August 3, 2025 · 7:43 am

How Hungary 2024 taught McLaren valuable lessons

12 months on the team is better equipped to deal with tricky situations

A year ago McLaren was just starting to emerge as the team to beat, which meant that race wins were sup for grabs for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

In Hungary the team faced its biggest challenge up to that point in terms of balancing the interests of its two drivers.

What looked like a smart strategy call intended to maximise the team’s overall result became a little complicated when it reversed the positions and put Norris ahead of Piastri.

When Norris was told to let his team mate back past he was reluctant to do so, and while he eventually did follow instructions the episode somewhat overshadowed the Australian’s first victory.

Twelve months on and the team has been through a few more difficult situations, and each one has been something of a learning exercise, and potentially added layers to the Papaya Rules.

And given that the title is at stake and each race becomes more important as the number of points available reduces, we can guess that there could be further awkward scenarios yet to come.

However the team is now much better equipped now to deal with such eventualities, as Andrea Stella confirmed when I asked him about the subject.

“It was one year ago,” said the Italian. “To me, it looks like it was 10 years ago in terms of how much has happened from a racing point of view, how much has happened in terms of the rate of development of the team, or growth of the team, in the way the results that we have been able to achieve since then.

“But as part of this journey, there’s also a journey that has to do with the improving our way of going racing, what we call the racing approach.

“We have reviewed extensively one year ago, the race here in Hungary, and then we kept this diligent, rigorous approach to reviewing and learning, and we have as much as possible, formalised everything that we learned into our racing approach.

“And the thing that makes me most proud is that Lando and Oscar have always contributed very genuinely, very honestly, very transparently, just bringing their values into the way we go racing. So we’ve gone a long way. I think we have established a pretty robust platform in terms of how we go racing.”

He knows that it could get stressful in the coming weeks: “We are going to be challenged, because racing in F1 is difficult, but so far, and for the remainder of the season, I’m really proud and happy with what, with the way we’ve been going racing, and with the way in which Lando and Oscar have sustained the journey of the team.”

The team may have missed pole in Hungary, but Stella remains confident that the team has a strong package for the remainder of the season.

He points out that in contrast to the recent past – when the team tended to bundle upgrades together and bring them in one hit – this season there’s been more of a drip feed of performance items.

“We have seen a very positive trend in terms of our competitiveness, especially, I would say over the last three events in which we have finished P1/P2.

“This is not only because we started with a competitive car, but actually we have upgraded the car since Canada with what was in the past a single instalment upgrade. So it would have been very noticeable – McLaren bring a new car and improves by a few tenths of a second.

“But in the recent races, we have upgraded the car with some parts at pretty much each race, so we have become faster. I think here, the Hungaroring, despite the result in Q3 has actually proven that the car is fast.

“I think every single session we were P1/P2 by a decent chunk compared to the next team. This makes us very positive about the reminder of the season.

“We look forward to starting racing again after the shutdown. I think we have some tracks that will be favourable to us again, like Zandvoort, and we have also done some specific work for some tracks like Monza or Vegas in which, not necessarily last year we were dominant, and we knew that we needed to do some work for the performance at low drag.

“So we definitely look forward to the second part of the season, and we expect to be competitive.”

As for this weekend, Stella says the tricky conditions contributed to a cautious approach by his drivers, neither of whom could afford to make a mistake that dropped them down the order. Charles Leclerc in contract had nothing to lose and took his chance in style.

“I think it’s an interesting qualifying in terms of understanding how things go for an F1 car, because definitely we had a significant change of conditions. You can see in the meteo data a change in terms of wind direction, wind intensity, temperature, humidity, everything changed.

“And everyone from Q2 up until when we were pretty competitive, we put together definitely strong laps, from Q2 to Q3, everyone went slower. We went slower by about half a second in average.

“Actually, we simulated the change of conditions in our simulations, and it gives a little bit less than that, but about four-tenths of a second. But Ferrari and Leclerc managed to go actually faster. So the track was definitely slower.

“I think for Lando and Oscar, after they had seen in the first run that conditions had changed, that the grip wasn’t what they expected, that every corner was going to be a bit unpredictable, therefore, the lap time didn’t come.

“I think in the second set, they needed to be a bit cautious, because obviously, when you race for the championship, you want to make sure that you are there. I think this is a slightly different approach for Charles. I think it just went, went for it, like, I don’t think I have much to lose here.

“And it paid off. And this is a credit and merit to a very good execution by Ferrari and Charles.”

The conditions in Hungary were very specific, but Stella paints an interesting scenario.

What about the next time we get a rain-affected session, or places like Baku and Singapore, where there is very little margin for error? As their battle gets tighter will Norris and Piastri again leave a few vital hundredths on the table as they ensure that they don’t mess up that crucial last lap in Q3 – and potentially allow others to sneak ahead? It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

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August 3, 2025 · 7:37 am

How a frustrated Verstappen was left “driving on ice” as Red Bull struggles in Hungary

Verstappen could manage only eighth on the Hungarian GP grid

For Max Verstappen the Hungarian GP weekend has been something of a nightmare this far, and his car was sliding so much that at one point in qualifying he said it was like driving on ice even on his out lap.

In the end he was almost relieved to have made it into Q3 and earned P8 – albeit with a couple of Aston Martins and a Sauber ahead.

