Author: Giles Richards

• ‘A shame for everyone,’ Red Bull driver insists

• George Russell says FIA ‘made the right call’

Max Verstappen condemned as unne­ces­sary the FIA decision to delay the start of the Belgian Grand Prix because of adverse weather conditions, but his view was countered by George ­Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, who insisted any other call from the ­governing body would have been “stupidity” given the conditions and the dan­gerous nature of the Spa‑Francorchamps circuit.

The start was delayed by an hour and 20 minutes after rain swept into Spa just before the race. The FIA opted not to proceed after one formation lap because the visibility given the spray from the cars was so poor. The circuit is enormously fast and challenging and can be dangerous even in good conditions. There have been two fatalities in recent years, Anthoine Hubert in 2019 and Dilano van ’t Hoff in 2023.

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Bringing in a new team principal when developing a car for 2026 regulations might not be to world champion’s liking

Even as the reverberations from the shock sacking of Christian Horner as team principal of Red Bull are still being felt across Formula One and their thunderous echo remains, whether all this sound and fury will have been quite enough to keep Max Verstappen at the team remains a moot point.

When it was announced on Wednesday that Horner had been released from his post as team principal and chief executive of Red Bull after 20 years in charge and enormous success, pivotal to the decision was seemingly the desire to prevent the four-time world champion from being tempted away. Horner’s removal a price the parent company was willing to pay.

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Departure now leaves a question mark about the next chapter of one of the sport’s extraordinary success stories

The removal of Christian Horner from his post as team principal at Red Bull represents both the end of an era in Formula One and, in the short term, the most turbulent period in the team’s history. It carries an import that will be felt right across the sport, a significance in how it played out and what happens next as the team Horner built and led to such enormous success faces an uncertain future.

Horner has been at Red Bull since the team was formed in 2005 from the ashes of Jaguar, a team in no little disarray when Red Bull bought it. Horner was at the helm as it was transformed from an operation of 450 personnel, without so much as a win to their name, to one of 1,500 today that has won eight drivers’ titles and six constructors’ championships, and is one of the most extraordinary success stories in F1 history.

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• Laurent Mekies appointed as Horner’s replacement

• Red Bull have had turbulent time on and off track

Christian Horner has been sacked as Red Bull’s team principal with immediate effect. Horner, who has been in charge of Red Bull since the team was formed in 2005, will be replaced by the principal of sister team Racing Bulls, Laurent Mekies.

Horner’s surprise removal as principal and chief executive of Red Bull Racing was confirmed in a statement from Red Bull’s parent company on Wednesday morning and comes just over 17 months since Horner was embroiled in a scandal involving accusations of inappropriate behaviour by an employee, though he was later cleared by an investigation.

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• Dutch driver’s camp believed to have made first move

• Sky Italy say deal ‘close’ with Mercedes yet to make call

Max Verstappen’s future with Red Bull is under scrutiny with reports that talks about a move to Mercedes have intensified in the buildup to this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

Speculation over Verstappen jumping ship had dominated the Austrian Grand Prix, where the Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, confirmed they were considering a move to tempt the four-time champion to join the team.

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• ‘Silverstone has the right characteristics to stay for ever’

• Domenicali to raise Brexit ‘complications’ with Starmer

The Formula One chief executive, Stefano Domenicali, has said he would like the British Grand Prix at Silverstone to remain on the F1 calendar for ever, with the event set to host what is expected to be the largest meeting in the sport’s history, reaching half a million people over four days this weekend.

The British GP, which has been on the calendar since F1 began in 1950, is expected to sell out with record numbers and Domenicali acknowledged it was part of a large and thriving F1 business in Britain, which he hopes can be improved by working closer with the UK government when he meets the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and other government officials at Downing Street on Wednesday afternoon.

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F1 and Liberty Media went to great lengths to assist filming, with star’s APX team embedded within the sport

After the British Grand Prix last year the drivers took their places in the media zone to conduct interviews, with Formula One world champions Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso among them. Yet it was all but impossible not to cast a glance sideways as Brad Pitt nonchalantly strolled out to face the microphones and cameras of his own, entirely staged, media scrum.

None of us in the media pack openly goggled at the fact that Hollywood’s A-list had joined the sweaty throng, because Pitt was there filming what would become F1 the Movie. And we, as with everyone else, were under strict instructions to behave normally.

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There was no justification for the driver’s rash and futile act of retribution at the Spanish Grand Prix

There was no justification for Max Verstappen’s rash and futile act of retribution at the Spanish Grand Prix, when he deliberately drove into the side of George Russell’s car. The world champion knows it and on Monday he admitted as much with something of a mea culpa on social media. Yet it also must be considered that it is part and parcel of what makes Verstappen so competitive, albeit in this case in an entirely unedifying and self‑defeating fashion.

