Norris-Piastri “Better than ever”
Lando Norris says his relationship with his championship rival and teammate Oscar Piastri is “better than ever,” as the final triple header, which will decide which one of the McLaren drivers will become champion.
Historically, intra-team battles for the title can become fierce on and off the track, as was the case with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes in the mid-2010s, or Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at McLaren in the late 1980s.
Norris said, “It’s still the same. And I’m very happy. I think we both are happy – that’s how it is. We both, I think, have a lot of respect for one another, and we both understand the position that we’re in. We both treat the world of driving versus just personally, what we’re like away from the track, quite differently.”
“That’s how I’ve always been. I feel like I’ve always got on well with my teammates since go-karting. I’ve always wanted to, because it just makes my life more fun, more enjoyable, and that’s also why I’m here. It’s because I love what I do. So the more I can do that, the better.”
Despite their contact on track and radio disputes at various points this season, the team has created this culture of respect to remains with the culture appearing healthy. Norris confirmed the drop in social media content was a request by him and Piastri to do less media.
Adding “We very much understand that we work for McLaren, we want the best for the team. We work very hard. As drivers, you always try and maximise your own performance, more than anything. When we step out of the car, we can still have a joke, we still have laughs in our debriefs and we still enjoy everything away from the track. I think it’s still better than ever in many ways.”
“I think we’re still very different people. He’s very just calm down to earth, very relaxed, always looks, just cool. That’s something that I also admire quite a bit, just how plain sailing he is with a lot of things. It’s a good attribute to have.” He suggested that Piastri was more difficult to read, but they were still getting along well.
Piastri, who is looking to become Australia’s third F1 world champion after Alan Jones and Jack Brabham, agrees with Norris’ sentiment. He said earlier in the week, “It’s better, if anything, because we just know each other more now we’ve been together for our third year as teammates, so we just slowly got to know each other more and more.”
“Maybe there are short-lived emotions off the track, but I think we’re both quite good at just letting things die down and again, leaving things on the track.”
Verstappen “proud” after significantly reducing the gap
Max Verstappen says he feels “proud” after he and his Red Bull have significantly reduced the gap in the championship, while accepting the performance level was “not where I wanted it to be” for most of the season.
The four-time champion was a hundred points behind Oscar Piastri at Zandvoort; however, him winning three of the next four Grand Prix brought him back into the championship race. Although many still expect this championship to remain between the two McLaren teammates, Verstappen is forty-nine points behind.
Asked ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix if he would rate this season as his best in terms of what he has achieved behind the wheel, he replied, “It’s been good, for sure. I think every season you want to try and be better, which is not always easy, but you try to be more consistent.”
“Otherwise we tried to really optimise everything we can with the car, and I think most of the time we really did that, so I’m pleased with that. It’s not where I wanted it to be for most of the season, otherwise, you’re fighting all season for the title, which we haven’t really. I enjoyed the highs and the wins that we did score, but at the same time of course, the lows were also not fantastic”
Verstappen says that going into the break there was the feeling that the points gap was only going to get bigger, but they got the luck they needed so they could close the gap. They have done as the Dutchman is fifty-one points behind Lando Norris, but failure to score and Norris winning will end his championship hopes.
Ahead of the final three rounds of the season, Verstappen insisted that his approach to the championship battle remains the “same as always”, adding: “It doesn’t really change. It’s a lot of points so I’m not really thinking about it too much. There’s also not much I can do – we need a lot of luck now until the end to even have an opportunity, so personally I don’t think about that.”
For now, Verstappen’s focus is on Las Vegas, a weekend that he arrives off the back of an impressive comeback drive last time out in Sao Paulo that saw him climb from a pit lane start to a final result of third.
Pushed on whether he could be in with a chance of challenging for victory should he get a similar feeling from the RB21 as in Brazil, Verstappen said: “Looking back at Brazil, yeah, I guess so, because the race pace was pretty decent.
“Of course, I would have liked to start more at the front, but at the same time, it was fun. I had a good time out there racing through the pack and fighting until the final lap. Of course, it was only for P2, but I had good fun and I hope we can be competitive this weekend.”
Ferrari drivers respond to Elkann’s criticism
Charles Leclerc has praised the honesty of Ferrari chairman John Elkann, who had launched a stinging barb aimed at the team’s drivers last week, and insisted that his comments were intended to be a positive message of encouragement.
