In the round-up: Christian Horner has revealed senior technical staff at Red Bull backed him when he was investigated earlier this year.
Join RaceFans on Facebook
Don't miss anything from RaceFans - join us on Facebook here to see whenever a new article has been added:
In brief
Red Bull’s tech leaders backed Horner
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says senior members of their technical team signed a letter of support for him after he was investigated by the company following complaints against him that were later dismissed.
“There were two things that stood out,” Horner told the Financial Times. “There was the senior technical management coming into my office with a letter that they’d written and signed to the shareholders, committing their support and backing. That was very touching.
“Then, when I addressed the staff at the beginning of the year, the warmth and the reception that I received was outstanding. I think sometimes perceptions of external, versus what’s going on internally, are two very different things.”
Russell ‘had a nap before qualifying’
Las Vegas Grand Prix pole winner George Russell revealed he went to sleep between the end of third practice at 7:30pm and qualifying at 10pm on Friday night.“It’s a real challenge for the body,” Russell said. “Such a big shift from Europe. And of course, we have to shift back when we go to Qatar next week. So it’s difficult to get your eight hours sleep in when it’s so offset.
“For me, it’s also just trying to sleep when you can, so I took a nap before qualifying. I woke up a little bit drowsy and then made sure I was in peak condition come the end of qualifying. I’m just trying to sleep when I can and just listen to my body, and if I need to sleep, sleep. And there wasn’t much to do.”
Starting 13th best points chance since Jeddah – Zhou
Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu believes starting 13th on the grid is his best opportunity to score his and his team’s first points of the season since the opening two rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
“Certainly, this is the best chance we’ve had since Bahrain and Jeddah,” Zhou said. “We definitely need to think about strategy and try to stay calm.
“A track like this, you could be starting from the last row and make it to the points. Anything could still happen. So I want to make sure we take the opportunity and give it all.
Shields joins AIX for final F2 races
Cian Shields will make his Formula 2 debut as he replaces Niels Koolen at AIX for the final four races of the year. Koolen was in the seat originally occupied by Taylor Barnard.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Links
Norris: Verstappen would not have won title in a McLaren – history proves it (Telegraph)
''I literally couldn’t sleep for the first two days. So I did like, what, 36-40 hours straight. So that probably made everything worse. When you’re tired, you’re more moody, and that kind of thing. And I’m a big overthinker, so like the whole flight home, the whole week, it just played over and over in my head. What could I have done differently? Why did I do that? Why did I not do this? You start thinking of all the scenarios that you kind of blame yourself for, why it’s now not possible, that kind of thing.''
F1’s high-stakes gamble on Las Vegas GP is already paying out (Guardian)
'What F1 will be buoyed up by is immediately noticeable in Vegas for this second outing, particularly the volume of fans who create an exuberant atmosphere in a city that all but exists to party, with the sporting element part and parcel of an entertainment spectacle envisioned for the race. This is not to everyone’s taste, but if F1 is to embrace the hoopla, it makes sense to do so in Vegas. In F1 there must be a place for classic race circuits but also for the future of the sport, that engages new fans. If Max Verstappen has claimed his fourth consecutive title just before midnight on Saturday, local time, the celebratory atmosphere will not be more perfect than in a city where every win matters.'
Verstappen makes 'high in the car' claim as he discusses weed at Las Vegas GP (Mirror)
''Today you smelled it quite well. I was quite high in the car. It's not ideal, because you can also smell it while driving and it's quite extreme.''
We always endeavour to credit original sources. Got a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport? Please send it to us via the contact form.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
THIS is what it means 🤩 pic.twitter.com/nS7HD593of
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) November 23, 2024
Hard work paying off 🫡
Mega day for @PierreGASLY 🙌 pic.twitter.com/VHdeMqN8fr
— BWT Alpine Formula One Team (@AlpineF1Team) November 23, 2024
Q1 eliminations in 2024:
Perez: 6
Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton and Russell combined: 6#F1 #LasVegasGP #RaceFans
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet.bsky.social) 23 November 2024 at 07:10
Attendance for this year's Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix appears to be significantly lower than last year's 315,000 for 3 nights. Total attendance for 2 of 3 nights so far this year is 77,000, per source.
