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.
Team USA captain Stacey Lewis has her second team member for the 19th edition of the Solheim Cup. From September 13-15 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va., Team USA will look to reclaim the Cup on home soil against the European team.
On Tuesday, former World No. 1 Lilia Vu earned enough points to clinch her spot on the 2024 team. She tied for second at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, giving her 1,932.50 total points throughout the qualifying period.
From the 2023 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament through the final day of the AIG Women’s Open on Aug. 25, players can accumulate points to try and qualify for spots on the Solheim Cup teams.
All five of her LPGA victories came during that period. She won four times last season, including two majors, and earned the Rolex Player of the Year.
This season, Vu battled a back injury that forced her to withdraw from The Chevron Championship and take two months off. However, her fifth victory came in her first start back at the Meijer LPGA Classic a couple of weeks ago. The 26-year-old defeated Grace Kim and Lexi Thompson in a three-hole playoff.
Despite her back issues, Lewis knows her experience will be so beneficial in Virginia.
“It’s been very exciting to see how she’s played the last two starts, coming out of the injury with her win and really just picking up where she left off,” Lewis said in an LPGA press release.
“She’s a tremendous player, from ball striking to putting, with a true all-around game. We’re excited to have her back for her second Solheim Cup, with an opportunity to step up and become a leader on this team.”
Vu also qualified for Team USA last year as she made her Solheim Cup debut. She went 1-3-0 at Finca Cortesin in Andalucia, Spain, claiming the singles match over Madelene Sagstrom.
The former UCLA golfer became the second automatic qualifier for Team USA in 2024. She joins current World No. 1 Nelly Korda, who secured her spot after the ShopRite LPGA Classic. Korda has six wins since the start of 2024 and held a commanding lead in the points race.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
Englishman Justin Rose will head back to The Open Championship at Royal Troon after carding an 8-under 134 at Burnham and Berrow—one of the four qualifying sites scattered across the British Isles.
It will mark Rose’s 19th appearance in golf’s oldest major, with his best finish coming in 2018, when he tied for second at Carnoustie. The 2013 U.S. Open winner also played at Royal Troon in 2016, tying for 22nd.
“Sometimes you take it for granted—you’re exempt, you turn up and play for many years, but as you get older, things get a little harder, so in some ways, it’s good to have to qualify because it makes you appreciate The Open a little more and how special it is,” Rose said after.
“Coming back to Burnham and Berrow was also special—first time back here since 1997. I was grateful to be back here and walk down memory lane.”
Rose played spectacularly, tying fellow Englishman Dominic Clemmons—an amateur—atop the leaderboard. Mexican Abraham Ancer and Swede Charlie Lindh will join these two players in The Open from Southwest England.
The four players who qualified from Burnham and Berrow, from left to right: Dominic Clemons, Abraham Ancer, Charlie Lindh, and Justin Rose.Photo by Luke Walker/R&A via Getty Images
Ancer, Lindh, and Indian Anirban Lahiri finished at 5-under, putting this trio in a 3-for-2 playoff to determine who would go to Royal Troon. But Lahiri failed to make par on the first extra hole, while the other two managed to do so, thus ending Lahiri’s bid of returning to The Open.
Miracles at Dundonald Links
Amateur Jack MacDonald, who grew up minutes from Royal Troon, drained a 25-footer for birdie on the first playoff hole to clinch a spot in the 152nd Open field. He defeated Swede Tim Widing, who has a pair of wins on the Korn Ferry Tour this season, and fellow Scotsman Daniel Young.
But that was not the only magic produced at Dundonald on Tuesday.
Ángel Hidalgo, who hails from Spain and has never played in a major championship, drained a 120-yard wedge shot for an eagle two on the par-4 9th—his final hole of the day—to leap up to 5-under overall and book a ticket to Troon. Talk about clutch.
At 26 years old, Hidalgo has never won on the DP World Tour, but he does have one victory to his name on the Challenge Tour—the European equivalent of the Korn Ferry Tour.
