RB have announced that Super Formula racer Ayumu Iwasa will make his Formula 1 weekend debut at the Japanese Grand Prix by appearing in free practice with the team.
Iwasa, 22, is set to drive Daniel Ricciardo’s car during FP1 at Suzuka next week, meaning an all-Japanese RB line-up alongside Yuki Tsunoda for the opening session.
Iwasa finished fourth in last year’s F2 standings, where he took three race victories and three further podiums across the season, along with one pole position. He made the move to the Japan-based Super Formula championship for 2024, scoring points on debut at the Suzuka opener earlier this month.
While the outing will mark Iwasa’s practice debut, it will not be his first time in an F1 car, having driven for the then-named Alpha Tauri at last year’s F1 post-season test in Abu Dhabi.
Under F1’s current regulations, each team must run a rookie – by definition a driver who has started two or fewer Grand Prix – in two FP1 sessions over the course of each campaign.
McLaren have confirmed that Zak Brown has extended his contract as the team’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), with the new deal seeing him stay in the role until 2030.
Brown first joined McLaren back in 2016 as the Executive Director of McLaren Technology Group before going on to become CEO in April 2018.
Since assuming his position, Brown has overseen operations across all of McLaren’s race teams and has shaped the strategic direction of McLaren Racing, as well as driving the outfit’s marketing and commercial development. McLaren are now involved in IndyCar, Extreme E, Formula E and obviously Formula 1.
The American has been crucial to the regeneration of the team including hiring a number of top-end staff such as Ferrari’s David Sanchez and Red Bull’s Rob Marshal. As well as opening their new windtunnel at their factory in Woking last year.
Earlier this year, Brown secured the future of Lando Norris on a new multi-year deal, while Oscar Piastri is also tied down for many years to come.
Zak has demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities and has been instrumental in driving McLaren Racing forward. His extension reflects our confidence in his ability to lead the team to even greater success in the years to come.
Paul Walsh – McLaren Group’s Executive Chairman.
I am thrilled to continue leading McLaren Racing and to be a part of such a historic race team. It is a privilege to work alongside the talented men and women across McLaren Racing’s different race series. Together, we will continue to push the boundaries of motorsport and strive for the highest performance on and off the track.
Andretti have chosen Zane Maloney who will take the wheel of the teams’ Porsche 99X Electric in the Free Practice 0 session in Misano and the Berlin Rookie Test, with Jak Crawford joining the American squad for the first time to sample the Gen3 machine.
The next generation of racing talent will again have a chance to showcase their skills in Season 10. Free Practice 0 running ahead of the 2024 Misano E-Prix on Friday 12th April, followed by the 2024 Berlin Rookie Test after the double-header in the German capital on Monday 13th May.
Andretti is the first team to reveal the two drivers stepping into the seat of reigning champion, Jake Dennis and teammate Norman Nato. Zane Maloney is back to represent the American outfit, as he is the team’s official reserve and development by running laps in the FPO session in Milano.
Maloney will again take part in the Berlin test and American Jak Crawford will join for a full day behind the wheel of the Gen3 machine around the Tempelhof circuit.
Crawford who will make his Formula E debut at the 2024 Berlin Rookie Test has enjoyed a long history of on track success starting in karts before making his car racing debut in Formula 4 in 2018. After two years in FIA Formula 3, Crawford was promoted to Formula 2 quickly becoming a race winner at the Sprint race in Austria in 2023.
Recently announced to the Aston Martin Young Driver Development program, Crawford will be the seventh American to participate in an official Formula E session joining fellow countrymen Marco Andretti, Matthew Brabham, Scott Speed, Oliver Askew, Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood.
I can’t wait to represent Andretti Formula E once again at both Misano and Berlin. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with the team and thank them for all the trust they have put in me. It will be interesting to see how the development work I’ve contributed to behind the scenes translates to the actual car on track during both occasions I get to drive it.
Maloney on the news.
We are excited to announce Zane Maloney’s participation in the Free Practice 0 session at the 2024 Misano E-Prix, as well as his inclusion in our 2024 Berlin Rookie Test lineup. Zane has proven to be a valuable asset to our team through his development work on the simulator, and we are confident that his knowledge will benefit us during the Misano E-Prix doubleheader weekend and the Berlin Rookie Test. Additionally, we are pleased to announce Jak Crawford’s rookie debut at the Berlin Rookie Test,which marks an important milestone in his career. We look forward to seeing him showcase his talents on the Formula E stage. These opportunities are integral to Andretti Global’s commitment to developing and mentoring the next generation of drivers, and we are eager to see both Zane and Jak excel on track.
A slow getaway from the front row gave Hadjar the momentum to take the lead, but as the Frenchman moved to pass pole-sitter Stanek, he tapped teammate Josep Maria Marti who collided with Gabriel Bortoleto.
Victor Martins was a big winner of lap 1, where he climbed eight places from P21 to 13th in the space of half a lap.
After five laps behind the Safety Car, racing got underway entering lap 7, but Zane Maloney had a tough restart, dropping from fifth position to 10th after running into the gravel out of Turn 6.
The fight for second was a five-car battle headed by Stanek, with the chasing pack bunched up behind closely. Going into Turn 12 on lap 10, a spin for Andrea Kimi Antonelli sent Richard Verschoor spinning also, while Paul Aron sustained front wing damage in the process. The PREMA and Trident drivers were out on the spot and the Safety Car was called upon.
Back to racing, Hadjar got the jump on Stanek once again to establish a comfortable lead. A fastest lap with seven to go gave him a lead of three seconds over the Trident driver, who was defending hard from Maini behind.
Onto the penultimate lap and Hauger finally got the move done on Maini to take third, sweeping around the outside of the Invicta driver at Turn 9 to take the place.
Hadjar had disappeared into the distance after the final Safety Car and crossed the line to win by over six seconds. However, Isack Hadjar has been handed a 10 second time penalty after the race as he was found to cause a collision at the start of the race. Which means he loses his victory and drops down to sixth.
So the top 10 is- P1: Stanek, P2: Hauger, P3: Maini, P4: Colapinto, P5: Miyata, P6: Hadjar, P7: Martins, P8: O’Sullivan, P9: Crawford and P10: Maloney.
Day 3-
Dennis Hauger got the perfect start to lead Andrea Kimi Antonelli into Turn 1. Contact further back in the pack between Zak O’Sullivan and Roman Stanek left the sprint winner spinning and put him last in the order.
Further around the first lap, Antonelli made a dive to the inside of the polesitter to secure P1 at Turn 11, but the MP driver responded on the following tour to retake the lead at Turn 9.
There was a brief virtual Safety Car on Lap 7 to recover Joshua Duerksen’s car following contact with O’Sullivan at Turn 13. Racing was resumed and Maini was on the move, he took the lead from Hauger on Lap 9 before the Norwegian led Antonelli and the first leaders in for mandatory stops, filtering back out just outside of the top 10.
The polesitter’s day was over shortly afterwards though, as he crashed at Turn 6 to bring out the Virtual Safety Car on lap 11. Isack Hadjar made his mandatory stop before the VSC was deployed to come back out ahead of Antonelli on the road in 8th.
Hadjar cleared the yet to stop Taylor Banard for sixth to put a car between himself and his closest rival. The Frenchman was on the move on the following lap, taking fifth from Enzo Fittipaldi at Turn 9. The Campos driver’s charge continued at the expense of Stanek on Lap 20, easing by the Trident driver with DRS on the back straight.
Having cleared teammate Ritomo Miyata, Maloney was next to pass Barnard to move himself up to ninth position and he set off in pursuit of the PREMA driver further ahead.
Lap 24, and with Stanek battling to stay ahead of Fittipaldi, the VAR driver ran out of room at Turn 4 to allow Aron, Antonelli and Maloney through.
The full top 10 are- P1: Hadjar, P2: Aron, P3: Maloney, P4: Antonelli, P5: Miyata, P6: Verschoor, P7: Colapinto, P8: Villagomez, P9: Martins and P10: Bearman.
