Bortoleto has agreed an F1 deal – and the consensus is that it’s with McLaren
New FIA F2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli finally agreed a deal with a Formula 1 team prior to securing the title Sunday’s deciding race in Qatar.
Sources have indicated that a contract was signed over the weekend, although there has been no official confirmation of where he is going.
Fornaroli has reached the top rung of the sport without the support of any F1 junior programmes, beating multiple drivers who are associated with GP teams.
He won the 2024 F3 title with Trident despite not winning a single race over his two years in the category.
He moved up to F2 this year with Invicta, and an impressive rookie season has seen him win three sprints and one feature thus far, boosting his reputation after his winless F3 career. He clinched the title with second place in the Qatar feature race on Sunday.
He thus repeated the feat achieved by his friend Gabriel Bortoleto, who won the F3/F2 titles in 2023-’24 – with the same Trident/Invicta combination – and has since enjoyed a strong F1 rookie season with Sauber.
After clinching the title he said: “I have an idea of what’s happening with my future. My focus still remains on the last round of F2 in the meantime. My manager and management are doing an amazing job, and I’m very confident for what’s next. And I hope you will be able to see what will happen in few weeks’ time.”
Multiple sources have linked Fornaroli with McLaren, which would be a logical choice given that the team has cut its links with Alex Dunne and has plenty of capacity to give an F2 graduate FP1 and TPC running, and to have someone permanently on hand as third driver.
He would in effect be a direct replacement for Bortoleto, who was released from his McLaren contract to take up the Sauber opportunity after the team had invested in his development.
While he appears to be set for McLaren the 20-year-old’s name has also been linked with Ferrari, and a deal that would involve TPC running and FP1 sessions, including seat time with Haas.
Adding a proven talent to the Maranello talent pool would be an interesting move given that Oliver Bearman is being lined up to eventually follow Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari, and Fornaroli’s presence would give both teams more future options.
However where it doesn’t quite add up is that F3 star Rafael Camara is regarded as the team’s main long-term prospect, with an F1 development programme being built around the Brazilian alongside his F2 commitments in 2026. The team also has Dino Begonavic in its ranks.
Fornaroli is known to have been in the frame for a third driver role at Audi, and while it’s thought that he has signed a long-term deal elsewhere he has also been mentioned in connection with doing the upcoming Abu Dhabi rookie test with Sauber.
The paddock consensus is that Tsunoda won’t have a race seat – but Honda is still trying
A late intervention from Honda using a TPC car power unit supply as leverage could help to give Yuki Tsunoda a reprieve in the Red Bull camp for 2026.
Next season Isack Hadjar is set to graduate to Red Bull Racing as Tsunoda’s replacement, while F2 star Arvin Lindblad is being lined up for a promotion to Racing Bulls.
That leaves the remaining Racing Bulls seat down to a choice between incumbent Liam Lawson and the demoted Tsunoda.
Both drivers signed contract extensions several weeks ago, moving the latest date for a decision over next season from September 30 to November 30, which explains why Helmut Marko has made it clear that the choice would be made over the Qatar GP weekend.
The consensus in the paddock is that in the wake of Tsunoda’s difficult year alongside Max Verstappen at RBR he will be sidelined, and Lawson will get the nod to stay on.
However RB sources insist that the final decision has not been made, and thus Tsunoda can still earn his place with a strong weekend in Doha.
He did his case no harm by outpacing Verstappen to qualify fifth for the Qatar sprint on a day when Lawson was only 17th fastest.
If it really is still a close call between Lawson and Tsunoda then the latter’s longtime supporter Honda could tip the balance.
It has some leverage as Red Bull needs power units for the TPC cars of its two teams – and that requires a brand new deal given that the Japanese manufacturer’s current commitment effectively ends with the upcoming Abu Dhabi test before it switches its future focus to Aston Martin.
The major rules changes reduce the specific relevance of the older cars relative to the new models.
Nevertheless an extensive TPC programme would be a vital part of Lindblad’s preparations for and development during the 2026 season, and without Honda PUs the only option would be to rent someone else’s car.
Honda is thus in a position to dictate terms, and the Japanese company is understood to be using the situation to encourage Red Bull to give the Racing Bulls race seat to Tsunoda.
It’s understood that talks are going on between the two parties this weekend.
If Tsunoda is left without a race seat he could still transition into a reserve role across the two Red Bull teams, or potentially look for a similar job and a fresh start elsewhere.
Aston Martin is an obvious safety net, although the team recently announced Jak Crawford as its third driver, noting that he will be “reserve at all races.”
Gasly twice scored a point in Brazil, but he could not explain Alpine’s form
The Sao Paulo GP weekend saw some unusual swings in form, and perhaps none was more surprising than a return to the points for Pierre Gasly and Alpine for the first time since the Frenchman finished P10 at Spa back in July.