“I’m still shaking,” Hidalgo said of his miraculous shot.
Ángel Hidalgo reacts to his miraculous final shot that got him into the 152nd Open.Photo by Mark Runnacles/R&A via Getty Images
“The second shot was perfect distance. It was the first time all day I had a full club and at that type of moment. With nerves I prefer to have a full club. I didn’t see the ball go in but to be honest I don’t care. I just jumped and cried with my caddie, and we deserve it. We fight a lot. All this year we’ve not really had any luck so for it to finally take place in The Open would be a really good gift.”
Meanwhile, Englishman Sam Hutsby did not need any late miracles. He earned medalist honors at Dundonald thanks to a brilliant 8-under 136 over 36 holes. Hutsby finished three clear of Hidalgo and Irish amateur Liam Nolan, who hails from Galway on Ireland’s west coast. It will mark Hutsby and Nolan’s first major appearance.
“It’s hard to process the fact that I’m going to The Open,” Nolan said.
“I’m looking forward to everything: the crowds, it being in Scotland, the Home of Golf, and, yeah, I just can’t wait to go.”
Playoff at Royal Cinque Ports
Matthew Southgate set the pace and won medalist honors in Southeast England, fighting back tears after he made it to Royal Troon. But Royal Cinque Ports saw plenty of other drama unfold on Tuesday.
Australian Elvis Smylie and Spanish amateur Jaime Montojo finished at 3-under par, thus booking tickets to Ayrshire. But this serves as a full-circle moment for Smylie, the left-hander from the Gold Coast.
“Just saying that I’ve qualified for The Open gives me goosebumps,” Smylie said.
Elvis Smylie poses with an Open flag after making it to Royal Troon.Photo by Tom Dulat/R&A via Getty Images
“The last time I went to The Open was at Royal Troon in 2016, when I was 14 years old. Going there as a spectator eight years ago and now going back as a competitor—I don’t know what to say. I just can’t wait for the experience. I’ve already FaceTimed my dad, who’s back in Australia, and he said he will book a flight over. My mum is already over here commentating on Wimbledon, so everyone will come and watch me at Troon. I’m very excited.”
Both Smylie and Montojo will make their major debuts at Royal Troon.
A playoff between LIV Golf’s Branden Grace—the first man to shoot a 62 in a major championship—Jamie Rutherford and Spanish amateur Luis Masaveu determined the final spot from Royal Cinque Ports.
Masaveu won with a birdie on the second extra hole, becoming the 16th amateur to clinch a spot in this year’s Open field.
Nevertheless, a notable name did not qualify from Royal Cinque Ports: 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell. Thomas Detry also failed to finish among the top four.
West Lanchasire sends three Englishmen to Royal Troon
Sergio Garcia headlined the field at West Lancashire, and for the second year in a row, the 2017 Masters champion came up short. He will not make his 100th major championship start; he will do so at Augusta National next April instead.
So, with Garcia not making the cut, West Lanchasire saw two Englishmen finish atop the leaderboard instead: Sam Horsfield of LIV Golf and amateur Matthew Dodd-Berry.
Horsfield and Dodd-Berry finished at 6-under par.
“It’s the greatest moment of my career and everything that I’ve been working towards, even though I should have probably done it a year earlier and played at Royal Liverpool,” Dodd-Berry said.
From left to right: Sam Horsfield, Matthew Dodd-Berry, Daniel Brown, and Masahiro Kawamura pose during Final Qualifying for The Open at West Lancashire.Photo by Jan Kruger/R&A via Getty Images
“I’m really excited to get to Troon.”
Horsfield is also eager to head to Ayrshire for the 152nd Open.
“I always say to everyone that The Open is my favorite major,” Horsfield said.
“I’d never had that feeling before, the one when they call your name on the first tee—that was the coolest experience. I’m really looking forward to getting back and hopefully continuing to play well. These are the stages you want to play on.”
