season in what the German described as an “interesting” and “very exciting” move.
Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas and Chinese racer Zhou Guanyu have represented the Hinwil team since 2022, but the futures of both drivers are unknown beyond the end of the current campaign.
I am delighted that we have been able to recruit Mattia Binotto for our ambitious Formula 1 project. With his extensive experience of more than 25 years in Formula 1, he will undoubtedly be able to make a decisive contribution for Audi. Our aim is to bring the entire Formula 1 project up to F1 speed by means of clear management structures, defined responsibilities, reduced interfaces, and efficient decision-making processes. For this purpose, the team must be able to act independently and quickly. I would like to thank Oliver and Andreas for their important work in establishing our entry into Formula 1 and their commitment in preparing it. Audi CEO, Gernot Dollner.
Temperatures were much cooler for the Sprint compared to Friday’s Qualifying and there was a mix of tyres on the gird, with 12 cars fitted with the Softs while the rest chose Hards.
Two of those drivers on the Hards were pole-sitter Verschoor and his fellow front starter Maini, and while they made good starts, Andrea Kimi Antonelli had fired up his tyres from P4 and went round the outside of the Invicta car at Turn 2 to take second.
His fellow drivers on the red tyres were also flying as Gabriel Bortoleto and Enzo Fittipaldi moved up to P6 and P7 respectively by overtaking Isack Hadjar.
By the end of Lap 5, Antonelli was over two seconds clear out front, while Maini was beginning to close in on Verschoor for P2, with Martins just behind.
On to Lap 7, and Fittipaldi was showing strong pace in his Van Amersfoort Racing car and overtook his fellow option tyre runner Bortoleto for P6, going round his compatriot’s outside at Turn 1.
But as the drivers set of on lap 11, what had been a lead of over two second for Antonelli had now been close to 1.6s. Further back, Maini had also created a gap of over two seconds to Martins, who was now defending from Dennis Hauger in the battle for P4.
Verschoor was now right on the back of Antonelli as they started lap 16, but the PREMA driver was resisting each attack. However, he could not hold on much longer, running wide at the final corner before locking up into Turn 1 allowing both Verschoor and Maini through.
Unfortunately for Antonelli, his lock up had proven costly as he was falling through the field with Martins, Fittipaldi, Hauger and Hadjar all making their way past before PREMA made the call to pit him for a set of Hards.
Back in the midfield, Paul Aron was looking to make up the positions he lost at the start as one of the prime tyre runners and went round the outside of Jak Crawford at Turn 2 for P12, despite the American’s attempts to take back the position at T4.
But as the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver was battling to get back into the points, his Championship rival Hadjar was up to fourth after overtaking Fittipaldi and Hauger on lap 21.
Fittipaldi was also struggling on his softs and after losing out to Hauger and Colapinto, he suffered a puncture on his left front tyre forcing him to pit.
By the final lap, Verschoor had built a two-second gap out front and crossed the line to take his fourth Formula 2 victory ahead of Maini, with Martins taking the final podium spot.
However… Richard Verschoor has been disqualified from the results, as the plank on his car was below the minimum thickness required and lost the race win.
So the new full top 10 are- P1: Maini, P2: Martins, P3: Hadjar, P4: Hauger, P5: Colapinto, P6: Aron, P7: Barnard, P8: Correa, P9: Crawford and P10: Bearman.
Day 3-
It was a slow start for pole-sitter, Paul Aron, made worse by his lock up that forced him to go deep at Turn 1, dropping him to seventh. But it was an outstanding getaway from Martins, who was in the lead before approaching the opening corner after starting fifth.
The Hitech Pulse-Eight rookie’s hope of eating into Isack Hadjar’s 20-points championship lead took an early dent despite the Campos Racing driver being forced to start from the pit lane after leaving for the grid late.
Martins was under pressure from front row starter, Enzo Fittipaldi with Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto just behind them, with Hard tyre runners Zane Maloney and Antonelli in fourth and fifth respectively.
A Safety Car was required moments later when Aron, looking to dive down the inside of Hauger, carried too much speed into Turn 2 and went into the back of Maloney, causing both drivers to spin into a stop.