In the seven races that followed Gasly managed only 19th, 17th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 19th and 15th, usually starting from close to the back and running a long opening stint in the hope that a red flag or safety car might help out.
In Brazil, where he finished third behind team mate Esteban Ocon in the previous year’s wet race, things suddenly clicked, and neither he nor the team could explain quite why.
He scored a point in the sprint and then another in the main race – not much in the grand scheme of things, but a useful boost for a team that has tumbled to last in the pecking order and which has long been focussed on 2026.
Whether those points turn out to be the last ever logged in F1 by a Renault power unit remains to be seen over the final three weekends of this season.
From 13th on the grid for the Interlagos sprint Gasly moved up to P8, helped by some attrition ahead and by a crucial move on Lance Stroll in the closing laps.
“I’m gutted they didn’t show it on the TV, because it was two nice launches into Turn 1,” he said when I asked him about his progress. “And I knew the points were right in front of me, and I would have not slept tonight if I would have not tried something.
“So my first one, my first move, was quite optimistic, and he managed to actually get it back on the exit. But I wasn’t going to let him go away with that point!”
On Saturday afternoon Gasly ran through the first two qualifying sessions in P2 and P6, before earning P9 in a closely bunched middle order in Q3.
“We were on the wrong side of the pack, let’s say,” he noted. “I think seven-hundredths gets us to P5. It is what it is. At the end of the day, I look at where we were last week, the week before, last month, two months ago.
“I think we can be extremely happy to be seven-hundredths from P5 and four-tenths from pole position. If someone would have told me that coming into the weekend, I would have taken it.”
This was Gasly’s first appearance in Q3 since Silverstone, and he was as surprised as anyone by the surge in form.
“Much bigger things to understand,” he said. “At the moment, we’ve just got to dig, because it’s not like the car is very different than it has been. From the first lap, it just felt like a completely different car, more similar to what I’ve had when the car was at best this year in Bahrain, or this type of track.
“So bigger picture, a lot to understand. I must say on my side at the moment I’m more enjoying session after session and actually feeling like I’ve got a car that I can race with and drive more the way I want to drive.”
He had no explanation as to why things had clicked: “There are few ideas. But the reality is we don’t fully know. I don’t want to say anything which might not be true. I know the guys are looking very deeply into it, and it’s quite complicated, but we need some answers. At the moment, we have a lot of questions, not many answers.
“Hopefully we will have some more in the coming weeks. I think track characteristic plays quite a big factor. But I cannot believe it’s only down to that. So we’ve got to understand it.”
Starting P9 boded well for Sunday’s GP. In the end he gained a spot from the retirement of Charles Leclerc, while losing out to Max Verstappen and Nico Hulkenberg, on the way to 10th place.
“Very happy, because last time we scored points on a Sunday was in Spa before the summer break,” he said. “And it’s been a very long walk in the middle of nowhere for three months. A strong weekend, Q3, one point in the sprint, one point today.”
Nevertheless he admitted that he wanted more from the race: “If I’ve got to be honest, I’m a little disappointed with today. I took a great start, managed to pass Bearman, managed to pass Russell. Both occasions, I’m losing the position in the straights, which would have put us in a much better track position for the rest of the race.
“I managed to dive twice in the inside of Hadjar, but every time in the straight to Turn 4, he got past me very easily. I feel like I had quite a lot more pace, I was just not really able to fully like show it.
“At the end, it’s one point, and I’m definitely not going to complain about it, because I would have taken it every single day since three months. I’m sure we’ll have a look if we could have done any anything different. But I do feel we had some more pace than we were able to show.”
He took an aggressive approach as one of the eight drivers to use the soft initially, in contrast to recent races where he has started on a hard tyre and run as long as possible,
“This is what you do when you’re far off the pace and trying to bank on a red flag or safety car at some point. Today I just wanted to use the pace, which unfortunately is not what I was able to do. I think I struggled more on the soft.
“We fitted the new medium on the second stint, hoping to go a bit longer. But unfortunately, we got pushed to box quite early. So I did a short stint on the new tyre, and a longer one on the used.”
Despite some frustration Gasly was happy to have a car that he could push to the limit, which hasn’t been the case of late.
“I was able to drive in a way that I want. The car was responding to what I expect the car to do, and we had a lot more potential. In quali yesterday, to be less than five-tenths from the McLaren knowing the package we have, it just showed there was something like we’re actually very competitive in the corners, and I was pleased the car was responding to my input, and there was nothing really very strange.
“So it’s what I expect from a race car. One point is not going to change my life, nor the life of the team. But I think it’s just important in the bigger picture to understand where that entire potential came from, and where it was the last few weekends.
