⌛⌛No More Open Seats in F1, Audi Sells

Good morning. This week I am headed to the UK to test the Praga R1 at Silverstone. Me and my video guy are leaving today (I am writing this on Sunday) to take the red eye flight from Austin to London Heathrow. I’m testing the Praga, which is like a baby prototype racecar, for two reasons. One, it’s a bucket list item for me to hot lap Silverstone GP. Two, I am trying to decide what to race next year. I have a few options and one of them is a full season in the Praga.

Stay tuned for the Youtube channel on my racing journey 🙂 

In F1 news, there aren’t races this week or next but we have some decent drama unfolding as the last seat at Stake gets filled by a rookie and the FIA is considering rotating European races.

-Jake Williamson

🌎 Who is Bortoleto?

There’s been a lot of noise in F1 about the new faces. Ollie Bearman made quite a showing for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, Kimi Antonelli showed his true colors in Monza for Mercedes, Jack Doohan joins Alpine, and Franco Colapinto has crushed his F1 debut with Williams after replacing Logan Sargeant.

It’s safe to say that most fans didn’t expect 2024 to be the year of the rookie. But, what a year it’s been! The fresh faces of F1 have impressed from the jump but you would be forgiven for not thinking this would be the case. You may not follow the lower formulas, but would it surprise you to learn that Bearman is currently 14th in the F2 championship or that he finished 6th in F2 in 2023? Even with this record Haas has signed the young Brit for 2025. As another example, take Colapinto. The Argentinian never placed higher than 4th in the F3 Driver’s championship but still got promoted to F1.

This is not a bashing of the new drivers for F1. Rather it is meant to be praise for the rookies. The fact that they have gained promotion without stellar performances in the lower formulas means the F1 team bosses know something we don’t.

Now, let’s talk about Gabriel Bortoleto. The 20-year-olf Brazilian driver has just been signed to Stake Sauber for 2025. This means Bortoleto will join at least four rookies on the 2025 F1 grid. But, unlike the other rookies, Bortoleto has dominated his lower formula championships. Bortoleto could be the best of his generation. He won the 2023 Formula 3 championship and is leading the 2024 Formula 2 championship. So, he seems to be the perfect candidate for an F1 seat. Anyone who can consecutively dominate the championship ladder was sure to gain a full time seat.

Bortoleto got his racing start in 2018 racing karts in Brazil. He jumped to the European karting scene in 2019 before making the switch to road racing in 2020. For the next couple of years he participated in regional formula racing. This is what captured the attention of McLaren who quickly signed the Brazilian to their driver development program.

With only 2 races left in the 2024 F2 championship, Sauber offered Bortoleto their second seat for 2025 alongside Nico Hulkenberg. This Multi-year contract didn’t seem to both McLaren who didn’t want any compensation for taking one of their development drivers.

Fernando Alonso is Gabriel’s manager and has been pushing for a full-time seat the whole year. He says, "He's an incredible talent and a very humble person as well, which I think that's the biggest thing that we need to work on.”

Alonso seems to be elated to have gotten a seat for the young driver who will be competing against him starting next year.

Now the question stands. Will Bortoleto’s immense success in the lower formulas translate to the big leagues?

🚀Headline Sprint

✅Stake signs their last driver pick for 2025: Valtteri Bottas is out of F1 for 2025, and Gabriel Bortoleto is set to take the seat that was rumored to be taken by the Finn. Stake Sauber, soon to be rebranded Audi, will now have Nico Hulkenberg and F2 championship contender Bortoleto to help them gain traction for the 2026 regulation changes. Bortoleto will be the first Brazilian on the grid since 2017.

😬Toto Wolff is happy Lewis left when he did: It’s easy to forget that the biggest news that’s happened this year broke back in February. That’s when 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton announced he would leave Mercedes to join Scuderia Ferrari on a three-year contract. About two weeks before the announcement, Wolff was aware of this exit and immediately went into damage-control mode with sponsors. But there was a silver lining for the Mercedes boss. In his new book, he admits that Hamilton defecting allows him to avoid the awkward conversation that Mercedes no longer needs him. Apparently Wolff was concerned about Hamilton’s “shelf life” and wanted to start building the team around fresh faces like Kimi Antonelli.

😬Gasly appeared at an Alpine test with Jack Doohan, fueling Colapinto rumors: This may not seem like much, but Pierre Gasly was present at a recent test of a previous car for Alpine. This test was intended for Jack Doohan, but Gasly’s attendance suggests that the French driver may be helping the team assess Doohan’s performance. This may not be surprising, but when you add the latest wrinkle in Franco Colapinto’s future, it becomes intriguing. Colapinto is heating up the driver market for 2025. Red Bull has expressed interest in the Argentine driver if they decide to shuffle their drivers. Now Alpine is interested as well. Williams has set the price for loaning Colapinto at 20 million euros for 2025. A price that Red Bull seems uninterested in, but Alpine doesn’t seem to mind. Could Doohan be out of his seat at Alpine before it begins?

