Welcome to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – 2024
McLaren to promise Norris, setting sights on both titles
McLaren is to prioritise Lando Norris over teammate Oscar Piastri in their bid to win both world championships this year. But team principal Andrea Stella warned that this would only happen within the teams ‘principles of sportsmanship and fairness’.
Norris goes into this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix sixty-two points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship with a maximum of two hundred and thirty-two still available. Piastri is in fourth place in the championship, 106 points behind Verstappen.
Stella told BBC News, ”The overall concept is we are incredibly determined to win, but we want to win in the right way. We [will] bias our support to Lando but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles.”
“Our principles are that the team interest always comes first. Sportsmanship for us is important in the overall way we go racing. And then we want to be fair to both drivers.”
Until this point, the team has prioritised Norris and Piastri to race freely but within what the call ‘paypa rules.’ This marks a huge shift in policy as they now think Norris is the team’s best hope to win the championship and follows a fractious race at Monza where bickering on track arguably saw them throw away a chance of victory while Verstappen could only finish sixth.
Stella said: “What we don’t want to see any more is a situation like in Monza in which we enter a chicane P1/P2 and we exit P1/P3. Because that is a detriment to the team. The team interests comes first and these are the situations that above all we need to fix because eventually, as a matter of fact, the way we entered the race in Monza left the door open this situation.”
He says they have three objectives, making sure that anything that happens on track is not to the detriment of the team, how to win both championships with both drivers playing a role and not doing it recklessly. But Stella added these rules would be reviewed regularly and both drivers brought into the philosophy following collaborative conversations.
In the constructors’ championship, McLaren are just eight points behind Red Bull and could take the lead this weekend. Ferrari is in third place, thirty-one adrift of McLaren.
Stella emphasised: “We need to be careful that while we focus the conversation and the attention on to the drivers’, we don’t lose sight on the fact that the constructors’ is at least a three-headed quest.”
Ferrari has come a long way with race execution
Carlos Sainz says that Ferrari’s execution of races and strategy has kept it in the constructors’ title hunt, despite a “poor” middle part of the season. Amid expectations that McLaren will surpass Red Bull in the constructors’ championship standings owing to the switch in performance, the fact Ferrari is only thirty-nine points behind has been overlooked.
While Sainz is surprised that the team still had an outside chance of winning the constructors despite the difficulties the team had faced since winning in Monaco, feeling that the team has improved greatly in race management terms.
The Spaniard explained that the team – and, by association, the drivers – had made the most of the car despite a sudden decline in performance over the Montreal weekend, and the bouncing issues exacerbated by the upgrades produced for Barcelona.
Sainz told Motorsport.com, “Yes, I am surprised, because I don’t know how many races there’s been between Monaco and Monza, but it’s one-third of the season maybe. We had a strong first third, bad second third, and now we are entering the last third of the season.”
“We’ve had a poor middle part of the season and we are still in the fight. It shows how far this team has come in terms of executing well, managing to score points even when the car is not performing like it did at the beginning of the season or like it did in Monza.”
The Spaniard says this has kept them in the fight, his and teammate Charles Leclerc’s maximising results have also helped. Saying that they have had good race management and it needs to find similar performances to Monaco and Monza.
Asked if it meant that the Azerbaijan and Singapore races – considered Ferrari’s strongest venues owing to the plethora of 90-degree corners – could set the team on a good run, Sainz suggested that it could help the team continue to address the deficit. Regardless, he warned against it defining the formbook as he expected the team to come back down to earth at Austin.
Aston Martin “always open” for Verstappen
Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack says the team could be a future team for Max Verstappen after they secured Adrian Newey as managing technical partner. On Tuesday it was announced the most successful technical director and designer would join the team from Red Bull in early 2026.
Newey has been tasked by the team owner to lead the team to the front of the grid when the new regulations are rolled out from 2026. Next year will see current drivers Lance Stroll, son of Lawrence, and two-time champion Fernando Alonso remain with the team, but Krack feels the door is now open to the likes of Verstappen in the future.
Asked by Motorsport.com, if the Dutchman could be an option, Krack said “The door for Max Verstappen is always open, I think for every team.”