This allowed several of the soft tyre runners, such as Martins, Bortoleto, Fittipaldi, Hauger, O’Sullivan, Bearman and Hadjar to pit for hards and complete their mandatory stop.
The action resumed on lap 8 with Antonelli leading the way ahead of Verschoor and Kush Maini, the trio yet to pit. The Italian was in good form though, building up a lead of over three seconds to Verschoor by lap 13.
Just behind, Martins now on the better tyre in P4 and putting pressure on Maini. The ART driver was up to third on lap 15, going down the inside of the Invicta driver at Turn 1, with Bortoleto doing the same moments later on Amaury Cordeel for P6, Fittipaldi following through shortly afterwards.
Martins’ next target was Verschoor, and he was within DRS range of the Trident by lap 18 and dived down his inside at Turn 1 to move up to P2. But as he looked to close the six and a half second gap to Antonelli, the Safety Car was called upon with Cordeel having crashed at Turn 4.
Racing resumed on lap 27 of 37, with Martins leading away Bortoleto but they were quickly under pressure from Antonelli who got past both Hauger and Fittipaldi before reaching Turn 3.
Following the Safety Cars, the race became one against the clock and with under nine minutes to go, Antonelli used the DRS to his advantage and passed Martins on the main straight to take the lead.
Further behind, Verschoor was also on the charge and went round the outside of Hauger at Turn 2 to take P5 before getting past Fittipaldi on the next lap at Turn 1.
Onto the final lap, Antonelli had built up a lead of 12s before crossing the line to take his first Feature Race victory of the season, with Martins in second place. Verchoor made a last lap overtake on Bortoleto to take P3 with Fittipaldi.
The full top 10 are- P1: Antonelli, P2: Martins, P3: Verschoor, P4: Bortoleto, P5: Fittipaldi, P6: Hauger, P7: Maini, P8: Miyata, P9: Barnard and P10: Villagomez.
The half hour session at the unique indoor-outdoor ExCeL Circuit in the afternoon heat in London saw all 22 drivers take to the track to prep ahead of the all-important finale double-header.
Of the title contenders, Evans placed best with the fourth fastest time, just 0.065s shy of Vergne’s session benchmark. The Kiwi’s compatriot, teammate and standings leader Nick Cassidy wound up almost four-tenths back from the ultimate pace and 11th.
Form man and reigning champion Jake Dennis – the man with by far the best record in London – find himself down in 15th with plenty to work through to get his Andretti up the grid come qualifying.
FP2-
Robin Frijns in his Envision Racing machine was at the top of the times for Free Practice 2, as the Jaguar TCS Racing powertrain looks strong. Fresh from his back-to-back podiums in Portland, Frijns will be hoping to make it three in a row.
Brit, Oliver Rowland was second, with Sebastien Buemi in third. The Envision team claimed the Teams’ Championship at this race last year and look strong around this circuit.
The session saw all the drivers pushing their cars to the limit, with drivers coming so close to the walls and riding over the kerbs.
The last 10 minutes to the practice session saw Nissan’s Oliver Rowland, have a spin on entry into the ExCel building, but was able to get back on track in style.
Qualifying-
Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans achieved the Julius Baer Pole Position and closes the championship gap to his teammate Nick Cassidy to nine points.
The championship fight has got even closer, as the Jaguar of Mitch Evans managed to achieve pole and the three additional points whilst his teammate Nick Cassidy, struggled and will line up in 17th on the grid.
As well as a shocking result for Cassidy who leads the Drivers’ World Championship with 167 points and two races to go, there was also big results up and down the grid.
TAG Heuer Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa will be starting ninth, with Pascal Wehrlein in third at a circuit which can prove challenge to overtake on.
The top 10 for qualifying are- Pole: Evans, P2: Buemi, P3: Wehrlein, P4: Nato, P5: Vergne, P6: Muller, P7: Rowland, P8: Frijns, P9: Da Costa and P10: Dennis.
Round 15-
Mitch Evans got off to a strong start with Buemi close behind, but it was Norman Nato who pushed his way into third after a cautious Pascal Wehrlein took things easy.
