Former F1 boss Chase Carey is back in the paddock in Abu Dhabi this weekend having been appointed a director of Liberty Media.
Carey was chairman of F1 from 2016 to 2022, and served as CEO from 2017 to 2021, before Stefano Domenicali took the reins.
He was responsible for pushing the cost cap through and getting the last Concorde Agreement across the line.
While he has visited US races since his departure he now has a formal role within the company that owns F1, serving on the executive board
His return comes ahead of the departure of Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei in January, and amid recent speculation about Domenicali’s longer term future in F1. However sources indicate that he won’t have a hands-on role on matters such as the Concorde, and will be supporting Domenicali.
“Chase has been an excellent partner to Liberty for many years, from our investment in DIRECTV in 2008 to Liberty’s purchase of Formula 1 in 2017 where his role as CEO was key to securing the acquisition,” said Malone.
“He was instrumental in building a successful foundation at F1 from which the business has grown materially.
“Chase’s knowledge and expertise across media, entertainment, sports, business and more will be valuable to the board as our companies execute on their next chapters of growth and value creation.”
Carey added: “Liberty is at an exciting point in its storied evolution, with a more focused asset base centred around high-quality, premium sporting assets that I know well. I look forward to contributing to Liberty as a director in partnership with John, Liberty management and the portfolio company leadership.”
Christian Horner admits that extending Sergio Perez’s Red Bull Racing deal for two years early in the season “obviously didn’t work.”
Perez’s new contract was announced on June 4 after a run of podiums early in the season, but immediately after a first lap accident in Monaco that in retrospect signalled a downturn in his fortunes.
At the time the team was in some turmoil and there were question marks over Max Verstappen’s future.
Horner that signing Perez brought continuity and stability, and it was widely interpreted that it was about keeping Verstappen onside with a team mate that he knew well.
However since then Perez has struggled and it’s widely expected that he won’t continue in 2025 – in which case the team is likely to have to pay a hefty price for him not to race.
Asked by this writer if he had any regrets about concluding the deal so early Horner rather than keeping the team’s options open admitted that it hadn’t worked.
“Obviously, at the time Sergio was performing extremely well,” he said. “I think he had, what, 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. And I think Checo, you have to look beyond this year for the contribution he’s made to our team. He’s been a great team player. He’s a great person. He’s extremely popular within the team.
“He’s worked very hard over the four years that he’s been with us, and he’s played a vital role in the constructors’ championships that we’ve won, the five Grand Prix victories that he had in our car, it’s been the most successful pairing that we’ve ever had, finishing first and second in the drivers’ championship, last year.
“So I think nobody more is frustrated with the results than Checo, from his own high standards. And that’s obviously been painful for him, for the team, and we’ve worked tremendously hard to try and support him, and we’ll continue to do so all the way up until the chequered flag on Sunday, where hopefully he can get a good result at the final race of the year.”
Horner hinted that there’s a scenario where Perez himself decides to stop.
“There’s huge respect for Checo within the team, and nobody likes to see him struggling like the way he has,” he said. “And we’ll sit down and discuss things after the season.
“We’ve got two talented drivers in VCARB, so but until the situation is clear with Sergio, what he wants to do, everything else is purely speculation.”
Norris says Qatar will be more painful if Norris misses the title
Lando Norris says he’s moved on from his contentious yellow flag penalty in Qatar – but he fears that could yet be a “bad consequence” if McLaren misses out on the Formula 1 constructors’ title due to the lost points.
Norris was given a 10 second stop and go penalty for not slowing when yellow flags were shown after Ale Albon’s mirror was left lying on the track on the approach to Turn 1.
He initially dropped out of the top 10 but recovered to take 10th place and the fastest lap point – however Ferrari was able to significantly close the gap to just 21 points heading into the final race.
“I was disappointed,” said Norris when asked by this writer about putting the penalty behind him. “I wasn’t happy with myself on Sunday night, but I’ve not been down or anything over the last few days.
“It’s been nice that we can come here and focus already on the final weekend of the season. And there’s a lot of focus on it.
“There’s not been a bad consequence of what’s happened, it might be on Sunday afternoon I feel the consequence more so, but we’re working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen, and I don’t feel the real pain of last weekend.”
