Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan is set for his second FP1 session of the 2024 Formula 1 season this weekend, as he will get into the cockpit of Pierre Gasly’s A524 during FP1 at Silverstone on Friday.
The session is part of F1’s rookie driver program. Under current regulations each team must run a rookie in practice — defined as a driver with less than two Grand Prix starts in their career — twice over the course of a single F1 campaign.
Doohan last participated in FP1 back at the Canadian Grand Prix, but wet weather conditions limited the reserve driver to just three laps.
The news comes ahead of a critical test session for Doohan scheduled for next week. As part of Alpine’s Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) program he, along with Mercedes reserve and Alpine World Endurance Championship driver Mick Schumacher, will drive the A522 at a session at Circuit Paul Ricard.
“As part of our TPC program, we will test reserve driver Jack Doohan, in line with his 2024 schedule, as well as Mick Schumacher as part of his Alpine Endurance project next week at Circuit Paul Ricard,” an Alpine spokesperson said last week. “We look forward to continuing to use our Race Support Team and the A522 Formula 1 car during our TPC program.”
Both Doohan and Schumacher are considered among the favorites to replace Esteban Ocon for next season. Alpine and Ocon previously announced that the two would be parting ways at the end of the 2024 F1 campaign. While Doohan and Schumacher are under consideration for that seat, the team has made a push in recent weeks to lure Carlos Sainz Jr. to Alpine for next year.
Schumacher’s previous F1 experience with Haas could give him an edge when compared with Doohan, but it also makes him ineligible for practice sessions under F1’s rookie driver program.
That gives Doohan a chance of his own to impress both this week, and then next.
Turkey is moving on to the quarter-finals at Euro 2024.
And they can certainly point to keeper Mert Günok as well as Merih Demiral as huge reasons why.
In Tuesday’s knockout match between Austria and Turkey, Turkey enjoyed a 2-1 lead in the closing minutes, thanks to a brace from Merih Demiral. Demiral’s first goal came just 57 seconds into the match, making it the second-fastest goal in Euros history. Turkey took a 1-0 lead to the break, and Demiral’s second goal, which came in the 59th minute, gave Turkey the two-goal advantage.
Michael Gregoritsch netted for Austria on this well-designed set piece in the 66th minute as the Austrians cut Turkey’s advantage to 2-1:
Both sides pressed on in the rain, trying to find either the goal to ice the game or, in Austria’s case, the equalizer. In the 95th minute, Christoph Baumgartner thought he delivered the equalizer for Austria, but that is when Günok delivered his hero moment:
Somehow, some way, Günok turned Baumgartner’s point-blank header aside. The save is certainly worth another look, as Günok goes full stretch to deny Baumgartner:
Turkey held on for the 2-1 victory, advancing to the quarter-finals where they will face Netherlands.
Akshay Bhatia’s three-putt on the 72nd hole, which left Cameron Davis as the only man standing at 18-under-par, and thus the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic champion, helped give CBS Sports a nice ratings bump.
The network drew an average of 2.472 million viewers for Sunday’s final round at the Detroit Golf Club, a one-percent increase from last year when Rickie Fowler bested Collin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin in a playoff. Fowler’s win garnered plenty of attention, as he has quite an impressive following among PGA Tour fans. It also marked Fowler’s first PGA Tour victory since 2019. With that said, inclement weather forced the tour to begin the final round early a year ago, leading CBS to air a tape delay in the afternoon, which negatively affected ratings.
Weather had an impact on this year’s tournament, too, mainly during Saturday’s third round.
Yet, luckily for the network, Mother Nature did not create any issues or delays on Sunday, thus leading CBS to yield the highest-rated non-major/Signature Event of the 2024 season, per Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal.
Cameron Davis poses with the trophy after winning the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic.Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
With Bhatia and Davis coming down the stretch, the broadcast peaked with more than 4 million viewers—4.028 million to be exact—during the 6:00 to 6:17 p.m. ET window, per a CBS Sports spokesperson. That’s an impressive figure, considering many of the game’s top players did not compete last week in Detroit.