“Everything’s got to be analysed. It’s rarely down to one single factor. It’s probably a lot of small things added together which make a bigger difference. And it was night and day was what I felt since three months.”
We now head to Las Vegas, another quirky track where last year Gasly followed up his Interlagos podium by qualifying third, only to retire with an early engine failure.
“We have no idea why we’re fast here, and we have no idea why we were so slow in Mexico,” he said. “We do have small ideas, but not enough to say that’s going to be fine. Last year I qualified third in Vegas.
“I will not put money on third from me in Vegas this year, but Max was nowhere yesterday, today he was third. Usually we’re nowhere, and we were strong the whole weekend. So it’s quite a few things to work on.”
The Sauber rookie had two costly crashes in front of his home crowd at Interlagos
To say that the Brazilian GP was a weekend of mixed emotions for new local Formula 1 hero Gabriel Bortoleto would be something of an understatement.
On the positive side he had a huge amount of support, as evidenced by the number of Sauber shirts in the crowd, and the reception he received when he was singled out for special treatment during the drivers’ parade, with his own car and interview slot.
On the downside he had a huge crash in the sprint race while racing Alex Albon, and trying to make up for it after missing qualifying, he crashed again on the first lap of the main race while battling Lance Stroll.
Given how few mistakes he’s made in his rookie year it’s hard not to draw the conclusion that he tried a little too hard to impress in front of his home crowd, and simply overdid it.
To his credit he readily admitted that he took too many risks, and that he has learned some lessons – not least to be a little more cautious in a sprint, given that his team lost the race to build up the spare car for him for main qualifying.
“First of all, I need to congratulate the team, because they rebuilt a car from zero, and they almost made it work for qualifying,” he said when I asked him about missing the session. “So that’s not easy. They did an amazing job.
“And from what happened from my side, I tried the first lap of the move on Alex, and I managed to succeed, but then he overtook me back with DRS. And then on the second lap, I think was a combination of things. I went for the move, I divebombed him again. And DRS was on.
“I braked probably a little bit in the wet patches, and ended up that the car pointed completely to the left in the wall, and after that, I was just a passenger. You cannot control it. Just terrible.”
A local journalist likened the incident to one in China, when Bortoleto was taken out by Jack Doohan in the sprint, and then suggested that it was avoidable given they were “fighting for P19.”
Having considered the comparison, and given that he and Albon were actually racing just outside the points, Bortoleto came up with a sensible and logical answer.
“I’ve been used to fight always in the front in my previous series, and now in F1, I don’t have quite there the car yet,” he said. “So I need to fight at some point. And the whole year, I think I’ve been backing out and not being able to fight.
“But I think I need to learn and to test things as well, because the day that I hopefully will get a car to fight for championships, I cannot make such mistakes. And I believe things like today create better drivers – like everyone did, if you see Max Verstappen at the beginning of his career.”
Regarding the Shanghai comparison he said: “And coming back to China, I think I was upset with Jack, yes, because he literally locked up everything and ended up hitting me. But we talked after, and it was fine. Obviously, in the moment I was very upset.
“Today I made the move the lap before that ended up quite well. We didn’t crash into each other. And today, I don’t know, it was wet, I hit the wall. It was not even Alex, I ended up in the wall.
“So I am sorry for him, because I saw my front wing ended up hitting his car. I don’t know if had damage from that or not. But life moves on, and I hope I will learn from my mistakes in the future as well.”
It was always going to be tough from P20 on the grid, and thus it was a useful bonus that with Verstappen and Esteban Ocon in the pitlane, he actually started from P18.
After a good getaway he passed the delayed Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto before he came across Stroll – and found himself in the barrier for the second time.
At the time he blamed the Aston Martin driver, but having reviewed a replay, by the time I asked him about it he’d changed his mind.
“It was a good start,” he said. “I overtook two cars, Lewis and Colapinto in the outside of Turn 6. It was a nice move. And then Lance, I was just side-by-side with him out of Turn 9.
“There’s no pointing fingers here, just lap one, and I was in the outside, he opened a little bit more than than what there was space there. He clipped my front tyre, and I ended up in the wall. I think it’s a racing incident.
“Obviously, if he had given a bit more space, I would have done the corner, probably overtaken him because he had worse tyres than I had, because I was on soft. But again, it’s a racing incident, he didn’t do it on purpose, I’m sure. Every time I fight with him, he’s fair with me. So just racing.”
Bortoleto is a very smart guy, and despite the obvious frustration he was able to rationalise what had happened over the previous couple of days. He had no one else to blame.
“Yeah, a tough weekend,” he said. “We can forget and move on. I just take the positives that my whole country was here supporting me, the Brazilians, and just sad because I have not been able to race today and show a bit of the pace that I believe we had.
