Latest news with #BelgianGP
Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
- Automotive
- Daily Mirror
Max Verstappen: Public statement issued as decision made on quitting Red Bull
Max Verstappen has decided to remain with Red Bull for the 2026 season, with the Dutchman reportedly having an exit clause in his contract if he wanted to leave Helmut Marko has confirmed that Max Verstappen will remain with Red Bull next season after the Dutchman chose to stick with his long-standing team. The four-time Formula 1 champion attracted attention from Mercedes, but decided against making the switch from Milton Keynes to Brackley in 2026. Verstappen's choice reportedly came over the course of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, where he secured an unlikely Sprint race triumph before a fourth-placed finish behind the McLaren pair and Charles Leclerc during the main event on Sunday. According to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Verstappen feels 'comfortable' with Red Bull's current setup and has been encouraged by his initial work with new team principal Laurent Mekies. The Frenchman took over after Christian Horner was axed after 20 years in charge. Even had Verstappen wished to depart Red Bull in 2025, any separation would have proved complicated. The current world champion's release clause would only have been triggered if he sat fourth or below in the drivers' championship by the summer break, but his performance at Spa-Francorchamps guarantees him third position. For the moment, however, the rumours can be put to rest. Speaking to in the Belgian GP paddock, Marko made it clear that he does not expect the team's star driver to be going anywhere before the 2026 season. "Yes, I can confirm that Max Verstappen will drive for Red Bull in 2026," he declared. This decision carries significant implications for his competitors as well, not least Mercedes who were the team most strongly linked with the Dutchman, if he decided to make a fresh start. With his main rival now out of the picture, George Russell is anticipated to pledge his long-term future to the Silver Arrows. Team boss Toto Wolff had previously left the door ajar for Verstappen, but with that option now off the table, contract discussions can move forward. A report from the Daily Mail following the Belgian GP suggests that Russell is nearing a multi-year extension worth £30million annually. This would place him amongst the highest-paid drivers on the grid, trailing only Verstappen and former team-mate Lewis Hamilton. It's difficult to dispute that the reported pay rise is anything but merited. Russell matched Hamilton stride for stride during their three years as team-mates, and has matured into the reliable team leader that Wolff had envisaged him becoming. Whether his Mercedes team-mate will achieve similar success is yet to be determined. Kimi Antonelli's debut season has been a story of two halves so far, and the Italian teenager is facing mounting pressure after six scoreless finishes in seven Grand Prix races. The 18-year-old's contract is set to expire at the end of the season and, unlike his team-mate Russell, there are currently no reports suggesting a new deal is imminent right now.
The Hindu
5 hours ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Belgian Grand Prix: Oscar Piastri soaks in the moment at Spa-Francorchamps
At Spa-Francorchamps, unpredictability is tradition. The inevitable rain around the Ardennes region in Belgium always adds a layer of risk and chaos to the 7km-long circuit — the longest track on the calendar — which rewards the brave and punishes hesitation. The clouds had been looming for hours, and when the showers began, the start of the Belgian Grand Prix was pushed back for more than an hour. But in a weekend of shifting fortunes and grabbing at strands of opportunity, it was Oscar Piastri who prevailed. The 24-year-old made the boldest impression, outmanoeuvring and outlasting his teammate Lando Norris in a race of fine margins that now define McLaren's season, and the championship battle. Making a move The advantage swung back and forth between the McLaren drivers almost from one session to the next. The papaya pair split the poles — Piastri dominated the sprint qualifying, while Norris struck in the main race, edging his teammate by barely a tenth. But pole position is often seen as a double-edged sword at Spa-Francorchamps, and they were both at the receiving end. It was last in 2021 that the front-runner was able to maintain his advantage, albeit in an uncharacteristic fashion — Max Verstappen won the