Similar sentiments can be said about this week’s John Deere Classic, as Jordan Spieth headlines the field. CBS will air live third and final round coverage from the Quad Cities this week.
It will also televise next week’s Genesis Scottish Open live from the Renaissance Club in Scotland.
CBS Sports will then wrap up its 2024 golf season with two more events, which bookend the Summer Olympics in Paris: the 3M Open at the end of July and the Wyndham Championship in August. NBC Sports has the rights to broadcast the FedEx Cup Playoffs this year.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThroughfor more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
Tobias Harris might never be considered a great NBA player, but he’s legendary at one thing: getting to the bag. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Harris is getting two years and $52 million from the Pistons in what Woj calls a fit for the young locker room in Detroit. It’s brings up his career earnings to an astronomical amount.
Free agent Tobias Harris lands with the Detroit Pistons on a two-year, $52 million deal, sources tell ESPN. An ideal fit on the floor and in the locker room for a young, developing roster. pic.twitter.com/gXgExmIroN
With this new deal, Harris is now projected to earn over $300 million over the course of his 13-year career, all while being a 16.3 point per game scorer in his career. Even in his last year with the Sixers, Harris was averaging 17 points but not really doing much else for someone making near $40 million annually. His ability be one of the highest paid players in the league last year while not contributing to the team very much is what dreams are made of.
Think about this: over the course of his career, Harris’ $302 million is more over the course of his career than Tim Duncan, one of the greatest NBA players of all time.
On a real note, this is why entering the draft at a young age could be seen as a very good thing. Harris entered the NBA at 19 years old and has gotten now three big money deals out of his entire career, an impressive feat considering the long odds of sticking around the NBA. Earning generational wealth three times over is really cool, and his legendary status at his banker is certified.
He joins other professional bag getters such as Bobby Bonilla (Happy Bobby Bonilla day by the way), Sam Bradford and Timofey Mozgov as professional bag getters who will be remembered at the bank. We salute you all.
Daniel Ricciardo’s millions of fans might want him to keep making predictions.
A year ago at the Mexico City Grand Prix the Formula 1 driver declared that his car had top ten potential after the first two practice sessions. Ricciardo proved that over the next two days, qualifying fourth for the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix and then finishing seventh in the main event. It was Ricciardo’s best result after his shocking mid-season return to the grid, and went a long way towards him keeping that seat for the 2024 campaign.
On Saturday at Red Bull Ring Ricciardo just missed out on Q3, finishing 0.015 seconds behind tenth-place finisher Esteban Ocon. That saw Ricciardo’s qualifying session for the Austrian Grand Prix end in Q2, but the Australian driver remained as optimistic as ever, offering another slight prediction following qualifying.
“Of course, it’s frustrating to miss out on Q3 by just a few milliseconds this afternoon, but at the same time, it’s a more positive one as I think we made some progress since yesterday and it’s something we have to be proud of,” said Ricciardo in Visa Cash App RB F1 Team’s post-qualifying report Saturday. “I think we still need to find something a little bit extra for tomorrow but today’s qualifying put us in a much better position for the race. It’s going to be a longer one with pit stops and [tire] differences, so there’s no reason to believe we can’t be a top ten car tomorrow.”
On Sunday, Ricciardo proved himself right.
Ricciardo started his 250th-career F1 race in P11, but moved up into the top ten, running a clean race to secure P9 and add two massive points to his account on the year. The team used an early pit stop, allowing Ricciardo to undercut some of his competitors on the track, particularly the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
Following the race, the driver talked about the “step forward” on his side of the garage.
“It was a tough race and I think we were a bit more on the [defense], so it took a lot of concentration and effort,” said Ricciardo in the team’s post-race report. “I had a good start on the outside and was looking good, but then I lost a couple of positions as there was no more room and I had to go wide.
“Once we settled after the start of the race, I think we did well; the team did a good job with the strategy to secure the position over the Alpines, and then I feel like I drove a good defence against Fernando [Alonso] and then Pierre [Gasly] in the last stint. We made a nice step from Barcelona, and it’s been a better weekend, so I’m happy to bring home some points. Now we’ll try to make another good step forward for Silverstone and then maybe that puts us in another fight for points.”