Had Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli qualified where their cars should in reality have been, Verstappen would indeed have been edged out of the top 10.

In fact over the three practice sessions he was ninth, 14th and 12th – not where you would usually expect him to be.

“I mean, looking at the whole weekend, I think we are happy to be in Q3 because I’ve been more outside of the top 10 than,” he said when I asked him about qualifying.

“It’s been difficult. The whole weekend no grip, front and rear, and it was the same in qualifying. So for me, it was not really a shock. I just drove to what I already feel the whole weekend.”

He admitted that the team didn’t know what the issue was: “No, clearly not, otherwise, of course, we would have changed it already. But somehow, this weekend, nothing seems to work.”

Verstappen acknowledged that RBR also had a difficult Hungary last year, although not to quite the same degree.

“I think we still qualified very close to pole, like within a few hundredths, so I think we were a lot more competitive back then. But yeah, this weekend already, from lap one, it just fell off, and we threw the car around a lot, and nothing really gave a direction.

“And that of course is the biggest problem, because normally, when you use or you change a lot on the side of it will always give you positives or negatives, and now just nothing works.

“It’s like just going around in circles, and nothing gave you any kind of idea of what to do.”

He added: “There’s not been a single lap or a single corner that I felt good. So the whole weekend so far, it’s just been sliding.”

That sliding won’t help his tyres in race conditions. Normally you would expect an out-of-position Verstappen to make progress, but it could turn into a rear guard action.

“There may be a car a few cars in front of me that I can maybe battle with a little bit. But of course, also Lewis is still a bit further down the road, which I think he shouldn’t be there, right? So he will come through a bit.”

So is this the worst weekend he can recall over the past couple of seasons?

“I mean, we have had a few Singapore disasters. So yeah, I mean, it’s just not been a good one for sure…”

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August 1, 2025 · 9:33 am

How Norris learned that sometimes 95% is “good enough” to get the job done

Norris accepts that at times this year he’s pushed too hard

Not for the first time in 2025 Lando Norris heads into a race weekend keen to make amends for disappointment at the previous event, and with an urgent need to claw back some points in his fight with Oscar Piastri.

The Belgian GP was even more frustrating in that he did the difficult bit and beat his McLaren team mate to pole, only to lose out on the first lap to a combination of driving and technical issues.

Despite his best efforts on an alternative strategy with hard tyres he had to settle for second, losing another seven points to his rival.

Once again there followed a few days of soul-searching and discussions with the team and what he could have done differently or better.

“There’s hindsight of certain things,” he said when I asked if any lessons had been learned. “Nothing which means I would have won the race. There’s also things he probably could have done better too.

“So even if I had a mega last corner or mega Turn 1, still a pretty good chance he would have passed me anyway. So sometimes you’ve just got to accept that. As much as I would like to win them all, you can’t. A tough one to take, because I did a bad job.”

Norris stressed it wasn’t just down to him not getting it right as the first guy in line on the wet track.

“I didn’t have the best run, but at the same time then we had some, not problems, some let’s say incorrect settings with the battery, which meant he had a slight advantage of battery comparing to me, which certainly didn’t help.

“But I also didn’t do the best two corners. Whether that would have made a difference or not, hard to say. With the issue he probably would have passed me, no matter what. So yeah, a tougher one to take from that perspective.

“From the strategy and pit stops, tough to say. I don’t think a double stack would have been any better. I just had a slow pit stop. It was more the slow pit stop, and it was one of my lock ups in Turn 1, which cost me over a second and a bit. You put those two things together, it’s like four seconds of race time.

“So there’s things I could have done better, and then we as team and team could have done better, and that’s what we will try and work on.”

Spa underlined just how tight the battle between the two team mates is. There’s no margin for either to put a foot wrong over the course of a race weekend.

“I think it’s probably down to the least mistakes, I would say, more than anything,” he noted. “Not necessarily who is outright the quickest, or who can simply race better or make the best overtakes.

“I have some of my strengths, he has some of his, and it’s more down to the least mistakes. Especially because of the position we’re in as a team, we have a car that is you can say one of the best cars made in F1, and we’re first or we’re second more often than more not.

“And therefore it’s just kind of more between us, more than who qualifies first and sixth. We qualify first and second more often, and you can kind of just hold on in Turn 1, and then go from there.

“There’s not been many races where positions have swapped through a race, so therefore it’s more who can then make the least mistakes from that point next onwards.”

Asked if he had to drive at 100 percent to win the World Championship, or had learned that 99.8 might be enough, he made an interesting comment.

“I try and perform at 101 percent,” he said. “Sometimes that’s amazing. Sometimes that’s, I think, as good as you can get. And that’s what I feel is the optimum of what I and what I think a driver can achieve at times, and I do believe that.

“But also times I should drive at 95 or even 90 percent and that’s still enough to be on pole or P2 sometimes. I do regret trying to be so good at beginning part of the season, and now already I sometimes just settle for a 95 percent lap. And that’s that’s still good enough.”

Norris made huge strides last season as he experienced a winning car for the first time and found himself battling with the likes of Max Verstappen, as well as Piastri.

That process has continued this year, although his struggles to come to terms with the MCL39 have had an impact.

“There’s just always different situations, different moments along the way,” he said. “I think as a driver, I still feel better than I was. Doesn’t mean I always do a better job, because the car is quite different this year.