However, Colapinto has been disqualified from the race as he was found to have not engaged the race start set up procedure at the start of the race in breach of technical regulations. The Argentinian loses P7 with Jak Crawford moving up into the final points position.
The top five remained the same at the start with pole-sitter van Hoepen covering off Stenshorne to retain the lead. His ART teammate and home favourite Christian Mansell stayed in third ahead of the Red Bull-liveried cars of Oliver Goethe and Lindblad.
However, van Hoepen and Stenshorne quickly became embroiled in a multi-lap battle for the lead on lap 3. But this battle brought the rest of their rivals into play, with the top 10 only covered by three seconds.
On lap 6, Mansell was now coming under attack from Lindblad with the PREMA driver taking P3 at Turn 9. Just behind the pair, Goethe lost P5 to his Campos teammate Mari Boya at the same corner.
In the battle for points, Dino Beganovic was on the move in other PREMA car and quickly dispatched Fornaroli at Turn 12 for 9th, the Trident driver then ran wide onto the gravel, dropping him to 15th.
Back at the front, Stenshorne had built a gap of over two and a half seconds to van Hoepen, but the ART driver was then overtaken by Lindblad. As the race moved past the halfway stage, Beganovic was now coming under attack from Sebastian Montoya. The Campos driver made the move past on the run down to Turn 1, with the Swede then losing another position to Charlie Wurz two corners later.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s home hero Tommy Smith collided with the rear of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak at Turn 1. The Thai racer was out of the car and the race whilst the Australian continued on.
Back to green flag racing, Beganovic made the move past Wurz for P8 at the popular Turn 9. The Austrian ran wide at corner exit, losing further positions to drop him down to 13th.
The full top 10 is – P1: Stenshorne, P2: Lindblad, P3: Van Hoepen, P4: Boya, P5: Goethe, P6: Mini, P7: Dunne, P8: Montoya, P9: Fornaroli and P10: Mansell.
Day 3-
Fornaroli led away from pole, staying ahead of the PREMA pair of Mini and Beganovic. But there was plenty of action at the back of the pack as MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz suffered a puncture after colliding with Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak.
The PHM AIX Racing driver then hit Sophia Floersch and despite both being able to continue to the pitlane, they were both forced to retire with damage.
We were back to green flag conditions, with the top three remaining the same, Luke Browning and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top five with the pair pouncing on the PHM AIX’s Nikita Bedrin to move up the order.
On lap 11, there was more bad news for the Australian fans as Christian Mansell lost two places at Turn 11, with Jenzer Motorsport’s Charlie Wurz and Campos’ Sebastian Montoya overtaking the ART Grand Prix driver.
Beganovic after being given the all clear to overtake Mini for second, and he did just that on lap 12, making his way past at Turn 9. The PREMA driver then quickly got within DRS range of Fornaroli.
Mini’s struggles continued as by the end of Lap 13, he lost another position at Turn 9. A lap later, Beganovic took the lead from Fornaroli at the same corner. Elsewhere, Campos Racing teammates Mari Boya and Sebastian Montoya quickly got past Bedrin, moving them up to fifth and sixth.
The top three were now covered by just a second a half with Fornaroli well within DRS range of Beganovic as the drivers set off on lap 18. Mini was however beginning to show strong pace and closed in on Browning for third.
The full top 10 is: P1: Beganovic, P2: Fornarolli, P3: Mini, P4: Browning, P5: Wurz, P6: Montoya, P7: Boya, P8: Bedrin, P9: Goethe and P10: Mansell.
Well Australia always provides some drama in the race and we certainly got some of that!
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz took his and the team’s first win of the season, taking advantage of Max Verstappen’s technical trouble which resulted in the first non-Red Bull win of the season.
Bidding for a record-equalling 10th victory in a row, Verstappen converted his pole position advantage as the race got under way but soon reported issues, with a compromised second lap which opened the door for Sainz to take the lead. From there, Verstappen’s brake-related woes got worse and with plumes of smoke exiting the rear of his RB20 he then returned to the pits and retired for the first time in two years.
Carlos Sainz was followed closely by his teammate, Charles Leclerc making it a 1-2 for the Italian team! And rounding out the podium places is Mr Lando Norris, his first of the season.
The full top 10 is- P1: Sainz, P2: Leclerc, P3: Norris, P4: Piastri, P5: Perez, P6: Alonso, P7: Stroll, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Hulkenberg and P10: Magnussen.
What a drive from Carlos Sainz, who is still not feeling 100% performed a drive which should really secure him a seat next year!
Obviously very gutting for Max Verstappen, it’s very rare for him to have a DNF due to something wrong on the car, I had no doubt he would of been fighting for the win if it didn’t happen, but it’s racing that is just the way it goes sometimes.
Points for Tsunoda!! He pretty much stayed in the top 10 all race unless he pitted, the team and Japanese driver will be happy with that after their start to the season.
Double points for Haas aswell! They had a really good race today, good pit stops and it benefited them as they were there incase anything happened within the top teams which it did.
A disappointing day for Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton had a mechanical issue which saw him pull over to the side and then on the last lap George Russell was chasing Fernando Alonso down for P6 and ended up spinning and crashing which was a nasty crash but luckily he is all okay. Mercedes will be wanting to forget this weekend and just move onto the next race.
However due to the crash with Russell, Fernando Alonso has been given a 20 second time penalty ( drive through) as the stewards determined the Spanish drivers driving was “potentially dangerous” which has dropped the driver down to P8.
Now looking onto Round 4, we head to Japan for the Japanese Grand Prix from the 5th to 7th of April!
Dennis Hauger ended practice fastest of all for MP Motorsport, recording a 1:29.654 to hit the ground running in Melbourne. Isack Hadjar followed in P2, the Campos driver just 0.001s down on the fastest laptime while Andrea Kimi Antonelli led the PREMA Racing charge in third.
Not long after the green light, Amaury Cordeel brought out an early Red Flag after running deep at Turn 1 and becoming beached in the gravel trap.
Once the Hitech Pulse-Eight car was clear, the top spot changed hands multiple times, but Victor Martin led the way for ART Grand Prix after he set a 1:32.359, 0.074s clear of teammate Zak O’Sullivan.
That was swiftly beaten by Gabriel Bortoleto as he moved up to P1 on a 1:31.043. Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney went second-quickest until Antonelli closed the gap to the Brazilian to just 0.130s.
The track continued to improve rapidly as Bortoleto improved on his next lap to lower the time to beat to a 1:30.373. Hauger bettered that by 0.070s shortly afterwards, while Martins went third overall a further 0.008s further back from the Norwegian.
The MP driver then went to the top himself, a 1:29.654 leaving him 0.4s quicker than Antonelli, who moved up to second with over 15 minutes to go.
Paul Aron suffered a similar spin at Turn 1 as his teammate but was able to recover to the circuit and continue on his way. There was a few more improvements in the latter stages of the session, though Hadjar was able to move himself up to second.
The second red flag of the session came with three minutes remaining, as Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez spun and came to a stop at Turn 2 which brought an early end to the session.
Qualifying-
Dennis Hauger made it a Friday sweep for MP Motorsport, taking pole position in Melbourne after topping Practice timesheets.
The Norwegian beat PREMA Racing’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli to the top spot with his final flying lap to record a 1:28.694. Richard Verschoor made a late improvement to end up third overall.
Before any laps were on the board, the red flags were waved after ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins came to a half at Turn 7 after a spin on corner exit. He managed to avoid the barriers, but his session was over and his car was recovered.
Once action resumed, Kush Maini set the initial benchmark with a 1:30.359. Hitech Pulse Eight’s Paul Aron then took over P1 with a 1:29,984 while Hauger was just 0.031s down on that effort in second.
With 14 minutes left, cars returned to the pits for fresh supersoft tyres heading into the final runs of the session
Once back on track, Maloney took to the top spot with a 1:29.374 just prior to the second red flag of the session. Jak Crawford lost his DAMS Lucas Oil car and hit the barriers at Turn 12.