The finish comes at a time the Australian driver badly needed a result like this finish. The week of the Australian Grand Prix began with renewed questions about Ricciardo’s future in the sport. Between Dr. Helmut Marko outlining how Red Bull shareholders might want to see a younger driver in the seat — cue the camera pan to Liam Lawson — and noted F1 journalist Joe Saward speculating that Lawson might be in the seat before summer gives way to autumn, to say Ricciardo was under pressure would be an understatement.
The VCARB driver noted that pressure on Thursday, outlining how his “performance” and not his trademark smile would be the reason he kept his seat on the grid.
Sunday, following yet another prediction from him, Ricciardo delivered the kind of performance he needed.
At the start of the Spanish Grand Prix last week a fight at the front of the field between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris off the start opened the door for George Russell to sweep into the lead. However, as you know by now Verstappen eventually wound his way by Russell, holding off Norris down the stretch to capture the Spanish Grand Prix.
Something similar played out at Red Bull Ring on Sunday, but with a much different result.
For around 50 laps of the Austrian Grand Prix it seemed as if Max Verstappen was going to run away from the field, as the Red Bull driver had built a commanding lead over Lando Norris and the rest of the field. The feeling that the other ten teams, the other 19 drivers, and perhaps the overwhelming majority of fans watching around the world was one of dread, at the sight – and potential – that Verstappen was going to run away not just on this day, but over the rest of the days this season.
However, moments later the door opened, just a crack, and the fight was on.
A slow pit stop from Verstappen and Red Bull on Lap 51 – coupled with a much quicker stop from Norris and McLaren – opened that door. Red Bull struggled with the left rear tire on Verstappen’s RB20, leading to a pit stop of 6.5 seconds for Red Bull. McLaren bested that with a 2.9-second stop for Norris, and the two lumbered off pit lane with Norris nipping at Verstappen’s heels.
For over ten laps the two friends-turned-rivals battled it out pushing their machines, each other, and themselves to the absolute limits. At one point Norris got by Verstappen, but the overtake came off the track and the McLaren driver immediately gave the position back. Both drivers were all over the track – and their radio – griping to their teams and airing their frustrations as they pushed their machines to the limit.
Then, on 63, the simmering pot that was this fight between friends boiled over.
On Lap 63 the fight was renewed, and it ended poorly for both drivers. The two drivers came alongside each other and contact was made, with a disastrous result for both. Norris and Verstappen both limped back to the pits with punctures, bringing out the safety car and seeing another driver sweep into the lead.
George Russell.
As the laps ticked down Wolff looked on with a shy smile, seeing the silver and black W15 of Russell’s wind around the track. Oscar Piastri was more than two second behind, and Russell just needed to bring his W15 home to deliver his second-career victory.
He did just that.
“It’s not over, until it’s over,” declared Russell on the radio to his team after taking the checkered flag. “We wouldn’t have thought this in Bahrain. Well done.”
Starting at the Miami Grand Prix, Mercedes began a series of upgrades to the W15, their challenger for the 2024 season. Those upgrades have seen the team improve their performance in recent weeks, marked by their first grand prix podiums of the year. The first came from Russell in Montreal, and the second from Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona. But those were P3 finishes.
This is a win, the first for the team since Russell won in Brazil back in 2022.
“It was a tough fight out there at the beginning of the race,” said Russell to David Coulthard trackside. “The team has worked so hard, we’ve made so many strides since the start of the season. The last three races have been incredible, and there’s more to come … what an exciting time for us.”
Much will be said and written in the coming days about the fight between Norris and Verstappen, and whether these friends will see their relationship start to change given the fight at the sharp end of the grid. But on this day a winner emerged, and it was Russell, who fought to the very end and delivered a victory that Mercedes badly needed. A win that not only helps their standing in the Constructors’ Championship but also rewards the hours upon hours of work that the team has put in to solve the issues with the W15. At the Miami Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton described the car at that point in the season to the media, including SB Nation, as being on a “knife’s edge.”
