Hello, welcome to This Week. Last week ended with teams agreeing to change the power unit balance but we have to wait until next year to see what impact that will have.
McLaren renew confidence, but why do they believe they can fight for the title? Mercedes is confident that George Russell can fight teammate Kimi Antonelli. Fancy another shakeup this time it’s Audi and Alpine….
General News
F1 teams and manufacturers agreed last Friday in principle to move away from the unpopular 50-50 split between conventional combustion power and electrical elements from 2027 onwards.
The teams are moving more towards a 60-40 split in favour of the internal combustion engine (ICE) by making hardware tweaks to the engines. The change is designed to address driver concerns about the amount of lifting and coasting the new engines require to fill the battery.
The changes will not remove the battery element entirely but lessen some of the more unpopular elements while still staying true to the aim of making the sport road-relevant by increasing the focus on electrical power in the first place. The changes come into effect from the start of 2027.
An FIA statement on Friday said: “Turning to the longer-term measures, there was unanimous commitment to introduce changes which further enhanced fair and safe competition, that were intuitive for drivers and teams and were in the best interests of the sport.”
Adding, “It was agreed that further detailed discussion in technical groups comprising teams and Power Unit Manufacturers was required before the final package was decided.” As always, the changes will need to be ratified by the World Motorsport Council later in the year.
McLaren
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says the team “definitely want to defend the championship” amid their best weekend of the season so far in Miami, with the Italian conceding that the papaya outfit “know we can further develop our car”. The world champions had a tricky start to 2026, including a double did not start, in China.
Miami was a turning point, Lando Norris winning the sprint before finishing the Grand Prix second, ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri. Asked if he had seen enough from the team’s performance in Miami suggests that they could successfully defend both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles. Stella exercised caution whilst admitting that this remains the target.
He explained, “I think if we now start to consider championships at the end of the season, then I think we need to be a bit careful because we are just at the fourth race. We have just delivered our first upgrade, we are in Miami, and McLaren looks like they traditionally have done very well in Miami, so it could be that the way we develop our cars kind of suits this circuit, so we will have to see more.”
Adding “But at the same time, because it’s only the fourth race and we have scored a good chunk of points even compared to Mercedes, we know that we can further develop our car.” This suggests to me cautious optimism by McLaren, obviously they want to defend both championships, but accepting that could be difficult given the strength of Mercedes.
Stella went on to praise championship leader Kimi Antonelli, before suggesting that McLaren are “probably the strongest pair” in terms of their driver line-up.
Adding “I think we should really pay credit to the quality of the driving, the consistency, the speed in both a single lap in the race and overall execution. We should pay credit to what Kimi is showing and is actually delivering on track.”
“I would have said after testing that George [Russell] was in a stronger position, which was the case until Australia, but for some reason, things seem to have turned around. Once again, I think this is thanks to the good work that Kimi must be doing with his engineers and with the people around him.”
Oscar Piastri has been warned that drivers who move from a top team to become a number one elsewhere rarely end up happy, says Felipe Massa’s Ferrari and Williams engineer Rob Smedley, who was speaking about the prospect of Piastri leaving McLaren and joining Red Bull amid recent reports.
According to Autosport, Red Bull is targeting Oscar Piastri as their ‘Plan B’ if Verstappen decides to quit the sport at the end of the year. The four-time champion is contracted to the team until 2028, but has threatened to walk away because of his dissatisfaction with the engine regulations introduced for this season.
But Smedley has advised Piastri, who missed out on a maiden world championship last year to team-mate Lando Norris, that the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere. Smedley said on the High Performance Racing podcast, “If you’re a driver in that team and you’re struggling against your team-mate – I’m going back now to my Ferrari days – what’s the option for you?”
“Do you leave and go to a worse team that actually has no chance of winning the world championship, but you might be the better driver in that team? I’ve seen that on many an occasion, I’ve seen drivers do that and I’ve never seen it work out well. I’ve never seen it where the driver’s been happier.”
His fellow analyst, former Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer, agreed with the verdict. Adding, “Yeah, because there’s two things that happen,” he explained. “That team you’re going to, you’re saying, isn’t the best team, you’ve got to be the number one driver there, which you know you could be. But then that team also has to ascend to be the best team.”
“Those two things are a bit more rare. Especially the team moving from third best to first, you know? Because usually there’s periods of six, seven years of Mercedes or four or five years of Red Bull or whatever it was with Ferrari and Michael [Schumacher].”
McLaren has announced a new partnership with Intel, who are returning to the sport after nearly two decades. The Woking outfit announced the new multi-year agreement this week, with Intel joining as the official compute partner, providing Intel Xeon and Intel Core Ultra processors to support McLaren’s workload.