Qualifying got back underway with 4:14 left on the clock and the top four were separated by less than a tenth of a second. Bortoleto was set to make an improvement but ran off the road at Turn 12.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Hauger, P2: Antonelli, P3: Verschoor, P4: Maini, P5: Maloney, P6: Aron, P7: Marti, P8: Hadjar, P9: Bortoleto and P10: Stanek.
Max Verstappen claimed an assured pole position in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz following closely behind in second and Sergio Perez in third.
After setting a time of 1m 16.048s in the first runs of Q3, the Dutchman improved on his effort in his final laps with a 1,15.915s. This put him 0.270s clear of Sainz, who looked impressive in his first qualifying since returning following surgery for appendicitis two weeks ago.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Verstappen, P2: Sainz, P3: Perez, P4: Norris, P5: Leclerc, P6: Piastri, P7: Russell, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Stroll and P10: Alonso.
However, Sergio Perez has been handed a three place grid penalty for impeding Hulkenberg. So he will now be starting from P6, and Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri all move up a place.
A great result from Carlos Sainz, just what the Spanish driver needed especially after missing the previous race, plus his also on a search for a seat for next season so a great performance from him.
Yuki Tsunodaaaa, in Q3! Great result from him, him and the team will be wanting to score some points this weekend and that means capitalize on his great qualifying position. However for his teammate, not a great day at all, Daniel Ricciardo qualifying P18 at his home race, he will be wanting to make up as many positions as possible.
A decent result from George Russell, unfortunately for Lewis Hamilton, he was pushed out of the top 10 in the final moments of Q2 and will be starting P11 tomorrow, which isn’t the worst place but he is in the middle of the pack so he will want to take it easy and not get in any trouble.
Esteban Ocon got into Q2 and qualified P15, after he brushed the wall in Q1. Another little mention to Valtteri Bottas a keen fan of Australia will be starting from P13.
The McLaren duo had a good qualifying aswell, they will be looking to score a podium this weekend, especially because of Oscar Piastri a podium at home? Any driver would want that!
PREMA Racing’s Gabriele Mini set the early pace in Melbourne as the Italian topped timesheets in Free Practice ahead of Qualifying thanks to a time of 1:33.225.
Mini proved to be the one to beat for the majority of the morning session with compatriot Leonardo Fornaroli his nearest challenger, ending up three-tenths off his time. PREMA teammate Dino Beganovic wound up third.
But at the start of proceedings it was an all-PREMA top three as Mini hit the ground running with a lap of 1:34.874, leading Beganovic by three tenths, as Arvid Lindblad tucked into third.
Soon after, Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Cian Shields spun into the barrier at the final corner, bringing out the Red Flags after 15 minutes of running. The drivers were back out on track with half of the session remaining and once again it was Mini who set the pace, strengthening his grip on P1.
With three minutes left in the session, another Red Flag was waved after ART Grand Prix driver Nikola Tsolov collided with MP Motorsport’s rookie Alex Dunne. The Irishman ended up in the barriers, and the session was not resumed.
Qualifying-
Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli took his second Formula 3 pole position, beating rival Gabriele Mini to take the top spot in Melbourne thanks to his time of 1:33.044.
Mini had provisional pole until the final flying laps and wound up just 0.019s off the top spot, but sealed a front row start for the Feature Race, with his teammate Dino Beganovic in third.
After the first set of laps Fornaroli set the pace thanks to his time of 1:33.882 with Free Practice timesheet-topper Mini over four-tenths back of his compatriot in second. The Trident driver could not improve on his next attempt, but the PREMA racer did and closed the gap to 0.020s. Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning then went up to third, two-tenths back of Fornaroli’s time.
With only five minutes left in the session, Sami Meguetounif crashed his Trident into the barrier at the exit of the final corner bringing out the red flags. Moments prior, Mini had gone up to P1 with a 1:33.505.
The lights went green, which left the drivers with four and a half minutes to set their final laps, and it was Fornaroli who took pole position.
The full top 10 are – P1: Fornaroli, P2: Mini, P3: Beganovic, P4: Bedrin, P5: Browning, P6: Tsolov, P7: Lindblad, P8: Goethe, P9: Mansell and P10: Stenshorne.
Williams have announced that Alex Albon will be taking over the car of his teammate Logan Sargeant for the remainder of the 2024 Australian Grand Prix weekend, following his crash in Free Practice 1.
Towards the end of FP1, Albon lost control of his Williams FW46 at the exit of Turn 6 at Albert Park, running over the kerbs and then spinning out into the wall on the other side of the track.
Luckily Albon was unharmed but he was forced to sit out of Free Practice 2 as Williams confirmed they have no third chassis available this weekend so they had to assess the damage to the car.
With that damage to have been too significant to continue using the chassis, the team made the call for Albon to take over the car of teammate Sargeant. The Thai driver, last season claimed 27 of the team’s 28 points helped the team to finish P7 in the constructors’ championship.
For Logan, he will now sit on the sidelines for the rest of the weekend, as Albon jumps into the American’s chassis from Free Practice 3 onwards.
Due to the extensive damage sustained, [Williams are] forced to withdraw the chassis for the remainder of the Grand Prix. This chassis will be returned to the team’s HQ at Grove for repair. Due to the fact that a third chassis is unavailable, the team can confirm it has taken the decision for Alex to compete for the remainder of the weekend in the chassis that Logan Sargeant drove in FP1 and FP2.
Statement from Williams.
We are hugely disappointed that the damage sustained to the chassis has meant we need to withdraw it from the weekend. It’s unacceptable in modern day Formula 1 not to have a spare chassis, but it is a reflection of how behind we were in the winter period and an illustration of why we need to go through significant change in order to get ourselves in a better position for the future. As a result, we have had some very difficult decisions to make this afternoon. While Logan should not have to suffer from a mistake that he did not make, every race counts when the midfield is tighter than ever, so we have made the call based on our best potential to score points this weekend. This decision was not made lightly, and we cannot thank Logan enough for his graceful acceptance, demonstrating his dedication to the team; he is a true team player. This will prove a tough weekend for Williams, and this situation is not one that we will put ourselves in again.
James Vowles, Team Principal on the news.
I have to be totally honest and say that no driver would want to give up his seat. I would never want anything like this to happen. Logan has always been a consummate professional and a team player from day one, and this won’t be an easy one for him to take. At this point though, I cannot dwell on the situation and my only job now is to maximise our potential this weekend and work with the whole team to make sure we do the best job possible.
Ferrari have provided an update on Carlos Sainz’s health ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, after the Spanish driver was forced to miss the previous race in Jeddah.
Sainz was withdrawn from the F1 weekend at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the two-time race winner forced to undergo surgery after being diagnosed with appendicitis.
Ollie Bearman stepped into his place as Ferrari’s reserve driver, who caused a sensation with a P7 in the race.
However, ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, Ferrari confirmed that Sainz was looking likely to return to the cockpit of the SF-24 with Bearman remaining on call as reserve driver, alongside his Formula 2 duties with PREMA racing in Melbourne this weekend.
Should he not be required to step in for Sainz, Bearman will be keen to kick-start his F2 campaign, with the Brit currently on zero points after failing to score in Bahrain, before being withdrawn from the event in Jeddah.
Fred Vasseur, Ferrari team principal, predicted that Ferrari would be “front runners” at the Australian circuit, with the team having provided the sternest challenge so far to Red Bull having been able to grab two podiums in the first two races.
Carlos Sainz is expected to be back in the car, having had to miss Jeddah with appendicitis. He and team mate Charles Leclerc will most likely be fighting at the front of the field, as they have done in the first two rounds.
The team in a pre-race statement.
I’ll let you know tomorrow when I get back in the car and the G-forces throw me around a bit. But I feel ready. I’ve done as much as possible to recover and you cannot imagine the effort and logistics that I have done to be fit for this race. Progress, I’m very happy with the progress I’ve made and now, as I said, it’s time to jump in the car and see how I feel.
