Max breaks silence on Red Bull sacking, responds to Mercedes holiday meeting rumour<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n(Photo by Clive Rose\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
HOW WILL RED BULL RACING\u2019S NEW ERA START?<\/b><\/p>\n
The mini break was dominated by only one story: Christian Horner\u2019s sacking as team principal and CEO of Red Bull Racing.<\/p>\n
The news came as a shock just days after the British Grand Prix, where Max Verstappen had taken a brilliant pole but subsequently failed to convert on a wet Sunday, his extreme set-up gamble for one-lap pace undone by the British weather.<\/p>\n
In some respects that weekend summed up where the team had ended up just 18 months after having dominated the sport in 2023: totally reliant on Verstappen, who in turn is powerless to overcome the flaws of his machinery.<\/p>\n
That status, combined with myriad other behind-the-scenes issues \u2014 not least the Dutchman\u2019s wavering loyalty to the team \u2014 had Horner axed after two decades at the helm.<\/p>\n
Laurent Mekies, the Racing Bulls team principal, replaced him immediately, and the Frenchman will take his place on the pit wall for the first time this weekend.<\/p>\n
The change is more significant than just the name on the boss\u2019s office door.<\/p>\n
Mekies is in the same role, but paddock consensus suggests ultimate executive power has been returned to Austria after years of Horner concentrating it in his own hands.<\/p>\n
This is now a more corporate Red Bull Racing team \u2014 the antithesis of the disrupter squad that made its debut in 2005.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Mekies\u2019s job to make that a success when conventional wisdom suggests deferring to executives removed from the team tends not to work in Formula 1.<\/p>\n
The first task of that objective will be to convince Verstappen that he\u2019s the man for the job and that the team\u2019s on the right track.<\/p>\n
Fortunately for him, Verstappen could deliver him the ideal start to life at the head of the team.<\/p>\n
The Dutchman, who was born in Belgium to his Belgian mother, has always excelled at Spa-Francorchamps.<\/p>\n
He won the race three times in succession from 2021, doing so in obliterating fashion from 14th on the grid in 2022 and sixth on the grid in 2023.<\/p>\n
He had race-winning pace last year too, having taken pole by a whopping 0.595 in wet conditions, but an engine penalty dumped him to 11th on the grid, from where he finished fourth and just 8.7 seconds off the lead.<\/p>\n
Red Bull Racing is expected to bring what is likely to be its last major update to this race in an attempt to broaden the working window of the RB21.<\/p>\n
If it works, you wouldn\u2019t put it past him to demonstrate yet again his value to the team \u2014 and give Mekies the perfect first weekend on the job.<\/p>\n
(Photo by Mark Thompson\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
CAN FERRARI SAVE ITS SEASON?<\/b><\/p>\n
Ferrari\u2019s season is yet to go to plan.<\/p>\n
Expectations of a championship challenge unravelled almost immediately in Melbourne, but it was at the next race in China where they were really incinerated in a dramatic double disqualification.<\/p>\n
Lewis Hamilton\u2019s sprint victory that weekend was a brief bright spot, but his exclusion from Sunday\u2019s result for plank wear has been more important to everything that\u2019s come since.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Ferrari car wants to be run very low to the ground, but it hasn\u2019t been able to do so without risking damage to the plank. The team has been able to mask the issue at very slow circuits or tracks with very smooth surfaces, but otherwise it\u2019s been up to the drivers to find ways to find set-up options that allow them to drive around the car\u2019s unpredictable traits.<\/p>\n
Charles Leclerc has done a reasonable job, but the problems have hampered Hamilton\u2019s already troubled transition to Ferrari life, though after 12 rounds he\u2019s only 16 points behind his teammate.<\/p>\n
In the background the team has been working hard to deliver upgrades that will save the season.<\/p>\n
While on one level it looks like throwing good money after bad given next year\u2019s regulation changes, team boss Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Vasseur has suggested it\u2019s important that the team validate its processes now to ensure it\u2019s not led down similar dead-end paths in designing the 2026 car.<\/p>\n
The first important upgrade arrived in Austria \u2014 a new floor, which worked as expected. Tick.<\/p>\n