The partnership will include its IndyCar team and, from the 2027 season, the F1 Sim Racing World Championship. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said, “Performance in IndyCar and Formula 1 racing is driven by technology, and partnering with Intel strengthens our ability to innovate at scale.”
“Intel has already been an important part of our technology ecosystem, and their leadership in computing will play a critical role in how we design, build, and race our cars. We’re excited to deepen this relationship even further”
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan added, “Formula 1 racing and IndyCar are some of the ultimate proving grounds for high-performance computing. Intel is proud to be McLaren Racing’s compute partner, and to be part of a team that thrives on precision, speed, and innovation. Together, Intel and McLaren will push the boundaries of what’s possible, transforming data into competitive advantage at every turn.”
Mercedes
Mercedes CEO and team principal Toto Wolff says George Russell “won’t leave a stone unturned” in the title race and expects his driver to bounce back at the next race in Montreal. Going into next weekend’s race, Russell is twenty points behind his teammate Kimi Antonelli. His younger Mercedes team-mate, who won the race to make it three victories in a row.
The British driver put his deficit to Antonelli in Miami down to the low-grip track surface, but will need to change the momentum of the title race at the Canadian Grand Prix – an event he won last year. Wolff told Sky Sports, “George is a killer. What makes him so good is he never stops fighting or attacking.”
Adding “I’ve seen him throughout his career in junior formulas and karting and here (in F1). He’s going for this and won’t leave a stone unturned. I have no doubt the two of them will fight for points throughout the season.”
Russell is the more experienced driver and has six more years of experience, he is in his fourth season with Mercedes, with the Austrian believing he won’t be impacted mentally by seeing his team-mate win the last three races.
Saying “These things, he analyses them, looks at the data, comes to his conclusions, and the conclusion is that he’s never been quite at ease on this track, and he never liked the smooth surface. That’s it. Tick the box. He’s looking forward to Montreal. I don’t think there’s any relevance for the side to think about what would be at the end of the year.”
Like Antonelli for Russell, it is his first opportunity to fight for the championship, but the Englishman admits that his teammate is “in a very good place at the moment and momentum is with him.” But pointed to his experience, seeing how momentum swings and how last season unfolded. Many believe that Russell’s experience will win out in the end.
George Russell’s viral ‘T-pose’ was created by accident. The Mercedes driver first used the post in 2023, becoming a viral meme after it was created for that season’s official titles.
All of the drivers have to take part in photo shoot/filming days ahead of the season to create the opening credits. While Russell rested his hands on the walls and dipped his head as he waited for the next shot, the producer pushed for him to be photographed in that position.
Russell said during a Q&A video with Mercedes, “Ah, the infamous T-pose. So, this was the F1 intro that I did in 2023. It wasn’t intentional at all. It was actually out of boredom and tiredness.”
“It was about 11:30 at night. We were on this long photo shoot, and I just put my hands up on the side of the wall, just waiting for my next shot and the producer was like, ‘That’s pretty cool.’ And next thing I know, the T-pose was invented. So, I need to thank that guy, we need to find out who the director was that day.”
Russell began to include it during his victory celebrations. After winning the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, Russell performed the pose before he jumped down from his Mercedes F1 car.
Red Bull
After a difficult start to the season, Red Bull appears to have taken a significant step forward in Miami. Max Verstappen even described it as “light at the end of the tunnel” for the team led by Laurent Mekies.
The four-time champion finished fifth in Miami, which many feel didn’t reflect the progress, but in terms of pure pace, Red Bull looked considerably more competitive than during the first three race weekends of 2026. Addressing an issue in the steering system has played an important role in that, although the upgrades, including heavily revised sidepods and a new floor, have also had the desired effect.
Verstappen indicated that the first updates of the year, introduced during the Japanese Grand Prix, made very little difference; this package delivered what was expected of it. That applies not only to Verstappen’s expectations, but also to those of Red Bull’s technical director, Pierre Wache.
The Frenchman told Motorsport.com, “Yes, it delivered what we expected. It’s just the package itself that has delivered. And after we fixed some other issues, that has also brought some [extra] Max performance that maybe we didn’t expect.”
With those last words, Wache is referring to the steering changes, which allow Verstappen to push more again. For Red Bull, it appears to be their first major step forward of the season. But the big question for Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren is what Mercedes will bring in their upgrade in Montreal.
Wache explains that his team will bring some minor changes to the Canadian Grand Prix, but is mainly focusing its development on the European season. he confirmed, “We have to wait a little bit longer, just a little step for Montreal.”