Norris insisted that it was impossible for him to have seen the yellow light on the straight.
“There was no yellow lights that I passed,” he said. You can say that there was one, but no chance any driver can see that. So I mean, not ideal. Obviously, I was pretty disappointed. I let a lot of people down, but it happened. It’s in the past.
“I’ve apologised to the team. I would never want something like that to happen. Normally, I think, pretty good with those kind of things, and we never take the risk and normally be on the safer side of things. #
“So it was just unfortunate, difficult to see the yellow flags in the dark and that kind of thing. Just a shame, but it’s happened, and I feel like I moved on pretty well from it.”
Asked about the scale of the penalty he said: “I’m going to have to accept the penalty for what it was. Yes, that’s the ruling. For what the safety measures were. You know, in an ideal world, maybe there could be some differences. I get why there’s a such a severe penalty for it, but no people were in danger. It wasn’t like there was someone on track.
“It was a wing mirror. And if it’s something so severe, the race should be stopped, like a VSC or a safety car, then cleared, then continued. Double yellow is be prepared to stop.
“No one’s prepared to stop when you’re going 300 kph, not one driver on the grid is prepared to stop. I think there’s something completely separate to actually what happened? I didn’t see the yellow flag, and I got the penalty, and I paid the price.
“But I think everyone can agree that what it was is severe for what you see, and what the actual danger was. But the rule is the rule.”
Norris denied that there’s any extra pressure on McLaren this weekend
“There’s a lot of external pressure, but I think within the team, not a lot changes. There’s been pressure the whole season to perform and to do well, there’s been pressure the whole season for me as a driver, to perform well, especially the second half of the year.
“I feel like I’ve been doing that, but it’s more external pressure that I think people have to deal with.
“And that’s engineers, mechanics and things like that. I’m sure everyone within the team feels a little bit more nervous coming into the final race, but at the same time, nothing should change.
“Nothing needs to change. The job we’ve been doing is very good. I’m proud of the whole team, and we just continue doing the same as what we have been doing.”
Toto Wolff has made clear his feeling about Christian Horner…
Toto Wolff has slammed Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner in the wake of the escalation of the war of words between their drivers, George Russell and Ma Verstappen.
Wolff was left fuming in Qatar after Horner suggested that Russell had been “quite hysterical” in the stewards hearing that led a penalty for his driver.
In Abu Dhabi on Thursday Wolff suggested that Horner was “weak” and was “falling short in his role”, in effect for not telling Verstappen that he might be two sides to the story.
“I think as a team principal It’s important to be a sparring partner for your drivers,” he said. “And that means explaining that things can be more nuanced. Statements that are absolutistic, thinking that everything is either right, 100% right or 100% wrong, it’s just something you I think you need to explain. Think more nuanced, not depending from your perception and your perspective.
“You need to allow for something to be 51/49 you need to allow it to be 70/30, so there’s always another side. And maybe when you look at it that way, and you explain it to your drivers and to your team, you come to the conclusion that there is truth on both sides. If you don’t do that, you’re falling short of your role, It’s just weak.
“Why does he feel entitled to comment about my driver? How does that come? But you know, thinking about it, yapping little terror. Always something to say.”
He made it clear that the hysterical comment had particularly riled him.
“There is a thing between drivers, and this is George and Max, and I don’t want to get involved in that,” he said. “But if the other team principal calls George hysteric, this is where he crosses the line for me.”
now his forte for sure, is not intellectually psychoanalysis. That’s quite a word. How dare you? How dare you comment on the state of mind of my driver.”
Verstappen won’t back down on his Russell comments
Max Verstappen says he has no regrets on any comments he made either to George Russell directly or to the media in the wake of the FIA stewards’ hearing in Qatar.
He also accused the Mercedes driver of “lying” in the stewards’ hearing that led to him being sanctioned.
Verstappen received a one-place grid penalty after being found to have driven excessively slowly in Q3 and hampered Russell.
After winning the race Verstappen told the media that Russell had actively tried to get him a penalty and that he had never seen a fellow driver act that way.
Although he didn’t reference it himself after the hearing Verstappen had threatened to put Russell “on his head” at the first corner should he receive a penalty.