Englishman Daniel Brown and Japan’s Misahiro Kawamura finished their 36 holes one stroke behind Horsfield and Dodd-Berry at 5-under, thus rounding out the four spots awarded at West Lancashire.
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.
Luke Clanton played phenomenally, finishing tied for 10th at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. The Florida State golfer is back on the PGA Tour for the second consecutive event as he is in the field for the John Deere Classic.
Heading into the final day of play, Clanton sat two strokes off the lead. Many felt he could join Nick Dunlap and become the second amateur golfer in six months to win a PGA Tour event. Instead, he shot an even-par 72 on Sunday.
Despite that level of success against PGA Tour players, the rising junior is not worried about professional golf just yet.
“I want to win a national championship with the team,” Clanton said ahead of the John Deere Classic.
“That’s been my number one goal in college, and we came pretty close this year. All of us back home are very driven this year to do it. Again, I think whatever happens happens. I’m still 20 years old. I’m still learning the ropes as much as I can. I’m going to do what I do.”
Clanton finished as the second-lowest amateur to Neal Shipley at Pinehurst in the U.S. Open and kept the momentum going in Detroit with a 14-under total score. His driver was his best club, as he was No. 2 in strokes gained off the tee at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Clanton is a rising junior at Florida State University and helped the Seminoles get to the national title match against Auburn. He fell 2 & 1 in his final match to J.M. Butler.
However, the 20-year-old had one of the most impressive spring runs. He won three consecutive events, was runner-up in the NCAA Individual tournament, recorded 10 top 1s in 14 starts, and finished with the lowest single-season average in FSU history at 69.33.
He likes to keep it simple on the golf course. Regardless of what he has won in his young career, it is all about golf.
“I’m out here to play the best I can. Simple as that,” he said. “If I put four days together and it gets me more accelerated points, awesome. Number one goal is to play as good as I can.”
Even though he could have won over six figures last week, the youngster is determined to finish school. Clanton knows that professional golf will be there when he accomplishes the goals he set for himself in college.
“I would say I’m probably pretty close to where I wanted to be,” Clanton said. “I would say I think I had pretty big goals growing up, a lot of expectations for what I wanted to do. There is one thing I want. I think that’s pretty obvious of course. I think we’re just going to see what happens in the next couple of weeks.”
That goal is not a PGA Tour victory but an individual and team national championship with Florida State.
For the first two rounds of the John Deere Classic, Clanton is paired with Pierceson Coody and Joe Highsmith. They tee off at 2:44 p.m. ET on Thursday and at 9:24 a.m. ET on Friday.
The youngster’s next tournament will be the ISCO Championship in Nicholasville, Kentucky, from July 11 to 14. Clanton received a sponsor’s exemption. It is the opposite field event to the Genesis Scottish Open. He will also play in the 3M Open on an exemption at the end of July.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
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.
Englishman Matthew Southgate has been connected to the Open Championship for decades.
So it is no surprise that he displayed such emotion after qualifying for this year’s Open at Royal Troon, which will mark his sixth appearance in golf’s oldest major. Southgate carded a 6-under 136 over 36 holes at Royal Cinque Ports to take home medalist honors by three shots at the Southeast England qualifier.
“Sorry,” Southgate said, fighting back tears.
“Just reminds me of my Dad. The Open is the absolute best.”
His father, Ian, who sadly passed away in late 2020, loved The Open almost as much as his son. He grew fond of Tom Watson in the 1970s when the American began to dominate links-style golf in earnest. The elder Southgate also held a membership at Carnoustie, where Watson won his first Open in 1975. Ian Southgate knew everyone at the course and had for years, which explains why 10-year-old Matthew watched Jean van de Vedle’s infamous 1999 collapse play out from one of the most renowned places in golf.
“The marshalls called me and my friends over to sit on the Barry Burn bridge,” Southgate told the Global Golf Post at last year’s Open at Royal Liverpool.