But the crucial second component comes this weekend in the form of new rear suspension.<\/p>\n
New suspension components should help to keep the car stiffer and steadier on the brakes and under acceleration, allowing it to be run lower and therefore closer to its sweet spot.<\/p>\n
No-one is expecting Ferrari to instantly become a McLaren rival, but if the suspension works as well as the floor, the Italian team should see a healthy performance boost that will help it retain second in the constructors championship.<\/p>\n
Introducing it in Belgium is a risk, with the sprint format reducing practice time to just one hour, but it\u2019s a sign of how important this upgrade is \u2014 and perhaps also of the team\u2019s confidence \u2014 that it will be bolted onto car this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery, very difficult,\u201d Hamilton said, assessing the team\u2019s task in the single practice session. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a lot of time, so you need to double up \u2014 you need to make sure you get as much information from both cars. You need to do the whole session. If it\u2019s wet, then that really helps your learning.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut in terms of finetuning the car, it\u2019s highly unlikely we\u2019re going to fully optimise it during this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll probably be something we\u2019re optimising over the next few weekends.\u201d<\/p>\n
What happens next will define the second half of Ferrari\u2019s season \u2014 and perhaps reframe any optimism for the team in 2026.<\/p>\n
(Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
CAN SAINZ FIND CONSISTENCY TO RESCUE FIFTH FOR WILLIAMS?<\/b><\/p>\n
Williams enjoyed a far better start to the season than the team expected was possible. Not only was it comfortably the best performing and best executing team in the midfield, but there were rounds when it was genuinely racing at the back of the frontrunning pack, often with Ferrari.<\/p>\n
It helped the team race to a 31-point lead after the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix \u2014 a chasm among the lower scoring midfield outfits, for whom points are rare.<\/p>\n
But since then the team has nosedived, scoring just eight more points from the last five weekends. In Austria, two rounds ago, it suffered its worst qualifying result by pure pace.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Sauber has risen thanks to an inspired upgrade brought to Spain. The team has scored 35 points since then, closing the gap to Williams to just 18 points.<\/p>\n
Car pace is part of the problem, with Williams undertaking minimal development to focus on next year\u2019s car. Sloppy execution has also been part of the equation.<\/p>\n
But Carlos Sainz\u2019s inconsistent form in his first year at Grove has also been a key part of the story.<\/p>\n
While Alex Albon is a strong eighth in the drivers championship with 46 points, Sainz is down in 15th and 33 points in arrears.<\/p>\n
Plenty has gone wrong for Sainz. He failed to start in Austria thanks to a technical problem, and in Silverstone he was crashed into by an errant Leclerc.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s also no doubt he hasn\u2019t got the most out of the package.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we haven\u2019t delivered everything we can with him this year,\u201d team boss James Vowles said, per Racer. \u201cAnd it\u2019s been a mixture all across the board.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been errors that he\u2019s made on track. There\u2019s absolutely been the errors that we\u2019ve made on track. There\u2019s been accidents. There\u2019s been just accumulation of aspects.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me it\u2019s about drawing a line in the sand and moving forward from Spa onwards. We have a number of really good races coming up for us. It\u2019s about delivering the result that the car has in it, making sure that we start to really focus in on why we\u2019re not getting everything out of qualifying and dig into that and get the best performance possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Carlos, it\u2019s achieving the results that I know we are capable of together, which we haven\u2019t done this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sainz can point to his qualifying pace, which has him on average just 0.07 seconds slower than Albon. But that fine margin has often been the difference between Q1 and Q2 or Q2 and Q3, leaving him several places down on the grid, which in turn has translated to an average difference of 2.7 places between them at the flag.