That edge is something very different right now.
And it might be enough to get Mercedes to the sharp end of the grid too.
At the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix last Formula 1 season, track limits were a massive part of the story. Lap times being deleted for the violation dominated the entire race weekend and even led to an official protest from Aston Martin, who argued that race officials failed to catch every instance of the violation.
Race promoters at the Red Bull Ring took steps to mitigate the issue ahead of this year’s Austrian Grand Prix, installing gravel traps around Turns 9 and 10 to try and dissuade drivers from running wide at those sections of the track, and even adding another feature: An artificial intelligence system to monitor cars as they rocket around the track. Fans watching this weekend might have seen a new pale blue line around the circuit, installed to help the AI system catch violations.
Despite the best efforts of the race officials in Austria, we still have a track limits issue to discuss, and potentially a protest from a team regarding them for the second-straight season.
In the closing stages of Q3, it appeared Oscar Piastri was set for a third-place start in Saturday’s Austrian Grand Prix, as a strong lap had him up in P3 as the seconds ticked down. But within moments, Piastri was dropped down to seventh, as his impressive lap was deleted for you guessed it, exceeding track limits.
You can see the moment in question here:
Speaking with Sky Sports F1following the session, Piastri vented his frustration.
“For me it’s embarrassing,” began the Australian driver. “We did all of this work for track limits, put gravel in places, and I didn’t even go off the track. I stayed on the track. It was probably my best Turn Six and it gets deleted. I don’t know why they’ve spent hundreds of thousands trying to change the last two corners when you still have corners you can go off.
“That was probably the best Turn Six I took. I was right to the limit of the track, I think that’s what everyone wants to see,” continued Piastri. “Again, we have spent so much effort trying to get rid of these problems. There is no reason this corner should be an issue for track limits, especially when you stay on the track, like I did, or not on the gravel.
“So, yeah, for me being the only one that has had that happen to me I’m probably more vocal about it right now but I think it’s embarrassing that you see us pushing right to the limit of what we can do and one [centimeter] more I’m in the gravel and completing ruin my lap anyway – and it gets deleted.”
Piastri, however, seemed resigned to his fate. “But, anyway, everyone else kept it in the track, I didn’t,” concluded the McLaren driver. “That’s how it goes.”
Yet, his team may not concur with that bit of resignation. Following the session McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella was spotted headed to speak with FIA officials regarding the decision:
Andrea Stella has gone to the FIA to understand more about Oscar Piastri’s track limits time deletion – doesn’t appear to be convinced #F1#AustrianGP
A “horrified” Yuki Tsunoda has issued an apology after race officials fined the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team driver €40,000 for using ableist language during Saturday’s qualifying session at the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix.
Tsunoda was summoned to meet with race officials following the qualifying session, after an exchange with race engineer Mattia Spini during the first segment of qualifying. As Tsunoda was waiting in his RB01 as cars queued up during Q1 Tsunoda exclaimed over his team radio “[t]he guys are f——— r———-,” to which Spini replied simply “Yuki no worries, don’t worry, plenty of time.”
When Tsunoda met with race officials, he apologized for the comment and explained that because English is not his first language, he was not fully aware of the meaning of his comments. According to the decision from race officials the statement violated Article 12.2.1 k) of the International Sporting Code in the following manner:
“[d]uring the hearing the driver was very apologetic and explained that because English is not his first language he was unaware until after the session what the meaning of the words used is in the English language. He said that he was horrified when he learned this. He contended that his understanding of the words was different, but acknowledged that this should not be considered as an excuse for what he did.”
In their decision race officials noted that while they appreciate Tsunoda’s “honesty,” a penalty is appropriate to “reinforce the fact that the words used are offensive and wholly inappropriate.”
“The Stewards appreciate the honesty of the driver, but reinforce the fact the words used are offensive and wholly inappropriate. To have used such words over a platform that is available to the public amounted to misconduct as defined in Article 20 of the International Sporting Code,” read the decision.