“I think it [Newey’s appointment] will make a difference for everybody. This is not anymore underdogs like it used to be in the past…you have a completely different approach with partners and the same for race drivers. So I think it opens a lot of doors for the future.”
This season Red Bull’s dominance as appeared to crumble away with Verstappen vocally frustrated at the lack of pace in his car at recent races as the likes of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes have been faster of late. Newey’s departure is seen as part of the fallout after the team were embroiled in scandal after CEO and team principal Christian Horner was accused but cleared of inappropriate and controlling behaviour towards a female colleague.
This has resulted in a power struggle between Horner and the Austrian side of the business, and the Verstappen’s and the Thai owners. However, this has appeared to quieten down in recent months.
Speaking to Formel1.de Ralf Schumacher suggested that Aston could become a tempting option for Verstappen, should he be looking for a way out of Red Bull. Schumacher said, “Max Verstappen and especially his father [Jos] and his management want to win, they want to fight for the world championship title.”
“Adrian Newey is a well-known figure for them, and so is Honda. I am very, very sure, although he may not be officially starting until next year, that Aston Martin will make a miraculous leap as early as next year. And maybe even by the end of this year.”
Mercedes will not run an update floor
Mercedes has confirmed they will not run the floor upgrade which has caused them problems since its introduction at Spa, as they assess whether it is behind the dip in form at the last two races.
Mercedes went into the summer break with three wins from four races, including a one-two at Spa, before George Russell was disqualified for a breach of technical regulations which handed victory to Lewis Hamilton. Who it later emerged opted not to race its latest floor development, having detected problems with it in that event’s opening practice sessions.
At the post-break Dutch GP, where Mercedes struggled for race pace after leading FP2, a planned back-to-back test of the new and old floor specifications was thwarted by the inclement weather at Zandvoort, where Mercedes chose to fit the newer floor ahead of its poor race in any case.
It then completed the back-to-back assessment on Friday at Monza last time out – around Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashing George Russell’s car and leaving Mercedes light on spare floors, before again fitting the newer version for the remainder of the weekend.
Russell then out qualified eventual race winner Charles Leclerc then a first-corner mistake placed him on the back foot for the rest of the race, while Hamilton did not trouble the leading positions in either qualifying or the race in Italy.
It is understood that Mercedes has decided not to run the Spa floor at all in Baku to gain a full weekend of data on how the car, which had upgrades to its diffuser, beam wing, front wing and halo that remains fitted, meaning Mercedes has not reverted to its full pre-Spa specification, performs without it.
Asked if this was the reason for the dip in form, Hamilton said, “There are lots of question marks on a lot of it. I think we’re just trying to understand it. It could be a number of things. It could be track-dependent, it could be the upgrade. My gut is telling me it could be the upgrade but it’s hard to see the difference between the two.”
“But we’re going to try this weekend [and] roll back on some of it and see whether or not we can spot it. There’s a lot of work going on just to analyse it because it gives the team a better direction of where they’re going for development, not just for this car but for next year as well.”
This will enable it to decide how to adapt the floor or other areas of the W15 going forward, or even drop it altogether, given the team is convinced it is a step forward in terms of adding downforce, albeit it is only a small one. But Mercedes knows that McLaren held off introducing its new floor because of this trend which has also seen Red Bull, Aston Martin and Ferrari slip backwards.
Russell added, “The upgrade wasn’t a substantial performance improvement and sometimes you’ve got to look at things just objectively. And we brought a new floor, we dropped in performance, and that was the main thing that that changed.” Saying it knew this kind of upgrade wasn’t going to set the world on fire.
Talking Points Baku
Round seventeen brings F1 to Baku a street circuit which since joining the calendar has seen plenty of drama and thrilling races over the last decade. That is almost certain to continue following an unpredictable European season with six different winners in ten races.
This has opened up the possibility of a championship challenge, Max Verstappen’s poor weekend at Monza which is similar in terms of speed and downforce to Baku, means he only has a sixty-two point lead from Lando Norris. Until Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez won this race last year, no driver had won twice.
McLaren come into this weekend with revised ‘paypa rules,’ following the drama in Monza which effectively handed victory to Charles Leclerc and Ferrari. They could this weekend with them just eight points behind Red Bull take the lead of the constructors.