— David Charns (@davidcharns.bsky.social) 23 November 2024 at 07:13
🎬 Escena del accidente de la película de F1 que protagoniza Brad Pitt en el GP de Las Vegas 🇺🇸.#F1 #Formula1 #bradpitt #f1movie #apxgp pic.twitter.com/WAro1uZu9M
— sebassifuentes 🇵🇪 | #LasVegasGP 🇺🇸 (@sebastiansp2802) November 23, 2024
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Pierre Gasly’s third on the grid for today’s Las Vegas Grand Prix prompted this from Falken:
Have Renault been taking lessons from Honda? Quitting just as they get the hang of it…
Falken
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Heart Of The Sunrise, Nakavich, Beverly Sanford and Haziq Danish!
lynn-m
24th November 2024, 0:32
attendance seemingly been so much lower may explain the heavy discounts on tickets the past few weeks as well as why so many influencers (including many who don’t cover or have any interest in the sport) were apparently been given tickets for free.
hopefully a trend that will continue so that this liberty vanity project on what is a really uninspiring, boring and just generally awful circuit isn’t around for very long.
Tristan
24th November 2024, 1:05
Really? I think the circuit is great, inspiring and exciting. The lack of grip makes the racing interesting and the incredibly colorful lighting makes the cars genuinely pop and look great.
There are problems with Vegas but to me that seems to stem from locals absolutely not wanting the race there and forcing it to run at midnight, with F1 talking a good game about working with businesses but still closing doors and preventing access due to the works required.
PeterG
24th November 2024, 2:04
I don’t agree at all.
I just find this circuit to be bland, uninteresting and quite boring to watch cars lapping. It just doesn’t excite or inspire me, I don’t look forward to watching the cars lapping it because I simply do not enjoy watching the cars lapping it. There’s no corner or section of it that i look forward to cars getting it, There’s no part of it that wow’s me or makes me look forward to the next session.
I hate driving it in the game because it’s just a horrid circuit and i honestly hope that it doesn’t stay around for long. I utterly despise it and everything this ‘show’ stands for.
This & Miami are by far my least favourite circuits current in use in F1 & are easily both towards the very bottom of the list of circuits that i’ve watched F1 race on over the years.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
24th November 2024, 2:12
yeah add me to list of those who can’t stand this track.
it’s just yet another modern street circuit that ticks all the checkboxes that every modern circuit needs to so it just ends up feeling like yet another generic samey cookie cutter circuit.
there’s nothing unique or interesting about the layout, it’s flat and featureless and just pretty dull and i too will rejoice at the day this abomination goes away.
Jere (@jerejj)
24th November 2024, 3:25
PeterG @roger-ayles
I definitely enjoy driving the circuit with its flow.
SteveR (@stever)
24th November 2024, 4:02
yeah, +1. I went to Vegas exactly one time and only for a night as I couldn’t stand to be there longer with the false B.S. that the whole city represents; I left early the next morning. If FOM wants to join in with the stupid shyte this town is…. F1 no longer is a sport, it’s a spectacle. I used to really enjoy the engineering excesses but the technical regulations today remove almost all of the innovation that used to happen. It’s become essentially a spec series with regulations defining almost all of the engine parameters, including angle, spacing, weight, c.g., rpm, etc. etc.
Craig
24th November 2024, 9:32
At best I’d call the track alright. I do like the idea of having a few ‘simpler’ tracks but I think I’d prefer the Bahrain outer track to this.
Tristan
24th November 2024, 1:00
That’s not the flex he thinks it is. He goes on to say “At the end of the day, people are our biggest asset […]” How dare he. Must be nice to turn to the Financial Times and pretend it was all made up by rivals. Which rivals even, who is he accusing? Is he saying the leaks and BBC articles were fabricated? This storyline in F1 just makes me sick, nobody is pushing back.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
24th November 2024, 1:18
you have to be pretty blind not to figure out who was being used to promote this scandal.
Jos was clearly spreading the toxicity and drama, getting involved (allegedly) w/ the accuser, at the same time he was negotiating with Toto, whom himself had an axe to grind with Horner, not just competitively speaking.
It was obvious what happened was a failed coup attempt to take Horner out of play at RBR and try to get Porsche and the “Austrian gang” more control over the team. But it failed. Just like Toto and his ego problem.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
24th November 2024, 1:21
there is no way the media would have been so salacious about the affair either, unless Liberty and Toto wanted them around spewing such toxicity.
