In the round-up: The promoter of the United States Grand Prix has dropped an appeal against a penalty it received from the FIA for a track invasion.
In brief
US GP promoter drops track invasion appeal
After the United States Grand Prix stewards handed the event’s promoter, US Race Management, and the Circuit of the Americas a €500,000 (£414,500) fine – of which €350,000 (£290,185) was suspended – when around 200 fans breached the track while cars were returning to the pits after the race, the promoter has dropped its appeal to the FIA’s International Court of Appeal.
US Race Management lodged its appeal four days after the event, but following a right of review in November, which saw the stewards decide to impose their original sanctions, the promoter requested to withdraw its appeal of the original stewards’ decision, which was granted.
COTA and the promoter will have to pay the remainder of the fine if any further track incursions occur at any FIA championship events held at the circuit before the end of 2026.
Hulkenberg and Bortoleto to run test day
Sauber has confirmed its two drivers for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, will participate in Tuesday’s post-season test day on Tuesday for the team.Hulkenberg will run for the team in the Pirelli tyre test segment to gain laps on next year’s 2025 compounds, while Bortoleto will take part in the young drivers’ test segment confined to 2024 compounds.
Pulling re-confirmed as F1 Academy champion
After a bizarre situation where the addition of a third race to the final round of the F1 Academy season in Abu Dhabi meant that Abbi Pulling’s championship title was once again mathematically available to win, the Alpine junior driver re-sealed her championship win by taking pole for all three races yesterday.
Pulling set the three fastest times of qualifying on Friday to secure pole for each race and take six bonus points, putting the title mathematically out of reach of Doriane Pin. Chloe Chambers will start alongside Pulling on the front row for today’s two races, with Hamda Al-Qubaisi also third for both.
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Links
Russell v Verstappen - what's going on? (BBC)
'On Thursday evening, both attended the traditional annual dinner the drivers share in Abu Dhabi. Russell was last to turn up. There were two seats left, both next to Verstappen, who waved, said ''hi, George'' and indicated for him to sit down. Russell said hello but, in what must have been an awkward moment, then took one of the seats and moved it away to sit next to team mate Lewis Hamilton.'
McLaren’s Zak Brown: ‘If you don’t play the game, you get shoved off the track’ (FT)
'McLaren struggled as Mercedes dominated. Then Red Bull re-emerged as a force in 2021. Ferrari didn’t win championships but remained in the conversation. 'It drove me nuts when people would say the Big Three, the Big Three,' Brown said. 'It was like we’d almost conceded that we’d permanently slipped, and I’m glad that’s out of the system.''
F1 and NASCAR drivers want their voices heard: Only one series is listening (New York Times)
' These days, you never get the sense NASCAR officials refuse to listen entirely. If a driver wanted a word with any of the key NASCAR executives, there’s little chance they’d be turned away. Clearly, that’s not the case in F1 at the moment.'
Netflix's dramatised tribute and the truth behind the legend of Senna (Will McGill)
'The show’s handling of Senna’s faith also invites scrutiny. Senna was a devout Christian, and his belief in divine guidance often influenced his approach to racing. The series alludes to this but shies away from fully exploring how his spirituality shaped his decisions, both on and off the track.'
New content - Thruxton Circuit (iRacing via YouTube)
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No action over the Hamilton/Norris incident in practice:
"The stewards conclude that the incident was kind of a misunderstanding between the drivers involved, but does not meet the threshold of being considered as an unnecessary impeding in free practice."
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Comment of the day
Has Sergio Perez truly been as bad as his results have looked, or have they been inflated by a tight field at the top? MichaelN thinks the pattern is clear…
The problem is that Perez did just fine in the first couple of races of this year. Something changed that dropped him from podiums and front rows to out in Q1 and struggling to get in the points (or not spin out).
It’s fair to say Perez is not at the level of some of those in similar paced teams. Fair enough. But there’s ‘Valtteri Bottas in 2018” slow, and there’s whatever happened to Perez this year. And again: it did not start like this. He put this same car – supposedly the same car – in proper places.
The first race in Bahrain saw him start fifth, about three tenths off Max Verstappen. The second race in Saudi Arabia saw him start third, again three tenths off Verstappen. Same in Australia. He was second, less than a tenth off Verstappen in Japan. Again second in China, again three tenths off. Fourth on the grid in Miami, two tenths off.