Following his and teammate Lewis Hamilton’s retirement in Sao Paulo, Elken stated to Sky Sports that “we have drivers who need to focus on driving and talk less” – contextualised by his comparison of the F1 team to Ferrari’s championship success in the World Endurance Championship.
The team remains in a three-way fight with Mercedes and Red Bull for the runners-up spot, but has dropped to fourth, four points behind Red Bull and thirty-six behind Mercedes.
Leclerc had been collateral in a clash between Kimi Antonelli and Oscar Piastri and had been blameless for his retirement, but nonetheless was included in Elkann’s criticism. The Monegasque stated that Elkann had called him before his Sky appearance to inform him that he intended to send a “positive” message, and was pleased to have an honest appraisal, which he says is in short supply for a driver when they reach F1.
Speaking ahead of this weekends race, Leclerc said, “John and I have known each other for many years, so we have a very good relationship and obviously we’ve been working together for many years. We know each other and I know John is a very ambitious person and wants to push every people to the maximum in order to have the maximum results.”
“He loves Ferrari, I love Ferrari, we all love Ferrari and we try to do the best in every situation. I didn’t actually see the news. John called me before that, just like he does after every races to catch up, and to also tell me that the messages he wanted to send were a positive one in saying we need to do better.”
Leclerc says he and Elkann are aligned on the things which needs to be done to bring Ferrari back to the front, and says he has always tried his best which is a priority for the whole team.
Leclerc added that it was important not to take Elkann’s comments too literally, and that the underlying message was one to spur Ferrari on to improve – and that he, as a driver, had a part to play in that.
He explained that Ferrari was very much united in that regard, and reiterated that he did not take the Ferrari chairman’s view as a negative appraisal of the team. Saying, “You can always do more, you can always do better. And in everything I do, of course, I breathe Formula 1, I breathe Ferrari especially, and I’ve been a fan since forever and I always will be.”
“You do your best, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot do better. I always take criticism in a constructive way, so there’s no hard feelings whatsoever.”
Fighting for win more difficult – Russell
George Russell has given his take on whether Mercedes can again be in the fight for victory in the Las Vegas Grand Prix. A year ago, he led his then-teammate Lewis Hamilton home in what was one of the team’s strongest weekends. But when asked if a repeat was possible, he suggested that history may not necessarily repeat itself.
Russell explained, “Obviously, last year was a great race for us. The car definitely performed very well in these cooler conditions, but we’ve also got to be realistic that success a year ago doesn’t mean you’re going to have success a year later. We won in Singapore this year and had a terrible race there last year, in 2024.”
“So it doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same case this weekend. I think the likes of Red Bull have made big improvements on their low-downforce setting as well. They won in Monza, won in Baku, so I expect them to be strong too.” But the Englishman accepted that this year’s car is a better ‘all-rounder’ where whereas last year’s car was good in those cooler conditions.
Asked about whether Mercedes can hold onto second in the constructors, Russell suggested that things can change quickly as we have seen all season, adding that no one can be complacent.
Massa wins part of Crashgate court case
Felipe Massa has won the first part of his damages case against F1 and the FIA over the Crashgate scandal.
The Brazilian has been making a case that Nelson Piquet Jr’s intentional crash, which gifted victory to team-mate Fernando Alonso by causing an early safety car, changed the course of the title race as Ferrari’s title contender dropped down the order in a consequent pitstop and eventually lost the championship to Lewis Hamilton by one point.
Massa has sued Liberty Media, former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, and the FIA, seeking £64million ($84million) in damages for loss of earnings and sponsorship; the Brazilian has accused them of deliberately and jointly concealing the race-fixing.
The governing body argued that it did investigate the scandal, and the judged accepted that the FIA had a duty to investigate potential wrongdoing; Justice Jay sided with the defendants, explaining the duty was owed to FIA members, not Massa.
The defendants claimed that Massa’s losses were his own failure given he did not take action following the FIA’s investigation in September 2009; Justice Jay rejected that claim, as Ecclestone’s 2023 interview in which he stated he and then FIA president Max Mosley kept the conspiracy quiet, brought essential facts to Massa’s knowledge. However, several claims by Massa are time-barred and/or governed by French law.
When the scandal emerged in Budapest 2009, Massa suffered a serious head injury after being hit by a spring during qualifying.
Justice Jay estimated that Massa has a ‘real prospect of success’ on the inducement of breach and conspiracy claims, ‘because they do not require Mr Massa to have a directly enforceable contractual right’.