Sainz on how much of a challenge it would be to get back in the car.
Pirelli’s C5 tyre – the softest of the five compounds – will make its debut this weekend at the Australian Grand Prix. This has been nominated alongside the C4 and the C3.
This is a softer selection compared to last year, when the C2, C3 and C4 were chosen. But it’s not the first time that the softest compound has been seen in Melbourne as back in 2022 Pirelli brought the C5 to Albert Park.
The decision to go with a softer compound was taken after analysing last year’s race which centred around the C2 tyre. The C2 tyre last year was used for 46 out of 58 laps by 10 drivers, and three drivers running it for more than 50 laps. The Grand Prix last year was characterised by numerous stoppages which included three safety car and three red flag with two restarts and a rolling start aswell.
The Albert Park track is made up of 14 corners, having recently been redesigned to make it more flowing. Historically, a one-stop strategy has been the favoured option but the move to a softer tyre may change that. The track isn’t too hard on tyres, with degradation being a bigger factor than wear. In Australia currently it’s the beginning of autumn and there could be some weather-related surprises, with temperature swings and rain having made their mark on the race weekend in the past.
We also have a packed programme as Formula 2 and Formula 3 are supporting F1 this weekend.
The Australian Grand Prix is a firm favourite in the world of F1, thanks to its stunning location and the buzzy atmosphere of host city Melbourne. Pirelli's C5 compound makes its debut this weekend. 🇦🇺#Fit4F1#Formula1#Pirelli@F1pic.twitter.com/4OZPkvdPAc
Seeing as the season is in full swing, driver contracts are always a big topic, but I think this year’s silly season is going to be one to remember as it already kicked off before the season even started!
However, we know that sometimes contracts mean nothing, and there is always a way to get out of them early… 12 drivers contracts are up at the end of the season.
Red Bull-
Max Verstappen – 2028 Sergio Perez – 2024
Mercedes-
Lewis Hamilton – 2024 George Russell – 2025
Ferrari-
Charles Leclerc – “Several more seasons” Carlos Sainz – 2024
McLaren-
Lando Norris – 2026 Oscar Piastri – 2026
Aston Martin-
Fernando Alonso – 2024 Lance Stroll – Rolling
Alpine-
Esteban Ocon – 2024 Pierre Gasly – 2024
Williams-
Alex Albon – 2025 Logan Sargeant – 2024
RB-
Daniel Ricciardo – 2024 Yuki Tsunoda – 2024
Sauber-
Valtteri Bottas – 2024 Guanyu Zhou – 2024
Haas-
Kevin Magnussen – 2024 Nico Hulkenberg – 2024
That’s all 20 drivers contract lengths, obviously we know Lewis is moving to Ferrari next season, so there is a vacant seat at Mercedes which definitely doesn’t come around too often… There are also a few junior drivers and drivers sitting on the sideline waiting for an opportunity.
Those being, Liam Lawson, Felipe Drugovich, Ollie Bearman, Frederik Vesti and Theo Pourchaire. All five drivers are linked to F1 teams and I could possibly see maybe one or two of them coming in for the 2025 season. Not only this but looking at Formula 2 aswell, depending on how the drivers go in this season they could maybe be a possibility aswell.
Now all we have to do is wait until the next team announces whether they are sticking with their drivers or going to have a little bit of a switch around…
Free Practice 1- Mitch Evans started his Sao Paulo weekend in the best way possible, as the Jaguar TCS Racing driver topped the first free practice session of the weekend.
The Jaguar team come into the weekend as the favourites after dominating the race result here last season. The British manufacturer achieved their first 1-2-3 result here as a powertrain supplier, and will look to replicate it again.
This 2.93km street circuit is home to the longest straight in Formula E, and will certainly be a prime overtaking spot. ERT’s Dan Ticktum was using the session to find the limits, going off at the entry into the first chicane and having to rejoin the track down at Turn 3 where ATTACK MODE is.
With halfway through the session, Stoffel Vandoorne was fastest on track. However, track evolution meant the times kept tumbling. Edoardo Mortara of Mahindra Racing went second just 0.028s off Mitch Evans. Ticktum slot into third with less that two minutes to go.
Free Practice 2- NEOM McLaren’s Sam Bird topped the timesheets for the second and final free practice in Sao Paulo, as the grid prepare for qualifying. The Brit, who stood on the podium here last year, set a time of 1:12.773s in a session that was impacted by a red flag.
Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans also suffered an unlucky mechanical issue which limited the running time for him. Team Principal, James Barclays confirmed that the problem was with the car’s front driveshaft but the team were quick to try and fix it.
Maximilian Guenther went quickest 10 minutes into FP2, but despite the German’s rapid pace he will be starting toward the back of the grid as he picked up a 20 place grid penalty for changing his gearbox before FP2.
Double waved yellows were waved with nine minutes of practice left to go, after Edoardo Mortara received a warning on the steering wheel of his Mahindra Racing telling him to stop the car. The six time race winner pulled his car over to the side off the track just after Turn 3, and brought out the red flags as his car needed to be recovered.
The session did get back to green flag racing for the last minute, but left no time for setting fast laps. Instead, the grid completed some practice starts ahead of the race.
Qualifying-
TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein managed to grab a second Julius Baer Pole Position of the season, beating DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne but just 0.002s – the second closest pole margin in Formula E history.
It was a dramatic session for the Jaguar powertrain cars, with Evans being the highest placed car in fourth. Nick Cassidy, who leads the championship, failed to make it through to the Duels and will start ninth, with both Envision cars down in 17th and 18th.
DS Penske had a very strong qualifying, as Vandoorne starts second and Jean-Eric Vergne just behind him in third. A great result for new Deputy Team Principal Phil Charles.
Nico Muller made a surprise appearance in the Duels, but an earlier incident meant he wasn’t able to make it to the track in the Quarter finals.
Maserati’s Maximilian Guenther will start from the back of the pack due to the grid-drop penalty mentioned earlier – the German’s penalty also incurring a stop/go penalty on the race.
The full top 10 are- P1: Wehrelin, P2: Vandoorne, P3: Vergne, P4: Evans, P5: Bird, P6: Mortara, P7: Muller, P8: Da Costa, P9: Cassidy and P10: Dennis.
Round 4-
Sam Bird sealed one of the most dramatic victories in Formula E history in the Sao Paulo E-Prix Round 4, with a stunning final lap move on former teammate Mitch Evans to secure NEOM McLaren’s first victory in the World Championship and his first with the team.
Wehrlein started sharply to lead with Vandoorne following as you were into Turn 1 in second, with Evans jumping Verge for third. Porsche’s da Costa made a demon launch, gaining two spots to sixth off-the-line and defending hard from Mortara’s Mahindra to hold that spot over lap 1.
The lead group squabbled constantly as each looked to maximise their energy consumption while keeping pace with leader Bird. Evans had briefly took third before losing it at Turn 1 on lap 6 to Wehrlein.
A Safety Car was required for the recovery of a rogue Andretti front wing as Nato hit Di Grassi as the pack squeezed through the first chicane. The Brazilian also lost his front wing while standings leader Cassidy gave the front of his car a nudge into the same corner at the start of lap 8.
More lead changes happened once green flag conditions continued, as Da Costa and Evans hit the front then dropped back into the mix with their second attack mode activations- but Jake Dennis had been quietly working his way through from 10th at the start to lead on lap 12.
Lap 16 saw a huge moment, with Drivers’ World Championship leader Cassidy’s three-race podium streak coming to an end as the Jaguar driver smashed into the wall through Turn 9 as he slid wide at speed – his front wing falling loose beneath his front wheels.
Through the clamour before the Safety Car, Bird managed to retake the lead and had half a percent of usable energy in hand over Evans, now in second. Lap 20, saw the green flag fly again with Bird leading Evans, Wehrlein, Dennis, Da Costa, Vergne, Rowland, Vandoorne, Guenther and Buemi in the top 10.