two-lap affair, which awarded half points to drivers. First in line for the harsh reward was Piastri, who lined up ahead of the Dutchman (a three-time Belgian GP winner in the Sprint). The looming threat for the Australian was not his teammate starting from third, but the Red Bull sandwiched in between. One can always expect Verstappen to pull off a stunning overtake on the opening lap, and the events unfolded soon enough. Flat out through Eau Rouge and into the Kemmel Straight — the first few turns of the track — the reigning champion used the tow to soar past Piastri in remarkable, gutsy, Verstappen-like fashion. From there, he remained in total control of the 15-lap affair to win his first sprint of the season. It was his 12th career sprint victory — more than all other sprint winners combined (9). Piastri finished second, Norris third, but the psychological edge had begun to shift. Learning curve Bouncing back from a disappointing result in the 100-lap shootout, Piastri was not at his usual best during qualifying. A rare inaccuracy by Piastri allowed Norris to grab pole, but a window of opportunity was now wide open. Spray treatment: The race at Spa-Francorchamps began in classic fashion — a rain delay, five Safety Car laps, and a rolling start on Lap 6. | Photo Credit: REUTERS Sunday began in classic Spa fashion — a rain delay, five Safety Car laps, and a rolling start on Lap 6. As the field cautiously peeled away, Piastri pounced, and quite bravely at that. He proved he can be a quick learner, mimicking Verstappen's overtake to perfection. Norris could only watch as his rival drifted away into the spray. The rain stayed away thereon, and the track dried up soon enough. The one who triggered a wave of pit stops was Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, whose revival drive powered his pit-stop-to-points finish. The tyre change was the right call — McLaren brought Piastri in first for mediums, and Norris a lap later for hards, betting on long-term gain. Norris lost time with a slower pit stop but stayed close, managing his tyres and waiting for Piastri to pit again. But the medium tyres lasted longer than expected, and suddenly, the advantage was back with Piastri. It became clear that McLaren's tyre split strategy would shape the final act of the race. Norris had to push, but Piastri had the track position and enough grip to defend it. Right on time By Lap 39, Norris had slashed the gap to under three seconds. Overtaking a teammate with equal machinery and high stakes is rarely straightforward. He had gotten all too familiar with playing catch-up, but might have left too much to do towards the end once again. With two laps to go, Norris made a mistake, undoing the painstaking charge and sealing his fate. Piastri crossed the line over three seconds ahead to clinch his eighth career victory and extend his lead to 16 points. He reasserted himself in what is becoming the most compelling intra-team rivalry of the year. Behind the battling McLarens, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc quietly executed one of his most assured drives of the season to take the final podium place. Yet another perfect qualifying lap helped him oust sprint winner Verstappen, who couldn't find a way past the Ferrari driver in the 44-lap event. But when the top two crossed the line, Leclerc was nowhere near. The gap? Almost 20 seconds. The sight of the McLarens thriving up front is all too common by now, but what is becoming increasingly difficult to predict is how close the fight keeps getting. Each weekend seems to tilt the scale in a different direction — and at Spa, it swayed back towards Piastri. Marc Marquez celebrates his win in Germany. | Photo Credit: AP MotoGP Marc Marquez has been the embodiment of pushing the limit this season. Back-to-back race weekends saw Marquez emerge victorious in Germany and Czechia, en route to becoming the first Ducati rider to win five consecutive MotoGP races. The Spaniard secured his ninth victory at Sachsenring, an event that was marked by multiple crashes, with only 10 out of 18 riders finishing. He staged a lights-to-flag victory while his brother, Alex Marquez, finished second despite a fractured hand, and Francesco Bagnaia came home third. A week later at the Dutch TT in Assen, Marquez was off to a rough start. He recovered from two crashes in practice and overcame a poor qualifying to charge through the field. He finished clear of Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi and his Ducati teammate Bagnaia, who was denied a fourth straight win here. With a 120-point gap and 10 rounds remaining, catching Marquez will be next to impossible. Related Topics Formula One