“I’ve had my tricky moments with the car and understanding how to drive it, just because, yes, it’s a McLaren, it’s got papaya on it, but it handles pretty differently to how it’s done in previous years. So I’ve had to just adapt to that, and it’s not suited me as well.

“But it’s just tough, and I’ve got to do what I’ve had to do, and I’ve needed to do a better job to get back to being as quick as I need to be, which I feel like I’ve done, and I’ve improved on.

“So I think [I’ve shown] my ability to improve on worst moments as a proof, or ability to improve on certain struggles that you might achieve during a weekend, or over a session or practice, whatever it is.

“Other than that, I think there’s just always going to be for everyone little things along the way that’s a new experience, or you didn’t expect, that you wish you could be better on. But I think that’s just life.”

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July 31, 2025 · 4:47 pm

Mercedes hopes dumping W16 upgrade will get Antonelli and Russell back on track

The rear suspension package that won in Montreal has been cast aside for Hungary

Kimi Antonelli’s honesty continues to be refreshing, and not just when the Mercedes Formula 1 rookie tells the media about mistakes he’s made, or admits to underperforming in some way.

After main qualifying in Spa last weekend he told us that he would be making setup changes and starting from the pitlane, a strategy that teams usually like to keep quiet until the last minute as they don’t want to give rivals information that might be useful.

On Thursday in Hungary he was happy to reveal that Mercedes is returning to the older rear suspension spec this weekend in attempt not just to find overall performance, but more specifically to help him get back his confidence in the car.

When I asked George Russell about the impact of the change he replied, “That was supposed to be a secret!”.

The Brit may well have been joking, but anyway it was another welcome sign that Antonelli remains an open book.

Mercedes introduced a rear suspension upgrade in Imola that went off the car for Barcelona, but returned for Montreal.

A Russell win and third place for Antonelli appeared to validate it as an improvement, but the Italian’s subsequent struggles and Russell’s own drop in form eventually led the team to query it. Hence the return to the older spec this weekend.

“It’s been on the cards for a little while,” said Russell in answer to my question. “It’s part of development. We’ve seen it in other teams as well.

“This season, they bring things to the car, and you’re looking for that last sort of tenth of a second, and you often see the gains. Before you put it on the car you don’t know what the limitations are going to be. So there’s no guarantee.

“That’s the reason why we’ve taken a step back. It could be a factor. We’ll use this weekend to assess. But you know, if you just look at the results as a whole, we clearly have gone backwards, and we need to go back to a baseline that we know.”

It’s clear that Antonelli has a lot riding on the change as he tries to get out of the confidence black hole that he’s been in of late.

“This weekend we are going back on the old suspension,” he said. “And that hopefully will bring the feeling back, because since we moved to that suspension, apart from Canada, I’ve been struggling to drive the car and getting the confidence.

“And probably also my side I didn’t adapt the best, because I was always trying to keep my style, and to drive the car the way I wanted, but it didn’t really work out. And George, on the other hand, has been adapting better.

“Also, he has a different driving style, but he’s been able to adapt a bit better. And I think that’s what’s been hurting me in this European season. So hopefully, by going back to the old suspension, it will bring back a bit the feeling I had prior to the start of the European season.”

Expanding on the theme Antonelli gave some intriguing details.

“Well the thing is with my aggressive style, with the way I was driving it, I was making the car even more unpredictable. So when I was really trying to push it, it’s like was hard to feel if it was going to stick or not.

“So when you’re on that fine line, it can really make the difference. If you have the confidence and you know it’s going to stick, it can really make the difference.

“But in my case, especially with the style I was driving the car, I was just making it more unpredictable, and I was just having no confidence, because every time I was even trying to push more the car was struggling to take it, or was just giving me signals that made me feel like it was not going to stick.

“So that’s why I’ve been also trying to change a bit the way I was driving to go towards the car, but I think I didn’t do a really good job on that. And, yeah, I just hope that with old suspension it’s going to bring the good feeling back.”

The fact that Mercedes did so well in Canada with the now rejected upgrade is an obvious area of interest – and Antonelli had a good explanation as to why that circuit proved so favourable.

“Definitely Montreal is a very special track,” he said. “The grip is very high, the tarmac is quite closed. But at the end of the day in Montreal it’s all straight line braking, and then you have the chicanes, which is all about setting the car nicely on the first part, and then accelerating for the second part.

“So the new suspension was really good for straight line braking and combined traction, it was giving us a really good combined traction phase. So that was the best for Montreal, and that’s why we were so strong.

“So I think that’s that was the main thing. Montreal is such a special track, and it was really good for our suspension, mainly because we had no real combined entry corner at high speed.”

He added: “When we went back after Canada, obviously we faced really high-speed tracks, and that I think hurt even more the confidence, just because it was quite tricky. And as I said before, with my driving, I was making the car even more unpredictable.

“So especially if you have an unpredictable car in a high-speed circuit, it’s really hard to push it to the limit, because you never know if it’s going to stick or not.”

Hopefully this weekend will see the Italian find the answers that he’s looking for. If he doesn’t it could be a painful summer break until action resumes at Zandvoort, if his reference to the short gap between his difficult Belgian GP and Hungary is anything to go by.

“I think in this case I like to have back to backs,” he said. “Because obviously you’re in the rhythm, which is nice. At the same time [Spa was] a difficult weekend, and I really want to do well this weekend before going to the summer break.

“And I think if I would have had a big gap, would have been really hard, because I would have been busting my balls the whole time! So I’m happy that we have another race weekend straight after…”

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July 31, 2025 · 7:25 am

How new Vasseur contract gives Ferrari and Hamilton breathing space

Any doubts over Vasseur’s future at Maranello have been ended by a new deal

Ferrari has created some crucial stability and put a stop to any suggestions that Christian Horner might end up at Maranello by giving team principal Fred Vasseur a new multi-year contract.

There had been speculation in recent months that Vasseur’s future was under threat after a disappointing start to 2025.

The team has not won a race this season, and failed to build on the momentum it had at the end of last year.

Meanwhile new recruit Lewis Hamilton has yet to log a podium as he struggles to come to terms with a very different car.

The gossip about Vasseur did not sit well with Lewis Hamilton, who stressed that he joined the Scuderia because of the presence of his former F3/GP2 boss.

In truth both men deserve to be judged on 2026, with Vasseur having spent the last few years putting the pieces in place and Hamilton currently working hard to ensure that he’s in a much happier place with the car.

It’s worth remembering that he underwent a similar process in his first year at Mercedes in 2013, ahead of the introduction of the new rules.

This would not be the right time to rock the boat with yet another change of team boss, something that Ferrari has ultimately recognised.

“I’m grateful for the trust Ferrari continues to place in me,” said the Frenchman. “This renewal is not just a confirmation — it’s a challenge to keep progressing, to stay focused, and to deliver.

“Over the past 30 months, we’ve laid strong foundations, and now we must build on them with consistency and determination. We know what’s expected, and we’re all fully committed to meeting those expectations and taking the next step forward together.”

Ferrari says that “renewing Fred’s contract reflects Ferrari’s determination to build on the foundations laid so far. His ability to lead under pressure, embrace innovation, and pursue performance aligns fully with Ferrari’s values and long-term ambitions.”

It adds that “under Fred’s leadership, Scuderia Ferrari HP is united, focused, and committed to continuous improvement. The trust placed in him reflects the team’s confidence in its strategic direction and reinforces a shared determination to deliver the results that Ferrari’s fans, drivers, and team members expect and deserve.”

Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna, the man who pushed to get Hamilton on board, made clear his support.

“Today we want to recognise what has been built and commit to what still needs to be achieved,” he said. “It reflects our trust in Fred’s leadership — a trust rooted in shared ambition, mutual expectations and clear responsibility.

“We move forward with determination and focus, united in our pursuit of the level of performance Ferrari has to aim for.”

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July 30, 2025 · 6:31 am

Why Antonelli has to rebuild his confidence with tricky Mercedes W16

Antonelli had another tricky weekend at Spa – and he admits he’s lacking confidence

For Kimi Antonelli the Belgian GP turned into another weekend of frustration as the rookie failed to log any points.

Qualifying P20 and P18 for the two events and finishing them in P16 and P17 is not what either he or the Mercedes team expect.

Remarkably his only score in the last seven weekends was his solid third in Montreal on a day when team mate George Russell won.

To be fair that run includes a couple of mechanical retirements and a hit from Isack Hadjar at Silverstone (when he was well outside the top 10), but it’s also clear that Antonelli has been struggling to come to terms with the car.

Russell has also had a difficult run since Canada. Mercedes technical director James Allison acknowledges that the team has lost its way of late with the W16, and that hasn’t made life any easier for Antonelli.

“I think he’s, like the rest of us, massively fed up with a string of results that are well below what we were collectively achieving earlier in the year,” says Allison.

“I hope he takes some solace from the fact that we tell him, and it’s demonstrably a fact, that we have taken the wrong steps with the car, making our team less competitive, and that he is paying the price for that, as is George.

“If the car isn’t where it needs to be, then it will be a struggle getting through the qualifying stages in your rookie season in F1. And it’s utterly clear to all of us that the thing we need to do is make the car better, and then Kimi’s fortunes will reverse with that.

“And hopefully, he’s listening to us as we say those reassuring words, because we absolutely know that he is putting in the effort on his side of that bargain.”

As a sprint weekend Spa was always going to be tough for Antonelli, notwithstanding the fact that he secured pole for the Miami sprint after just an hour of practice at a track he hadn’t been to before.

In Belgium a huge spin in SQ1 left him with damage and no chance to progress through, hence his P20 grid slot. With neither Alpine on the grid he gained two spots automatically and then in the race passed Nico Hulkenberg to secure 17th place.

Typically, he was very honest about his performance.

“Since the European season, I’ve been struggling to find confidence with the car, and I felt like I’ve done a backward step,” he said when I asked him about his form. “It’s a difficult moment for me, because I feel like I have no confidence on pushing. And yesterday I tried to push a bit too much, and then I spun.

“And then it kind of hurts the confidence even more. But it’s a difficult period. I think we know the limitation we have since quite a lot, but with the way I’m driving, I’m just increasing the problem. And that gave me even less confidence with the car.”

The team made some tweaks for Saturday afternoon’s main qualifying, which improved things. However he still managed only 17th, ahead of the struggling Aston Martin drivers.

“Definitely I think the car was in a better place for sure, compared to yesterday,” he said. “It’s just on my side, I still struggle to get up to speed quickly, just because the confidence has been missing. So I think there’s a lot of work to do on my side, and I try to find the light out of the tunnel as soon as possible.”

