🏁 Mercedes 1-2 followed by a DQ...

Good morning. What a race! I mean…come on. Aero upgrades, new pavement, grid penalties, a shortened DRS zone, and team strategy were all on full display at Spa yesterday. Spa, as always delivered an F2 like race (more competitive) and can probably claim a spot in the top three most exciting races of 2024. It’s a shame that this track is under scrutiny for 2025 and beyond.

I have said it before, but everyone is thinking it – Formula 1 is back my friends!

-Jake Williamson

📊 Standings

🏎 Spa Perfection

Where to start with this one… Let’s ignore the elephant in the room for now. We will get to Russell’s disqualification in a bit. For now, let us all revel in the glory of the 44 heart pounding laps that kept our team sucked to the screen for 90 minutes.

Some of our favorite moments:

From the jump (and we mean jump in the case of Hamilton’s start) we saw some intense side by side action from 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (P3) and Checo Perez (P2). Hamilton got the launch at the race start and Checo pulled an abrupt move to squeeze Hamilton to the inside of Turn 1. Checo ultimately made the right call and backed out at the bottom of Eau Rouge and let Hamilton lock down P2.

Other Turn 1 drama occurred from one of the favorite Lando Norris, who started P4 but couldn’t control the understeer on his cold tires which resulted a bit of a rally into the gravel. This caused him to lose two places, which sort of set the tone for his race.

The drama continued throughout the race with Lewis taking the lead with a DRS zone pass by lap 3.

The race really got interesting when teams started making pit stop decisions. You see, the track was 75% new and tyre degradation was higher than in previous years. This meant the race would be a clear two stop. Verstappen and Russell pull the trigger first and pit at lap 11 to go for a possible undercut. Many of the remaining drivers pitted after this to cover that undercut.

Russell ended up undercutting Piastri but that McLaren was able to stretch its legs and show off those fancy new aero upgrades and get passed Russell and Perez.

After much reshuffling from pit stops, we thought Hamilton, Leclerc, and Piastri had the race locked. But out of nowhere Russell radios to the team that he can stay out for the remainder of the race. He was losing pace to Hamilton and the McLaren in the final stint, but Hamilton couldn’t get a pass done and Russell won on 33 lap old tyres…just brilliant.

In the end, Russell was disqualified for coming in under weight which is pretty much zero tolerance from the stewards.

The final podium:

1. Sir Lewis Hamilton

2. Oscar Piastri

3.  Charles Leclerc

Takeaways:

• The McLarens were clearly quickest overall with those aero upgrades but needed clean air to do it.

• The mercs came from nowhere so their high downforce strategy worked

• Checo ended P7 which doesn’t bode well for his future

• Verstappen has intense competition. Gone are the days where he can just rocket through the pack from way behind.

• Driver championship is still open to Lando (barely)

• McLaren has a genuine shot at the constructor chamionship

🚀Headline Sprint

⚠️ Engine Allotment & penalties: Each Formula 1 team has an approved allotment of power unit components for a season. Said another way, you can only replace certain pieces a few times. This last weekend, Max Verstappen took a 10 place grid penalty for swapping in a new engine. With each team allocated 4 internal combustion engines per season, Red Bull elected to take a fifth engine going into the Summer break. Obviously, allowing teams to swap engines for every race would be excessive and would open the door to teams outspending each other. We will be watching to see how this trade off pans out for RB.

🔫 Red Bull to host shootout: So, we all know about Checo’s exit clause in his contract which has left the door open for a mid-season departure for the Mexican driver who has underperformed at every step this season (read our thoughts farther down the newsletter). What you need to know is that Red Bull will be hosting a little F1 shootout at Imola during the Summer break. Both Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson will be driving the current VCARB01 car as well as an older Alpha Tauri model for a Red Bull filming day. It is assumed that putting these two on the track, even in older cars, will double as a driver assessment for a potential Checo replacement. This all goes down on July 31.

💦 McLaren hated getting their feet wet: Spa presented some challenging race challenges but for McLaren it came down to strategy most of the weekend. The Papaya team brought a new aero package for the track as well as a setup geared toward low downforce to favor top speed. This is logical considering the track is a favorite for overtakes. Unfortunately, this forced their hand for quali because they opted for a dry race setup. This punished the two drivers and left them P4 and P5. We could only wonder what would have happened with an improved qualifying for the Woking-based team.

🌎 Carlos Signs

So what is causing the delay in Carlos Sainz’s decision to sign with a team? Well think about it from your perspective. Imagine you are a front running driver with a resume stacked with the likes of McLaren and Ferrari and you find yourself without a seat for the next season. It’s not like you aren’t spoiled for choice here. Many teams have yet to sign drivers to their open seats including teams at the pointy end of the pack. Mercedes springs to immediate mind here.

Now let’s say you have the following:

• An offer from a new team backed by a motoring giant for lots of $$ (Audi)

• A less lucrative offer from an established team with fresh leadership (Williams)

• Finally a lack of offer from two teams that you probably would rather sign with (Mercedes & Red Bull)

What would you do? Are you motivated by money and willing to take a chance on Audi? Or are you motivated by clout and want to be a top dog at a team under new leadership?

It isn’t such an easy choice. One that Carlos faces in a very real way. Carlos comes from a racing family and most likely considered longevity in this sport as well as his legacy after he departs. Meaning, he wants to partner with a team that can be competing for major points if not consistent wins.

Knowing Carlos’s family history and how talented he is as a driver, we expect that he is/was waiting for an offer from Mercedes to fill Hamilton’s seat. Additionally, Checo’s uncertain future at Red Bull most likely tempts the Spanish driver to wait for an offer from Christian Horner.