Newsweek
20 hours ago
- Automotive
- Newsweek
Ferrari F1 Eyes Back-to-Back Success With Hungarian GP Focus
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Following the boost Ferrari received at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend, team principal Fred Vasseur has revealed preparations for the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend, the last round before the summer break. Charles Leclerc secured his fifth podium of the season at Spa-Francorchamps, while Lewis Hamilton, who started the race in the pit lane because Ferrari fitted his SF-25 with a new power unit, finished within the points in P7. The Belgian GP marked Hamilton's first race in a long time where he was happy about his car's performance. The seven-time world champion admitted that he worked with his engineer the previous night to get the setup right. This was necessary, given the new rear suspension Ferrari introduced at Spa. Vasseur addressed the mood at Ferrari after the Belgian GP and highlighted Hamilton's Q1 exit in qualifying after his lap time was deleted due to track limits. Despite the challenge, he finished seventh behind Alex Albon. The Ferrari team boss said: Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur on the pit wall during the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on July 28, 2024 in Spa, Belgium. Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur on the pit wall during the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on July 28, 2024 in Spa, Belgium."The mood is good. For sure it's not the result that we are expecting with Lewis in the Quali yesterday, but I think it's part of the life of a racing team that we reacted collectively very well today, that Lewis did a great job. "He was quite aggressive at the beginning in the extreme conditions, he was able to fight with [Alex] Albon until the end and I think it was a good recovery for him also to be efficient like this. "For sure that we have to do a better job from the beginning, that if you want to score podiums or wins that you can't let one session away and we will have to do a step next week [in Hungary], but we are all pushing in the same direction." Vasseur explained that Ferrari did not want to postpone introducing the upgrades to the next round in Budapest and thus, took the risky decision to test it during the sprint weekend at Spa. This would also help Ferrari's setup strategy for the race at the Hungaroring. He added: "It's never easy to introduce something on a Sprint weekend but we didn't want to postpone to Budapest. "It's true that with the format of the weekend, the fact that you don't long stint on Friday or you're doing a long stint of four laps, it's not easy to have references. "But at the end I think it was the right call because it's also the best preparation for us for Hungary." Despite Ferrari gearing up its development of the 2026 car, Vasseur suggested that his team will continue bringing minor track-specific upgrades until the end of this season, but ruled out a major upgrade. He said: "I think we are all in the same situation that the closer you will be to the end of the season, the more focused you will be on next year and for sure we will have to bring some small items until the end, more related to the layout of the track or the weather conditions or whatever, but no big package."
Newsweek
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Newsweek
F1 Insider Sees Mekies Changing Red Bull's Max Verstappen-Only Culture
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Former Mercedes Formula One driver and Sky Sports F1 presenter Nico Rosberg has revealed that Laurent Mekies' Red Bull appointment to replace Christian Horner has uplifted Yuki Tsunoda's form, in a team that was "for Max Verstappen" and which "only cared about Max Verstappen." Horner, who served as the team's CEO and team principal for 20 years, was ousted with immediate effect after the British Grand Prix. Mekies was deemed the most suitable successor to Horner, given his impressive track record with Red Bull's junior F1 team, Racing Bulls. Rosberg was present at Spa-Francorchamps for last weekend's Belgian GP, where he noticed a motivated Tsunoda, given the presence of Mekies, with whom he shares a good rapport. Several reports suggested that Verstappen was given more preference over his teammates under Horner's leadership. Tsunoda is currently Verstappen's third teammate in the last 12 months. Sergio Perez faced significant challenges in 