However, there was drama further back as Jake Dennis squeezed out Robin Frijns which sent him into the wall and out of the race. The incident also picked up Sam Bird, and resulted in a Safety Car.
Things got back underway by Lap 5, and saw the pack start to take their Attack Modes. One notable activation belonged to Nick Cassidy who missed one of the sensors and had to try again, losing crucial time.
Oliver Rowland was getting his elbows out, fighting and trying to pass Jean-Eric Vergne but delivered a move up the inside. That wasn’t the only on-track battle for two-time champ JEV, as he also found himself getting tangled with Dennis and the two cars resting on top of each other for a brief moment.
Fighting for position, ROwland ended up clashing with Antonio Felix da Costa at the final corner and causing the two to come to a stop. For Rowland he was able to get going again but it was game over for da Costa as he limped back to the pits.
Buemi passed Evans for the lead on lap 10 in a lovely tidy move up the start-finish straight. Meanwhile, Dennis was out causing more trouble as he banged wheels with championship leader Cassidy.
Cassidy was also smacked into the wall as he fought Stoffel Vandoorne, but was able to continue. He also complained of his beacons not working and missed Attack Mode again when he tried to take the mandatory power boost.
Evans complained of energy issues, and was eventually passed by Maximilian Guenther for second place, yet disaster struck when his car suffered a problem and saw him drop down the order and eventually stop on track in the final stages of the race.
Norman Nato and Sacha Fenestraz added to the accident damage as they came together in the last moments of the race. But Pascal Wehrlein kept his cool up in front to take his third victory of the season, with Evans behind in second and Sebastien Buemi in third.
The full top 10 are- P1: Wehrlein, P2: Evans, P3: Buemi, P4: de Vries, P5: Mortara, P6: Muller, P7: Cassidy, P8: Bird, P9: Vandoorne and P10: Nato.
Oscar Piastri has taken his debut Grand Prix victory in Hungary after team drama played out, with Norris belatedly responding to an order to hand back the lead to the Australian…
After the duo went three wide with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen off the line, it was Piastri who emerged as the leader into Turn 1 and from there led much of the Grand Prix. However, when Norris was pitted first during the second round of stops – seemingly to cover off Hamilton – the Brit was the one to emerge ahead.
This then prompted the team to make several calls to Norris to give the position back but it took until lap 68 of 70 for Norris to comply.
The full top 10 are- P1: Piastri, P2: Norris, P3: Hamilton, P4: Leclerc, P5: Verstappen, P6: Sainz, P7: Perez, P8: Russell, P9: Tsunoda and P10: Stroll.
Obviously a great result for Piastri, his first win in F1! And it was well deserved in my opinion, and a good result for Norris too, with a 1-2 finish which obviously helps with the constructors. But I do think Piastri’s win has been downplayed a little just because of the situation on the radio with Norris and not wanting to let his teammate pass etc. As everyone knows if it was roles reversed Piastri would do it for Norris, so I have no doubt it will be an awkward debrief for the team.
A very good result for Hamilton, another podium which makes it 200 career podiums for the seven time world champion. He had a bit of drama with Verstappen in the closing stages of the race where they collided and the Dutchman went up in the air and leaving the track which then dropped him down to fifth. Hamilton will be looking towards the next race now, seeing what they can improve on in qualifying to get closer to the McLaren’s and Verstappen and then the race too.
Charles Leclerc had a good race, finished in P4, a step in the right direction for the team, hopefully they will get back on the podium some time soon… His teammate Carlos Sainz finished 6th which isn’t too bad but from starting P4 he would’ve preferred to finish higher but sometimes it doesn’t always go your way.
Obviously we have spoke about Verstappen, but I want to touch on him a little bit more. He was having a good race, not the best but he was struggling a little before the collision with Hamilton, he couldn’t quite catch up to the McLaren’s, so those upgrades Red Bull brought so far aren’t working… And the radio fights with his team, they were quite shocking and he just didn’t want to drop it. Whilst we are talking about Red Bull, Sergio Perez, obviously started 16th but he finished 7th which is a decent recovery drive from him, but the Mexican still has a lot of work to do if he wants to keep his seat for the remainder of this season and next…
Things keep going from bad to worse for Alpine, Pierre Gasly retired after suffering a hydraulic leak, his 2nd retirement in two races and Ocon finished P18…
Not long to wait until the next race as we head to Spa-Francorchamps this weekend!