However, he ruled that he cannot change the results of the 2008 championship. This may be based on the ruling by the FIA following 2021 Abu Dhabi, where its investigation ruled ‘the FIA Formula One World Championship are valid, final and cannot now be changed…There are no other available mechanisms in the rules for amending the race classification.’
The court warned that establishing enough evidence to win the trial would be a tall order for Massa, though Motorsport understands Massa’s lawyers may now demand additional documents to support their client’s claims, including emails and texts from the defendants.
Massa said, “This is an extraordinary victory – an important day for me, for justice, and for everyone passionate about Formula One. The Court acknowledged the strength of our case and did not allow the defendants to smother the truth about 2008. The deliberate crash cost me a world title, and the authorities at the time chose to cover up the facts instead of defending the integrity of the sport.”
Calls for “urgent” talks on racing guidelines
GPDA director Carlos Sainz says that the drivers need “urgent” talks with the FIA over the interpretation of its guidelines on racing. The Williams driver, who is a director of the trade union, said the ten-second penalty given to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at the previous race in Brazil was “unacceptable”.
Sainz said the incident in which Piastri and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli collided, pitching the Antonelli into Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, was “not Oscar’s fault at all”. He added: “Everyone that’s really raced a race car knows he could have done nothing to avoid an accident there and he got away with a ten-second penalty. It’s something that I don’t understand.”
He also says there are several incidents this year in which drivers had been penalised for incidents that did not justify a penalty, including three involving him with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson in the Dutch Grand Prix, with Haas driver Ollie Bearman in Italy and Antonelli in Austin.
He told reporters, “I didn’t understand my Zandvoort penalty. I didn’t understand why Ollie got a penalty when we both collided in Monza. He was not deserving of that penalty and I told him straight out of the race.”
“I didn’t understand how I caught a ten-second in Austin. And then the Brazil situation. There’s been not one but multiple incidents this year that for me are far from where the sport should be.”
The drivers are to have a meeting with stewards from the FIA at the next race in Qatar to go through what Sainz’s team-mate Alex Albon called the “list” of incidents they feel need reviewing.
Sainz said: “It is very clear for me that, after what I saw in Brazil, it’s something that’s not quite working if we had to judge that as a ten-second penalty for the guy that had no fault for anything that he did.”
The issue stems from the way stewards interpret the driving standards’ guidelines, externally issued by the FIA at the start of the year. These were written with the GPDA at the start of the season, but were published without the approval of the union.
Drivers feel these are too strict, without the application of common sense and experience of how wheel-to-wheel racing worked.
Sainz fellow director, George Russell, said of the incident, “There’s a bit of a wording, or a view, that if a car is locking up it’s deemed to be out of control. This corner in Brazil is totally cambered into the corner, the inside of the car is always going to be unloaded, and that tyre is not even on the ground, so that tyre is locking but you’re totally in control.”
“So that’s why it has to be guidelines and you have to treat every single corner, every circuit, every incident totally different.”
Talking Points Las Vegas
Round twenty-two brings F1 to Las Vegas for the fifth time and the third running of a night race along the famous strip. The 3.8-mile circuit running along the Las Vegas strip, officially called the Las Vegas Boulevard. Many of the corner names come from the many casinos, entertainment venues and landmarks.
Adding to the challenge of the circuit is its being anticlockwise as well as the need to balance straight-line speed and the slower technical corners, the circuit has one of the longest flat-out sections broken by a flat-out right gander. There are also a few technical sections, like the first few corners of the two chicanes, which could be overtaking opportunities.
However, being in the desert, the extremes go to heat from twenty degrees in the day to freezing at night at this time of year. It makes it slightly different to say other night races, as we are later in the evening, with the predictions of being a cold race, it could make tyre warm-up more difficult.
A year ago, George Russell dominated the race taking victory from pole while his teammate Lewis Hamilton recovered from tenth to secure a one-two for Mercedes. This season Mercedes have once again seemed to suit low temperatures however CEO and team principal Toto Wolff believes one cannot convincingly expect the W16 to replicate this form, given how different it is to its predecessor. “I doubt it,” he went as far as saying.
McLaren go into this weekend well aware that this circuit hasn’t suited them; they have one podium from four races scored back in 1982 at Caesar’s Palace. But they have looked strong all season at these high speed and downforce circuits, which they struggled at in September allowing Max Verstappen to take victory as they struggled with graining.