“It comes from me, from my incident in the sprint race that caused me not to do quali. So I’m going to be the first one harsh on myself here.
“I believe it’s a consequence of things that happened earlier in the weekend. But anyway, obviously it’s more painful because it’s my home race. But it’s just another weekend.
“We had so many good ones. We had bad ones as well, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I just need to move on, analyse things and learn from my mistakes and go for the next one.”
So what sort of lessons had he learned?
“I think just risk management, I think I’m happy that I’ve been trying to do different things this weekend, being more aggressive and trying things.
“But a sprint race, it’s probably not the best moment to try a risky thing when you can break your car and not do qualifying like I did. So that’s for sure learning.”
Haas has moved up from P9 to P8 and has bigger ambitions over the last four races
For the Haas Formula 1 team the Mexican GP saw a dream result, with Ollie Bearman’s fourth place and ninth for Esteban Ocon allowing it to jump Sauber for eighth in the World Championship.
The focus is now firmly ahead, with Aston Martin and Racing Bulls both within a 10 point range.
Mexico was just reward for a well-executed weekend, with Bearman obviously doing a brilliant job in the cockpit and the team making a smart strategy call that ultimately paid off.
It also came in the wake of the decision to introduce an upgrade package at the US GP that only has a life of six race weekends in order to provide a late season boost in the constructors’ battle. That already paid off on its debut in Austin with a ninth place for Bearman, and Mexico brought more vindication.
“We’re definitely happy,” team boss Ayao Komatsu told this writer. “Without the upgrade, I don’t think we could have had the Austin result, I don’t think we could have had this result.
“So it’s already proven that regardless of championship position, because like I keep saying, a result is a result, you cannot 100% control that. Let’s face it, we moved up one position, but they [Sauber] are only two points behind. It’s nothing, absolutely nothing.
“All I’m trying to say is we’ve just got to try the get the best out of the car and drive and execute every single race weekend. If we do that, I’m sure we can move up. But there’s just no point counting the points.”
The team now has its sights set on getting ahead of both Aston Martin and Racing Bulls over the course of these last four race weekends.
“Even before I said P6 is possible,” said Komatsu. “But again, it’s just no point thinking like that. A 22 points gap with six races remaining – of course, it was possible, but there’s no point thinking, how are we going to get 23 points? It may not happen. But that’s out of our control, right?
“That we suddenly got 14 points, great, it’s now 10 points to P6. But again, it’s not about how are we going to get 10 points? It’s more about how are we going to start Brazil FP1? Make sure we get the sprint quali right.
“If we do everything right, we can score points in the sprint. And then that puts us another step ahead for main quali and race. So I think it’s very important for us to focus what’s in front of us, and that mindset, honestly, is the one let us make the right decision for the second pit stop [in Mexico].
“Imagine if we were too hung up on the podium?. I’m sure we would have lost the podium with Max coming through. I’m not sure if we could have hung on to P4 with Piastri coming through with the new tyre. So yeah, I think the mindset is very important.”
That strategy call was a difficult one to make, but it was the right one, and it showed signs of clear thought and a good process.
Bearman was running in an unexpected P3, and he had the option to stay out, run to the flag, and try to hold on.
However when cars behind pitted they not only gave themselves fresh tyres with which to fight, but also helped Max Verstappen to have a clearer run at the Haas. The team decided that a solid shot at P4 was better than risking all trying to hold on to third and potentially tumbling down the order in the closing laps. The collective head ruled the heart.
“At that point we were going for the one stop,” Komatsu explained. “So if nobody pitted, we’d have just stayed out and done the one-stop, because I think Max would have got stuck in the DRS train. He wouldn’t have been able to overtake.
“But the minute those two cars behind made a pit stop, that means Max had George [Russell] to go through, then us to go through, pick us off one by one. He would have done that. Then we already made 70% decision to box after those two cars pitted, but as soon as we heard that George is boxing as well, there was no doubt.”
Giving up P3 was the logical move: “We’d only lose position to Max, and he was going to overtake us anyway. So that wasn’t about covering for undercut, it was just about those guys are already converted, and Max was going to come through, so we had nothing to lose.
“Max has got tyre delta. That’s probably why those two guys decided we’re not going to be able to defend. So as soon as we lost that buffer of cars, it’s not going to happen. And you saw how close Max finished with Leclerc, then you saw how much behind we were compared to Leclerc.
“So imagine Max had completely taken us easily, and then how far we’re going to drop back against those cars who made a second stop? So for me, at that point, it’s what’s in front of us? What’s our objective? We’ve got to make sure we get P4.”
Bearman had put his car in a podium position with an early charge that saw him fighting with drivers in the top teams.