“My legs were dangling over the water as I watched everything happen.”
Jean van de Velde stands in the Barry Burn in 1999.Getty Images
His Open championship memories as a youngster do not end there.
A decade later, when Watson held the 54-hole lead at The Open, the Southgate father-son duo got in their car on Saturday night and drove up to Turnberry. They could not miss the chance to see their favorite player make history.
Alas, Watson fell just short of Stewart Cink in a playoff. But Southgate has gone on to make plenty of Open memories since then.
He first qualified for The Open in 2014 at Royal Liverpool, where he missed the cut. But two years later, he tied for 12th at Royal Troon. Then he tied for sixth at Royal Birkdale, which saw Jordan Spieth win the Claret Jug. He earned an invite back to The Open in 2018—held at Carnoustie—but tied for 67th. At least he made the cut.
But that would be the last Open his father would see him play.
Matthew Southgate during 2024 Final Qualifying for The OpenPhoto by Tom Dulat/R&A via Getty Images
Southgate did not qualify for The Open at Royal Portrush in 2019, and then, one year later, the R&A canceled their marquee event because of the pandemic. Southgate also missed out on 2021 and 2022, but he joined the Open radio commentary team for the 150th Open, lending his perspective about what played out at the Old Course.
Funny enough, this year, after qualifying, he joked about his broadcasting experience.
“That’s why I tried so hard over the last five holes; I didn’t want to work it again,” Southgate said, which drew plenty of laughs on The Open radio broadcast.
It’s tears for an emotional Matthew Southgate. This is how much The Open means to him.
Listen to the heartfelt moment as Southgate expresses his passion and determination in his journey.
“No, I can’t wait to see everybody. Troon is a magical golf course.”
Southgate also qualified for The Open last year at Royal Liverpool and played well. He tied for 23rd.
But the Englishman has not been at his best throughout 2024. His best finish came at the ISPS Handa Championship in Japan in April, when he tied for 18th. He has not made a cut on the DP World Tour since then.
“I have had such a tough time the last couple of months, but I played really well today,” Southgate said.
“It has been disaster after disaster, so to finally get something to go right just means everything.”
Now, he will play in The Open at Royal Troon for the second time, the course where Watson won his fourth Claret Jug in 1982. So, perhaps Southgate—like Todd Hamilton and Ben Curtis earlier this Millenium—can continue to play as well as he did in qualifying, shock the world, and win The Open as an ultimate longshot.
Regardless of what happens, his father will smile down upon him with great pride, knowing that his son has already accomplished so much.
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.
DeMar DeRozan is still performing at a near NBA All-Star level even after 15 seasons in the league. The veteran wing is coming off three fantastic seasons with the Chicago Bulls where he scored tons of points, produced so many brilliant moments in crunch-time, and rarely turned the ball over. DeRozan is now an unrestricted free agent on the brink of his 35th birthday, and with the Bulls seemingly pivoting to a long overdue rebuild, he’s in search of a new team. There’s only one problem: as almost all of the talent in free agency has already come off the board, there doesn’t seem to be an available fit for DeRozan at a salary slot commensurate with his talent.
There just doesn’t seem to be a market for DeRozan despite being the best unsigned player in the NBA right now. It’s looking like DeRozan may to accept a one-year deal and try to get more money in the summer of 2025, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
“The kind of contract that (DeRozan) might want just is not going to be available,” Woj reported on SportsCenter. “It’s not left out there in the market place. It may not be as appealing to him, but it may look like a one-year deal for him somewhere. Let the market reset next year.”
.@wojespn’s DeMar DeRozan update suggests he may take a one-year deal due to a limited market for the salary he desires:
– The Bulls are willing to work on a sign-and-trade for DeRozan, but there doesn’t appear to be much interest on a multi-year deal anywhere.