Verstappen has a not-insignificant chance to be ruled out of the title fight, for this to happen, his deficit to Norris would need to increase from forty-nine to fifty-eight points. In other words, it would require the Briton to finish in the top five and the Dutchman to have a shocker, or the McLaren driver to win and the Red Bull racer to finish no higher than third, among other permutations.
However, Norris has never finished ahead of Verstappen in Vegas, but has outscored him by this margin on seven occasions this season.
Ferrari president John Elkann’s criticism of Charles Leclerc and Hamilton following a poor São Paulo Grand Prix, and amid a so far winless season, came as a bombshell. Elkann praised the Scuderia’s mechanics and engineers, strongly implying that drivers are the team’s key problem after it dropped from second to fourth in the constructors’ championship in Sao Paulo, with the runner-up spot now elusive.
Cold and wet weekend
Several drivers have voiced their concerns over the prospect of wet practice at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with rain predicted to hit the track for Thursday’s practice. The city and Clark County have in recent days been hit by torrential rain this week, which has caused flooding in some parts of the capital.
But isn’t cause any disruptions to the 6.2km street circuit itself. But while sensationalist reports of the race weekend being jeopardised are wide of the mark, the prospect of more rainfall hitting Las Vegas on Thursday isn’t exactly welcomed by F1’s drivers.
The risk is the most acute for Thursday night’s FP2 session, with the FIA’s official weather service from Meteo France predicting a 40% chance of precipitation. That’s up from 20% for FP1 as well as Friday’s FP3 and qualifying, while Saturday’s night race is expected to remain dry.
The city circuit is known as an ice rink at the best of times – even in dry conditions. Adding rain to the mix, which would be a first for the event, is not a prospect any driver relished when asked on Wednesday.
Yuki Tsunoda said, “It’ll be a very spicy session for sure. All the drivers have never driven here yet [in the wet], so I think it’ll be interesting who’s going to adapt quickly to that condition. Also, in these very cold conditions with intermediate, the [tyre] blankets are not as warm as before, so I think it’ll be very tricky even to generate temperature.”
Lando Norris, whose McLaren car tends to work well when intermediates are brought into play, said Thursday practice could get “nasty” and pose “an insane challenge” in the wet.
He added, “You’ve got the white lines, all the paint, which is pretty horrible at times when you’re in the car. It will be a pretty insane challenge if it stays wet – especially if it doesn’t dry very quickly either, because of the temperature. So excited for both, but I prefer if it’s dry.”
The Vegas circuit is in what’s called a ‘cold desert’, which means that between autumn and spring, there can be huge temperature swings between day and night. The Great Basin is the only cold desert in the U.S., which means it’s searing hot in the summer, and frigid cold in the winter. It gets very little rain because of the rain shadow effect caused by the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The forecast is set to reach around ten to twelve degrees for qualifying and the race window as well as a bit of rain. Daytime temperatures are also below average.
No magic bullet for upturn in form – Bearman
Ollie Bearman says there is no magic bullet in his late-season surge in performance with Haas, instead putting the team’s performance down to the mix of a better car, a new structure over the race weekends, and a more mature mindset has yielded results that have turned a promising year into something more substantial.
The Englishman arrives in Vegas following two strong weekends, with fourth in Mexico City and sixth in São Paulo which resulted in him scoring twenty-four points and move ahead of his teammate Esteban Ocon in the drivers.
This boost in performance partly came from an upgrade to the VF-25, with Haas introducing a substantial package for Austin, revising the floor, rear corner, sidepod inlets, and mirrors. He said, “It has to do with the upgrade. No, it definitely is down to the upgrade, and I’m really proud of the team for what they did with that, because it’s a risky move. But it’s yielded us some points, which is what the target was.”
Adding, “I don’t think the impact of the upgrade was huge. It doesn’t have to be huge at this stage of F1, honestly, where we are with the cars and how close everyone is. It’s not a revolutionary upgrade, but it doesn’t have to be to have revolutionary results.”
Hardware alone doesn’t explain this jump in pace. The summer break brought a change in weekend structure for the racing driver. Explaining that he was focus on how to improve session to session rather than setting overall goals for each session and focusing on set up, he goes for the bigger picture.
Bearman said, “Now just making sure that half an hour before the session I stop working on the set-up and the driving and all of those things and focus on my mental side. I found that to be quite useful.”
He also suggested that having more experience has allowed him to further explore and understand its limits, something he’s been able to lean on more consistently.