Ferrari will be hoping that victory at Monza will be more than a one-off, and if they work here as well they could be in a good position to fight Mercedes for third. Mercedes has struggled since the summer break, but will be hoping the streets of Baku and Singapore will see a return to the form which saw them win three out of four races in July.
Ollie Bearman will make an early debut for Haas, after Kevin Magnussen was handed a race ban after reaching the limit of licence points following a collision at Monza. Bearman impressed with seventh in Jeddah standing in for Carlos Sainz, earning him that seat for next year.
Bearman looking forward to building towards 2025
Ollie Bearman says knowing he has a seat with Haas makes this weekend the perfect opportunity to build his experience ahead of 2025. The Englishman replaces Kevin Magnussen this weekend after he was handed a one-race ban for reaching his twelfth penalty point.
Bearman raced for Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix earlier this year when Carlos Sainz had surgery on his appendix, but only took the Spaniard’s seat ahead of final practice in Jeddah.
He told the press conference in Baku, “It’s nice to be back. Of course, not the circumstances I would have hoped but it’s a great opportunity to build up my experience and get a full weekend under my belt. I had some notice this time. I’ve known it was coming, which is helpful.”
“I just want to build it up step by step and enjoy it as well. Knowing I’m going to race is a big help and also the fact I’m doing FP1 and FP2 to help build it up. Of course I’ve been training hard but I’ve been doing that anyway because I’m racing that next year.”
Alongside his debut in Jeddah, Bearman has done four practice sessions this season and goes into this weekend looking to maximise his performance this weekend in Baku.
he said, “My preparations have been kind of looking towards next year since the announcement that I will be racing with the team in 2025. It has been a while that Kevin has been close to a race ban, so I knew it was possible to jump in the car at some point.”
Honda & Alpine commit procedural breach of budget cap
The FIA have confirmed that all ten teams complied with the £110m budget cap during the 2023 season, though Honda and Alpine’s engine division did commit a ‘procedural breach.’ It was the second season that all teams were within the restrictions of the regulations.
2023 was the first season when the regulations expanded to include engine manufacturers who have applied to compete in the 2026 season, when new regulations are introduced, have been given financial restrictions with a limit of £110m.
Honda currently supplies Red Bull and RB with power units, with Alpine using their own Renault-Alpine engine.
In a statement the governing body said, “The CCA [Cost Cap Administration] confirms that although Alpine Racing SAS and HRC have both been found to be in procedural breach, neither have exceeded the Cost Cap level. Both Alpine Racing SAS and HRC have acted at all times in good faith and are currently cooperating with the CCA to finalise the matter.
“Considering the nature of the breach, the complexities of the new Financial Regulations for PU Manufacturers and the challenges associated with their first year of implementation it is the CCA’s intention to propose to these two PU Manufacturers to settle their respective breaches by means of an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA).”
In 2021, Aston Martin was fined £388,000 for a procedural breach because they “inaccurately excluded and/or adjusted costs in the calculation of its relevant costs”. Williams were fined £20,000 in the same season for missing the deadline to submit their accounts.
The biggest budget cap controversy came when Red Bull breached the budget cap in 2021 by £1.86m, so were fined £6m and will have 10 per cent less wind tunnel time for the 2023 season.
Founder of March and Arrows Alan Rees has dies aged eighty-six
Former F1 driver and founder of March and Arrows Alan Rees has died aged eighty-six following a long illness. He was a partner in both March and Arrows, which entered the Grand Prix arena in 1970 and ’78 respectively. In between times, he was recruited by Shadow to put together its UK operation for an F1 entry in 1973.
Although he has been successful in F2 he never became as well known as other drivers like former FIA president Max Mosley and Jackie Oliver. He will be best remembered for the teams he created with March and Arrows monikers were derived from the initials of their creators, in the latter case with a bit of licence.
Rees provided the AR in the middle of March, Mosley the M, Graham Coaker the C and Robin Herd the H. His was one of the Rs in Arrows – or perhaps both of them – in a slightly looser acronym. The other letters came from the names of Franco Ambrosio, Oliver, Dave Wass and Tony Southgate.