Woj mentioned the Los Angeles Lakers as a team that could be interested in DeRozan, but only at the right cost. The most the Lakers could offer is the $12.8 million Mid-Level Exception … and even that might require LeBron James to take a discount. That would be a big paycut for a player who clearly outperformed his $27 million average annual salary the last three seasons, but it might be the best offer out there.
For all of his talent, DeRozan remains a difficult player to fit into existing team structures because he needs the ball to be at his best. With the ball in his hands, DeRozan is a master at getting to his spots, knocking down mid-range shots, and drawing a high-volume of free throws. At the same time, a player has be an absolute superstar to demand a very on-ball role and still power team success. DeRozan is very good, but he’s no Luka Doncic or prime James Harden at this point.
In a starring role, DeRozan is good but not quite good enough. In a supporting role, he lacks two essential things that every great role player needs: spot-up shooting and defense.
DeRozan entered the league in 2009 just before the NBA’s three-point boom. It’s remarkable that he’s remained so good in this era despite never really developing a three-point shot. For his career, DeRozan has made 29.6 percent of his threes on only 1.6 attempts per game. He was a little better behind the arc in Chicago, hitting 33.8 percent of his threes on 1.9 attempts per game across his three seasons. At the end of the day, he’s still not a willing enough or good enough shooter to make defenses pay for cheating off him in the halfcourt.
DeRozan just also isn’t very good defensively. He often needs to be hidden on the opposing team’s weakest offensive player. He struggles to get around screens, he’s late on rotations, and he just doesn’t provide much resistance.
Despite his limitations, there’s a world where DeRozan to the Lakers works well on the court for both sides. LeBron James will still get a heavy on-ball diet as he prepares to turn 40 years old, but James has also become an incredible spot-up shooter late in his career. James hit 47.3 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes last season on 2.6 attempts per game, per NBA tracking data. When James gets tired, DeRozan can cook and LeBron can space the floor.
The Lakers need to add talent however they can in an improving Western Conference. This is a 47-win team that still only won one playoff game last year. He may not be a perfect fit, but DeRozan would still be a wise addition at this point in the offseason, especially at a discount.
Sergio Garcia has failed to qualify for The Open Championship.
The LIV Golf star headlined the final qualifying event at West Lancashire Golf Club in Liverpool—one of four final qualifiers across the United Kingdom—but Garcia shot a 3-under 141 over 36 holes, missing out on one of the four spots available by two strokes.
“I tried my hardest to get into The Open; it would have been nice to make The Open my 100th major,” Garcia said on the radio broadcast after his round.
“I love The Open, and I love playing majors. But it’s tough when you’re that close and finish right on the edge. But unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it.”
Garcia attempted to qualify for last year’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool by way of West Lancashire Golf Club as well. But he said the course played tougher this year, thanks to more challenging conditions. That said, Garcia felt comfortable making his way around these seaside links, thanks to his experience from a year ago. He knew his lines and where to miss shots, but the conditions—and other factors seemed to have got the best of him.
The Spaniard expressed frustration midway through his first 18 holes, when R&A officials put Garcia on the clock for slow play, per Ben Parsons of Bunkered.
Sergio Garcia furious at his slow play warning at Final Open Qualifying – saying fans are causing the delays. Here he is taking his anger out at two R&A officials.
Garcia said that all the fans following him disrupted the pace of play, not his routine and deliberations.
“The marshals were trying to do the best job they could do, but obviously, we had to stop pretty much on every tee for two to three minutes to hit our tee shots because people were walking in front of the tee and on the fairway,” Garcia said per Parsons.
“Unless we wanted to start hitting people, we couldn’t hit. I don’t think they took that into account, and that was unfortunate. It made us rush. On a day like today, when the conditions are so tricky, and you might need a little bit of extra time here and there, it doesn’t help out. Because of that, I made a couple of bogeys that might cost me getting to Troon.”
He tied for fifth at the 2016 Open Championship, the last time Royal Troon hosted golf’s oldest major. That year, Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson staged a duel for the ages, with the Swede fending off the American during an epic final round that saw Stenson win by three at 20-under-par. Stenson’s score of 264 remains the lowest aggregate score in Open history.