However, officials took Tsunoda’s “genuine remorse” into consideration and suspended part of the fine. “Considering the circumstances, the Stewards determine that a severe fine is required, but also take into account the genuine remorse of the driver and his offer to issue a public apology and for these reasons decided to suspend part of the fine imposed,” continued the stewards.
Under this part of the decision half of the fine — €20,000 —- will be suspended until the end of the season providing Tsunoda does not repeat such conduct.
As indicated by the officials, the driver issued a public apology on all his social media channels:
Hello, I wanted to say big apologies what I said in the radio today. Obviously I didn’t use it intentionally and was completely misunderstanding from myself that exact meaning of it. I now have better understanding for what the word means and am very apologetic for what I said.…
Tony Hawk’s 900 isn’t a trick for the faint of heart. It features a full two-and-a-half rotation, and if you don’t have enough speed going into it and your spin is too slow, landing it is nearly impossible, especially given the fact that you’re blind to your landing zone not once, but twice during the trick. Spinning that much requires equal parts courage and skill.
Women’s skateboarding is flush with exciting young superstars who are chock-full of raw talent and fearlessness.
Tony Hawk landed the first 900 in a major competition back at the 1999 X Games. Now, a bastion of young female riders is landing his tricks and revolutionizing the sport at what feels like lightspeed. Now, 11-year-old Canadian skater Reese Nelson and 14-year-old Australian Arisa Trew are just two of these riders.
Arisa Trew is an inspiration to all
Trew became the first female rider to land the elusive 900 on May 30, 2024, while training at Woodward. Earlier in May, Trew had become the first female rider to land a switch McTwist (a 540 variation).
It’s not Trew’s first time making history; she became the first female rider to land the 720 in competition at Tony Hawk’s Vert Alert in 2023. Shortly thereafter, Trew won women’s skateboard vert gold and park gold at the X Games California, becoming the youngest X Games double gold medalist of all time, at just 13. A 720 is two full rotations and was championed by Tony Hawk first in 1985.
Trew’s well-used to putting her mark on history, and it’s her confidence and composure that’s helped her do that time and time again. When it comes to approaching a new trick, Arisa’s response was simple; “I just think to myself that if I want to do it, then I can do it,” she said.
And clearly, Arisa can do it. Her skating style is full of spinning and switch tricks, so it’s clear she felt right at home learning the 900. To finally land it, Arisa first practiced the motion and technique on a ramp with a soft surface (in case of falls). After four days of this, Arisa was ready to try it on the vert ramp, and after just 17 attempts, she nailed it.
“I think it’s pretty hard for people to learn, because people, can be scared of trying it on a ramp, because you don’t know how you’re going to fall on like your first attempts, and it’s a lot of spinning. So you’ve got to make sure you commit to the whole thing, so you don’t hurt yourself,” Arisa explained.
Trew’s efforts were recognized at the 2024 Laureus World Sports Awards, where she was named Action Sportsperson of the Year.
Now that she’s stomped out a few 900s, Arisa wants to be able to land it more consistently. At the Ventura X Games, she’ll have plenty of opportunities to showcase her skill on the vert ramp.
“Skating in the X Games is really fun. It’s one of my favorite competitions. Because e there’s a lot of people there and it’s really fun and it’s in a good location. And the park there was really fun last year and the vert is also really good. So I liked to skate there,” Arisa said.
Reese Nelson paves the way for other young girls
Think about where you were at nine years old. Reese Nelson was named to Canada Skateboard’s 2022 National Team in the park division. A veritable prodigy in the sport, Nelson began skateboarding at just four years old. At age 10, Nelson became the first female rider to do a nose grab 720.
Now eleven, Nelson is inventing tricks (ie, the ‘breakfast burger’) and skating with Tony Hawk on the semi-regular. At Hawk’s 2023 Vert Alert Nelson took first place for ‘best trick’ with a kickflip noseslide to fakie.
Few things will inspire children to take up a new skill or hobby than watching one of their peers do it; if it looks fun, they want in, and in that strain, Nelson has made quite the impact on introducing skateboarding to other young girls.