Pole sitter Beganovic covered off Bedrin on the run to Turn 1 but the AIX driver was undeterred and rounded the Swede at Turn 2 to take the lead away. Inthraphuvasak followed in third position ahead of Callum Voisin and Christian Mansell.
The ART Grand Prix driver was under attack though on lap 2 from Tim Tramnitz and his MP Motorsport rival repeated the move of Bedrin into Turn 3 to take P5 from the Australian.
The Virtual Safety Car was then deployed to neutralise the race in order to recover Matias Zagazeta’s car after contact on the opening lap left him on the sidelines.
Back to racing conditions and the top four were covered by less than a second in the lead battle. As the quartet fought, Tramnitz and Mansell joined the train after the opening exchanges, getting to within DRS range by Lap 6.
Onto lap 10 and Beganovic made a late move on Bedrin into Turn 2 but caught the grass on the inside of the corner in the process. It sent his PREMA car sideways and while he was able to catch the slide, it dropped him down to third.
Into the Turn 6 and 7 chicane, Tramnitz squeezed his way alongside Voisin, who skipped across the chicane to keep hold of fourth. The Rodin Motorsport driver was told to concede the place to Tramnitz, seeing off any potential review. One lap later, and Mansell was through on the Brit at Turn 1 for fifth.
Out in front though, Bedrin was in full control after resisting the pressure of Beganovic and crossed the line to earn his first FIA F3 victory, leading home an AIX Racing 1-2 ahead of Inthraphuvasak, a result that means all teams have now stood on the podium in 2024.
The full top 10 are- P1: Bedrin, P2: Inthraphuvasak, P3: Beganovic, P4: Tramnitz, P5: Mansell, P6: Voisin, P7: Fornaroli, P8: Browning, P9: Van Hoepen and P10: Meguetounif.
Day 3-
Van Hoepen got wheelspin in the second phase of the start and had to defend hard from his teammate Tsolov off the line. The Dutch driver ran deep at Turn 1, allowing the Bulgarian through along with VAR’s Noel Leon.
With DRS enabled, Van Hoepen began to close in on Tsolov and was within half a second on lap 3, while Leon dropped to beyond a second back from the ART duo.
Christian Mansell moved his ART up to fifth with a late dive to the inside of Santiago Ramos at Turn 1 on lap 4.
As the opening laps ticked by, Van Hoepen radioed into his team to relay his tyres were beginning to overheat in the wake of teammate Tsolov.
By the midway point of the race, the top six were covered by four seconds with Santiago Ramos some 9.6s clear of Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin who was running in P7.
In the fight for the final points places, Oliver Goethe pulled off a late dive to pass Dino Beganovic and secure himself ninth position, while behind Gabriele Mini cleared Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak to move up into 11th.
Into the final three laps and after a phase of tyre management, van Hoepen began to apply the pressure on Tsolov once again in the lead fight.
Boya’s battle with Mini resumed and the Spaniard found a gap at Turn 2 to take 11th position. Contact between Arvid Lindblad and Matias Zagazeta resulted in a late-race Safety Car on Lap 21, with the PREMA driver stopped at Turn 4.
With little time to clear both cars, it was not possible to resumed racing in time for a final lap shootout. Tsolov took his third race win of 2024 and his first F3 Feature Race victory.
The full top 10 are- P1: Tsolov, P2: Van Hoepen, P3: Leon, P4: Fornaroli, P5: Mansell, P6: Ramos, P7: Voisin, P8: Bedrin, P9: Goethe and P10: Beganovic.
Lando Norris has taken pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix after a bit of a dramatic qualifying which featured wet-dry conditions, two red flags and a frantic dash to the line.
After the McLaren driver set an impressive provisional pole time of 1m 15.227s during the opening runs of Q3, the on track action was brought to a halt when Yuki Tsunoda suffered a heavy crash in the RB. As such, the session resumed with just over two minutes remaining.