Then we get to Imola. The big ‘upgrade’. What happened? Out in Q2. Monaco? Out in Q1. Canada? Out in Q1.
This isn’t normal.
MichaelN
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Stretch and Matiascasali!
SPArtacus
7th December 2024, 3:01
Another interesting note: Russell lied about confusing the deployment by “going flat” in T14 (he also didn’t even go flat). He simply forgot to downshift, which is what actually confused his MGU-K deployment and allowed him to go through with less of a lift than normal. In the post-quali interview he claimed the issue (forgetting to shift) was “too technical to describe here.” Yelistener does an exhaustive analysis of the onboard that shows all.
Jonathan Parkin
7th December 2024, 5:10
Maybe he did, but why would Verstappen even be bothered. He’s already won the WDC, and his penalty ultimately didn’t matter a jot since he won the race anyway. So why is he making such a big deal out of this
SPArtacus
7th December 2024, 5:35
Well, I wasn’t referring to their dispute, but I am guessing drivers typically don’t like when someone goes out of their way to get them penalized and falsely use them as an excuse for their failures.
Sham (@sham)
7th December 2024, 10:14
Meh, a racing drivers excuse. They all do it from “tyres are gone” to “upshifts are terrible”.
They all try to justify every lost tenth.
BenHur
7th December 2024, 11:12
Bears sheet in the woods
SPArtacus
7th December 2024, 12:11
lol
Jere (@jerejj)
7th December 2024, 6:36
I’m still surprised Bottas voluntarily paid for the entire meal instead of everyone sharing the bill as usual.
COTD: Something definitely happened in May that would logically explain the pace & consistency loss that have affected him ever since.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
7th December 2024, 8:00
the same thing happened to Max, probably had something to do with either the Car, or the coup taking place.
Sham (@sham)
7th December 2024, 7:50
Their were only two empty seats, both next to Verstappen?
So no one wants to sit next to Max, then?
That little sentence says a great deal, doesn’t it?
Jane (@janedone)
7th December 2024, 12:47
It’s saying Russell needs to grow up.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th December 2024, 8:39
COTS: it is normal, isn’t it? It happened last year too.
notagrumpyfan
7th December 2024, 10:03
The deterioration in Perez’ performance strangely coincided with the increase in contrails above the circuits.
MichaelN
7th December 2024, 10:21
Hah, there are a lot of good reasons for it that don’t require any outlandish theories. But this kind of drop in performance during a season just isn’t something that happens often enough to be shrugged off as a “yeah, Pérez is just slow”.
We just don’t know. But I’m sure there’s a good story here. If nothing else, it’d give an interesting insight into the workings of the team.
SPArtacus
7th December 2024, 12:18
It literally happened to Perez the previous three seasons. It kept happening earlier and earlier and getting worse and worse. And then Newey left. So, they didn’t have the most successful designer in history to fix their aero issues or equally importantly, do the suspension setup. And he had told the team over the winter they were going in the wrong aero direction and they ignored him. Max adapted. Checo didn’t and couldn’t.
So, it’s as simple as it looks: An aging average driver in an increasingly less competitive car next to one of F1’s greatest drivers ever who can adapt and who has endless confidence.
PeteB (@peteb)
7th December 2024, 10:20
Just like Bottas did, Perez starts the season strongly when be believes he can win the title. Once a gap opens and it’s obvious he’ll be settling back into the number 2 driver role, the pace drops off.
When you’ve given up but every other driver on the grid is giving it their all, it’ll have a big, visible impact.
SPArtacus
7th December 2024, 13:10
Another oft forgotten point. Bottas was lucky to enjoy such a massive car advantage that even driving around at the level of a Stroll he didn’t suffer from humiliating results. Kind of like Perez enjoyed last season even though he still almost lost P2 in a car that had the same advantage the Mercedes enjoyed for most of its run. Bottas is Perez without the tire management. Perez is Bottas without the quali speed. And now tire management is a totally different art. So, his one tool is mostly useless.
What a waste of seats Bottas and Perez have been. But it was no accident. Keeping #1 has always been a pretty successful strategy.