2024 with the RB20 F1 car, which eventually led to his ousting after the season finale. Yuki Tsunoda of Japan and Oracle Red Bull Racing talks with Laurent Mekies, Team Principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing on the grid prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps... Yuki Tsunoda of Japan and Oracle Red Bull Racing talks with Laurent Mekies, Team Principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing on the grid prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on July 27, 2025 in Spa, Belgium. MorePerez's replacement, Liam Lawson, also faced similar challenges, resulting in his demotion to Racing Bulls after the first two races of the 2025 season. Tsunoda earned his Red Bull promotion at his home race in Suzuka, replacing Lawson. However, he too faced difficulties with his new team's F1 car. Red Bull reportedly designed its car around Verstappen, which caused his teammates to struggle. Rosberg pointed out that Tsunoda looked more motivated with Mekies last weekend. Notably, the Japanese driver qualified P7 for Sunday's race at Spa, his best qualifying result with Red Bull thus far. This was after Mekies decided to use the upgraded floor on Tsunoda's RB20, which was kept as a spare for Verstappen. Revealing that Tsunoda is receiving the attention he needs from a team principal since Mekies took over Red Bull, Rosberg said on Sky F1: "He has now really empowered Yuki Tsunoda this weekend. He has given him the new upgrade, that he can have the new floor himself as well, not just Verstappen. "He gives him a thumbs up and a smile after sessions. After qualifying, they connected as Yuki was driving in. He saw Laurent on the pit wall, giving him a big smile and a thumbs-up. "That makes a huge difference to a driver when suddenly, he sees that he has the support from the team. Whereas before, he said, I heard that he felt like he was on a bit of an island on his own, in a team that was for Max Verstappen and they only cared about Max Verstappen. "Now, Laurent straight away is also caring about Yuki." Could this be the start of a new era at Red Bull under Mekies? Related: Yuki Tsunoda Handed Last-Minute Upgrade by Red Bull's New Team Principal
New York Times
2 days ago
- Automotive
- New York Times
Oscar Piastri is chasing a Lewis Hamilton record. Plus: F1 rain debates
Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic's twice-weekly F1 newsletter. Sign up here to receive Prime Tire directly in your inbox on Tuesday and Friday. Welcome back to Prime Tire, where we're wondering if it's possible to write a Formula One newsletter with a head cold and not get sidetracked by nostalgic summer memories of a children's backyard toy. I guess we'll see. Achoo. I'm Patrick, and Madeline Coleman will be along shortly. Let's get to it. A stat snuck up on me this weekend. Oscar Piastri won the Belgian GP. That's not the stat — the stat is that he's finished every grand prix since the 2023 Mexico City GP. That's 41 in a row — the third longest race-finishing streak in F1 history. The only drivers with longer runs of finishing a race are Max Verstappen (43 races in a row, from the 2022 Emilia-Romagna GP to the 2024 Saudi Arabian GP) and Lewis Hamilton (48 races in a row, from the 2018 British GP to the 2020 Bahrain GP). You know, the last two guys to win the F1 drivers' title. Hey, wait a minute. Piastri leads the drivers' championship right now. Over the last 10 years, how many drivers' champions were in the middle of a 30-plus race-finishing streak when they won the title? Seven of the last 10 champions (70 percent!) had a live 30‑plus finishing streak during their title‑winning year. Some takeaways from this: Not required, but increasingly common. Before the current super‑reliable hybrid era, even 20 straight finishes was impressive. Now, modern tech means front‑running cars can stay untouchable for seasons at a time — as long as they have a talented driver behind the wheel. Advertisement Correlation, not causation. Long streaks tend to appear when a driver-and-car combination is dominant (Hamilton/Rosberg at Mercedes, Verstappen and Red Bull). Still room for exceptions. Verstappen's streak ended at Australia in 2024 due to a brake failure. He won the title by 63 points. Hamilton's run ended in 2020 because he contracted Covid-19 and missed the following race and won the title by 124 points. If you have outright speed, you can survive the odd zero. So what does this mean for Piastri? A mega‑streak isn't strictly necessary to become an F1 champion, but in the current era, it's becoming a very common