He also gave an interesting insight into what he needs from the car.

“Definitely a bit more stability, because with the way I drive, I’m a bit more aggressive with the inputs,” he said. “Also, compared to George, I’m a bit more aggressive overall. I tend to try and carry a lot of speed into the corner.

“And with the limitation I have, I’m just increasing the problem. So on my side, I’m trying to change a little bit the way I’m driving to also have the balance. Because, of course, it’s impossible to have the perfect balance. And I’m just trying to work on that side. But it’s not easy.”

He added: “The team has been trying to help me as much as possible, but on my side probably I’m trying to change the way I’m driving too much, and it feels like I’m not driving naturally. It’s very first forced the way I’m driving, and it’s just difficult.”

A lack of confidence in the car was not what he needed heading into a wet Sunday, and with little to lose from that grid position the team opted to drop him out of parc ferme and give him more downforce.

“We will change the car so we’ll start from the pitlane, and hopefully that will give us an advantage. And hopefully the confidence will be back.”

He wasn’t the only one to make that choice, so at the start he found himself third in the pitlane queue behind Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton, and ahead of Fernando Alonso.

For all of them and others on the grid who had already gone high on downforce for qualifying the lack of wet race running was to be frustrating.

“The car felt better with a bigger wing,” said Antonelli when I asked him about his race. “I felt much better in places where I was struggling a lot, and it was a shame, because obviously with the delayed start, it turns out it was a dry race pretty quickly, and we couldn’t really use the bigger wing…”

Before the change to slicks Antonelli passed Lance Stroll, and he gained three more spots in the stop sequence, before finding a way past Franco Colapinto. Stuck subsequently in the queue behind Pierre Gasly, he pulled a good move on Fernando Alonso.

Later like others with little to lose he estopped for new tyres, and after that had a little tussle with Esteban Ocon, nearly getting by the Haas driver only to lose out again.

During his chase he set the race’s fastest lap, which was some reward. However P16 wasn’t ideal, especially with Russell 52 seconds up the road in fifth place.

“Despite being much quicker in the corner than in the straights, it was really hard to keep up,” he said. “And it was a shame, because the only opportunity I had to pass Ocon, I went a little bit wide, and I took a wet patch, and then just had no grip, and he made the switchback.

“And then after that, the tyre was starting to suffer, and I just couldn’t get the run. But still, it’s learning difficult conditions. Also I tried to call quite early the switch [to slicks], but because of Silverstone as well, we probably were a bit too cautious on that, and we wanted to wait a bit more.

“And I think that’s where we lost some positions as well. But on the other hand, I think driving-wise, it was better this race, and I just need to keep working for qualifying.”

A clear track after his pit stop at least gave him a chance to show his pace’ albeit briefly.

“Those few laps where I was on free air, definitely had a lot more fun than being stuck.

“It’s quite frustrating, because you can’t really unleash the real pace you have. I mean, when I was in free air, I did that lap, and then once I was stuck, I was two seconds slower all of a sudden.

“It was tricky. But I think I shouldn’t be starting that far back. I think I need to work on my qualifying and work to get the confidence back with the car, in order to start more at the front, because when you start at the front it’s a completely different race.

“Still as I said, good learning, because having to have the right feel for the transition, then still fighting, trying to get by, especially in a DRS train. So definitely, good learning.

“And now we just need to, as I said before, do a better qualifying to start more at the front. Because in those races where I start more the front it is a completely different story.”

Life isn’t easy for Antonelli at the moment, and while the will he/won’t he jump Verstappen saga appears to be over, the prospect of the World Champion joining – and potentially pushing him and not Russell out – can’t have helped in recent weeks.

At Spa he did at least receive a welcome boost from his predecessor Lewis Hamilton.

“He came to say hi to the team, and definitely, we had a couple of words. He was telling me to keep my head up, and that is normal to have bad weekends and just to keep believing. It was really nice for me.”

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July 29, 2025 · 5:07 pm

How Gasly scored his “hardest-earned” point for Alpine at Spa

Once again Gasly took an opportunity that presented itself in the wet at Spa

For Pierre Gasly a humble P10 at Spa was a hard-earned reward at the end of a what had initially been a frustrating weekend.

A solitary point might not sound like much, but in a race that all 20 drivers finished, and in which he the majority of it holding off a train of potentially quicker cars, it was a most welcome result for the Alpine driver.

Gasly has been doing a good job in qualifying for much of the season, and in the sprint session at Spa he was again in the mix with P8.

Unfortunately a last minute PU issue meant that he joined the race a couple of laps down, and it turned into a test session for him and the team.

“It’s a shame,” he said when I asked him about it. “I think there was a point to grab there looking at the race, there didn’t seem to be many overtakes.

“So yeah, a shame. But unfortunately that’s what happens sometimes. And the guys did a good job to get me out there and just at least get a feel for the car, the deg, etc, with higher fuel.”

The later main qualifying session was to be a little frustrating as Gasly inadvertently found himself the first car out on the final runs in Q2, and he had to settle for P13.

“I’m happy with the laps, like all the laps were good,” he said. “The only unfortunate thing is on the last run we came out of the garage thinking everybody was ahead of us, we were going to be in the flow, and kind of get the normal slipstream of being in the pack.

“And no one wanted to be first, so I arrived at the end of the pit lane first car out there. And on my lap, I had a 50-second gap. So it’s a long way to Turn 5, and a long way back to the last chicane, which probably cost us a tenth or two. And I missed a tenth to Q3.

“The lap for me was as good as yesterday, but it’s just with these fine margins, today wasn’t quite enough without the track position.”

Alpine’s straight line speed struggles are well-known, and Gasly opted to stick with a very low downforce level, despite knowing that rain was coming on Sunday.

“I feel good with the car the way it is, and based on previous years with that level of downforce,” he said. “It’s always a compromise. Tomorrow might be wet, might be dry, might be inter.

“At the end, I’m feeling quite comfortable with the car the way it’s set up. I know that we’ve got it in a good window, and at least it’s the fastest way down the straight the way. And the corners it will be my job to figure out how to get through it if it’s wet. But generally, I felt comfortable on the wet this year, so I’m not too worried.”

Indeed Gasly and Alpine usually get it right in such circumstances, most recently in Silverstone where he earned a surprise P6.

“Honestly, I’m not even thinking about it now,” he said on Saturday of his hopes for the wet. “Because tomorrow morning, you open the curtains and you see what happens, and it can still even change before the race happens.

“We’ll have to be patient. If it’s dry, I think we chose the wing to be in a position to attack and defend, and if it’s wet, it might be slightly more tricky. But at least we will be able to be on the racy side, so we’ll see…”

In the end it all worked out, as the delayed start and then four laps behind the safety car as the track dried helped those who had edged towards lower downforce levels.

“To be fair when we started first lap we couldn’t see a thing,” he said later. “So that was the right call to put a red flag, and there was a big cloud coming. Was there a window for five minutes, potentially? But I think they did the right choice.

“And then after, it’s always the same question, could you restart the race 10 minutes earlier, later?

“I think at the end of the day, knowing the history of this track and what happens, as a driver you’d rather be 10 minutes too late than 10 minutes too early.

“On my side, they did the right the right call. You can always argue a couple minutes earlier or later. But at the end, they went on the safer side, which was the right call.”

Once action got underway on the wet track Gasly held on to P13 initially until losing out to Lewis Hamilton, whose pitlane start with high downforce helped him to move through the pack.

Then at the end of lap 11 Gasly followed Hamilton into the pits as they became the first two drivers to go for slicks.

As the stop sequence sorted itself out Gasly was up to P11, and he then spent many laps with a queue of cars behind, led by Yuki Tsunoda, Ollie Bearman, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Antonelli.

He hung onto 11th until a stop by Nico Hulkenberg moved him up a place, and it became a fight for a point – which he duly earned.

“I wasn’t in the top 10 at that stage,” he said of the early tyre switch. “And I knew this was a big gain to switch at the right moment. The previous lap was a bit on the edge. That lap was a tricky call, but I knew there was quite a lot to gain, so just decided to go for it.

“And then once we got track position, I knew I will be in a position to defend. But yeah, I wasn’t thinking I was going to have to defend for that many laps with a train of cars that was kept growing throughout the entire race.

“So it was very intense, very intense. I’m sure I’m going to sleep well tonight, and probably one of the hardest-fought points.”

In the end his choice of lower downforce worked to his advantage.

“Yeah, definitely. I mean, if we would have been on another rear wing, we know the ultimate pace in the car is not there, so they would have just passed us. And they were faster than us on pure pace.

“That’s the sort of choice we made, to go with a very skinny rear wing, and at least give us an edge in the straight and just have to survive and make no mistake in the corners.”

It was another good team effort by Gasly and Alpine, who need to take such opportunities when they arise.

“I must say, I’m very pleased with the way we’re working, communication and just the understanding,” he said. “They are able to give me a car, which even though we don’t have the ultimate pace, we still manage to get the best out of the package we have.

“And we got it right in Silverstone, today we again got it right. I think Silverstone was good teamwork, today was more I told them, they were ready. And I just decided when I felt it was possible – I decided to dive in. And yeah, it paid off.”

With the second car yet to score this year Gasly has logged all 20 of Alpine’s points this season.

The team is still firmly at the bottom of the table, and it won’t be easy for him to move it up the order.

“We’ll see. I’m taking every weekend at a time. Silverstone and Spa turned out to be strong weekends. Next week it’s a high downforce race track, so it changes a bit the order. But let’s see what we get there.”

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July 28, 2025 · 8:35 am

How Hamilton turned his tricky Spa weekend around and “had a lot of fun”

Having been P18 at the start Hamilton made it up to seventh by the time track dried

Lewis Hamilton’s rollercoaster Ferrari season continued at Spa, as he turned a disappointing first couple of days into a charging performance in the race – and overcame a few hurdles along the way.

There’s was a lot to deal with, as he had a new performance engineer in his corner, albeit someone he knows from his Mercedes days.

Meanwhile the team introduced an upgraded suspension package that had been trialled at a filming day. There was also another unspecified mechanical element that Charles Leclerc had previously tried on his car, but which Lewis had not yet run before Spa.

Throw in the fact that it was a sprint weekend and life became quite complicated, especially on Friday, with just FP1 in which to sort things out.

A frustrated P18 in sprint qualifying, Lewis was then demoted from P7 to P16 in Saturday’s Q1 session after losing his lap time to track limits, a mistake he took the blame for.

With little to lose he then joined three other drivers in dropping out of parc ferme and starting from the pitlane with added downforce for the rain expected on Sunday, taking the opportunity to add a fresh PU to his pool.

The delayed start and extra safety car laps meant that he couldn’t use the full potential of his bigger wing, but it was certainly a help in the early wet laps as he charged up from an initial 18th to 13th.

He then made a superbly-timed call to switch to slicks on lap 11, which put him into seventh by the time those ahead had pitted.

High downforce then became something of a handicap and he spent the rest of the race behind Alex Albon.

Nevertheless it had been a good day, and he had a smile on his face after the flag.

“Obviously massively challenging being all the way back there,” he said when I asked him about his race. “But we made some changes overnight.

“So much in the build-up to this week, obviously, with the upgrade that we had. There’s basically two elements to it. One of those elements, we had it to test back in Montreal, but I didn’t end up testing it. Charles ended up testing it, and he ended up using part of it for a couple of races.

“He did a great job today, and he’s feeling more acclimatised. For me it was the first time using it, and that spin that we had [on Friday] caught me out, because we didn’t have settings.

“Also a change of engineer, so we’re both in the deep end, basically. And I think we did a really good job overnight to rectify some of those, tweak it, fine tune it. And the car was so much better today to drive. So I had a lot of fun trying to make my way through.”

Hamilton felt that the race should have got going a little earlier, a view shared by others who had added downforce for the wet but could not take full advantage.

“We obviously started the race a little bit too late, I would say. I kept shouting, like, it’s ready to go, it’s ready to go. And they kept going round and round and round.

“So I think they’re probably overreacting from the last race, where we asked them not to restart the race too early, because visibility was bad. And I think this weekend they just went a bit too much the other way, because we didn’t need a rolling start, for example.

He added: “Definitely could have done a standing start, especially at the end there, because it was almost a dry line. It was hardly any spray. So definitely could have done that.”

Lewis said that he got the change to slicks just right.

“I’m really working to try to finesse that, to get it right each time. And I think I would say that’s been an area for me that’s not always been the strongest. And in the last race I called it, it was maybe a one lap too early, and I think this today was spot on.

“I probably could have just about done it one lap earlier, but it was like pretty much right there.”

Hamilton admitted that it hadn’t been a great weekend for him in the context of various changes. However, the race turned it into a positive.

“We obviously had these upgrades,” he said. “Everyone back at the factory works so hard. And then when you come and put a performance like I had in these past two days, it’s tough, because that’s not what the team deserves.

“And as I said, it wasn’t a case of necessarily coming in and not being in the right mind through the weekend, there were a few factors that did affect particularly on the Friday. Saturday, was just me.

“But I recovered today. So got some points, we outscored Mercedes on points, which is great. Charles did a great job. Clearly, the car is improving because Charles was able to hold on to another podium.”

Regarding the change to his engineering team he said: “”It’s not easy to switch engineers within the middle of a season, but it’s someone that I’ve known for years, who was actually on my previous team with me, but not in that position.

“So we’re getting used to each other and learning, having to learn, like, super, super quick. As I said, I think the changes that we had really caught both of us out.

“But I think we did a great job overnight, and we’ll just get stronger and stronger together.”

Lewis agreed that Spa gave him something to build on.

“I think this one’s definitely one to kind of put behind me, and I definitely feel confident going forward from here as I said, having learned more about the car today, fine tuned it. I’ll set that up better for next week, be at the factory on Wednesday. So yeah, I don’t see why we won’t have better results going forward.”

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July 27, 2025 · 7:38 am

Why Albon trimmed downforce from his Williams as others added it for Spa rain

Albon starts a surprise P5 in Spa – after taking off downforce

The surprise package of Spa qualifying was Alex Albon, who popped up in P5 at the end of Q3.

The Williams driver had endured a frustrating sprint qualifying, with PU issues contributing to his 16th place on the grid.

In the sprint itself he finished in the same position, and prior to main qualifying he opted to make some aero changes – and somewhat counter intuitively given the rain forecast for Sunday he actually took downforce off while others were adding it.

Of course, it’s all relative to where you start from, and he felt that he was running too much wing.

He was ninth in Q1 and then just made it through to the last session with P10 in Q2. His fifth place in Q3 came as surprise to him as much as anyone else as he headed a very closely matched group behind the top four.

“It’s always nice to be on that side of it,” he said when I asked him about the session. “Really happy. I would say we were quite draggy on the sprint race, and we decided to drop some wing out of the car just to be in line more with other people. I felt like in the sprint race, I was quick, but couldn’t do anything behind any other cars.

“So it means going into qualifying, everything feels a little bit trickier, because you’re obviously sliding around a little bit more, the tyres fall away from you more as well. We fixed the deployment, which was the biggest difference from Friday to today.”

Albon conceded that he didn’t expect the change to work so effectively.

“I would say on pure pace, I felt less competitive during qualifying than I was at any point before the before the qualifying session. So it felt tricky. I mean, I was P10 in Q2 and I didn’t feel that happy.

“I didn’t really know where I could get more positions, let’s say. And then Q3 happened, and I found a chunk of time. So I put it down to tyres, as it always is, and we found the sweet spot today on the last run.”