For the next major package, weight is once again a key focus. In Miami, Red Bull has already managed to reduce the RB22’s excess weight from twelve to six kilograms, after which plans have been made to bring the cars of Verstappen and Hadjar down to the FIA minimum weight within two months, set at 768kg this year.
This should gradually make Red Bull more competitive, although Wache is mainly pleased that the difficult opening phase of the season now seems to be behind it.
Engine partner Ford director Mark Rushbrook emphasised that the American manufacturer likes to apply a similar approach across all championships it takes part in: not a works team, but joining forces with the best teams in a given racing series. But since the deal was announced, there has been major upheaval with prominent departures from its senior leadership team.
Rushbrook told Motorsport.com, “I think Red Bull showed their character, what the team is capable of, many times through history. Let’s take last year as an example. Everybody counted them out of the championship, and look how close it was in the end and what they were able to achieve in that. So that was just a demonstration again of what they are capable of.”
Despite the huge regulation changes, Ford still has confidence in what they have seen on track, saying they have been energised by it as they want to be racing at the front. The other question is f how many departures a team can absorb altogether, but Rushbrook says he is not immediately worried on that front either.
He said, “They’ve got the right people, the right culture. And even with personnel changes, I know that creates a lot of excitement in the media and maybe other places, but I think that’s part of the sport. Not that we necessarily wanted to see any of those people go, but it’s about how you react to that.”
According to the American, the latter is more important than the departures themselves: how does the team ultimately deal with them?
Williams
Carlos Sainz has warned that patience will be needed during the team’s bid to recover. The British team has been on the back foot, having missed the Catalan test in January after falling behind in development of the cars; as a result, the team has slipped down the order.
Williams finally made progress addressing its overweight FW48 car with an upgrade at the Miami Grand Prix that was two months late. The team scored its first double points finish of the campaign in Miami as Sainz led home teammate Alex Albon in ninth, but the Spaniard insisted more work needs to be done for Williams to move forward.
Sainz told Crash.net, “We know we still have a lot of weight to shed off the car, so when you look at that then it’s a positive. The team has done a great effort over the last few weeks to bring this and it shows that when you do things right, things start to come away a bit better.”
“But to Alpine, there’s still a big gap and to the frontrunners, I cannot even tell you. So we need to put our heads down and from here make this the new baseline and start improving.” But the Spaniard warned it could be “some months” before the team completes a full turnaround, maybe even the final third of the season.
Alex Albon discussed the evolution of the Miami Grand Prix and how the event at the Hard Rock Stadium has grown on him over the years. The race was added to the calendar in 2022 and has mixed reviews.
Speaking to former driver and broadcaster David Coulthard, Albon explained about the growth of the championship in the United States: “It’s amazing. It’s changed so much. But to be honest with you, everyone is really friendly. I think Americans generally have a very positive demeanour.”
“Honestly, Miami’s warmed up to me a lot. The first year when we came to Miami, I don’t know if it was just that it was the first year of Formula 1 coming here for, I don’t know, ever. But just having that sense of it’s a show, kind of what Vegas felt like in year one.”
Albon believes that over the last few years, they have improved the structure of the races and the teams have improved.
Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso says he expects to decide on his future after the August summer break when he will weigh up whether to extend his record-length career into a twenty-fourth season.
Two decades after winning his last world championship, the two-time champion is in the final year of his contract, having joined the team in 2023. It comes against the backdrop of Aston Martin and engine supplier Honda’s dire start to F1’s new era of rules this year, Alonso said recently, “at the moment, I don’t feel it’s that time yet” in terms of bringing the curtain down on racing at motorsport’s top level.
Asked at the Miami Grand Prix about the timeline for deciding what he will do next year, Alonso said: “Sometime in the summer, I need to make a decision. At the moment, I didn’t sit with myself to think about that. I never thought about it in a deep way, and I need to speak with my family as well. I need to speak with my people first and decide what to do next year.”
Adding “If I continue racing, I think it will be a better season than this one with the project in year two. If I stop racing, I know that I will race in other series.” Alonso says he is open to everything but wouldn’t sit down until after the summer, as he wants to see how the car improves as he wants to see the team succeed even if he retires.
Despite the team’s current difficulties, Alonso continues to prove Aston Martin’s lead driver on track, outqualifying team-mate Lance Stroll for 40 consecutive GPs. He is optimistic that, should he decide to race on, his bosses will be keen too.
He said, “You cannot be hundred per cent sure about it, but I’m performing I think well enough to show the team that I can give them the results if the car is competitive. I’m helping the team as much as I can. I think it could be more up to me.”
Alonso became a father in March when he and partner Melissa Jimenez welcomed their first child together, a boy. The cancellation of April’s grands prix in the Middle East meant that Alonso was able to spend additional time at home in the first weeks of his son’s life.