As the laps ticked down, Bird and Evans continued to hold the advantage. Despite Dennis in third, keeping 1.5% usable energy in hand, his car was running too hot to capitalise. Inside the final seven laps, including three added on for those periods under the Safety Car, Evans appeared to have done enough with a move around the outside of Bird at Turn 3 for P1.
However, the McLaren driver was not done. He could not resist a last-ditch manoeuvre on his old teammate. Bird went all the way around the outside of Turn 10 is last chance to make something stick and hung on to take the inside line and the lead into Turn 11, steering to the win with Evans just half a second back.
The full top 10 are- P1: Bird, P2: Evans, P3: Rowland, P4: Wehrlein, P5: Dennis, P6: Da Costa, P7: Vergne, P8: Vandoorne, P9: Guenther and P10: Buemi.
We don’t have to wait too long till the next race, as it’s less than two weeks away on the 30th March and we head to Japan for the Tokyo E-Prix!
Alpine’s unsettled 12 months have continued with the announcement that Technical Director Matt Harman and head of Aerodynamics Dirk de beer have left the team, with Alpine announcing a subsequent technical re-shuffle.
Following the Bahrain Grand Prix – which saw Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly start from the back of the gird, with neither driver managing to score points – it was then announced that Harman and De Beer would leave the team.
The announcement comes in the wake of a slew of high-level changes in 2023, with Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer, Sporting Director Alan Permane, Chief Technical Officer Pat Fry and CEO Laurent Rossi all departing with Bruno Famin confirmed as full-time Team Principal earlier this year.
Alpine will move to a structure of having a trio of Technical Directors, with Joe Burnell as Technical Director (Engineering) David Wheater as Technical Director (Aerodynamics) and Ciaron Pilbeam as Technical Director (Performance).
We have decided to make these organisational changes as we can clearly see that we are not where we want nor need to be in terms of performance level and it is time to take another step in terms of organisation and people. The new three-pillared structure with three Technical Directors, each specialising in different areas, will bring better work and collaboration across our technical areas and contribute to delivering performance from the factories to the race track. I trust fully in the abilities of Joe, David and Ciaron to work closely together in bringing the team the performance and improvements that it needs. Finally, I would like to thank Matt and Dirk for their efforts over the last couple of years at the team and wish them the very best in the next chapter of their careers.
Aston Martin have announced that 18 year old American Jak Crawford will be joining their Young Driver Development programme for 2024.
Crawford will be going into his second year in F2 with DAMS, having previously raced for Hitech alongside Isack Hadjar. Both drivers were previously both part of the Red Bull junior programme, but now Crawford has made his way across to the green of Aston Martin.
Aston Martin’s junior programme gives talented young drivers the opportunity to test older F1 machinery, with Crawford set for a stint in the AMR22 later this year. Not only this, he will also be tasked with simulator work to give valuable feedback to the team, as well as getting a taste for media duties and the marketing commitments that go in hand with the F1 world.
I am proud to take this next step in my career. The Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team is a great place to learn and grow, and the programme ahead sounds exciting. I cannot wait to start working with everyone – especially on the simulator where I can make a contribution to the team’s performance on race weekends. I’m thrilled to get the chance to drive the AMR22 car later this year. It is a big motivator for me to work hard and make the most of this great opportunity.
Crawford on the news.
As part of the growth of the team we want to offer talented young drivers a valuable development programme and I have no doubt Jak will flourish in this environment. As part of the growth of the team we want to offer talented young drivers a valuable development programme and I have no doubt Jak will flourish in this environment. He has shown great potential throughout his junior career and we look forward to supporting his learning and development as he steps into the AMR22 for the first time.
Doriane Pin led from the front and never looked back as she claimed her first F1 Academy victory. Alpine’s Abbi Pulling fended off Maya Weug early advances with a podium in second and retained the bonus point for the fastest lap.
Following an extra formation lap, Pin nailed a textbook getaway at lights out to lead comfortably into Turn 1 from Pulling and Weug. Lovinfosse managed to get the better of Bianca Bustamante off the line, demoting the McLaren driver to sixth.
After starting eighth, Chloe Chambers quickly made up ground, finding her way past Lia Block on lap 2. Immediately piling the pressure on the second ART Grand Prix car of Bustamante.
Tina Hausmann, Aurelia Nobels and Jessica Edgar went three wide down into Turn 1, but it was the Aston Martin car of Hausmann that emerged in front in ninth. Out front, Pin’s 1.2 second lead evaporated at the appearance of the Safety Car on lap 3. A nudge from Amna Al Qubaisi at Turn 4 sent Reema Juffali into a spin, but both were able to pit and rejoin the race.
Block was forced to go on the defensive, being hunted down by Hausmann. The pair locked up, going deep out of the final corner and gifting Jessica Edgar the chance to sneak her way through to eighth.
In the battle for the final points-paying position, Hamda Al Qubaisi got a good run on Nobels down into the final corner, but the PUMA driver defended hard. A mistake on the next lap gave Al Qubaisi the benefit of the slipstream to send a move down the inside of Turn 27, but the MP Motorsport ran wide at the opening chicane and had to let the Brazilian back through.
Block’s race unravelled on the penultimate lap. Comfortably in eighth the Williams driver bounced over the kerb and spun into the barrier as she tried to close in on Bustamante. In the fight for fourth, Lovinfosse tried a look around the outside of Nerea Marti down to Turn 1, but clipped the rear of the Tommy Hilfiger car and sent her into a spin.
Despite leading the race, Pin was not fully satisfied as she tried to wrestle the fastest lap point away from Pulling on the final lap. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to get the clean sweep, taking the victory by 0.848s to Pulling.
The full top 10 are- P1: Pin, P2: Pulling, P3: Weug, P4: Chambers, P5: Bustamante, P6: Hausmann, P7: Nobels, P8: Lovinfosse, P9: H Al Qubaisi and P10: Schreiner.
Day 3-
Doriane Pin closed her first F1 Academy weekend in perfect fashion bringing home her second consecutive victory on the streets of Jeddah.
Pin immediately pulled to the left at lights out to cover off Pulling who kept close within her tow. Just behind, Nerea Marti was on the attack, slipping past Lola Lovinfosse into Turn 2.
The Charlotte Tilbury driver instantly had to go in the defensive as her and Chloe Chambers went side-by-side through Turns 6,7 and 8. The Haas driver emerged out in front after going over the run-off and earned a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
Lovinfosse repaid the favour, gliding past the slipstream. However, Chambers locked up into the first corner, knocking the French driver into a spin. Unable to avoid, Lia Block made contact necessitating a Safety Car. The Williams driver was able to continue after a nosecone change, with Lovinfosse retiring.
With the field bunched together on the restart, Pulling attempted to find her way through on Pin on the short-lived return to Green Flag racing. Fighting over the final point, Carrie Schreiner was sent into a spin whilst battling with Emely de Heus. Forced to take avoiding action, Reema Juffali found the barriers requiring another Safety Car.
Pulling was waiting to pounce on lap 10 restart. Despite Pin going early into the final corner, the Alpine driver caught on and stayed with her down the main straight. Weug found herself vulnerable to Marti.
Recovering from her earlier contact, Block found herself back within the points in seventh. Sandwiched between the Al Qubaisi sisters, the ART Grand Prix car lost out to Amna but kept Hamda at bay.
Out front, Pin set out to earn the grand slam she was denied in Race 1, taking the fastest lap away from Pulling on her final attempt. The PREMA Racing driver took the chequered flag by 1.9s ahead of the Brit and Weug.
However… Doriane Pin has received a drive-through penalty for crossing the chequered flag twice and completing two laps at full speed until the Red Flag was shown. As the penalty could not be served in-race, it has been converted into a 20-second penalty added to her elapsed race time.
Amna Al Qubaisi has been issued a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Lastly, Lola Lovinfosse has been handed a five place grid penalty for the next race for causing a collsion.
As a result, Abbi Pulling is promoted to race victory, Maya Wueg in second and Nerea Marti rounding out the podium.