🛞 Audi Out of F1, Leaving Their Logo

Audi’s F1 project may be doomed before they officially enter under the “four-ring” logo. Rumors have surfaced that Audi is entertaining a major sale of shares in the team to the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, which already owns a stake in Audi’s parent company, Volkswagen AG.

Qatar is already a global partner of Formula 1 through its state-owned airline, Qatar Airways, so an additional investment directly in a team wouldn’t be a shock. What is surprising is that Audi is selling a major stake in the team before they even officially entered the grid.

Audi CEO recently stated that “The decision was well prepared two-and-a-half years ago and re-evaluated last year. We firmly believe that F1 and Audi are a perfect match. It's in line with our strategy, and while it's ambitious and will take time, it's also perfectly aligned with the way we're reinventing ourselves on the corporate side.”

This statement outlines the German manufacturer’s commitment to the F1 project after buying 100% of the Stake Sauber team back in March for a reported 650 Million euros. Their CEO was asked to comment on the sale rumors in the press conference. As a “matter of principle,” Audi doesn’t comment on speculation, but the question is reasonable. Why would you spend 650 million euros only to sell it to another party?

The answer can be found at Volkswagen. The German auto behemoth is in financial crisis. There are talks of major plant closures and potential layoffs that could reach 30,000 workers, a move that makes F1 hard to justify, even if it is for one of VW's subsidiaries.

The F1 project will require huge sums of money to be successful in the long term, which will be tough to find if VW closes its purse strings.

It seems that outside investment may be the only answer. Qatar is at the front of the line as a 17% shareholder in Volkswagen AG and major sponsor of Formula 1. It has been reported that the Qataris are willing to spend up to a billion euros on the project if the conditions are right.

It is unclear when the sale announcement will be made but the likely time would be at the Grand Prix in Qatar. Furthermore, the size of the investment is still unknown but if the financial crisis in Germany deepens, then the investment would likely exceed the 50% mark. This would likely trigger a name and branding change for the team.

🏎 European Calendar set for Rotation “Very Soon”

We have discussed how popular Formula 1 has gotten over the past four or five years. This comes in the form of new corporate sponsorships, exciting collabs with companies like Lego, and new interest in countries hosting races. The latter seems to be forcing a shake up I the calendar sooner than you think.

The current Concorde Agreement between the F1 management and the teams on the grid allows for up to 25 races but the FIA and F1 have definitely stated that 24 seems to be the magic number. This means that upper management needs to make quick decisions on which tracks will remain as permanent fixtures on the calendar and which ones will get the axe to make way for new locations.

Many circuits have contracts with Formula 1 that extend into 2030 including Madrid which is due to come online in 2026.

Tracks with extended contracts:

• Silverstone

• Red Bull Ring - Austria

• Hungaroring - Hungary

These tracks are contractually on the calendar into the 2030’s.

Tracks without extended contracts but at low risk of leaving:

• Monza - the contract ends in 2025 but is Ferrari’s home race

• Monaco - Contract ends in 2025 but the glamour and history should make it safe

• Baku - Contract was extended into 2026 but they also put up a huge F1 fee at 55 million euros which is likely to force F1’s hands in the near future.

Contracts under threat:

• Spa (Belgium) - This is a driver favorite but has presented safety concerns and is just hard to get to for fans. This track has been on 1 year extensions for while and is set to host one more race next year.

• Imola - Italy doesn’t have the cash to support two races and if F1 will keep one Italian race it will be Monza. This track is set to host a race in 2025.

• Zandvoort (Netherlands) - This track is one of the newest on the circuit which is why it may enter the rotation pool. This track has excellent transportation options and usually sells out, but talks of taking away its permanent status keep growing.

• Barcelona seems to already be out. The familiarity of this track seems to be the death of it. Teams race it and used it for pre-season testing for many years. Add to this the fact that Madrid was announced and offered to pay double the F1 fees that Barcelona was paying, Spain may only see one race after 2026.

CEO of F1, Stefano Domenicali said recently that an announcement on track decision will come, “very very soon.” The decision on which tracks to keep on a permanent basis will likely result in the remaining European tracks appearing on a bi-annual basis. This means Spa may be on the 2027 calendar but will be replaced the following year by Zandvoort as an example. With 10 races in Europe, this seems to be the best way to make room for additional races in places like Africa or Turkey.

💨 Hot Laps

Aston Martin seems to have nailed down the major issues that have ended their hopes for a stellar 2024 season.

Pirelli wet tyres aren’t up to snuff, according to Fernando Alonso. Pirelli have admitted to the lack of performance in the wet and are set on improving the wet tyre for 2025.

Jeremy Clarkson and Bernie Ecclestone accused Lewis Hamilton of being too old. But is he past his prime, or is he just done with Mercedes?

🛞Marbles

Random links from the authors not always car related

✅Work: As I travel more for work and media creation, I think more about work-from-home setups. This setup seems to be the best small option.

✅Cars: Check out this timeline of the EV car company Fisker’s epic collapse.

✅Listen: If you’re like me, you would like to watch the famed music producer Rick Rubin discuss his process.

📣 ^{Want to advertise in The Racing Recap? Learn more here}