Given the changing weather, most of the field were unable to improve and Norris retained P1, ahead of team mate Oscar Piastri by just 0.22s. Max Verstappen who opted not to go for another lap in the final moments finished P3.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Norris, P2: Piastri, P3: Verstappen, P4: Sainz, P5: Hamilton, P6: Leclerc, P7: Alonso, P8: Stroll, P9: Ricciardo and P10: Tsunoda.
A lovely result for McLaren, really can’t get better than a 1-2! Both Norris and Piastri will be wanting to go for the win tomorrow, and for the Australian will be wanting to grab his first win in Formula 1, but will Norris allow him to pass?
A decent result for Verstappen P3, not the worst position to be in for the Dutchman, no doubt he will enjoy himself doing some overtakes. However for his teammate, again it wasn’t the best qualifying session where he was out in Q1 where he crashed out and hit the barriers and was unable to continue…
A good result for Sainz! I feel like he has slipped under the radar in P4, the Spaniard will be aiming for the podium or even try and challenge for the win. His teammate Charles Leclerc had a decent qualifying session to in P6.
Lewis Hamilton will be starting 5th, and he will be wanting to go for that win again wanting to make it two in a row, will it be in his favour? He won’t have his team mate near him to help out as Russell qualified in P17, who has a lot of work to do to get into the points…
A decent result for Aston Martin and VCARB, both drivers in the top 10, Ricciardo will be wanting to grab some points this weekend, as he is yet to have a contract for next season…
I’m very, very happy. Not an easy qualifying, difficult conditions like you said, but always ending up on top is the best part of it also. Happy, especially for the team, a one-two is even better to see, so congrats to the team. It does give us confidence, but we’ve already got confidence so it’s not like we need a lot more of it, or we’re searching for it. We’ve come into this weekend and the last few happy and confident we can do a good job, and we’ve got a good car to fight for pole and that’s exactly what we did today, so like I said a great job by the team; we’ve been improving every weekend, so to end up on pole today is sweet. Pole-sitter Norris.
Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney made a strong start to his Budapest weekend by going fastest of all in Free Practice thanks to his time of 1:32.668.
Maloney was in fine form throughout the session and ended up over a tenth faster than DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford in second with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Enzo Fittipaldi in third.
It was Maloney who led the way after the first set of laps, as his time of 1:33.556 put him on top, with Trident’s Richard Verschoor crossing the line to go to second, 0.390s behind.
PREMA’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli then went up to second, only for Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto to jump ahead of him moments later, the Brazilian just 0.188s off Maloney.
The Virtual Safety Car was briefly deployed after Campos Racing’s Josep Maria Marti spun and made slight contact with the barrier at Turn 11.
Martins though was showing good pace and on his next flying effort beat Maloney’s time by just 0.002s, sending him to the top. But he would not hold that position for much longer with Hauger going fastest on a 1:33.100.
With less than four minutes to go, the drivers started to push on their tyres once more and Maloney went back to the top of the leaderboard with a lap of 1:32.668.
Qualifying-
Paul Aron sealed his second pole position of the season after edging out Van Amersfoort Racing’s Enzo Fittipaldi to the top spot in a tightly contested Budapest Qualifying session.
The Hitech Pulse-Eight driver completed a late lap of 1:30.028 to beat Fittipaldi to first by just 0.068s with Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar over a tenth back in third.
But it was Free Practice table-topper, Zane Maloney who led the way early on clocking a time of 1:30.515 to lead his ART Grand Prix rival Victor Martins by over a tenth.
Then came Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto setting the fastest times in the first two sectors before going to the top of the leaderboard with a 1:30.269, beating Malone by 0.246s.
A few drivers went on to try go for a second push lap on their first set of tyres, one of those being Aron, but as he came across the line he went up to P7, the Red Flags were waved.
Josep Maria Marti spun at the exit of Turn 11 and while he managed to stay out of the barrier, he stopped by the side of the road meaning the marshals had to wheel his car away.