The full top 10 are- P1: Pulling, P2: Weug, P3: Marti, P4: Edgar, P5: H Al Qubaisi, P6: Bustamante, P7: Schreiner, P8: A Al Qubaisi, P9: Pin and P10: Chambers.
The next race weekend for F1 Academy is the 3rd to 5th May in Miami!
The second race week is complete! And when you think about it we’ve had a bit of a crazy week including Carlos Sainz being ruled out of the Grand Prix meaning Ferrari Academy Driver Oliver Bearman stepping in to make his debut!
But Max Verstappen remained dominant to make it two from two victories so far as he enjoyed a strong start from pole, with an early Safety Car making an appearance aswell. Sergio Perez makes it a second consecutive one-two result for Red Bull, however it wasn’t all smooth sailing as he was handed a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release. And Charles Leclerc rounding out the top three.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Perez, P3: Leclerc, P4: Piastri, P5: Alonso, P6: Russell, P7: Bearman, P8: Norris, P9: Hamilton and P10: Hulkenberg.
A great result from Piastri! P4, the Australian driver had spent a significant portion of the race trying to get past the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.
P7 on debut for Mr Ollie Bearman! What a drive from the Brit, definitely one to be proud of. Hopefully this will be the drive to show teams what he can do for an F1 seat next year…
A good result from Fernando Alonso! However his teammate had been the cause of the Safety Car as he crashed into the barriers on Lap 7 unable to continue in the race.
Points for Haas! Hulkenberg scored their first points of the season, he was helped out by Magnusssen as he kept a pack of drivers at bay behind in order to give Hulkenberg space when returning to the track from his pit stop. It’s nice to see a bit of teamwork from the two drivers.
Alpine, Esteban Ocon finished in P13, however Pierre Gasly race was practically over before it started. The Frenchman retired soon after the start, as he reported a gearbox issue on the formation lap.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen made it two pole positions from two in 2024, as rookie Oliver Bearman impressed on his debut as a stand in for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Championship leader Verstappen has looked in complete control so far, with his best lap time being a 1:27.472s which was 0.3s clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. With Sergio Perez rounding out the top three.
The full top 10 is- Pole: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Perez, P4: Alonso, P5: Piastri, P6: Norris, P7: Russell, P8: Hamilton, P9: Tsunoda and P10: Stroll.
First of all we have to mention Ollie Bearman, he qualified P11 after only having one practice session. Obviously he would be disappointed himself after being so close to Q3 but I think everyone is really impressed with him, as it’s no easy job filling in the Ferrari seat! Hopefully he could potentially score some points in the race…
A good result from Alonso, starting on the second row, he will be hoping to turn that into some good points this weekend. However his teammate starting 10th, an improvement from last week but still not very good.
A decent result from the McLaren boys, and just behind them is both Mercedes’ who failed to improve on their second runs. So with those four drivers that will be an interesting battle when the lights go out.
A little shoutout to Yuki Tsunoda, P9! Makes up for a frustrating end to the Bahrain Grand Prix last week, the team will be looking to see if they could score some points this weekend.
Looking a bit further back, Nico Hulkenberg couldn’t replicate what he done last week, due to a power issued which ended his session early, his set to start the race 15th.
Alpine’s struggled continue as both drivers exited Q1, with no improvement from the week before. The team will be hoping upgrades will soon come…
Doriane Pin quickly got up to speed around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit topping the timesheets in the opening Free Practice session of the 2024 F1 Academy season.
Keeping pace with the PREMA Racing car, Alpine’s Abbi Pulling secured second only two tenths behind. Williams driver, Lia Block made the most out of her final effort leaping up to P3.
Once the lights went green to signal the start of Round 1, the 16 car field ventured out on the medium tyres. Pin set the initial benchmark at 2:09.664.
Times quickly tumbled with both Maya Weug and Bianca Bustamante going top of the leaderboard before Pin once again went fastest with a 2:06.050.
Pushing it to the limit, track evolution meant there was plenty of pace still to be found. Pulling went over a tenth ahead of Pin, but the French driver quickly regained the time to beat, becoming the only driver inside the 2:04s, finishing 0.212s clear of Pulling.
The full top 10 are- P1: Pin, P2: Pulling, P3: Block, P4: Marti, P5: Weug, P6: Lovinfosse, P7: Chambers, P8: Schreiner, P9: Hausmann and P10: Edgar.
Qualifying-
From start to finish, Doriane Pin was the driver to beat in the first qualifying session. Setting a 2:03.472 with six minutes remaining, the Mercedes driver hold on the top spot remained firm, taking both pole positions by 0.785s and 0.684s.
Abbi Pulling and Ferrari’s Maya Weug were locked in a battle for second, with the Alpine driver beating out the Dutch driver for a spot on the front row for both races.
10 drivers bolted out the pits at lights out and immediately set about getting the medium tyres ready underneath them. Pin was the first to get a time on the board, before Pulling went top.
Campos Racing’s trio opted to play the waiting game, holding off their outlaps until 18 minutes to go. It seemed to pay off as Nerea Marti slotted inside the top three on her second effort.
MP Motorsport driver Dennis Hauger made a solid start to this weekend’s action in Jeddah setting the fastest time in free practice.
Hauger led the way for most of the session but completed a lap of 1:43.793 late in the proceedings to lead his nearest rival, Kush Maini by over a tenth.
The Norwegian and the rest of the 21 drivers were quickly out on track setting fast laps on the medium tyre as they looked to get up to speed around Jeddah in the 45 minutes of practice time ahead of Qualifying.
With 15 minutes of running in the books, Hauger had set the benchmark time thanks to his lap of 1:45.558 with Enzo Fittipaldi in second 0.197s behind. Moments later Fittipaldi’s Van Amersfoort Racing teammate Rafael Villagomez brought out the Red Flags after the Mexican driver crashed into the barriers at Turn 17.
The drivers were back on track setting laps with a quarter of the session remaining. The track was now offering more grip which Hauger used to his advantage to improve on his pace-setting efforts twice, before completing a final lap of 1:43.793 to end the quickest of all.
The full top 10 are- P1: Hauger, P2: Maini, P3: Martins, P4: Bearman, P5: Crawford, P6: Verschoor, P7: Correa, P8: Maloney, P9: Antonelli and 10: Bortoleto.
Qualifying-
Oliver Bearman had been targeting a rebound from Sakhir and secured pole position in style in a head-to-head against Kush Maini. The PREMA driver set a 1:42.217 to beat the Invicta Racing driver to pole by just 0.025s. Jak Crawford made a late improvement to secure third on the grid for DAMS Lucas Oil.
At the start, two preparation laps gave way to the first flying efforts, and it was Bearman who set the pace to beat with a time of 1:43.207. Despite having two purple sectors in one and two, Kush Maini filtered through in P2.
There was a larger gap after the top two, with Richard Verschoor leading the next group of runners. The Dutchman set a decent first effort in his Trident as his time of a 1:43.774 saw him go third-fastest.
A return to the pits for fresh tyres gave way to more fast laps and Roman Stanek of Trident was the first to record an improvement, taking provisional pole with a 1:42.747.
Aron then provided the next best effort, lowering the time to beat until Bearman delivered a 1:42.217 to take the top spot. Into the final three minutes and the drivers began their next set of push laps. Crawford lifted his DAMS into third. Bearman bailed on his final lap leaving Maini to finish just 0.020s down.
The full top 10 is – P1: Bearman, P2: Maini, P3: Crawford, P4: Martins, P5: Fittipaldi, P6: Antonelli, P7: Hauger, P8: Hadjar, P9: Verschoor and P10: Aron.
However… Ollie Bearman has now been withdrawn from F2 this weekend as he makes his F1 debut for Ferrari to replace Carlos Sainz who has appendicitis.
Reema Juffali has been announced as the first F1 Academy Wild Card entry for the 2024 season, joining the grid for the first round.
Developing a passion for racing as a child, Juffali made history in 2018 as the first-ever female racing driver from Saudi Arabia. After a points-scoring debut season in the F4 British Championship the next year, she became the first Saudi Arabian woman to compete in an international race in her home country, racing in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY on the streets of Riyadh.
