On the back of a lacklustre performance thus far in 2024, Red Bull is set to hold a meeting on Monday to discuss Sergio Perez’s future with the team. Although the Mexican signed a two-year contract extension with Red Bull less than two months ago, he is not out of the woods yet. Other Red Bull drivers including Daniel Ricciardo, Liam Lawson, or Yuki Tsunoda could still be called up to take over the second Red Bull seat should the team decide to execute a performance clause in Perez’s contract. He has been in a consistent performance slump since the Chinese Grand Prix, failing to qualify well and failing to match the level of his three-time champion teammate Max Verstappen. This, along with a major uptick in performance out of the papaya camp, has allowed McLaren to make significant gains on Red Bull in the World Constructors’ Championship, with just 42 points separating the two teams. Red Bull will clearly need both drivers to give it their all this season if they want to win the championship.
Esteban Ocon has signed a multi-year deal with Haas, putting him alongside rookie Oliver Bearman in 2025. The Frenchman has been linked to a potential Haas move long before his future with Alpine was shut down earlier this year. Currently racing in his eighth season in Formula One, Ocon has earned a reputation as a bit of an unfriendly teammate, not helped by his collision with teammate Pierre Gasly that immediately preceded the announcement of his departure from Alpine at the end of the season. But this has not deterred Haas. “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,” Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu explained in a press statement.
Former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has joined the Audi F1 project as part of a major management shake-up, taking over the roles of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technical Officer. He will lead Audi as they prepare to convert Sauber to a works team in 2026. Binotto worked as Ferrari team principal from 2019 to the end of 2022, replacing Maurizio Arrivabene and being succeeded by current boss Frederic Vasseur. He will replace Andreas Seidl who left McLaren to become Sauber CEO in 2023. The board of directors chairman Oliver Hoffmann will also be leaving the project. While Audi says the management restructuring is intended to promote “efficient decision-making processes” within the project, some have speculated about a power struggle and financial issues within the team. Speaking to Sky Germany, former F driver Ralf Schumacher claimed the project was previously “on the brink of collapse” due to poor finances, prompting the team to retain driver Zhou Guanyu for 2024 because of strong financial backing from sponsors.
Interim Alpine team principal Bruno Famin will relinquish his role at the end of August. Originally hired to oversee Alpine’s engine division in 2022, Famin climbed through the ranks to become vice president of motorsport at Alpine. He replaced former team principal Otmar Szafnauer when he was abruptly fired mid-season last year, retaining the role for this year as well. He has been at the helm during their most challenging start to a season, also helping the team recover. Famin will return to the Renault engine department to manage the French manufacturer’s overall motorsport involvement. The move is believed to be one of many changes imposed by the team’s new special advisor Flavio Briatore, who returned to the team last month. Although no replacement has been announced, it is believed that Hitech F2 and F3 boss Oliver Oakes will be appointed.
Reports suggest Alpine is working on a technical partnership with Mercedes that could include an engine contract. It’s no secret that Alpine has been evaluating the viability of its engine programme and potentially considering becoming a customer team. Flavio Briatore, who was brought into the team as an advisor last month, is believed to be a supporter of this plan. Mercedes has quickly emerged as the most likely candidate for an engine supply deal, with their current customer Aston Martin set to change to Honda in 2026. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has even stated the German manufacturer would be open to working with Alpine. Some reports claim the technical partnership with Mercedes could extend to include suspension components and start as early as next year, with Briatore having been spotted frequently at the Mercedes motorhome in Hungary. However, no final decision has been made at this point.
The Alpine team was seen sporting a one-off red livery at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix as part of a tie-in with the Marvel film Deadpool & Wolverine. Esteban Ocon also wore a red Deadpool helmet while teammate Pierre Gasly wore a yellow Wolverine-inspired one. Ryan Reynolds, who stars alongside Hugh Jackman, was part of an American investment group that purchased 24% of the Alpine team last year.
Proposed changes to the current points system have been rejected for 2025. The changes were first discussed in April when some of the teams complained restricting points to only the top ten positions made it too difficult for smaller teams to score points. The topic was initially shelved to give more time to refine the idea and analyze possible risks. But since then, only Sauber has yet to score, largely nullifying the original arguments about the difficulty of scoring points. As a result, all teams have unanimously agreed to keep the points system unchanged for 2025.
The F1 teams discussed the potential of adding a “wildcard system” for rookies in certain races, although the idea was ultimately set aside. The proposed system is believed to be somewhat akin to MotoGP, in which teams can run an additional part-time competitor during some races in the season without adding to the team’s championship points. However, introducing this system into Formula One would be complex since teams only bring two race-ready cars each weekend. The only practical way to introduce the idea would be for the wildcard driver to replace one of the team’s regular drivers, which is unlikely to gain any favour with teams or fans. But, with limited testing time throughout the season, teams are still eager to find a way to give rookies more track time.