Asked by this writer on Thursday in Abu Dhabi if he had any regrets about anything he said Verstappen was unrepentant.
“No regrets at all, because I meant everything I said,” he said. “And it’s still the same. If I had to do it again, maybe I would have said even more, knowing the outcome of the race result. I still can’t believe that someone can be like that in a stewards’ room.
“For me, that was so unacceptable, because I mean, we’re all racing drivers. We all have a lot of respect for each other. We even play sports together. You travel together. And of course, you have moments where you get together, you crash or whatever.
“You’re not happy. In my whole career, I’ve never experienced what I have experienced in the stewards’ room in Qatar. And for me, that was really unacceptable.”
Asked if Russell being a director of the GPDA and thus a representative of all the drivers Verstappen said that had no impact on his thinking.
“No, it has nothing to do with him being the director of the GPDA. I just never expected someone to really try and actively get someone a penalty that badly and lying about why I was doing what I was doing.
“But clearly, it had an influence to them. Yeah, it was just really not nice, and actually very shocking what was going on there.”
Regarding the way he reported Lando Norris for not slowing for yellows in Sunday’s race he said: “It was just a normal question. I mean, I knew that I lifted, and I suddenly look in the mirror, and I saw that the gap closed up a lot.
“So I just asked, did he lift or not, just to double check. Of course, sometimes with yellow flags, some people lift more than others. And yeah, you can gain some tens here or there. I luckily tried to play it safe, and then just asked and see the outcome of it.”
Russell has fought back against Verstappen: Picture: @tinnekephotography
George Russell has fought back in a war of words with Max Verstappen – and explained how the Dutchman threatened to put “me on my f**king head in the wall” at the start of the Qatar GP.
Verstappen made the threat at the pair left the stewards’ room on the Saturday evening in Qatar, implying what would happen should he get a penalty.
He was duly given a one-place penalty that handed the pole to Russell.
Russell says he initially took the comments as “heat of the moment”, but a second interaction with Verstappen before the drivers’ parade made him think that the threat was serious.
The comments were informally reported to the stewards before the race – in effect as a form of insurance for Russell should anything actually happen.
In the end Verstappen made the better start and drove straight past, and there was no controversy.
However after the race Verstappen slammed Russell in the FIA press conference, indicating that he’d never seen a driver try so hard to get a penalty for a competitor.
In Abu Dhabi on Thursday Verstappen said he had no regrets about anything he’d said and went a step further by accusing Russell of lying. Russell chose to use his own media session to respond.
“It’s funny, because even before I said a word in the stewards, he was swearing at the stewards,” he said.
“He was so angry before I’d even spoken, and at the end of the day, there’s nothing to lie about. The facts were the facts. He was going too slow.
“He was on the racing line in the highest speed corner. I wasn’t trying to get him a penalty at all. When I was on track, I was in pole position at this time, I was just trying to prepare my lap.
“And as drivers, you fight hard on track, you fight hard in the stewards the same way as Max the very next day, asked his team to look at Lando’s penalty through the yellow flag. That’s not personal Max to Lando, that’s just racing, and I do not see why he felt the need for this personal attack. And I’m not going to take it.”
Russell repeated what Verstappen had said to him.
“I’ve known Max for a long time, and I know what he’s capable of. And he said to me he’s going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me, put on my f***ing head in the wall.
“I knew that was a bit of a heat of the moment thing, but when I went to see him the next day at the driver’s parade, when Checo was there, when Carlos was there, and we were joking around a little bit, you know, I saw it in his eyes that he that he means it. And he’s a four time world champion.
“When I compare his actions to the ones of Lewis, Lewis is the sort of World Champion who I aspire to be like, the way he fought Max in ’21 it’s hard, very hard. It’s fair, but never beyond the line.
“And I think we’ve also got a duty as drivers. I’ve got an eight-year-old nephew who’s just started go-karting, who watches all of my races, watches Tiktok, watches YouTube, and for a World Champion to be coming out saying he out of his way to crash into someone and put them on their effing head, that is not the sort of role models we should be.”
Russell insisted that he wouldn’t have escalated the dispute had Verstappen not done so.
“We’re adults and we’re mature, and as I said, right now, it’s not even something I’m thinking about. I never have the intention, or had the intention of throwing Max under the bus like this, until he comes out and slams me so personally.
“But this is not like I’m angry with Max. This is me just setting the record straight. But I’m not going to stand here watching some guy slam me personally as he has done.”
Franco Colapinto says that it was “quite stupid” for rivals to take risks at the start of the Qatar GP.
The Williams driver was collected at the first corner by Esteban Ocon, who had in turn been hit by Nico Hulkenberg, the German having struggled for grip on the hard tyre.
Colapinto and Ocon were out on the spot, while Hulkenberg was able to continue.
The significance for Colapinto was not only did his FW46 sustain more damage he also lost of his last two remaining chances of 2024 to demonstrate his potential.
“It’s very disappointing, I just got taken out at T1, and nothing I could do really,” he said when asked by this writer about his brief race.
“It’s quite frustrating. In T1, starting on the back from P18/19, it’s quite stupid to risk it so much, and I left a very big gap on the inside.
“And they still drove into the side of me. So nothing I could do, We’ll try to understand how we can fix the car for Abu Dhabi, that’s going to be the most important point.”
The high attrition rate made an early retirement even more frustrating.
“It’s not the best situation,” he said. Looking at the race as well, it looked quite exciting. So it would have been quite nice to be there, and trying to fight for points. But it’s part of racing, and unfortunately it didn’t go as planned today.
“Sometimes you have these ups and downs. As Alex, we both had a pretty tough couple of races, and I think the most important thing is try to end up strong in Abu Dhabi, and finish the year on a high.
“We are going to try to fix the car the best we can, and try to go with the best package possible to Abu Dhabi.”
Colapinto acknowledged that it was frustrating to be robbed of one of his last two chances to impress potential future employers.
“Especially to be taken out in Turn 1,” he said. “It’s always the most frustrating, because you cannot really do anything. I didn’t get to do one corner. It’s just disappointing, especially with the race.
“We all thought it was going to be a bit of a boring race, and at the end, it was very exciting, and it opened a lot of opportunities for everyone. So it’s part of racing. Sometimes it doesn’t go as you want.”
Liam Lawson insists that a scrappy Qatar GP won’t impact his future prospects despite it coming just as Red Bull makes up its mind about who will replace Sergio Perez in 2025.
Lawson spun at the first safety car restart in Qatar, forcing Valtteri Bottas off the road. He subsequently received a 10-second penalty.
Later in the race both he and team mate Yuki Tsunoda were switched to soft tyres in an attempt to find some performance.
However that gamble didn’t pay off, and they finished 13th and 14th, with the Japanese driver ahead.
The result dropped the team further away from Alpine and Haas in the battle for sixth in the constructors’ table.
Lawson remains favourite to land the RBR seat, and he insists that one frustrating Sunday won’t impact his future.
“Honestly, nothing’s really changed from where I sit,” he said when asked by this writer about the unfortunate timing.
“We had some positives this weekend. Sprint quali was strong for us, and obviously yesterday, we struggled more in quali.
“But after the spin to be honest we caught the field and had okay pace. So there’s points to take away from it, but overall we didn’t have the package this weekend to fight against the teams we need to fight against.”
Lawson took full responsibility for the Bottas incident, apologising to the Finn when they met in the media pen after the race.
“It was just my bad,” he said. “I thought we had really good temperature to be honest, like I worked a lot the tyres on the restart, under the safety car, went for a move and half way around the corner, I realised I was sliding up the track towards him.
“And at that point, I just tried to get out of it honestly, because I was about to hit him. So I tried to check up and spun the car. I don’t know if we touched, I guess we did, but that was on me.”
He added: “Obviously, he did nothing wrong. I didn’t expect him to stay out there, to be honest. And because he did, obviously I was sliding up the track. But it was my fault.”
Lawson admitted that the soft tyre gamble didn’t work.
“I think we weren’t going to score points from where we were. So we just tried something soft. Softs obviously didn’t work.
“We had a small issue as well that we were managing at the end. But, yeah, it’s just been a tough day. But honestly, I put ourselves in that position when I spun the car.”
Alonso didn’t have a straightforward race but he still earned P7
Fernando Alonso has blamed the power issues he faced in the Qatar GP on his Aston Martin AMR24 being “confused.”