In 2021, she had a stint in the GB3 Championship which was followed up with a successful endurance racing debut, with Juffali finishing second in her class at the 2022 Dubai 24 Hours. Alongside this she founder her own team, Theeba Motorsport, to improve Saudi Arabian access and participation in motorsport through educational and internship programmes.
The team secured victory on debut in the 2022 International GT Open, making Juffali the first Saudi Arabian woman to win an international motor race. The team went on to bring home the Vice Championship title in the series’ Prom-Am class.
Last year saw her continue to break new ground, as she became both the first female and first Saudi Arabian driver to claim pole position in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup.
It is an honour and a privilege to be representing my country, especially in my hometown. The day F1 arrived in Jeddah was the clash of both my worlds and now I am actually going to be participating! I’m really looking forward to it and happy to share the experience with my friends and family who are based here. As the saying goes: ‘if you can’t see it, you won’t believe it’. So, hopefully Saudi fans can see that there is a Saudi racing driver out there and it will get them to thinking that ‘this is something I can do!’. It is for this reason I have decided to take this challenge on. This is just the beginning!
Just a few days on from the opening race of the season, Formula 1 has decamped from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia for round 2. From a track with a very abrasive asphalt, where degradation is high and stability under braking and traction are key factors, we now move to a track with quite a smooth surface and very high speeds.
At 6.174 kilometre in length, it is the second longest track on the calendar with 27 twisty corners, the most of any circuit and the drivers will tackle it 50 times on Saturday.
Based on the experience of the previous three races here, Pirelli has chosen its three mid-range compounds, the C2 Hard, C3 Medium and C4 Soft. In Jeddah, it is quite possible to have a one-stop race with the drivers swapping between Medium and Hard depending on their grid positions.
As this is a street circuit, there are not many run-off areas and so the risk of accidents is quite high, aswell as seeing the Safety Car on track or even having the race red flagged. Overtaking here is pretty tricky, with the best opportunity coming on the entry to Turn 1.
Not only this but of course with a street circuit, track evolution can be very high and in qualifying it will be crucial to choose the right moment to go out on track to set a good time.
Formula 1 has announced that the British Grand Prix will remain on the calendar until 2034 inclusive following a 10-year extension with promoter Silverstone and its owner, the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC).
The new agreement between the three parties will see the Northamptonshire circuit race into its ninth decade, having hosted the first-ever F1 Grand Prix in 1950.
A host of famous F1 names have taken the chequered flag at Silverstone over 74 years of competition, from Giuseppe Farina in 1950 to Max Verstappen in 2023, while Lewis Hamilton holds a record eight British Grand Prix victories.
Two other members of the 2024 grid have claimed victory around the 5.89km, 18-corner circuit, including two-time winner Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, who took his maiden win at the venue in 2022.
Recent years have seen the British Grand Prix become on of the largest attended events on the F1 calendar, with 2023 attracting some of the biggest names in sport, music and culture, as the race drew in a record crowd of 480,000 across the weekend.
I am delighted to announce that the British Grand Prix will remain on the calendar for 10 more years with this agreement. Silverstone is an iconic venue at the heart of F1 history and as it approaches its ninth decade hosting Grands Prix, the event continues to attract fans from around the world for fantastic racing on track and the amazing fan experience off it. I would like to thank Peter Digby from the BRDC, Stuart Pringle and the whole Silverstone team for their hard work and dedication to take the British Grand Prix to new heights and I look forward to working closely with them as they look to further improve the facilities and fan experience over the next 10 years.
Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula 1.
I am delighted we have secured a 10-year extension to host the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. This contractual security will provide a solid base for the further development of the venue as we continue to improve and transform the circuit into a year-round international motorsport and leisure destination. The 2024 Formula 1 season will start with nine BRDC Full and Honorary members on the grid and the importance of our continued support of young drivers is particularly evidenced by the success of Lewis, Lando [Norris], George [Russell] and Alex [Albon].
Peter Digby, Chairman of the British Racing Drivers’ Club.
This long-term commitment reflects the importance of the British Grand Prix to Formula 1 and their acknowledgement of our ability to deliver a world-class experience for the British fans who are among the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable in the world. The cheers of support for the home teams, and particularly for the British drivers on the grid, makes the Silverstone atmosphere unique and I am looking forward to harnessing this passion for our sport and taking the event to the next level in the coming decade.
Stuart Pringle, Chief Executive Officer, Silverstone.
Van Hoepen covered off teammate Nikola Tsolov on the run to the first corner, but the Bulgarian driver was able to sweep around the outside to take the lead. Further back, Dino Beganovic suffered damage in the opening exchanges after contact with Santiago Ramos at Turn 1, with the PREMA driver being handed a 10-second time penalty.
After losing the lead from reverse grid pole, Van Hoepen was able to stick with his ART teammate and with DRS, the Dutchman swept back through on lap 4. The battle then continued up the hill with the Bulgarian driver squeezing his way through. Whilst they was battling, it allowed Max Esterson to close back up on the pair.
Christian Mansell had been battling hard with Sami Meguetounif of lap 5, and after initially losing a spot to the Trident driver, the Aussie fought his way through into Turn 1 for seventh.
That allowed Luke Browning the momentum up the hill into Turn 4 to pull of a pass around the outside of them to take P7 himself. However, the move was completed off the track and he earned a 10 second time penalty.
Looking back towards the front, the lead battle became a five-car fight as Lindblad and Fornaroli caught up to Esterson. As the race reached the halfway point, van Hoepen retook the lead with a pass into T1 on Tsolov, once more though, the Bulgarian fought back and through and re-passed his teammate into Turn 8.
On lap 13 and after being tracked closely over several laps by Lindblad, van Hoepen got a little too wide at Turn 11, which opened the door for the Prema driver to take second place.
Lindblad didn’t stop then as he claimed the lead of the race on lap 15, with a DRS pass into the first corner. But Tsolov fought back through immediately, re-taking first on the run up to Turn 4 again. One lap on and the PREMA driver made the move stick into the first turn.
The full top 10 is- P1: Lindblad, P2: Van Hoepen, P3: Fornaroli, P4: Tsolov, P5: Tramnitz, P6: Esterson, P7: Mini, P8: Boya, P9: Goethe and P10: Meguetounif.
Day 3, Feature Race-
Dino Beganovic suffered a terrible start from pole, with a slow getaway which left Browning free to surge into the lead. Beganovic baulked the momentum of PREMA Racing teammate Gabriele Mini behind him, allowing Meguetounif to steal a march and rise to second.
Mini’s poor start allowed Mansell and Santiago Ramos in the Trident to move through for fourth and fifth places on the opening lap. The third Trident of Leonardo Fornaroli had dropped to eighth off the line but moved ahead of Nikola Tsolov out of Turn 3 on Lap 3 to move up one spot.
The fighting behind, had allowed Browning to stretch his lead to 1.2s at the one-third mark, though that advantage slipped to half a second after Mansell regained DRS behind. Despite not having the drag reduction advantage, the Hitech driver was able to keep his pursuer at arms length heading into the second half of the race.
With 10 laps to go the top eight drivers were tracking one another, separated by five seconds but within DRS range of the car ahead. A wide moment at Turn 10 for Ramos put him off track, but the Mexican driver was able to keep Mini at bay to hold fifth.
After defending for much of the race, Browning began up to his pace in the closing laps toe extend his lead slowly but surely over Mansell by a few tenths per lap.
The full top 10 are- P1: Browning, P2: Mansell, P3: Tramnitz, P4: Meguetounif, P5: Ramos, P6: Mini, P7: Fornaroli, P8: Lindblad, P9: Dunne and P10: Goethe.
The first race of 24 is complete, so let’s take a look at how it went in Bahrain!
Max Verstappen converted pole position into the race win with a controlled drive, which led home Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz to start his latest title defence.