hallmark of a championship campaign. Let's treat it as an early warning sign that Piastri is on his way to something. By the way, if you're wondering: Lando Norris' longest streak of race finishes in F1 is 34 — ended a month ago in Canada, when he (as we put it) self-destructed. Now let's head down to the paddock, where Madeline has discovered a miserable mistake from Haas… A few different things went wrong for Haas on race day. Ollie Bearman had to manage an engine issue for the entire grand prix, losing three positions from it, the rookie said. The problem left him struggling to overtake, despite the car having competitive pace throughout the weekend to that point. On top of that, his setup did impact his race as well. 'He had lots of pace with the downforce level he had, he was really happy with the car, and he had so much confidence,' team principal Ayao Komatsu said in the team's post-race recap. 'We knew, however, if you have that setup and you're in traffic, you're not going to overtake, which is unfortunately exactly what happened.' The team also pitted both Bearman and Esteban Ocon a bit late, a lap too late for the rookie and two laps late for the Frenchman, Ocon said. And this is where matters got worse for Ocon. He pitted on Lap 13 out of 44, and the team fitted him with a used set of tires despite a fresh set waiting. Advertisement 'On Esteban's side, we had an operational error and the pit stop timing wasn't right,' Komatsu said in the team's post-race recap. 'The speed is there, though; I think we may have the fifth-fastest car out there, which is amazing and hats off to the team who delivered it, but we just failed to execute. 'We have one more race before the shutdown, so we need to focus on the basics, and if we do that extremely well, I honestly have no doubt that we can score with both cars.' Sunday's race at Spa dragged out for about an hour as intermittent downpours turned Eau Rouge into a Slip 'N Slide. (Side-note: The Slip 'N Slide folks were geniuses. Take two items most American families have — a tarp, a hose — and just… sell it back to them.) (Side-note to the side-note: I just read that the inventor of Slip 'N Slide made it when he saw his son sliding on concrete. So add Slip 'N Slide to the long list of inventions created to save kids from themselves. Outlet covers, kids' scissors and Slip 'N Slides… I forgot what I was talking about. Oh, right —) The delay inconvenienced a few teams (such as Red Bull) who thought we'd get more wet-weather racing than we did, and tailored their setups accordingly. Verstappen was among those who lamented the lost chances for genuine wet-weather wheel-to-wheel action in exchange for cautious procession laps. But, as Madeline reminds us, safety's no joke at a venue with Spa's dark legacy: Changes made over the years prompted F1's return in the 1980s, but in recent years, the Eau Rouge and Raidillon section (Turns 2 through 4) has become a topic of concern. Anthoine Hubert died in 2019 following a multi-car crash that started at Raidillon during a F2 race. In a Formula Regional European Championship race that took place in wet conditions in 2023, Dilano van 't Hoff died after an accident between Raidillon and the Kemmel Straight. So it shouldn't be too surprising that race control took great care with the start of the race. But, as Verstappen suggests, are we losing something essential by limiting the wet-weather racing? Check out Madeline's piece for more on the post-Spa debate. No Outside the Points today because I'm sick and would like a nap. But I will leave you with a final thought on Spa. Piastri's first lap (OK, it was the fifth lap because of the rain delay), race-winning pass on Norris was terrific. Another one of those 'Looks Easier on TV' moments — especially because he set it up by following one car length back through Eau Rouge, one of the most iconic (and deadliest) turns in F1. He and Norris are going at least 174 mph (280 km/h) there. On a wet track. Here's another angle of Eau Rouge, taken from an onboard camera on Charles Leclerc's car. That's rocket-ship stuff. We take what these guys do for granted. No wonder Piastri said he was trying to 'be as brave as I dared' through Eau Rouge on that winning move. I loved what Luke Smith said about Piastri on Sunday: that 'these are the moments that will prove decisive' in the title fight. (Read his full story here!) They're also the moments that truly set us apart from the drivers who make them — and why we tune in every weekend. 📫 Love Prime Tire? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters. Top photo:
