As the final weekend of the 2024 year approaches fast, Formula One has much to reflect on form its longest ever season of competition. A last minute agreement after the deadline for rule changes had passed saw the Sprint weekends modified so the cars can be  worked on before Grand Prix qualifying now held on a Saturday afternoon. This has proven popular with the teams who were irked come Friday afternoon that their car setup fixed for the remainder of the weekend.

Red Bull proved how invaluable this is last time to in Qatar with Perez and Verstappen qualifying well down the order for the shortened version of the Grand Prix. Yet a pit lane start from Checo in the Sprint and some head scratching back at base saw the world champions turn the car around with Max Verstappen quickest and claiming pole position.

Taking the short flight from Qatar to Abu Dhabi, a number of the drivers expressed now their places were set for the remainder of the year, there is an air of “school’s out” amongst paddock folk as the longest F1 race schedule in history will be complete.

 

 

 

Beef brewing in F1-land

With Verstappen sealing the drivers’ championship this season, McLaren head into the Middle East weekend as favourites to claim the constructors title which means Ferrari require an uber dominant weekend to have any hope of their first F1 glory since the days of Kimi Raikkonen. Should the Scuderia clean up the forty four points on offer, the McLaren duo will need just fifteen between them and they will claim their first team title since 1988.

Yet there is a beef in F1 land which may be set to dominate the final race weekend of the 2024 season. George Russell made the remarkable claim that he feared Max Verstappen would have piled into him at the start of the recent Qatar Grand Prix.

Tsunoda “no chance” of Red Bull drive in 2025

 

 

 

 

Button calls out “shocking” stewards decision

Russell had complained bitterly to the stewards about Max driving too slowly which resulted in the newly crowned world champion losing his pole position with a one place grid drop. Verstappen had responded calling Russell two faced claiming he’d lost all “respect” for the British driver.

Meanwhile fellow world champion Jenson Button focused his ire on the “shocking” decision making in the stewards room.“The problem for me is that he’s [Verstappen] got Fernando Alonso in front of him doing exactly the same speed,” said Button. “It’s not like Max has just gone, ‘you know what? I’m going to put the anchors on and hit the brakes right in the middle of a high-speed corner’.

“He’s got the same distance to the car in front the whole way through Turn 12, 13. It’s shocking to me that he got a penalty, it really is. It felt like it should have been the same as everyone else. We had it in sprint qualifying as well.”

Fellow ex-F1 driver and Sky pundit Anthony Davidson explained the reasoning behind the penalty but was forced to agree with his Sky colleague the decision was highly unusual.

Sergio Perez announces early retirementemnt

 

 

 

Verstappen F-bomb directed at Russell

As Russell feared Max came out all guns blazing when the lights went out forcing Russell to go around the outside of turn one. Norris too took advantage of the Mercedes running wide and nipped ahead of Russell into the second corner.

Whilst the victorious Verstappen celebrated his win, he had words for Russell in their on going spat. “You know what it is? He [Russell] always acts very nice here in front of the cameras, but when you are in there [in the stewards’ room] he is just a completely different person.

“I can’t stand that. Then it’s better to just f*** off, because I don’t have to deal with it. It was honestly very disappointing, because I think all of us here, we respect each other a lot. I’ve been in that meeting room many times in my life and in my career with people that I’ve raced. And I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard. For me, I lost all respect.

“I just thought it was ridiculous how he tried to force a penalty on me and I was heavily p****d at him for that.”

New F1 race director under fire

 

 

 

Russell no olive branch

Meanwhile Russell was not exactly offering the olive branch to his fellow F1 driver. Speaking after the race he said: “To be honest, I was expecting a crash, but ultimately we made it easy for him.”

He added that he had “no concerns” about his relationship with Verstappen, saying: “We know Max is a fighter and is aggressive, I expect no different, and I really wanted to go out there and fight with him today.”

Meanwhile Red Bull have one final weekend to decide on who will replace the inevitably departing Sergio Perez. The Red Bull team boss appeared to drop huge hints in Qatar that Sergio would soon be declaring his retirement from the sport.

Following a mechanical failure in Qatar, Checo failed for the sixth time this season to secure any points for the team who will now be officially classified third this year amongst the constructors.

Michael Schumacher bodyguard in court

 

 

 

Red Bull attention turns to Checo

When asked about Sergio’s future after the race in the desert, Christian Horner appeared to hint his driver was set for retirement. ”I’m going to let Checo [Pérez] come to his own conclusions, nobody’s forcing him one way or another,” said the Red Bull team principal. “It’s not a nice situation for him to obviously be in.”

Despite signing a new contract extension in June for 2025, Sergio’s form over the second half of the season has led to persistent speculation he is about to be sacked. Having made it through to Abu Dhabi Red Bull are now offering the Mexican a dignified route out of the team.

“Look, Checo has had a very tough year,” added Horner. “Obviously the points table are what they are.

“We’re very much focused on really supporting him to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi, and then obviously it’s not an enjoyable situation for Checo, being in this position with speculation every week.

“He’s old enough and wise enough to know what the situation is, and yeah, let’s see where we are after Abu Dhabi.”

Former F1 race director back in control

 

 

 

Sergio investigated after the race

This was a departure from the previous ‘we’re supporting Checo whatever it takes’ narrative Horner has been employing, as he now indicates this support will end in Abu Dhabi.

Perez retires from the Qatar Grand Prix with mechanical failure but for a while faced further punishment in the form of a stewards sanction. Checo was investigated after the race for ‘attempting to rejoin in a dangerous manner’ but it was determined it was his clutch failure after the spin which left him in a dangerous position.

“Car 11 [Pérez] spun and stopped sideways on the right hand side of the track,” the stewards’ statement said. “The driver then appeared to drive directly across the track at right angles to the oncoming traffic.

 

 

Perez spared stewards penalty

“However, the evidence tabled showed that the driver attempted to do a rapid 90 degree clockwise spin but in doing so, experienced clutch failure which resulted in the car travelling across the track.

“Whilst this appeared potentially dangerous from the video, the attempted move by the driver was possible to execute under normal circumstances and only the failure of the clutch caused the reported incident.”

Former champion driver Jason Plato believes there will be no shortage of offers when the Mexican calls time on his F1career. “IndyCar, SportsCars, GTs, Touring cars and village egg spoon races would without doubt welcome him,” Plato suggested — not without a bit of cheek. Yet for next year most of the competitive drives in all the international motor racing series have been allocated although Indycar seems a natural home for Mexico’s most recent biggest racing hero.

Colapinto F1 exit

 

 

 

“Reckless” Russell says Christian Horner

Theres an edge between Mercedes and Red Bull Racing dating back to the days of the Hamilton/Verstappen title battle during the 2021 Formula One season. With the imminent departure of Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari it now appears the newly appointed team leader George Russell will take up the mantle as chief agent provocateur for the silver arrows.

Last time out in Qatar, the rift between the teams and their drivers opened up when during qualifying Russell and Verstappen found themselves on the same piece of asphalt. Max was on his second cool down lap in Q3 following Fernando Alonso who was also preparing for a push lap.

Russell next on track was on a different kind of tyre preparation programme and was traveling a lot more quickly than the Red Bull and Aston Martin up ahead. Despite being able to see the slower moving car up ahead, Russell pressed on arriving on the back of the RB20 at turn 14.. READ MORE