So where do we find the Sainz crew this past weekend? Williams HQ…

Carlos Sainz Sr. and Carlos Onoro were spotted at Williams HQ. It would be speculation, but we know that James Vowles (Williams team boss) has confirmed that they have been having talks, "pretty late into a few nights" to convince him that Williams is the right team to sign with.

When asked if he knew why Sainz was taking so long to make a decision, Vowles said, "Here's what he told me, which actually resonated the most - 'The reason why I'm doing this is when I commit, I need to commit with all my heart and all my soul, 100%, and to do that means I can't have any doubts'.

Vowles understands what he is up against. One of the world’s largest OEMs (Audi) and Alpine, who have historically beaten Williams on track, both chasing after the driver that could mean a turning point for Williams.

So, has Mr. Vowles made a strong enough pitch?

Well when asked Vowles exclaimed, “How confident am I? I think the odds are in our favour. But I’ve been stunned by this already once this year.”

Is the deal done?

According to some deep state sources at F1, this Williams deal is all but signed. If we are to believe these sources, Sainz has decided to sign with Williams for 2025 and the announcement will likely be made this week before the official Summer break shut down.

The 3-time race winner has reportedly inked a deal with Williams worth approximately €10 million per season that includes an option to extend.

So why sign now?

This is the interesting part. There is supposed to be a clause in the contract that may mean Sainz never sits in a Williams next season. We know.. this is already to complex but stick with it here!

This new contract is rumored to have a clause that allows Sainz to opt out of racing for Williams if an offer comes in from Mercedes or Red Bull. This was reported by the same outfit that speculated about a deal between Vowles and Mercedes big boss, Toto Wolff, in which we would see F1 hopeful Kimi Antonelli move from Mercedes to Williams if the Silver Arrows ultimately wants Carlos.

So an enticing contract that allows you to accept offers from stronger teams. Would you not take that deal?

🛞 Renault is Out!

Renault has announced that it will officially end it’s involvement with Alpine as the power unit (PU) supplier in F1. Short of Renault supplying a PU to another customer team or reentering as a bespoke team (very unlikely), this means that Renault will no longer be a part of Formula 1 at the end of the 2024 season.

This news marks an end to an abysmal run for the French motoring company. The team only saw one grand prix win in Hungary back in 2021 from Esteban Ocon. So, this decision is not surprising. It isn’t cheap to be in the most glamorous sport in the world and if you aren’t scoring points and/or winning races, then what’s the point.

At a press conference before the Belgian GP some of the team bosses weighed in on this news.

Fred Vasseur of Ferrari commented, "I'm more focused on the people of Renault. I know very well the company that I spent years with them. I started my career in 1992 with Renault and I'm profoundly attached to Renault, and I think it's a shame,"

It’s easy to read this news with a cold callous mindset but what many don’t realize is the employment impact that a decision like this has. An F1 team and the supporting engine projects can employ hundreds of people. Ultimately F1 will survive the loss of a power unit supplier but the future of the team hangs in the balance.

So, what now?

At this point with Bruno stepping down to focus on the Viry-Châtillon engine department at Alpine, we could see Alpine takeover development of the engine/chassis under the official Alpine name. There are also rumors that Alpine would become a Mercedes customer for the 2025 season onward.

The third option is an American engine coming from the ever-stubborn Cadillac brand. They are dead set on entering F1 in 2026. Could we see Alpine become a Cadillac PU customer team?

🏎 Checo Doesn’t Have Answers

"But of course every result is [important] for Sergio, and eighth place from second on the grid is certainly not what we expected."

A political but definitive comment from Helmut Marko (Director of Red Bull Formula 1 teams) captures what all Red Bull and F1 fans are thinking. Is Checo out at the end of the season, or sooner?

Clearly, it’s on the Mexican driver’s mind as well. He was quoted as saying, "This is the last time I will speak about the future, so just to make it clear for everyone, I will not be speaking anymore. I will not answer any more questions about the future.” An emotional response from a driver with his future on the line.

So, what is the answer? No one knows but what we do know is that Checo secured a two-year contract extension to run through the 2026 season. This was intended to give Checo a show of confidence to see if that was a mental hurdle for him. It is also believed that there’s a performance clause in said contract that stipulates an exit possibility if he drops more than 100 points behind his teammate.

Although Checo is confident that he will continue to drive for Red Bull this season and next, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Red Bull starts setting their sights on the 2025 season with many talented drivers on the market.

 The burning question is what happens to the driver market with Checo released? It would be a total guess, but if Carlos Sainz goes to Williams, then we could see a Perez-Hulkenberg team at Audi from 2025.

💨 Hot Laps

Formula 2: make sure to keep an eye on F2 results so you can be up to date on potential F1 entrants!

Ever wonder what the next step after professional karting is? Technically it’s F4 but F3 is close 

All this talk of power unit suppliers and team exits makes you wonder what is with these 2026 regulations. Make sure to study up this Summer break.

You ever wonder why F1 cars don’t have air conditioning? The FIA is wondering the same thing.

🛞Marbles

Random links from the authors not always car related

✅ A primo example of the prettiest car ever made spent 40 years as living room furniture…

✅ You can keep your EVs, these high revving production engines make us feel all tingly inside.

✅ Turns out Mercury is covered in a 9 mile thick layer of diamonds. Forget Mars Elon…

✅ Do you shower at night or in the morning? This article may help you choose.

✅ Summer is coming to a close soon and we are already thinking of Fall travel destinations. Are you extending your Summer vibes with a trip or are you fully embracing the cooler season?

🤯Brain Food

Have you ever been hit by a 1,000 hp open wheeler? This guy has…

Trivia

How many tyre suppliers have been involved in Formula 1 since the beginning?

📖Answer

9 tyre suppliers have been involved in F1 and Pirelli is the longest running so far.

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