“That was good racing, right?,” said Komatsu. “That was amazing, out of Turn 6. That was great racing. And then first stint we had Max behind. Second stint, we had a Mercedes behind. Third stint we had a Mercedes and McLaren behind. I mean, what a privilege to be racing against those top guys.”
Bearman has had something of a messy first full season, getting into scrapes and earning a few penalties, and a good result was just what he needed.
“We’ve been working with Ollie, of course, continuously,” Komatsu noted. “And like I said so many times, his potential is no question. It’s about harnessing that, managing to build up the weekend, nurturing that talent.
“Singapore was very good. Austin was again, very good, but a couple of things, in the sprint, and then the race, incidents. In Mexico missing FP1, jumping in for FP2, bang. And then such a tight qualifying.”
“And then essentially the entire race he was fighting against three top teams, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren – teams we shouldn’t be fighting. So that is amazing. Track position, free air so much more important. It’s important everywhere. But here with all the temperature restrictions, it’s so important.”
There are fine margins in the midfield these days, and just missing out on Q3 consigned Ocon to a much more difficult race, hampered by traffic. The Frenchman also didn’t feel well during the weekend.
“Austin, the high speed stability, he still struggled, whereas Ollie got the most out of it,” said Komatsu. “This circuit he got everything out of it. He’s not being well this weekend, all the way through, he had a massive headache.
“You look at Esteban’s quali performance. He lost Q3 by three hundredths. He was five-hundredths behind Ollie. They’re basically the same pace all the way through this weekend.
“And then during the race, what obviously made Esteban’s race more difficult was he was stuck behind Tsunoda. During the first stint, he was very happy with the car. He was clearly quicker than Tsunoda. He had a very similar pace to Piastri, so he had the same pace as Ollie. What kills you is the traffic.”
So what then of the last four races – can Bearman and Ocon find enough points to move the team to P7 or P6?
“Honestly, I’ll be least looking forward to Vegas, because it’s a long straight again,” said Komatsu. “In low downforce we are not as competitive, but most of the circuits, like Brazil, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, should be OK. Honestly, because margins are so small, there’s no point looking too far ahead.”
Bearman stole the headlines but Ocon scored useful points in his wake
He may have been overshadowed by the superb fourth place in Mexico for Ollie Bearman, but Esteban Ocon gave his Haas team a further boost with P9, contributing to a two-point advantage over rivals Sauber.
The Frenchman was quicker than Bearman in FP2 and FP3 – admittedly the rookie had lost track time by missing FP1 – and was then an encouraging P5 in Q1, providing further proof that the Austin upgrade package had paid off.
Alas in Q2 he was wrongfooted by the presence of Yuki Tsunoda and Charles Leclerc, and ended up in a frustrated 12th on the grid.
Hit by Fernando Alonso on the first lap, he was then held up by Tsunoda, complaining of a “dangerous defence” by the Red Bull driver.
Along the way Ocon helped Bearman by briefly keeping Oscar Piastri behind, before ultimately moving up three spots from where he started.
“As a whole it’s fantastic for the team, and really shows that we had a great car pace this weekend,” he said when I asked about his race.
“I really tried to maximise the pace we had. We got unlucky with quite a lot of things. The start, I got touched, I got stuck behind Yuki who was defending like I’ve never seen!
“I defended on Oscar, trying to protect Ollie. I made him lose quite a few seconds with that fight, between four to six, so that was quite good.
“Overall, the car was working super well. I’m happy with our performance this weekend and our learning. Obviously, it didn’t smile to us, the luck, every session. But I think we can be pleased with what we did.”
The Tsunoda defence came a race after the Japanese driver upset Bearman in Austin.
“He moved under braking, that was the point,” said Ocon. “And unfortunately, he was the one also giving me a shit quali, which was not his fault, to be fair. So yeah, I always seem to catch him in the wrong place, the wrong time.
“And basically, that damaged our race, because we must have lost eight or nine seconds stuck behind him in that first stint, and I couldn’t get by. And once we cleared him, then we could stretch our legs. And it was much better. But it was too late.”
There may have been some personal frustration at his unrepresentative grid position, but Ocon was pleased with the team’s overall result.
He’s hoping that fortune goes his way in Brazil, where he made the podium last year with Alpine.
“It’s a big day, obviously,” he said. “We didn’t get the full rewards with the updates that we should have had. I think the pace for us this weekend was very good. We didn’t show everything that there was, so there was some left on the table.
“But it definitely feels good to have that behind us. And I hope it’s not only track related. We are going to see at Interlagos how it is. It’s a track that I look forward to. Good memories from last year. Obviously, I want some rain. That would be nice!”
Albon is on a difficult run just as Sainz is finding his feet at the Grove team
Mexico City has been a case of mixed fortunes for the Williams F1 team thus far, with one driver struggling and the other in a good place – but stymied by a penalty of his own making.
Alex Albon’s recent struggles continued as he encountered brake issues for much of the weekend, and come qualifying he couldn’t better a lowly 17th.
In contrast Carlos Sainz breezed through the first two sessions in P11 and P5, and then took P7 in Q3 – ahead of Oscar Piastri – before his five-place hit from the US GP clash with Kimi Antonelli dropped him down.
For Albon this was just the latest in a run of seven painful weekends that have seen him start 13th or lower.
“We’ve been chasing a lot, never feeling that comfortable with the car,” he said when I asked about his Mexican troubles. “And then the qualifying was even one of the most painful ones.
“So I can’t tell you what it was. Sliding around from Turn 1 to Turn 16, and brakes were an issue. But you should still be getting through to Q2 without the brake issue. So I can’t put my finger on it, but yeah, it was a strange, strange session.
Albon has had a run of tricky qualifying sessions of late that have seen him fail to make it out of Q1 several times.
“It feels like I’ve just dropped into a bit of a bit of a tricky spot with the car, so I need to kind of get on top of it. But it’s not been that easy.
“Generally, the pace is also not there, so we need to figure out what’s going on. But it’s not been comfortable.”
Sainz meanwhile has begun to have the upper hand on a regular basis, and in Mexico he was keen to overlook the costly grid penalty.
“Today I’m going to focus on the positives,” he said. “Because it was one of my best qualifyings of the year, if not my best Q3 lap, probably of the year. I’m honestly very happy, feeling more and more at home with the car every session that I do, knowing where to go with setup, with tyres.
“Just put there a really solid lap to fight it out with the McLaren and the Mercedes for the top seven. And we managed to get it there. So very happy with that.”
He’s not been without a few problems of his own: “In FP3 I was struggling with some issues, but we changed a couple of things in the car, and it seemed to be solved. I think we were also struggling a bit with tyres when the track temp was dropping now, but I could get my way around it.”
Sainz clearly has some good momentum at the moment.
“I think experience, in the end, is just helping me, going through all that pain in the middle of the season with tyres, feel like I’ve learned a lot of lessons that I need to apply with this car.
“And today, we were very reactive. We struggled a bit in Q1 but then we got it, everything going in in Q2 and Q3 and we managed to maximise the pace of the car.”
He added: “Very happy, very proud of the team, because we’re making huge progress through the year, and even if the pace was there at the beginning, now putting things together just shows what we can do.”
Giving up five places on Sunday will be painful, but he remains optimistic.
“Just get a good start, see what the cooling of the car allows me to do,” he said. “I’m going to be quick, like expected, probably fastest midfield car, like I’ve been all the last few races in race pace.
“But here I’ll probably be a bit more limited by the track layout, by the cooling of the car, and see what we can do to recover. I’ll do my best. And if the engine or the brakes are running too hot, I’ll just back off and have to bring it home. But I’ll push.”
Usually the hard tyre is a good race option, but it didn’t work in Austin
The US GP brought an intriguing twist on the tyre front as the C1 hard proved to be ineffective in the race, and was quickly abandoned by the three drivers who started on it.
Austin saw Pirelli introduce a double step between compounds, with the C1, C3 and C4 in play, in an attempt to mix up strategies.
Typically the hard is the starting choice of drivers down the field, especially those who are a little out of position after bad qualifying sessions. The general idea is to use its durability to run as far as possible into the race, and hope that a safety car or even a red flag creates a strategic advantage.
That didn’t happen on Sunday, as the tyre simply didn’t switch on properly. Alex Albon abandoned his hards after just seven laps, with Esteban Ocon following on lap 24, and Isack Hadjar on lap 28.
When you consider that Lance Stroll was also able to run as far as lap 28 with his softs – three steps away on the compound scale – it’s a good indication that the hard wasn’t working.
In effect Albon, Ocon and Hadjar served as a litmus test for the rest of the field. Their form plus the unexpectedly strong opening stint from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the C4 convinced rivals to go to the softs from the mediums on which they had started.
Prior to the race that decision had not been clear cut, with medium/hard cited by Pirelli as the most likely option for the race.
“We were not even sure that a medium/soft could have been a feasible one-stop,” said McLaren boss Andrea Stella. “So we just discovered through the race what the strategy should have been.
“We saw very early that the hard tyre wasn’t a good tyre, because people were coming off the hard tyre, and before it looked like the medium/soft was a possibility. So in this sense, I think Ferrari had done a good job of anticipating that starting on the soft was a good idea.”
For Albon it was particularly galling as he abandoned the hards so early that he was obliged to switch to a two-stop strategy.