These riders’ impact is felt far beyond the park. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Go Out and Play: Youth Sports in America report, girls are two times more likely than boys to drop out of sports by age 14. Sports are an incredible avenue towards higher self-confidence, creativity, community, and more. Participation in a sport like skateboarding, which has always been a hallmark of innovation and inclusion, allows girls freedom of self-expression.
Skateboarding might still have a perception of being male-dominated, but Nelson and Trew are changing that assumption one history-making trick at a time.
Tony Hawk’s Perspective
Tony Hawk has had an insider’s point of view on both Trew and Nelson’s careers thus far. While the nature of skateboarding is fluid and ever-innovative, each rider has their unique style; a calling card, if you will.
Hawk described Trew’s style as “confident and progressive” and Nelson’s as “intense, creative, and powerful beyond her years.”.
Hawk sees a bit of himself in both Trew and Nelson.
“I was always driven to learn new tricks, no matter how far I was pushing myself or what ranking I had. They both have the same passion I had to keep progressing, and the same tenacity to not give up. It’s a unique determination that comes from within and can’t be taught,” Hawk said.
Skateboarding, as Hawk pointed out, is “no longer a novelty or niche activity. Skateboarding is part of the fabric of our society”. And while the sport continues to grow in its visibility and international acclaim, so too does the presence and opportunities available to female riders.
These young female riders are already having an indelible impact on the growth of the sport for other women and girls. Their continued excellence only increases the support and infrastructure given to young girls to be able to pursue skateboarding as a career option.
X Games had previously not held a women’s category for vert for 13 years and has now reintroduced it for 2023 and onwards. Fans can tune into the 2024 X Games Ventura and watch Reese Nelson and Arisa Trew June 28 – 30.
GoSkate has estimated that 40% of new skateboarders are women and girls, and as women’s skate initiatives (like GrlSwrl) continue to pop up all over the world and young children can watch female riders on TV and in the Olympics, skateboarding will only continue to grow.
Early in the second segment of qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, the field was condensed at the front, with not much separating the drivers atop the timing sheets. To that point, the first segment of qualifying was the closest-ever Q1 since the sport implemented the three-segment qualifying format, a testament to just how compact the grid is this season.
Then Red Bull bolted on a fresh set of soft tires onto Max Verstappen’s RB20, and the three-time Drivers’ Champion posted a blistering lap that was almost five-tenths clear of the rest of the field, which remained condensed behind him.
While Lando Norris and company closed that gap in Q3 Verstappen delivered again in the final segment of qualifying, holding Norris off by over four-tenths of a second. Verstappen’s final run of the day was a stunning 1:04.314, another thunderous effort from the champion.
Formula 1 in 2024 has certainly seen the field more compact than ever, but one driver remains at the tip of the spear, and that is Verstappen. The Red Bull driver, hours after securing victory in the F1 Sprint Race despite challenges from Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, captured yet another pole position, setting himself up for another massive day on Sunday.
“No one is near Max Verstappen,” declared Alex Jacques on F1TV. “That was a masterclass.”
“The car felt a lot better for me today,” said Verstappen to Jolyon Palmer trackside after the session. “It’s a great feeling, I think this is a great statement.”
Here are the full results from qualifying, along with some more winners and losers.
Winner: Lando Norris
Lando Norris has answered a bell of his own so far this weekend. The McLaren driver arrived in Austria under the weather and has been battling himself in the cockpit all week long.
Still, he put himself on the front row for the F1 Sprint Race on Friday, and will again start alongside Verstappen in Sunday’s main event.
However, starting alongside Verstappen, while notable, does not finish the job. The real challenge that Norris faces is translating one of these starts next to Verstappen into something bigger.
His second F1 Grand Prix victory.
“Max was a league of his own,” said Norris to Palmer trackside. But can he catch Verstappen tomorrow?
“It’s tough, when you look at the pace it’s clear that we’re gonna have to give it a lot,” added Norris. “I’ll do a better job than this morning, that’s for sure.”