Despite complaining about a lack of speed at points the Spaniard drove a strong race and took advantage of problems for others to secure seventh place.
It was the first score for the Silverstone team after a four-race drought since Alonso earned eighth in Singapore.
“We had some issues,” he said. “It’s not the first race that we are lacking top speed in the first half of the race or after the safety car.
“I think the car is confused, still thinking that we are behind the safety car. So we don’t deploy the energy properly out of the last corner when there’s a green flag.
“And that obviously is very costly if you don’t deploy the energy when you have all the cars around you. And yeah, we lost, I think, two or three places at the first restart, and that was very worrying for the final outcome of the race.
“But yeah, we compensated at the end with some safety cars and better luck. So we still investigate it. I think we know what the issue is. We just need to find the solution.”
Alonso stressed that overall it had been a positive race, despite the problems.
“A very good Sunday for us,” he noted. “A lot of points, six points for the team, P7. It is better than we anticipated. Obviously we capitalised on some of the action in front of us, some DNFs, some penalties. So we were ready there to take the opportunity and happy.
“It wasn’t expected. But yesterday, the car felt good in qualifying, it was a good surprise. And today in the race, we were relatively fast, together with Alpine and Haas.
“As I said a little bit lucky at the end, with the safety car, penalty for Norris, and DNF of Checo. You have to be there. Sometimes when we are P14, P15, even if there is something happening in front of you, you don’t take the opportunities. So we were in the right place at the right time today.”
He added: “Since Singapore, we were not scoring any points. So today we had this opportunity, and we took it. So yeah, happy for the team. Now one race left, it will be nice to finish on a positive note in Abu Dhabi.”
Alonso is skipping the post-season test as he continues to address back issues.
“It’s not secret that I’ve been struggling physically for four races,” he said. “It seems that I’m now out of the darkness.
“I feel good today. I felt good in Las Vegas that I wanted to race immediately after Vegas. But I think I need to stop, and take care of myself a little bit.”
Hamilton had a frustrating time in Qatar last weekend
Lewis Hamilton admits that he doesn’t anticipate a competitive package for his final outing for Mercedes in Abu Dhabi – and he’s indicated that goes into the race weekend with “low hopes.”
Hamilton had a frustrating time in Qatar, citing his personal lack of speed after both the sprint and main qualifying sessions.
In Sunday’s Grand Prix he picked up a penalty for a false start, had a puncture, and then earned another penalty for pitlane speeding.
At one stage he suggested that he wanted to retire the car, but in the end he stayed out, finishing out of the points in 12th place.
“It could have been worse, but I finished, and it’s over,” he said when asked by this writer about his difficult race.
“Ultimately that was me at the start, and then the puncture was really unfortunate. And the pit lane, that was me as well. You do your best, but I’ll get back up tomorrow and give it another shot.”
He also struggled with a lack of front end, with his engineer Peter Bonnington referencing an “under balance” early in the race.
“The under balance is literally just because we didn’t get the wing setting right,” said Hamilton. “This happened many times, just basically not having enough front wing in the car, and the car just wouldn’t turn.
“So understeering massively for a long period of time. And I think that honestly, for me, felt like that’s what led to the tyre failing.
“But maybe it was debris. I didn’t see any debris, to be honest, but not ideal. It happened just as I got to the pit entrance.”
Hamilton made it clear that he doesn’t expect what it likely to be an emotional farewell to Mercedes in Abu Dhabi to see a step forward.
“I don’t think we’re going to end up on a high,” he said. “I think it’ll end. And I think what’s important is how we turn up. We’ll give it our best shot. And I don’t anticipate a particularly much better weekend than we’ve had in the past weekends.
“But naturally, I’ll try, but go in with low hopes and come out with a better result, then it doesn’t really make a big difference either way. I think these last races don’t have an impact on everything we’ve done together.”
Asked if Qatar was a season low point he added: “There’s been loads of them to be honest, so it’s been a roller coaster ride of emotions.
“But I’m just grateful I’m still standing, and I’m still okay. I’ve had great races in my life, and I’ve had bad races in my life. Not too many bad ones.”
Adam Cooper F1 