“A hot track, hard tyre, normally that’s a recipe for a good race,” he said when I asked him about it. “The hards worked well last year, and long runs in FP1 looked good as well. So we were kind of licking our lips a little bit when I was told there were not many cars on the hard tyre in front of us. And then at the start of the formation lap, I thought that’s a lot less grip than I expected it to be!”
A first lap clash with Gabreil Bortoleto didn’t help: “We had an incident on lap one anyway, that being said, it didn’t really change much to the race. I don’t think it was my fault or that it was Gabriel’s fault either. Then effectively we just decided to get rid of the tyre, and by doing so, almost started a pit stop back basically in our race.”
This season Esteban Ocon has made often used long opening stints to project himself into the points, and the Haas driver was hoping for more of the same in Austin. Alas this time he was left frustrated.
“I think we just gave the info – myself, Alex and Isaac – for the whole field, really, in not using that hard,” he said. “I think it was the tyre that was not working for this track. I had a good start, gained three or four positions. It was pretty good after Turn 1. But unfortunately, I lost it all after three laps. I had no pace, was sliding a lot. It was extremely difficult out there, and when we boxed into the medium, the pace was decent. It was the same as most people that were fighting ahead, but I couldn’t recover after what we lost. So we didn’t get it right this race.”
Given that Hadjar was starting in P20 after his costly Q1 crash Racing Bulls had to try something, but it didn’t pay off as he followed Ocon home in P16.
“The race I anticipated, to be honest,” said the Frenchman. “The race was obviously not amazing today, it was average. And strategy, we wanted to go long and something to happen. But it wasn’t the case. I didn’t want to start on the hard today. I knew soft/medium were just enough to make the whole race, but obviously starting P20, you want to try things that don’t really make sense. So we tried.”
Hadjar stressed that it wasn’t his choice: “If it was down to me, I would have started on another tyre. But I understand that point of view. We had to try something. We had to understand. So I wasn’t against their decision, so that was fine. At least we learned something.”
In Mexico City weekend Pirelli is once again running a two-step compound gap, this time with the C2, C4 and C5 in play. In theory it should be business as usual with the harder tyre a viable race option – it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
His lead may have shrunk but the Australian remains confident that he can come out on top
Max Verstappen has taken a whopping 64 points out of his World Championship lead over recent races, but Oscar Piastri remains confident that the balance of power will turn in his favour over the remaining races.
He may have endured a run of misfortune, but as he notes a 40-point advantage is a useful cushion, and Verstappen still has a lot of work to do.
F1 seasons tend to see an ebb of flow of both form and sheer good or bad fortune, and a campaign of total dominance like that of Verstappen in 2023 is rare – especially given how hard it is to get everything right over what is now 24 events, and with sprints included, 30 races.
A couple of clean weekends could give Piastri back the title winning momentum, and the challenge now is to join the dots rediscover the recipe that worked so well just a few weeks ago.
Austin was tricky for the Australian, and a frustrating qualifying session that saw him lacking a little pace and only P6 left him with a difficult Sunday afternoon.
He gained a spot from George Russell at the start, but thereafter there was nothing he could to improve on fifth .
“I was certainly trying my best to get any more spots if I could, but just didn’t have the pace to do anything,” he said when I asked if his race was about damage limitation. “It was trying a lot of different things, and trying to find some pace. But it was either the same pace or slower when I tried different things. So some things to try and understand.
“The balance was quite different to what I expected at the beginning of the race. And I think naturally, as the rears went away, it kind of came back to me a little bit, but the pace never really came with the balance change.”
Austin was clearly a difficult weekend for Piastri and the timing in terms of the title battle was unfortunate.
However at the sharp end of the grid it’s not easy to get it right every time, and just a few events ago it was Verstappen who was regularly left frustrated at he tried to optimise his car.
“I’ve not felt particularly comfortable the whole weekend,” said Piastri. “So definitely some things to try and understand. But I feel like with the pace I had this weekend, I did the most that I could. Qualifying was clean at least, and the race was clean, and I made up a spot. So with the pace I’ve had, that’s ultimately, all I can really ask for the moment.”
Why Austin in particular was so tricky is what Piastri now has to dig into with his team, and ensure that lessons are learned for upcoming tracks. One possibility is that McLaren’s strength on medium-speed corners was less useful at COTA.
“I don’t have any great ideas at the moment,” he said. “Qualifying was clean from my side, just the pace wasn’t there. And honestly, a pretty similar story in the race. I think this layout is quite interesting, in there’s a lot of very high-speed corners with a lot of ride content. There’s a lot of very low-speed corners. So you need to be good at both ends of the spectrum.