Norris has been brutally honest regarding his performances in recent weeks. He blamed himself for failing to pull out a win at the Spanish Grand Prix despite wrestling pole position away from Verstappen at the death. After Saturday’s F1 Sprint race, he referred to himself as an “amateur” when discussing an early-lap fight with Verstappen that opened the door for teammate Oscar Piastri to snatch P2 away from him. The young driver is his own biggest critic, an admirable quality in this sport.
Having answered one bell already this week, fending off his illness to put in some solid performances, Norris can massively answer another bell tomorrow if he can find a way to keep Verstappen in sight and deliver his second Grand Prix victory.
Losers: Aston Martin
Photo by Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
At this point, it might be fair to ask what is wrong at Aston Martin.
To that point, that is exactly what Jolyon Palmer queried from the F1TV commentary box: “What on earth is going on with that team?” asked Palmer at the end of Q1.
While they were the darlings of the early 2023 F1 season, their fortunes have changed since then. While they arrived sitting sixth in the Constructors’ Championship and were just a few weeks removed from their best result of the season, which saw them bank 14 points at the Canadian Grand Prix thanks to double points from Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, they finished with anything to show for their efforts in Barcelona, and look on track for something similar this weekend.
Both Alonso and Stroll were eliminated in SQ2 on Friday, and they finished outside the points in the F1 Sprint Race earlier in the day.
Qualifying for the Grand Prix was not much better.
Stroll was eliminated in Q1, placing 17th. Alonso squeaked into Q2, placing the 15th-fastest time in Q1, but his day ended there, as he will start the Austrian Grand Prix in 15th.
In the studio on F1TV Alex Brundle outlined how both Stroll and Alonso were dealing with balance issues on the AMR24. “You can see it really plowing through the middle of the corner,” described Brundle as he talked over replays from Q1 and Q2. “Nasty balance.”
It is fair to point out that during Friday’s FIA Press Conference team boss Mike Krack outlined how tracks such as Barcelona and Red Bull Ring might not suit the AMR24 given its current performance.
“We knew that Barcelona, Spielberg, Silverstone will be hard for us because we struggle in tracks where you have a large spread of corners and also where you have a lot of high-speed corners,” said Krack on Friday. “So it was not a surprise. We raced the same car two weeks before in Montréal, where we came away with the highest points score that we had this year. So it shows you how the situations can change quickly. And also, I think in Montréal, you then run in free air, which helps everything. And in Barcelona, you’re not. We had a lot of degradation in Barcelona and then things get just worse and worse and worse over the course and there’s not much you can do other than bring it home. and that is what we did.”
However, track layout is one thing, and many teams face the occasional track or two that do not suit their challenger. But the bigger question for Aston Martin at the moment is the lack of development. That was an issue for the team last year, as they followed their tremendous start with some mid-season development struggles.
Heading into 2024 the word from the team was that they needed to do a better job of upgrading their challenger throughout the campaign. “We’ve seen, particularly last season, but also the season before, the in-season development races is absolutely fierce, and we want to be as competitive in that as we have been going into the new season,” said Technical Director Dan Fallows at the launch of the AMR24. “So that’s what we’ve been really focussed on is to make sure that we’ve got a good, stable basis for us to go and develop the car and keep those updates coming and keep the performance coming.”
But the upgrades to date have not delivered in this department, as Krack admitted on Friday.
“I think you’re right,” said Krack when asked if the in-season development has stalled as it did a year ago. “I would not say stalled, but I think clearly others do a better job than we do, and that is something that we have to seriously put under scrutiny. There is never one thing in Formula 1, obviously.
“You always have several factors contributing, but I think we have to have a close look at aerodynamics because this is performance differentiator number one in F1 and also how we do how we do these things. So that’s something that is clearly being analysed thoroughly not only now over the last month and I think we have understood some of our issues and trying to solve them as quick as possible. But we still have a long way ahead.”
That long way ahead seems even longer today.
Winner: George Russell
The summer of progress continues at Mercedes.