Verstappen maintained his advantage as the race got under way, he never looked back over the 57 laps, where he crossed the line 22 second ahead of his teammate.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Perez, P3: Sainz, P4: Leclerc, P5: Russell, P6: Norris, P7: Hamilton, P8: Piastri, P9: Alonso and P10: Stroll.
A decent result from Ferrari, P3 and P4, especially with Leclerc as he was struggling with the car and it not responding the way he wanted as well as having a big problem with the brakes… Not a very good sign for the Italian team for the first race.
A decent result for both Mercedes and McLaren, some decent points on the board for them both. Piastri and Hamilton had a little moment where the McLaren driver was coming out the pit lane and ended up side by side with Hamilton who had stopped a lap earlier. The McLaren got his nose ahead into Turn 1 but the experienced a slide on the exit which dropped him behind the seven time world champion.
Not a good weekend at all for Alpine, a shocking qualifying result in P19 and P20, they then went on to finish P18 for Gasly and P17 for Ocon, a big change from last year. They team definitely have a lot of work to do.
There was also a bit of drama between the two VCARB’s as the team asked Tsunoda to move to the side for Ricciardo giving his alternate soft-tyre run to the finish, promoting the Japanese racer to shout “are you kidding me over the radio?” only to eventually adhere to the instruction. I can see tensions rise between Tsunoda and the team this season, for it to only be the first race and him having problems with the team it doesn’t set of the best image…
The first qualifying session of 2024 is complete, let’s take a look at how it went!
Max Verstappen grabbed pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc in second and the Mercedes of George Russell in third.
Verstappen produced a 1m 29.421s with his first run in Q3 and worked his way down to a blistering 1m 29.179s during the second runs to ultimately finish two-tenths clear of Leclerc, with Russell a tenth further back.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Russell, P4: Sainz, P5: Perez, P6: Alonso, P7: Norris, P8: Piastri, P9: Hamilton and P10: Hulkenberg.
What a great result by Max Verstappen, just how he wants to start his title defence! I don’t think he expected the grid to have been that close and I don’t think he will expect to sail away with it in the race aswell…
Both Ferrari’s in the top four! A great start for the Italian team, hopefully they can keep it the same or even better in the race and start the season off strong.
George Russell, P3, great start by him. I believe Mercedes were actually quite shocked at their pace in practice as they topped the timesheets on Thursday. The car definitely looks more of an improvement than last year, but we will have to see what their race pace is like, and a good way for them to properly see is Lewis starting in 9th so his got some ground to make up!
A special shout out to Nico Hulkenberg! First Q3 appearance of 2024, and qualifies P10, Haas will be wanting to score some points today to start the season off strong.
VCARB – they have definitely made an improvement since last year, both drivers into Q2, Yuki just outside the top 10 in P11, and Daniel Ricciardo in P14. They are in a position where they could possibly score some points.
Now one team we have to talk about is Alpine, P19 and P20 i’m not overly surprised by this for some reason, and I don’t think they are either. Obviously they have a lot of work to do in the race, but we will have to see if this carries on throughout the season aswell…
Isack Hadjar made a fine start to the opening round of the weekend in Sakhir by topping the timesheets in Free Practice. The Campos Racing driver left it late in the session to complete a lap of 1:45.099 to lead MP Motorsport rookie Franco Colapinto by 0.137s.
As the lights turned green, most teams opted to keep their cars in the pitlane although Hadjar was the first driver out on track to complete a lap, however it was his Campos teammate Josep Maria Marti who set the early benchmark with a time of 1:45.849.
But then the Rodin Motorsport pair of Zane Maloney and Ritomo Miyata, with the former going to the top of the leaderboard with a time of 1:45.588.
Now with the session winding down to a close and the drivers now returning to the track for a final few laps, Hadjar secured the top spot.
Qualifying-
Kush Maini scored his maiden pole position in FIA Formula 2 as he beat out teammate Gabriel Bortoleto to seal a P1 start for Saturday’s Feature Race.
On his final attempt in Qualifying, Maini completed a lap of 1:41.696 to go to the top of the timesheets, Bortoleto followed his teammate across the line two-tenths off the pole-winning effort.
It was Maini who set the early pace for Invicta Racing, aided by a strong middle sector, he completed a lap of 1:42.533 to lead Hauger by just 0.045s.
With 10 minutes gone, the driver returned to the pitlane for some fresher tyres. However, that was when Campos elected to send Hadjar and Josep Maria Marti out on track for the first time in the session.
The rest of the field then emerged from the pit lane ahead of their final runs with Maloney going fastest. But the Bajan’s time was quickly eclipsed by the Invicta pair.
Maloney and a number of other drivers including ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins, made their second attempts at the top spot, but with the Pirelli rubber not offer more than one push lap.
However… Kush Maini has been disqualified from the final Qualifying classification after his Invicta Racing car was found in breach of the Technical Regulations.
The Stewards found that the height of the left undertray front external strake of the car was below the required minimum height and therefore not in line with the Technical Regulations.
As a consequence, all of Maini’s times set during the Qualifying session has been removed. And will be starting the Sprint Race & Feature Race from the back of the grid. Instead, Gabriel Bortoleto has inherited pole position.
The full top 10 are- P1: Bortoleto, P2: Hadjar, P3: Maloney, P4: Hauger, P5: Miyata, P6: O’Sullivan, P7: Fittipaldi, P8: Martins, P9: Barnard and P10: Crawford.
Hitech Pulse-Eight driver, Luke Browning picked up from where he left off in pre-season testing, where he ended practice as the fastest driver with a time of 1:47.828s.
Installation laps opened practice, but it was a long wait until the teams and drivers ventured out of the pitlane for serious running. Joseph Loake of Rodin Motorsport led the way with 15 minutes left.
That was until Fornaroli came through to secure the top spot with a 1:48.599, just as a Virtual Safety Car was deployed. Mini suffered a spin at Turn 4, beaching his car in the gravel trap as the VSC quickly became a Red Flag.
Practice resumed with six minutes left of running time and everyone was eager to make the most of it. Browning and Fornaroli exchanged fastest efforts until the British driver crossed the line, with Beganovic being another late improver, moving up to third late on.
Qualifying-
Dino Beganovic claimed pole position for PREMA Racing, setting a 1:46.431 to take the first P1 of the season. The Swede driver left it until the final moments to leap up the times.
After several warm up laps, Max Esterson hit the front for Jenzer Motorsport, setting a 1:47.573 to lead early on, 0.047s ahead of Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli.
Mari Boya was next to go quickest overall, setting a 1:47.307 though that was quickly beaten. Fornaroli returned to the top of the timesheets, with Beganovic moving up to second.
Once again, the field boxed for the final time and were back out for the final flying laps with six minutes left. Green and purple sectors began to fly and Christian Mansell put ART Grand Prix to the top with a 1:46.843 for the rest to beat.
The full top 10 are- P1: Beganovic, P2: Browning, P3: Mini, P4: Meguetounif, P5: Ramos, P6: Fornaroli, P7: Tramnitz, P8: Mansell, P9: Lindblad and P10: Esterson.
F1 Sprint will return for a fourth season this year and a format tweak is set to make the spectacle more engaging than ever.
As confirmed in December, Brazil will host its fourth consecutive Sprint weekend, with Austria to stage its third, Austin and Qatar return for a second year, and China and Miami joining the line-up for the very first time.
The F1 Commission met to discuss a range of matters and, shorting after the gathering concluded, the Sprint format update was communicated.
For this year, the Sprint Shootout will move from Saturday to Friday, following an initial free practice session for track acclimatisation and set-up work.
The 100km Sprint will then take place on Saturday, ahead of qualifying for the Grand Prix later that day. With the Grand Prix itself sticking to Sunday.
The regulatory refinements for these changes will be presented to the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) on February 28th.
Away from the Sprint, a proposal to increase the power unit allocation to four per driver for the 2024 and 2025 season was agreed. Additionally, DRS activation for the race will be anticipated to one lap as opposed to two laps after the start of the race, or the re-start following a Safety Car.
Jordan's Track Talk 