With under 10 minutes remaining in the session, the drivers returned to the track after strapping on a new set of softs, led by Fittipaldi. This meant that the Brazilian was the first to set a timed lap on his second set and went up to provisional pole.
However, his time was quickly beaten by Aron, as the Hitech rookie went just 0.068s clear of the Brazilian with a 1:30.028.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Aron, P2: Fittipaldi, P3: Hadjar, P4: Bortoleto, P5: Martins, P6: Hauger, P7: Antonelli, P8: Maloney, P9: Maini and P10: Verschoor.
Mari Boya started his Budapest weekend on the front foot, winding up quickest for Campos Racing with a 1:34.236 in practice. The Spaniard led Hitech Pulse-Eight teammates Martinius Stenshorne and Luke Browning, who completed the top three.
After a quiet start to the session, drivers headed out onto the circuit with 15 minutes gone. Following tyre preparation laps, Alex Dunne set the first time to beat with a 1:34.986 which was swiftly bettered by Gabriele Mini.
His PREMA Racing teammate Dino Beganovic had been on a strong lap just ahead of him but a snap of oversteer at the penultimate corner cost the Swede time, crossing the line almost a second down in fifth.
Sebastian Montoya had been inside the top five earlier in the session but lost his first effort to track limits. The Campos Racing driver bounced back right away though to go second overall, 0.117s off Leon’s time.
Teammate Boya beat the pair of them shortly afterwards, going well clear of the rest on a 1:34.236 with just over 10 minutes left of the session.
Hitech Pulse-Eight teammates Martinius Stenshorne and Browning then moved themselves into the top positions, the former going second and the Briton fourth. On his final lap, the latter was able to find the time to lift himself up one more spot to take third at the chequered flag.
Qualifying-
ART Grand Prix’s Laurens van Hoepen earned his first pole position in FIA Formula 3, with a 1:33.995 coming in the nick of time. The Dutch driver finished the session on top and ahead of teammate Nikola Tsolov in P2, while title contender Leonardo Fornaroli took third for Trident.
There was a late red flag as another contender Luke Browning spun into the barriers on his final attempt, ending the session early.
With tyre preparation laps complete, AIX Racing’s Joshua Dufek set the initial pace with a 1:34.414 ahead of teammates Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Nikita Bedrin in a 1-2-3 for the team.
There was more vying for track position ahead of the second attempts but this time it was van Hoepen that took over at the top, setting a 1:34.316 until Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel Leon secured P1 with a 1:34.174.
Further back and with clear track, Fornaroli was next to go quickest but it was very closely run. The Italian driver went just 0.001s quicker than Leon to secure provisional pole.
Van Hoepen returned to the top as the first into the 1:33s ahead of teammate Tsolov in P2. Fornaroli put himself in third just as the red flags came out as title rival Browning found the barriers at Turn 11, bringing the session to a conclusion and those behind unable to improve.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Van Hoepen, P2: Tsolov, P3: Fornaroli, P4: Leon, P5: Ramos, P6: Dufek, P7: Mehuetounif, P8: Browning, P9: Tramnitz and P10: Mansell.
Kevin Magnussen will vacate his race seat with Haas when the Dane’s contract expires at the end of the season – although boss Ayao Komatsu says he hopes they can “find a way to keep working together in some capacity.”
Magnussen is currently in his seventh season with Haas, split across two spells 2017 – 2020 and 2022 – 2024 and has scored five points to team mate Nico Hulkenberg’s 22 this season.
The former McLaren and Renault driver secured a career-high ninth in the standings for Haas back in 2018 when he scored points in 11 of the 21 races that season, as the American team finished a best-ever fifth in the constructors’ championship.
Just weeks after Haas announced Ollie Bearman would make his full-time racing debut with the team in 2025, and on the eve of the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest they have revealed Magnussen will not be partnering him.
Some sources say that Esteban Ocon is favourite to join the team – though Haas have made no reference to their plans for the second seat.