For the third race weekend in a row, the Brackley-based team put a car into the top three of a Saturday qualifying session. George Russell started that streak with his stunning pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix, which Lewis Hamilton extended with his P3 in qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Russell continued that on Saturday, capturing P3 after Oscar Piastri’s best lap was deleted for exceeding track limits by the slightest of margins.
In this sport, every margin matters.
Now Mercedes has a chance to extend another streak, as the Silver Arrows have secured 27 points or more in each of the past two race weekends. Mercedes banked 28 points at the Canadian Grand Prix and added 27 more in Barcelona. They enter Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix having already added eight points to their account, thanks to Russell’s P4 and Hamilton’s P6 in the F1 Sprint Race.
That puts them on a path to keep that streak alive tomorrow in the main event.
“The car’s feeling really great at the moment,” said Russell trackside. “It’s definitely going in the right direction for us.
“Three races in a row for us that we’re in the top three,” added the Mercedes driver.
While Russell conceded that Mercedes’ race is likely with the cars behind him, such as the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc, as well as a lurking Piastri, the team has certainly made progress over these past few weeks.
That progress has translated into podiums, and with a little luck, it could start translating into something more for Mercedes.
Perhaps even a win.
Losers: Williams
“We know our limitations and these conditions isn’t it. Such a shame, man.”
That was the report from Logan Sargeant following the end of Q1, which saw both Sargeant and teammate Alexander Albon eliminated at the back of the field.
Williams arrived at Red Bull Ring hopeful that the layout would provide fertile ground for improved performance. But that hope has yet to materialize, as their struggles on Friday continued into Saturday. Both Albon and Sargeant — who out-qualified Albon for the first time in his F1 career when he advanced into SQ2 on Friday — were eliminated in Q1, and that left both drivers seeking answers.
However, those answers might not arrive in time for Williams to salvage anything this weekend.
Winner: Nico Hülkenberg
Photo by Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
The last points result for Haas came in the F1 Sprint Race at the Miami Grand Prix. On that hot and humid Saturday afternoon Nico Hülkenberg came across the line seventh, adding a pair of points to the team’s account.
Since then Haas has been kept out of the points, and in that time they have seen Alpine leapfrog them in the Constructors’ Championship standings, thanks to a pair of double-points finishes from Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly over the last two race weekends.
This is a team that badly needed a positive result to answer that challenge, and they took a big step towards that result on Saturday. Both Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen advanced to Q2 in Saturday’s session, and while the Danish driver saw his session end there Hülkenberg advanced into Q3, and qualified ninth, matching his previous best this season.
While there is still work to be done, this is a result that the driver, and the team, truly needed.
Incomplete: Sergio Pérez
Sergio Pérez advanced into Q3 and qualified eighth for the Austrian Grand Prix, setting himself up for a solid day of points in Sunday’s main event.
But the Red Bull driver might face more questions than answers right now.
Pérez entered the 2024 F1 season facing questions about his future at Red Bull. With his contract due to expire at the end of the current campaign, Pérez came out firing on all cylinders to start the year, scoring podium finishes in four of the first five race weekends. At the Miami Grand Prix Pérez added another 18 points to his account over the F1 Sprint Race and the Miami Grand Prix itself.
It has been a much different story since then.
The Mexican driver has added just nine points to his account since Miami, and that includes the point he added earlier this morning with an eighth-place finish in the F1 Sprint Race at Red Bull Ring. His eighth-place result in qualifying today matches his best qualifying performance over this difficult stretch, which has also seen Pérez in Q1 twice (Monaco and Canada) and Q2 once, at Imola.
A year ago Pérez endured a similar mid-season swoon, one that effectively ended any thought of him challenging Verstappen atop the Drivers’ Championship standings. However, this mid-season swoon comes in a year where, as noted above, the field has caught the rear wing of Red Bull. Last year the Bulls were able to easily overcome the rest of the field and cruise to a second-straight Constructors’ Championship, even with Pérez’s mid-year struggles.
Could 2024 be a different story?
Improved form from Pérez might end that story, and see Red Bull again pull away from the field in the Constructors’ Championship. But the longer he continues this inconsistent form, the more that door remains open for a team like Ferrari or McLaren to barge through.
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