The 2024 Formula One season has been the longest in history and for the teams and their personnel there was a general air of weariness in the paddock for the Abu Dhabi finale. Red Bull have had a trying year after their uber dominant season in 2023 despite the fact Verstappen won four of the five races at the start of the year.

This could easily have been five from five as in Australia Max was prevented from driving for the win when his RB20 suffered a mechanical problem and he was forced to retire early in the race.

Come the end of the Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull reached the zenith of their lead this year over the chasing pack as they sat 71 points ahead of McLaren their closest rival. The in season development of the RB20 then imploded which meant from Spain Verstappen would suffer a barren winless streak of ten weekends, before his glorious drive to victory in the monsoon which swept across Interlagos.

 

 

 

Red Bull regret Perez new deal

The main problem for the world champions was their number two driver was to have his worst year with the team since joining in 2021. Sergio Perez started the year well with four podiums in the first five race weekends but was to end the year with his P3 in China being his last.

Red Bull are known for their ruthless treatment of drivers who underperform yet bizarrely come Montreal in June, the team handed their Mexican driver a shiny new contract for next year. Team boss Christian Horner reflected on the decision last weekend in Abu Dhabi.

“Obviously, at the time, Sergio was performing extremely well,” said the Red Bull team boss. “I think he had four podiums in the first five races and, in order to settle his mind and extend that run of form for the rest of the season, we elected to go early – which obviously didn’t work. That’s just life sometimes.”

Follow this new deal, Checo in fact deteriorated. His points tally after the first seven rounds was 107 but the next fourteen race weekends only yielded Checo only another 45. Paddock speculation was rife going into the summer break that Perez would not return in Zandvoort and in fact that Daniel Ricciardo would step up alongside Max to steady the ship.

Veteran F1 journalist: “The worry for Hamilton…”

 

 

 

Checo disastrous home GP

Checo did return for the four race weekends before F1’s inaugural autumn break of three weeks. The reasoning given was the Mexican had some of his favourite circuits coming up, places like Baku and Singapore where he has been an F1  winner previously.

Again most paddock folk expected to see Checo replaced before the two remaining triple header weekends, but it was Daniel Ricciardo who was ditched by the sister team and Liam Lawson promoted.

At his home Grand Prix Perez failed to make it out of qualifying one and started the race in P18. Six laps in he tangled with fellow Red Bull driver Liam Lawson, which damaged his car and compromised his afternoon.

It all ended with a whimper for Sergio with retirements in both Qatar and Abu Dhabi and Red bull were comprehensively beaten by McLaren to their first constructors’ title in 26 years. The general paddock consensus is that Sergio has waved by to his time in Formula One as Red Bull’s Dr. Marko revealed the team will sit down to discuss their driver lineups for 2025 after the post season test.

Marko calls out F1 stewarding bias

 

 

 

Yuki or Liam?

With Ricciardo the favourite to replace Perez gone, it appears almost certain Verstappen’s new partner will be either Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson, with Isack Hadjar moving up to the V-CARB team. Yuki was given his first drive in four years in the Red Bull car at the post season test but all was not well as the Japanese driver posted only the 17th quickest time.

A number of drivers and teams did not offer a press session at the conclusion of the test and in Carlos Sainz case it was because he remains under contract for Ferrari. Yet Red Bull were expected to allow their drivers to speak to the media but no comment was forthcoming.

Dutch journalist Ronald Vording pens, the team were ‘a little bit afraid’ the when the likes of Lawson, Tsunoda and Hadjar would be questioned over their future after the bosses met to discuss the topic the previous day.

“In those cases [Sainz], there was no room at all [for] media sessions, [it] also applies to Nico Hulkenberg at Haas,” said Vording via the Motorsport․com Nederland YouTube channel.

Ricciardo return

 

 

 

Red Bull ‘afraid’ of media session

“In theory, it would have been allowed at the Red Bull teams, but they didn’t do it for a completely different reason. Because I think they were a little bit afraid that we would [have spoken to] Lawson, Hadjar, Tsunoda, that we had all asked about the meeting, the top-level meeting yesterday and therefore about what is going to happen next year.

“And Red Bull was not very interested in that so they expertly kept all that away from us.”

When he replaced Daniel Ricciardo, Liam Lawson was most peoples favourite to move up alongside Max Verstappen but the kiwi has had some ugly moments with fellow Red bull drivers including flipping the bird at Perez during the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Further, Yukli Tsunoda – who is there at Honda’s behest – has never properly be considered for the senior drive. Yet he is now favourite to take the garage across from Verstappen given his 6-0 pounding of Lawson in the Grand Prix qualifying sessions they have competed together.

The Japanese driver has also scored double the points of Lawson in their six races together and the new composed Yuki now looks favourite to replace the weary Sergio Perez.

Schumacher blackmail: Defendants make huge confession

 

 

 

Cadillac will never build an F1 hybrid engine

Cadillac (Andretti in disguise) will join the Formula One grid in 2026. The GM owned brand had expressed little if no interest in F1 until the F1 teams and Liberty Media expressed publicly that the Andretti Global Racing brand was not big enough to add value to the sport.

This set up the rejection of their application by FOM despite the FIA having green lit the project last season. It appeared that the matter had become personal to Liberty Media’s CEO Greg Maffei, when in Miami he barged into a conversation between Mario Andretti and Stefano Domenicali telling the motor racing legend.

The 1978 F1 champion had been summoned to Capitol Hill by the US Justice committee who questioned him over F1’s rejection of the Andretti application to join the grid. News of this visit had reached Liberty Media and Mario was explaining to Domenicali how he had not instigated the matter… READ MORE