I’d like to thank Kevin for everything he’s given us as a team – both on and off the track. He’s truly been a bedrock of our driver line-up over the years. Nobody’s driven more races for us and we’ve had some memorable highlights together – not least a remarkable fifth place finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2022 when Kevin returned to start his second spell with the team. He wasn’t expecting to be driving a Formula 1 car that weekend, but he put in a remarkable performance that was a tremendous boost to the entire organization and once again showcased his own talents behind the wheel. There’s plenty of racing to go this year so I’m looking forward to seeing what else we can achieve with Kevin as we push together in the championship. Beyond that, and with Kevin’s special relationship with the team, I’m hoping we can find a way to keep working together in some capacity. We can hopefully define that in the near future, but his extensive experience in Formula 1 and knowledge of our working operations are undoubtedly of value in our on-going growth and development. Komatsu on the news.
I’d like to extend my thanks to everyone at MoneyGram Haas F1 Team – I’m proud to have raced for such a great team of people these last few years. In particular I’d like to thank Gene Haas for his commitment to me, notably in bringing me back once again in 2022 when I thought, at that time at least, my time in Formula 1 had ended. I’ve enjoyed some great moments with this team – memories I’ll never forget. While I’m looking forward to the next chapter of my racing career, I remain fully focused on giving everything I’ve got for the rest of 2024 with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team. Magnussen on leaving Haas.
It’s one last push before Formula 1’s summer break, with a double-header on two tracks that could not be more different from one another, the Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps.
Cars must run with a high level of aerodynamic downforce this weekend, which is almost on par with Monaco. The Hungaroring is very twisty with only one real straight that includes the start-finish line. It provides the most likely if not the only overtaking opportunity.
There are 14 corners, six to the left and eight to the right, some of them being 180 degree turns. The track climbs and drops its 4.381 kilometres make it one of the shortest on the calendar.
In terms of the forces exerted on the tyres, the Hungaroring is not particularly severe. Pirelli has chosen the same three softest compounds as last year, with them picking the C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft).
Traction is one of the most important factors, especially across the rear axle. Degradation can be high, especially when it is very hot and the forecast for this weekend is definitely not favourable in this regard.
The Hungaroring is a permanent race track, but it does not get that much use, which is why grip levels increase significantly the more it gets rubbered-in. That will be even more likely this year as there was no track activity for a longer time than usual while the facility was modernised.
Max Verstappen won here last year at the end of the race when the entire field opted for a two-stop strategy. Medium and Hard were the most popular choices for the start, although four drivers opted for the soft, intending to make use of the extra grip off the line.
The Hungaroring is very twisty with only one real straight that includes the start-finish line. It provides the most likely, if not the only, overtaking opportunity. There are 14 corners, six to the left and eight to the right, some of them being 180° turns. #HungarianGP#F1pic.twitter.com/eo8YgB6Nl1
Haas F1 Team have confirmed the extension of their technical partnership with Ferrari through 2028, meaning they will be powered by the Italian manufacturer into the sport’s next era of engine regulations.
Haas’s relationship with Ferrari dates back to their debut F1 season in 2016, with the two parties contesting 178 Grands Prix together since then.
F1’s new for 2026 power unit will see the current 1.6-litre, V6 turbocharged hybrid Internal Combustion Engine complemented by increased electrical power and fully sustainable fuels.
Haas rose to a person best of fifth in the F1 constructors’ standings in 2018, and hold seventh at the halfway stage of the 2024 campaign.
The team also recently announced that they will be giving Oliver Bearman his full-time F1 debut in 2025, with Nico Hulkenberg heading to Kick Sauber and Kevin Magnussen’s future yet to be confirmed.
I’m thrilled to extend our relationship with Scuderia Ferrari until 2028. As an organisation we’ve only ever raced with Ferrari power units and to have that continued stability moving into the next set of power unit regulations is a key part of our on-going development. The relationship with Scuderia Ferrari has always been a special one to us – they were instrumental in the genesis of the program back in the early days and have continued to be a valuable technical partner to us throughout the past nine seasons. I’m delighted we now have more seasons ahead and my thanks go to [Ferrari team boss] Fred Vasseur and many others at Scuderia Ferrari for continuing to show faith in our project. This announcement is just another example of the long-term ambition of MoneyGram Haas F1 Team – our investment and growth in the sport continues. Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal of Haas F1 Team.
Jordan's Track Talk 