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat changes your whole weekend because you don\u2019t have a car to actually make it back through the field,\u201d he explained. \u201cIn the midfield everyone has the same race pace as you, and it\u2019s extremely difficult to actually recover unless you do something crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he admitted the process of changing teams is ongoing at a time it\u2019s never been harder to swap cars in Formula 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust the car obviously feels very different to a Ferrari \u2014 very different limitations, very different driving style required, very different set-up that I need to find to drive the car,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd maybe putting a bit of emphasis on how much lap time and results come from actually understanding yourself with your engineers, with your team, with all the strategy calls \u2014 how you communicate during the race, how do you come to the point of making the right call.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat needs a bit of bedding time to actually execute a good race weekend, both in quali and the race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sainz doesn\u2019t have a lot of work to do to close the gap, but these final hundredths are crucial to eliminate \u2014 for himself and the team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just as Formula 1 drivers were leaning into their holidays, they\u2019ve been called back to the racetrack. Belgium\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[521,186,22631,7907,90761,108072,1789,108078,108065,6872,108076,59968,89846,108063,5070,1395,24994,24988,108053,76606,108061,108071,22634,22589,29609,108056,108044,299,4199,29608,108062,707,4200,22626,22596,108043,108080,108051,108059,108068,25005,1711,22627,108074,22638,1073,1464,59974,108057,108055,22617,108081,108058,108049,25010,107034,108048,108060,45167,108082,108066,108050,54097,108052,108070,108083,108045,108047,43259,104,79,108046,45204,108075,108067,108079,108077,24989,108054,29618,22637,108064,16,15,108073,108069,22599,17669],"class_list":{"0":"post-290031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-asia","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","11":"tag-austria","12":"tag-beach-holiday","13":"tag-bedding-time","14":"tag-belgium","15":"tag-british-weather","16":"tag-car-pace","17":"tag-carlos-sainz","18":"tag-championship-challenge","19":"tag-championship-fight","20":"tag-championship-lead","21":"tag-championship-run-in","22":"tag-charles-leclerc","23":"tag-china","24":"tag-christian-horner","25":"tag-constructors-championship","26":"tag-contentious-safety-car","27":"tag-conventional-wisdom","28":"tag-disrupter-squad","29":"tag-dominant-victory","30":"tag-drivers-championship","31":"tag-driving-style","32":"tag-eastern-asia","33":"tag-engine-penalty","34":"tag-era-start","35":"tag-europe","36":"tag-f1","37":"tag-form-guide","38":"tag-form-guide-swings","39":"tag-formula-1","40":"tag-formula1","41":"tag-getty-images-inc","42":"tag-grand-prix","43":"tag-grand-prix-driver","44":"tag-grand-prix-victory","45":"tag-healthy-performance-boost","46":"tag-ideal-start","47":"tag-italian-team","48":"tag-james-vowles","49":"tag-lando-norris","50":"tag-lap-time","51":"tag-lower-scoring-midfield","52":"tag-maiden-grand-prix","53":"tag-max-verstappen","54":"tag-melbourne","55":"tag-mid-season-break","56":"tag-mid-season-break-starts","57":"tag-midseason-break","58":"tag-oceania","59":"tag-office-door","60":"tag-one-two-finishes","61":"tag-paddock-consensus","62":"tag-pit-talk","63":"tag-pit-wall","64":"tag-positive-thing","65":"tag-press-area","66":"tag-race-pace","67":"tag-race-weekend","68":"tag-race-won","69":"tag-reducing-practice-time","70":"tag-regulation-changes","71":"tag-safety-car-infringement","72":"tag-scoring-midfield-outfits","73":"tag-sets-sights","74":"tag-single-practice-session","75":"tag-smooth-surfaces","76":"tag-southern-europe","77":"tag-spain","78":"tag-sports","79":"tag-sprint-podium","80":"tag-sprint-victory","81":"tag-statement-heading","82":"tag-strategy-calls","83":"tag-suspension-components","84":"tag-suspension-works","85":"tag-team-principal","86":"tag-team-race","87":"tag-title-fight","88":"tag-title-lead","89":"tag-title-momentum","90":"tag-uk","91":"tag-united-kingdom","92":"tag-unusual-two-weekend-break","93":"tag-valuable-home-victory","94":"tag-victoria","95":"tag-western-europe"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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