March was a builder of off the shelf racing cars, for a various series and ran teams in F1, F2 and F3 with Rees being the team principal. Chris Amon would score podiums and Jackie Stewart taking a win in Barcelona in the early 1970s.
The establishment of Arrows was equally rapid at the back end of 1977 after Rees and his cohorts walked out of Shadow, taking backer Ambrosio with them. “Alan said, ’If Olly’s going, I’m going’,” recalls designer Southgate. “So I thought I might as well follow them.”
Like March, Arrows did things in a hurry. The FA1 was designed and built in just three months before the team had to produce a successor even more rapidly. The fledgling team saw the writing on the wall when Shadow boss Don Nichols took the team to the High Court in London alleging infringement of copyright. When the American won the case, Arrows had the A1 ready to go.
He would also go on to study economics the University of Wales in Cardiff. Rees remained team principal until mid-1990 when the team was sold to Footwork and was appointed finance director. When Footwork withdrew he brought the team in early 1996 which became Arrows again.
The Rees name continued in motorsport after Alan stepped away from Arrows. His son, Paul, started racing in the early 2000s, reaching the MotorSport Vision Formula Two Championship in single-seaters before a switch to the Porsche one-make ranks.
Bottas implies he is staying at Sauber
Valtteri Bottas strongly implied that he will rescue his F1 career by staying at Sauber next season. Sauber has one of the two seats left this season and the team early in the year, signed Nico Hulkenberg for one seat ahead of its transition into Audi in 2026.
That means either Bottas or teammate Guanyu Zhou will lose their seat, though it appears that the Finn will remain with the team. In Baku, Bottas said he was ninety-nine per cent confident of staying with the team. Bottas said, “Still talking. Progressing. I am still positive. I shouldn’t really say much, but that’s where we are.
“There are still many things to discuss. Both parties need to be happy. But we’re going in the right direction.”
The decision for Sauber appeared to hinge on whether they prefer the experience of Bottas or the potential of a rookie. Gabriel Bortoleto is among the F2 drivers strongly linked with a promotion into F1. Bottas admitted “Yes, I think it’s pretty straightforward. I don’t want to say more, but you’ve got an idea of the situation.”
He says his experience was his strength in trying to stay with the team, and he feels like he is in a good position to stay.
Bottas was asked if his car’s lack of competitiveness has almost cost him his F1 career. Saying “This sport is unfair. I’ve seen that many times. I am in a difficult situation because of the performance of the car. Mattia knows what he can get from me. Hopefully I’ll be here next year, the car will be better, and I can show a bit more.”
Mattia Binotto, the former Ferrari team principal, has joined ahead of the team’s evolution into Audi in 2026. He said that they have built a good relationship and is starting to get a clear picture of what we need.
The Weekend Ahead
I feel the big lesson from Monza is that Red Bull is likely to be on the back foot given this is a high-speed and downforce street circuit. This race is however always unpredictable which creates opportunities for everyone, so don’t count anything out this weekend as it ramps up as the rubber goes down.
McLaren doesn’t on paper look far away however they have not won a race this season at these higher speed and downforce circuits. but I think they could and should have won if they didn’t lose out on strategy and communication at Monza, it will be interesting how that plays out on track.
Lando Norris needs to start making a serious stake on this championship, while he is delivering winning the next two races would be a serious threat though he won’t be leading the championship come the autumn break.
Baku requires high speed and downforce, but there is a high chance of safety cars and accidents with drama throughout the last eight races. Teams need to work out a balance between high speed and downforce, this makes the circuit one of the faster street circuits and the third fastest after Jeddah and Monza.
Red Bull isn’t the dominant force they were once were, this has allowed others into the mix, and they have started to see that weakness because they don’t have that strength to effectively mask their weaknesses. They are still an important force in deciding the way this championship is going to go, but we know there is a lot that will happen this season.
Max Verstappen hasn’t seemed settled in recent races and I don’t think Monza would have given them much hope going into this weekend given they are comparable because of the long straights and we saw Ferrari and McLaren fight for victory.
The big story going into this weekend is Adrian Newey going to Aston Martin next year I think we will get more of a bigger picture of why Aston as well as the reaction from other teams and drivers. I think this will be of interest to everyone because that will attract many people and sponsors if they manage over the coming seasons to become that championship force.