He added: “I didn’t feel comfortable. I felt like when we when we took off the down force, we made the car much harder to drive, and the tyres weren’t lasting the whole lap. So it was becoming harder and harder.

“You go quicker in sector one and sector two, and sector two, and then you go slower again. You never felt like you could get all the lap in one place, and then in Q3 I did. I got it all in one. So I was really happy.”

Albon wasn’t concerned about compromising his wet weather form for the race, indicating that he still has a decent level of downforce.

“We were so far on the draggy side, though, that we’re still okay. If you remember Silverstone, I think it was the Red Bulls and ourselves, we were quite low on downforce, and we paid the price when it rained on Sunday.

“So we made sure not to overdo it. But yeah, hopefully we’ll be okay. I still think as a team, we struggle a bit more in the wet compared to some other cars out there. So if it can stay dry as long as possible, that will be great.”

He remains confident about his race form, although hopes of a dry race receded on a wet Sunday morning.

“We obviously haven’t done enough laps yet to really set up the car into a perfect place. I think a lot of that will come back to us just with setup changes.

“Being a sprint-based weekend, we haven’t really been able to do much. We’ve got more downforce. I think we need to see, because it hasn’t been the easiest weekend so far just to get the laps together.

“I think our race pace is strong. It’s hard to know, because I’ve been in DRS train the whole race this morning, but my race pace was good on Friday. I think we’ll be okay.

“We just need to kind of get some clear air, and I hope maybe the cars in front clear off and I can do my race.”

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July 25, 2025 · 1:25 pm

Can Norris keep a smile on his face and continue his winning momentum at Spa?

Norris has some momentum after two wins. Can he beat Oscar Piastri in Belgium?

Lando Norris came to Belgium on the back of a pair of race wins in Austria and Britain, having put his Canadian GP nightmare well behind him.

The first was a particularly impressive performance given that it came soon after his Montreal disappointment.

Of course at Silverstone he benefited from the penalty that race leader Oscar Piastri landed. However he still had to get the job done in tricky circumstances. A win is a win, and it was a huge boost to his morale.

If he’s going to beat his McLaren team mate to the World Championship Norris has to keep up that momentum and outscore the Australian as often as he can, starting with Spa this weekend.

He has had his struggles this year as he’s tried to get the most out of the car when it matters in qualifying. Meanwhile Piastri has stepped up his game in all areas, and has been impressively consistent.

The last two races gave Norris a chance to recover his mojo and start to get his campaign back on track.

“I feel like I climbed a little bit back to where I was,” he said at Spa. “I certainly feel happier. Austria was a place I felt the happiest, even happier than I was in Silverstone, with the car, with the knowledge of where I can push, how I can push, and all those things. It’s always been a good track for me.

“So I think a selection of things came together. And the pace I had then in qualifying was quite easily and most convincingly, the best I’ve had all season, and just my laps consistently were always up there in P1. I think there was some positive things that came from that.”

Norris concedes that he’s still working on how to get the best from the MCL39.

“We’re still trying to work on things to give me more from the car,” he said. “In order to allow me to unlock that more often, like I was doing last season. There are certain things that I just had to work on and be better at, and I feel like I have.

“A nice thing is that I had the two wins. The most positive thing from those two weekends was just that the pace was better from the off, and I was more comfortable with the car and in understanding how to get the most pace from it at times, that brings a more of a smile to my face than just winning the race itself, because it’s progress, and that’s always a very good thing, it’s a very rewarding thing.

“But there’s still some more I need to get. There’s still more things. I feel better than what I did. So do I feel more confident that I can have more performances like that? Yes.

“Do I feel as good as I still felt last season, and that I’m performing at the same level consistently enough? I would still say no.

“I have more understanding of everything now. We’re talking my new things like small, incredibly small gains here and there. I feel more of a threat now, yes, but am I happy enough still with where I’m at, where the car is, and my harmony with the car, it’s still not to the level that I that I want.”

That was a typically honest assessment from Norris, who always wears his heart on his sleeve.

He’s not blaming the car or anyone else – he knows he has to do a better job.

“My driving, how I drive the car, my ability to adapt to more driving styles, per se,” he said. “That’s really the main thing, working at how I drive the car. It’s also my job at the end of the day to drive whatever car I get given as quickly as possible.

“But it’s a mixture, also some more things away from the track, with my team, I have a very good group of people around me.

“So I’m working on the things for on the track and off the track, how I can approach the weekends in a better way, most of which is how I can work on being a better driver in the situation of struggling with things that I don’t like, or I’m not used to, or changes on the car for this year.”

Spa provides everyone with a curveball, as the sprint format, potential for rain and a tricky Pirelli compound step in the dry make life complicated.

For McLaren you can throw in the new floor, validated in practice at Silverstone but not raced, and it could be a tricky weekend to get right. Norris and Piastri might not be able to focus solely on beating each other.

“I think it’s definitely a weekend where there’s just a lot of opportunity for everyone, and even more than Silverstone.

“[Often this year] we have an advantage over everyone, because the team give us such a good car, but I don’t expect that as much on a weekend like this, like with the weather, how It’s going to be – it could be dry and then suddenly rain at different points.

“And you might have someone I guess who gets half a lap more in the dry section on track, and then the rain comes again.

“And that’s what is also going to happen to the season. It’s more about it can be maybe that bit more consistent, rather than who can be quicker on one weekend than the other.”

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