“And actually, there’s not a whole lot in that medium speed range. There’s a few, but there’s more outside of that range. I think also for me, it’s not been a particularly happy hunting ground my whole F1 career. In some ways, I can’t say I’m shocked that this has been a tough weekend.”
Inevitably Piastri now faces questions on how much pressure Verstappen is putting on him, but he’s quick to downplay that suggestion.
“He’s obviously there, and he’s quick,” he said. “But I think for me, the biggest focus is just trying to work out why this weekend was tough, and try and get back on the form we’ve had earlier in the season. So that’s my biggest focus. And if we can find that again, then the results will take care of themselves.”
Regarding the bigger picture of the title battle with both the Dutchman and his own team mate he said: “I’d still rather be where I am than the other two! But obviously this weekend has not been what I wanted, or what I expected. This weekend has been quite different to the previous couple.
“Baku was obviously a bit of a disaster for very different reasons, and Singapore was what it was. So I think this weekend has been kind of the odd one out compared to others. Definitely Max and Red Bull have found a lot of pace since the summer break as well. And we saw flashes of it at the start of the year, but it’s been consistent since Zandvoort.
“He’s obviously had a good run in the last few races. But ultimately, if we can find our way again, find our pace, and certainly for me, find the pace again, then I don’t have any major concerns.
“Still a long way to go in the championship. He’s obviously chased it down pretty quick, but it’s not exactly a small gap with five rounds to go. So I think if we can find our pace again then things take care of themselves.”
He remains confident that it will all come together in his favour,
“I’ve been in fights that were as close, or at this point, even closer than what they are now,” he said. “So I’ve got the evidence for myself that things can still turn out well, and I still fully believe that I can win the championship.
“This weekend has obviously been tough, and the gap has come down a little bit in the last few weekends. But again, performance is what’s going to win you a championship, not just looking at points and seeing if you can increase it or decrease it. The faster you go, the more points you’re going to score.”
The Mercedes driver highlighted a lack of overtaking in the US GP
George Russell has expressed his frustration with Pirelli’s current Formula 1 tyres after a US GP that saw little overtaking.
While Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc had a spectacular fight for second place – helped by the two drivers being on different strategies – there was little action involving those who were on similar tyres.
Pirelli’s hopes of adding interest to the race with a double step between compounds in Austin didn’t pay off, with those who started on the C1 hard abandoning it early, having signalled to the rest of the pitlane that it was not a good race tyre. Everyone thus went from mediums to softs.
On the first lap Russell dropped from P4 on the grid to P6, and he remained there behind Oscar Piastri for the duration, despite having demonstrated in the Saturday sprint that he had the pace with which to challenge Max Verstappen.
“I made a good start,” said Russell when I asked about his loss of two places. “But when Max covered Lando, I thought the normal thing to do would be for him to go to the outside to protect his position. And in turn, he didn’t.
“He just stayed behind Max. He got overtaken, and it blocked me in, and then I got overtaken. So that was quite frustrating. But I had the feeling before the race, wherever you finish Turn One is where you’re going to finish. And unfortunately, this turned out to be the case.”
Russell made it clear why he couldn’t make progress after losing a couple of spots.
“I think I if I came out of Turn 1 in P4, due to Charles’s strategy, maybe I could have finished P3,” he said. “But the thing is now, when there’s no tyre degradation, there’s no tyre delta between the fastest car and the slowest car in the top six, there’s maybe two-tenths or three-tenths.
“And every track we go to, you need at least half a second to overtake, so that’s why you’re not seeing any overtakes. And I don’t even remember the last two-stop race, to be honest.”
However Russell was reluctant to blame Pirelli, acknowledging how difficult it is for the tyre supplier to tick all the boxes.
“I think Pirelli get a hard time no matter what,” he said. “If there’s lots of tyre degradation people say it’s not real, the drivers can’t push, we have to manage, we don’t like that. Then when there’s no tyre degradation, we say it’s a boring race. They don’t seem to be able to win in any case.
“So realistically, you want a tyre that you can push full gas, but it doesn’t go the whole race. If you could choose for the tyre, it’s a tyre, you go flat out, but after 15 laps, it falls off a cliff, and you have to do a two or three-stop race.
“And ideally, the soft tyre there’s 12 laps, the medium tyre does 15 laps, and the hard tyre does 20 laps, and then it falls off the cliff. But that is a lot easier said than done. As I said, Pirelli get a very hard time. They do their best. They have given us a substantially better tyre. This tyre is very good, but it causes bad racing.”
He added: “All of the races recently been one stops, and even from the sprint race yesterday, the Ferrari couldn’t overtake Carlos. Years ago, that would not have been the case. I don’t really know, but I think it’s just lack of tyre deg.”
Adam Cooper F1 