Asked by Sky Sports in Miami whether becoming a father had changed his thinking on his racing future in any way, Alonso said: “I have some thoughts, I cannot lie. It does change the way you see life. I have to say that it is going in the other direction. I want to race so he sees me racing. But until he is aware of things, maybe it’s a couple of years and I don’t want to race four or five years again!”
Audi
Allan McNish revealed that becoming the Audi F1 racing director was a “no-brainer” decision after ‘living the project since day one’. The German manufacturer’s former Formula E team principal and WEC champion replaced Jonathan Wheatly, who unexpectedly departed the team for “personal reasons” just two rounds into the season.
In Miami, the Scotsman appeared to have slotted well into his new role, having previously led the Audi Formula E team to championship success, and claimed two outright 24 Hours of Le Mans wins with the manufacturer – his other victory coming with Porsche in 1998.
McNish joked, “When I retired from racing in 2013, I was asked the same question, and I said I would never be involved in team management or anything else, because you’d have to deal with drivers like me, and I knew how difficult I was. But the reality is that things change, life changes, so the rule of that is to never say never.”
“I’ve known this project since day one. I’ve been involved in it from literally the beginning in different roles, so on that side, it was quite obvious for me; being in Melbourne and seeing that car race for the first time was definitely a special moment. It was a no-brainer from my personal perspective when I got the telephone call and then went to have the discussion, that yes, 100%. Because again, I’ve lived it from day one, so why wouldn’t I?”
McNish says that the call to become de facto team principal came directly from CEO and team principal Mattia Binotto, who he said remains “the boss.” Explaining that Binotto will run the engineering side and the Hinwil operations, and he will run race operations, driver management and development.
Alpine
Alpine has reappointed Jason Somerville as deputy technical director in a move that strengthens its technical department. He was previously part of the team’s Aerodynamics Department between 2010 and 2011, when they competed under the Renault name.
He first worked in F1 with Williams in 1999, before joining Toyota in 2003, where he went on to become Deputy Head of Aerodynamics. He returned to Williams before joining Liberty and, more recently, the FIA as Head of Aerodynamics. He will start his new job properly tomorrow.
Somerville said, “I am really excited to be returning to Enstone and working with Flavio [Briatore, Alpine Executive Advisor], Steve [Nielsen, Alpine Managing Director], and David in this new role.”
“I have been away from the competitive side of motorsport within a team environment for a few years now and I’m relishing the opportunity to be back in the thick of it, hunting milliseconds and fighting our rivals for points and hopefully silverware.
“I am looking forward to getting underway and joining the superb team of engineers, designers, and aerodynamicists at the factory and hopefully contributing to some of the team’s success in the not too distant future.”
Sanchez added: “We are thrilled to have someone of Jason’s calibre and experience joining the team and to continue our sustained level of progress. The work the team has already done this season has been extraordinary, but we all know that is just the beginning of the job and not one team member is resting on their laurels.”
Cadillac
Cadillac has approached its debut season keeping its expectations in check. Yes, they wanted to win – it’s the General Motors way – but the American car giants were respectful of their rivals and the quality of the championship they were entering.
Despite the fears about not qualifying or failing to finish a race, the team may not be grabbing headlines, but has been solid enough to finish behind the midfield and have finished every race this season with only one car retiring from a Grand Prix. Only Mercedes and Ferrari have a better record.
Cadillac are here to win and fight for championships so they are well off their ultimate goal, but they have made a strong start towards achieving that lofty ambition, and according to their CEO Dan Towriss, they are tracking ahead of schedule. That’s an impressive feat for a team that started from a blank sheet of paper.
Towriss told F1.com, “When you think about short-, medium- and long-term goals – I think we’re on track. I think we’re ahead of the short-term goals, but we want to make sure we’re on track with the medium-term goals. Certainly the long-term goals are quite ambitious in Formula 1.”
“If you think about it, there are so many work streams that are happening at the same time, from a real estate project, to building a team, to recruiting, to building out all the pieces in the organisation, to tracking parts in a multicontinental effort with races all over the world. A lot of moving parts here, and I’m really happy with how it’s all coming together.”
They are doing what they can to strengthen as quickly as possible. That includes increasing their workforce every single week, growing their infrastructure with a huge manufacturing factory being constructed in Indianapolis and due to come online later this year to sit alongside their Silverstone and Charlotte bases.
Cadillac knew coming into this season it was about learning and looking at getting themselves into a good position on the aero side, before they become a power unit manufacturer. This is also about getting used to being in the sport and the development war just to remain competitive.