Angry and frustrated at a sequence of events in Barcelona, including having to cede a place to Russell, Verstappen surrendered to his baser instincts. Having pulled over to give the place to Russell, he clearly then felt a point had to be made and accelerated back up the inside to collide with the Mercedes.

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• World champion given 10sec penalty for collision

• Russell: ‘It felt very deliberate … it felt strange’

George Russell has insisted that Max Verstappen should have faced disqualification after he crashed into the British driver at the Spanish Grand Prix, claiming he felt the world champion had done so deliberately and that he was setting a bad example for young drivers.

Verstappen, who was bullish after a race where he received a 10‑second penalty that dropped him from fifth at the flag to 10th, dismissed Russell’s comments, maintaining he had no regrets and mocking the British driver’s reactions with the comment: “Well, I’ll bring some tissues next time.”

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• Piastri leads Norris by 10 points in drivers’ standings

• Verstappen drops to 10th after penalty for late collision

Max Verstappen has worked hard to throw off a reputation for being reckless and indeed dangerous at times on track. Efforts that were left sorely damaged after he displayed a moment of anger at the Spanish Grand Prix that tarnished his standing as both a four-time champion and an enormously accomplished driver, quite apart from potentially costing him the world championship.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri won at the Circuit de Barcelona‑Catalunya with an accomplished drive from pole, beating his teammate Lando Norris into second place and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc into third. Yet it was Verstappen’s moment of ill-judged anger for which the race will be remembered and which will not be forgotten when the Dutchman’s legacy comes to be considered.

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• McLaren teammate Lando Norris locks in second

• Lewis Hamilton finds form to secure fifth for Ferrari

Oscar Piastri barely broke a sweat under the blazing Catalan sun, demonstrating a fearsome control to claim pole for the Spanish Grand Prix. Indeed, such has been the dominance and the nonchalance with which he claimed this pole and his wins this season, it was put to him that he was taking on Kimi Räikkönen’s mantle as the Ice Man, albeit in the somewhat less flattering form for the 24-year-old of Ice Boy.

Piastri’s pole was imperious at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, beating his teammate Lando Norris into second by a huge two-tenths of a second, the biggest margin of the season, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third, three-tenths down.

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Team principal has turned Williams around in a short space of time and is looking to 2026 for a serious title charge

Finding themselves fighting off Ferrari and mauling the midfield, these are heady times for a resurgent Williams. The team principal James Vowles has engineered an extraordinary comeback but this year’s progress is likely to be just the start for a team determined to return to the heights of Formula One, which they once dominated.

That Williams’ form has changed drastically could not have been clearer than at the Miami GP. Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz were in a fight with the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, the Scuderia finding themselves at one point trying to catch Albon, who took fifth place and at the same time fending off a charging Sainz.

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• Rules intended to close gap between the best drivers

• McLaren’s Oscar Piastri is fastest in second practice

All the talk in Spain this week has been about the potential impact of the FIA’s clampdown on the flexing of front wings and the governing body’s hope this might close up the pecking order on the grid. Certainly those chasing the dominant McLaren were optimistic that might be the case.

The technical regulation was imposed as teams look to push the boundaries of the rules, with a flex in the wing under load affording the maximum downforce in corners. In order to maintain a level playing field, the wings must now pass a deflection test measuring the leeway of their flex. This has been reduced from 15mm to 10mm.

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• Driver backs Riccardo Adami despite terse exchanges

• ‘There’s a lot of speculation, most of it is BS’

Lewis Hamilton has dismissed speculation about what has been interpreted as a fractious relationship with Riccardo Adami, his race engineer at Ferrari, describing it as “BS” and insisting the pair enjoy a healthy working relationship.

The issue has previously been raised several times this season as Hamilton develops his dynamic with Adami and came to the fore once more because of some testy exchanges at the last round in Monaco, including when Hamilton asked his engineer at the end of the race: “Are you upset with me or something?” To which he appeared to receive no reply.

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New book shines a light on the women who stole headlines on an F1 support bill 50 years ago, with Beckers going on to star at Le Mans and hold the Guinness World Record

Monaco’s place in Formula One history has long since been established but two little-known races from the principality 51 years ago remain etched in the memory of those who took part, when women blazing a trail in the male-dominated motor racing world took to the track in Monte Carlo.

Christine Beckers competed in the first Grand Prix Monte-Carlo Féminin on 26 May 1974 and now, at 81 is as irrepressibly enthused about racing as she was when she fell in love with the sport as a teenager.

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