The Japanese city of Osaka has created a new council focusing on getting a Formula One race in the future. At the start of the year, it was announced that Osaka was interested in hosting a round of the Formula One season alongside the existing Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. They have since formed the Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau, consisting of nine members including four motorsport experts. Their current goal is to raise awareness of the benefits of a Formula One race with residents.
Mastercard has joined forces with McLaren as part of a multi-year sponsorship agreement. The global payment card provider previously sponsored the Jordan team between 1998 and 2001 after a failed title sponsorship attempt with the Lola team the year before, which saw the team unsuccessfully attempt to qualify in only a single race before folding. The deal will see Mastercard branding appear on the McLaren cars later this season and cardholders will gain access to some Formula One perks as part of the Mastercard Priceless Experiences programme. The company’s biggest competitor, Visa, tied the knot with RB this year to become the team’s title sponsor alongside Cash App.
Young Mercedes hopeful Andrea Kimi Antonelli will have another chance to impress his future team later this week, with a test planned in the 2022 Mercedes W13. The team is still weighing up options to replace the outgoing Lewis Hamilton for 2025. Antonelli has long been on the team’s shortlist, despite his lack of experience in the junior categories. Having had great success in Formula 4 and Formula Regional, the 17-year-old Italian skipped Formula 3 and is mid-way through his debut Formula 2 season. He currently sits seventh in the championship and has outperformed his Prema teammate Oliver Bearman on many occasions. Some have suggested that Antonelli, who turns 18 at the end of the summer break, could even get his Formula One debut by replacing Williams driver Logan Sargeant before the end of the season.
The first practice session of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend got underway on Friday, with Max Verstappen setting the pace to beat in the opening session. The session was dry and relatively orderly, with the only real scare coming early when Daniel Ricciardo spun at the first corner, narrowly missing the barriers. Esteban Ocon was forced to sit out most of the session, having been called to the garage during his out-lap with a suspected water leak. Oscar Piastri was second fastest by the end of the session, coming off his first win at last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. Both Mercedes drivers put themselves in the top five but were behind Alex Albon, who made a surprising appearance in P3.
Lando Norris picked up the pace in the second practice session ahead of teammate Piastri and championship rival Verstappen. It was a dry session, despite forecasts of rain. Ferrari found the pace to make themselves the third-fastest team of the session, rounding out the top five but with a considerable gap to the top three competitors. Mercedes appeared to struggle despite a new floor upgrade for the weekend, finding themselves more than a second off the pace. This was so worrying that the team abandoned their new floor for the rest of the weekend, reverting to the previous spec.
Heavy rain overnight and into the morning severely limited the running in the final free practice session, which was led by Max Verstappen. Most drivers rushed to get in laps early in the session, with more rain predicted to fall later. No one was able to beat the Dutchman’s early benchmark when the rain finally began to fall. The session was red-flagged when Lance Stroll crashed in Eau Rouge, severely damaging the Aston Martin. It was also red-flagged again shortly after the halfway point due to poor track conditions.
Max Verstappen would remain on top for the qualifying session on Saturday afternoon but would be demoted to P11 due to a grid penalty for changing power unit components. The circuit remained wet for the start of Q1 and everyone was eager to put in some laps as the threat of more rain loomed overhead. Intermediate conditions saw many big-name drivers close to elimination in the first session, including Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, although they would make it through. As the circuit continued to dry in Q2, times began to fall before further rain near the end of the session again made the newly resurfaced circuit slick. Alex Albon narrowly missed out on a Q3 appearance by only 0.003s. Verstappen set the early pace in Q3 and no driver came close, with 0.6s separating him from effective polesitter Charles Leclerc. Sergio Perez earned a front-row start with his best qualifying performance since Miami.
On race day, George Russell stood atop the podium only to have his race victory stripped from him for an underweight car. Sergio Perez had a poor start at the front of the grid, beginning what would turn into a disappointing race for the Mexican resulting in a P8 finish. Lando Norris also suffered a poor start when he touched the gravel on the outside of the first corner, dropping him behind Verstappen. Although he put the World Championship leader under pressure for most of the afternoon, he was unable to mount an attack. After the second round of pit stops, Lewis Hamilton was in P2 chasing down his teammate, who took the gamble on the unconventional one-stop strategy. Russell crossed the line first, leading what could have been Mercedes’ first 1-2 finish since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix. However, post-race scrutineering found Russell’s car was 1.5kg under the minimum weight after the fuel was removed, leading to his disqualification. Click here to read our full recap of the Belgian Grand Prix.
This race marked the start of the summer break, which means there will be a lack of racing action over the next month. The season will resume at Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix on August 25. But don’t worry, you can continue to keep up with all of the off-track action Formula One has to offer with the Weekly F1 Recap, which will still be published at its usual time.
It can be challenging for even the most avid fans to keep up with the fast-paced world of Formula One. The Weekly F1 Recap is a series published each Monday that breaks down the action, both on and off the circuit, into bit-sized pieces. It's perfect for casual and experienced fans alike.
