Adrian Newey will be Aston Martin’s team principal in 2026. The legendary car designer jumped ship from Red Bull to join Aston Martin last year. He will replace Andy Cowell, who took over the role of team principal from Mike Krack earlier at the start of this season. He will become the team’s chief strategy officer. Newey has worked on teams including Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull, helping to design cars that have won a total of 14 Drivers’ and 12 Constructors’ championship titles. His promotion to team principal silences rumours that former Red Bull team boss Christian Horner will join Aston Martin to take the role.
Red Bull is set to confirm the 2026 driver lineups of both of its teams on Tuesday. The company’s initial plan was to announce its driver lineup plans for Red Bull and Racing Bulls by the end of November. It’s believed that Isack Hadjar will be promoted to Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen, while Arvid Lindblad will join the F1 grid on the Racing Bulls. Lindblad has shown some promise in free practice outings in Britain and Mexico. The final Racing Bulls seat is believed to be Red Bull Yuki Tsunoda and incumbent Liam Lawson. Tsunoda has had a difficult time at Red Bull, often putting himself on the back foot with challenging starting positions. Lawson already had the briefest of opportunities on the main Red Bull team, losing his seat to Tsunoda after only two races. Despite that, the Australian has outscored the Japanese driver this season with 38 points to Tsunoda’s 33.
Aston Martin has signed Mathilda Paatz to its Driver Academy, also backing her for a 2026 F1 Academy seat. The 17-year-old German made her single-seater debut in Formula 4 last year. She was also one of Hitech GP’s wildcard entries in the F1 Academy series, participating in the three races in Montreal. Aston Martin will give Paatz a full-time F1 Academy seat with Prema Racing next year.
Pirelli has finalized its 2026 tyre compounds, which will see only five dry compounds. Although each race has soft, medium, and hard compounds, there are actually six slick tyre compounds available. Pirelli selects which three compounds to bring to each race weekend based on the circuit. For 2026, Pirelli opted to ditch the softest C6 tyre compound, feeling its performance was too similar to the performance of the harder C5 compound. To ensure maximum strategic options for teams, the tyre compounds must produce laptimes that are different enough from each other. This is why Pirelli will sometimes not bring consecutive compounds to a race weekend, skipping one to increase the tyre difference. Dropping the sixth tyre allows Pirelli to spread out the overall difference between compounds across the board. The C6 tyre was also infrequently used, usually reserved for street circuits with low tyre wear.
Former F1 driver Adrian Sutil has reportedly been arrested in Germany on suspicion of “fraud and embezzlement”. This follows a raid that saw police search his properties in Monaco, Switzerland, and Germany. There has been no public comment regarding the allegations or the details of the suspected offence, but he is being held at the Baden-Württemberg court for pre-trial. Sutil made his F1 debut with Spyker in 2007, remaining with the team as it was rebranded to Force India. He was released by the team at the end of 2011 after being convicted of assaulting Lotus F1 owner Eric Lux at a nightclub after the Chinese Grand Prix earlier that year. He returned to F1 with Force India in 2013, moving to Sauber the following year for what was his final season in the sport. Since retiring, he has remained relatively hidden from the public eye, aside from some races in the Ferrari Challenge series.
The FIA held a meeting with all F1 drivers to discuss the driving standards, which have become a topic for criticism this year. This was mostly related to the now-public driving standards guidelines that were introduced in 2022. Although not an official regulation, the document is designed to give stewards a guideline for how to judge incidents in the race. However, many drivers have criticized the stewards for applying the guidelines too strictly, often resulting in penalties that have been deemed too harsh. It also encourages drivers to focus on being the first to the apex for the sake of meeting the guidelines. The FIA hit back against criticism of the guidelines, reminding the drivers that they had input on the original document and noting that their data shows the guidelines have introduced “greater consistency” in stewarding decisions. While no changes to the guidelines were discussed, the FIA did acknowledge that many of the drivers preferred stewarding decisions to be delayed until after the race to allow input from those involved and to have a steward panel of experienced drivers that can more accurately judge incidents.
Oscar Piastri led the way in a McLaren 1-2 during the free practice session in Qatar on Friday. Being a sprint weekend, this was the only opportunity for the teams to get prepared before sprint qualifying that afternoon. Both McLarens struggled in the early stages of the session on the hard tyres; it was only in the closing minutes of the session that times dramatically lowered to determine the final order on the timing sheets. Fernando Alonso had a strong showing in P3 ahead of Carlos Sainz in P4.
Oscar Piastri wrapped up Friday by claiming pole position during sprint qualifying, only 0.032s clear of George Russell. Max Verstappen was quickest in SQ1, but was third fastest in SQ2, being within 0.080s of both McLarens ahead. Verstappen struggled in SQ3, running wide on his first quick lap, giving him only one final attempt to set a time. He set a lap only worthy of P6, behind teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Lewis Hamilton struggled in the Ferrari, failing to make it out of SQ1, while Isack Hadjar faced disappointment in SQ2, initially advancing only to be dropped to P11 after having his fastest time deleted for track limits at turn 8.
It was again Oscar Piastri who found himself on top at the end of the 19-lap sprint race, leading from lights to flag. Lando Norris had a better start than George Russell ahead, but was unable to challenge in the first corner, slipping behind the Brit. Norris faced early pressure from Verstappen, who had climbed to P4 on the opening lap, but the circuit proved difficult to overtake, and he quickly dropped outside of DRS range. It was largely a race of tyre management, with the only overtakes happening in the midfield. Click here to check out our full summary of the sprint race.
Oscar Piastri maintained his dominance in Qatar, scoring his second pole position of the weekend in a McLaren front row lockout. Yuki Tsunoda also failed to repeat his strong sprint qualifying performance, being eliminated in Q1. George Russell was quickest in Q1, while former teammate Lewis Hamilton failed to advance to Q2 for the second time in Qatar. His Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc was lucky to make it into Q3, as was Isack Hadjar, who survived by only 0.003s over Nico Hulkenberg. After leading Q2, Piastri was again fastest in Q3 to earn pole after teammate Lando Norris ran wide on his second attempt. Max Verstappen managed to finish the session in P3, putting himself in a good position to pressure the two McLarens on Sunday. Q3 saw the only red flag, as a floor sticker that had accidentally been left on Carlos Sainz’s Williams fell off on the circuit.
Max Verstappen crossed the finish line first in the main race on Sunday after a McLaren strategy blooper. Lando Norris lost out early to Verstappen on the opening lap, having a slightly slower acceleration off the grid. An early safety car on lap 7 for a collision between Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly created the perfect strategy opportunity. With the maximum tyre stint restricted to 25 laps, most teams jumped at the chance to take a cheap pit stop that would force them to make only one more stop on lap 32. McLaren was the only team to stay out, locking themselves in an uphill battle. After all the pit stops were completed, Verstappen was leading ahead of Oscar Piastri. Norris was held up in P5 behind Kimi Antonelli, but the Mercedes rookie suffered a snap of oversteer on the penultimate lap, giving the Brit P4. If he had been able to overtake sooner, Norris may have been able to catch Carlos Sainz, who finished on the podium despite a late-race car issue. Click here to read our full summary of the Qatar Grand Prix.
The stage is set for a three-way battle for the championship title in Abu Dhabi. Max Verstappen, chasing down his fifth consecutive championship, sits P2 just 12 points behind Norris. Oscar Piastri, who has dropped to third, is just 16 points behind teammate Lando Norris, with both McLaren drivers fighting for their maiden title. Everything will be decided at the finale of the 2025 season in Abu Dhabi on December 7.
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.