As for Garcia, the Spaniard could only make it back to Royal Troon via qualifying because of his LIV Golf affiliation, which has consequently plummeted his Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) to 312th in the world. The R&A invites only the top 50 players to round out its 156-man field, meaning Garcia did not receive an automatic bid.
His exemption into this championship expired in 2022—five years after he won The Masters.
“You come out here, you play as hard as you can and hope it’s good enough,” Garcia added on the radio broadcast.
“If it’s not, then we’ll keep trying. Then, you know, The Masters will be my 100th major next April. That’s also a good choice.”
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.
With the news that Klay Thompson is headed to the Dallas Mavericks for the upcoming NBA season, a run of over a decade for Steph Curry and Klay Thompson has ended. During that stretch Curry and Thompson combined for six appearances in the NBA Finals, winning four titles.
With their ability to shoot the three, the duo racked up triple after triple, earning the “Splash Brothers” moniker.
But after the news dropped that Thompson was headed to Dallas, Curry took to social media to say goodbye to his fellow Splash Brother. On his Instagram Stories, Curry posted a series of photos featuring himself and Thompson, as well as Draymond Green.
The series of photographs ended with a message from Curry that read in part “[e]ven though we won’t finish the journey together, what we did will never be done again … Changed the whole Bay Area. Changed the way the game is played … Go enjoy playing basketball and doing what you do.”
The NBA has not yet announced the schedule for the 2024-25 season. But that first game for Thompson at Golden State next year might be worth watching.
One of the burning questions following the Austrian Grand Prix was whether Max Verstappen and/or Lando Norris would change their racing style following a dramatic late-race collision that ended both drivers’ chances of securing a victory.
According to Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, Verstappen will not be changing a thing.
Speaking with Sky Sportsahead of the British Grand Prix the Red Bull boss backed his driver’s approach while noting that future incidents between Norris and Verstappen should be expected given how both drivers are performing at the moment.
“Certainly, from Max’s side, he’s not going to change,” said Horner.
“There’s an element, I think, of Lando learning how to race Max and they’re discovering that. Inevitably, there is going to be more close racing between the two of them as the cars look so close over the forthcoming races.
“Max is a hard racer – he’s probably one of the hardest racers on the circuit and everybody knows that if you’re going to race against Max, he’s going to give as good as he gets.”
Horner also addressed comments made by McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella immediately after the race. Speaking with Sky Sports F1 analyst Ted Kravitz, Stella outlined how the reluctance of race stewards to intervene in the past — such as during the 2021 season when Verstappen was battling with Lewis Hamilton — led to moments like the incident in Austria.
As you might expect, Horner had a different view.
“He raced incredibly hard in 2021, he’s a tough racer, and he hasn’t really been racing anyone for two years because he’s been out front so much,” Horner said.
“The conflict between the two of them has been building over two, three, four races where they’ve been racing each other closely and hard, and at some point that was always going to spill over – and it did at Turn 3,” began Horner. “He was punished in 2021 if he did something wrong just as Lewis, who he was racing so hard that year, was for things he did wrong.
“I think it’s wrong and unfair to label a driver like that and I’m sure in the heat of the moment it was frustrating for Andrea, but that’s just tough racing. He worked with Michael Schumacher [at Ferrari] for so many years – he of all people should know that.”
During his discussion with Sky Sports, Horner also addressed another burning question following the Austrian Grand Prix: Have Norris and Verstappen discussed the incident?
According to the Red Bull boss, that chat has already happened.
“I understand they’ve spoken already, I don’t think there is any issue,” added Horner.
How the two drivers handle similar battles going forward will be a major storyline throughout the rest of the 2024 campaign. But one thing is clear:
The FIA Press Conference schedules for this weekend’s British Grand Prix — which have yet to be announced — could be fascinating.
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