The media had full rights/support/authority given to them to run their mouths, just like Jos whom probably thought he would have benefited. But it turns out he was being used, and now he needs to shut his mouth and run with the guy who is clearly more competent than the corrupt creatures trying to suck all the value of F1 in to their respective bank accounts.
Tristan
24th November 2024, 1:30
You really don’t understand do you. It’s not and was never about the affair, that’s tabloid rubbish, affairs happen between co-workers all the time. It was about him allegedly preventing them from doing their job (and killing their career in the process) when they said no to the affair because Horner couldn’t prevent himself from making advances.
Bob
24th November 2024, 2:09
The key word there is “allegedly”. The courts found Horner did not do anything wrong, and if he did that it would’ve led to wrongful termination of employment. Not to mention, this is the first I’ve personally seen that he threatened to ruin her career so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s something you’ve just made up.
If there’s anyone to be upset with though, it’s Jos. If the affair is true, he’s leveraged someone’s problems and compounded them massively for his own gain. If it’s untrue, he’s spread a vile rumour for his own gain. There’s no version of this story where he doesn’t come out as the worst person involved. Marko and Mateschitz don’t come out much better either for not only enabling this, but supporting it for their own gains as well. The only version where Horner looks a little bit bad is if the rumours are true, and even then how bad he looks depends on which ones are true. However, in none of them does he look as bad as the other 3.
Tristan
24th November 2024, 2:20
Unless I’m mistaken it hasn’t been to court. Outcomes of those tribunal proceedings in the UK are public and surely would have been reported.
As far as being something I’ve made up… I can’t attest to your ignorance. Go read the leaks and the BBC articles around the time and make up your own mind.
Tristan
24th November 2024, 1:25
And this is exactly why he says it, to fuel this rubbish. Disgusting.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
24th November 2024, 1:28
When it comes to manipulating and using people it pretty much is. But I can tell you that the lady who was complaining was being used more than likely by Jos. And Jos has a lot to answer for in that respect, especially if he was engaged in an unprofessional relationship with one of Horner’s staff.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
24th November 2024, 1:30
All I will say is she deserves consideration, therapy as to understand how she herself was used, in which ever way she was, and compensation. However, how it played out in the media, was VERY DISGUSTING.
SteveP
24th November 2024, 8:30
You have to be pretty blind to miss the fact that it all arose from Horner not being able to keep it in his trousers.
Ask his ex-wife. You could probably get a similar answer from his current wife, if you got an answer.
Salacious stories abound about co-workers in all organisations, it’s when the rebuffed party turns it into a power abuse scenario that it needs stamping on.
The problem is not people complaining about what Horner does, the problem is Horner doing what he does.
MichaelN
24th November 2024, 9:15
And the one with the status to go anywhere he wants, who is in no way dependent on Red Bull and Horner for their continue careers in F1… left.
Horner is too smart not to see sycophancy for what it is. To spin that as an endorsement is embarrassing at best.
Dusty
24th November 2024, 1:11
Norris made very little progress reducing Max’s championship lead while McLaren was frequently stronger than Red Bull. Not only I think Max would win the title this year if driving for McLaren, I also think another driver in Red Bull mid crisis wouldn’t score as much to keep the lead on the standings.
Norris can learn from this defeat and come back stronger. I’m not sure if McLaren will learn though, or if WCC is all they care.
MichaelN
24th November 2024, 9:16
Indeed, the summer showed that Verstappen is much stronger. When the car is good he usually wins, and if it isn’t he’s usually best of the rest. That’s how you win titles.
Jere (@jerejj)
24th November 2024, 3:25
What a stat against Perez.
S
24th November 2024, 4:45
Or his team – depending on how you choose to look at it.
Jonathan Parkin
24th November 2024, 5:50
I still don’t know what happened to him this year. After the sixth round he was doing well. Then he just fell off a cliff. And I want to know why
I’m sorry but ‘not a great driver’ doesn’t cut it for me anymore. Something happened for him to fall off so spectacularly. Since that sixth round he has only finished in the Top six once. And there has to be a reason beyond the fact that he can’t race in a top seat
Bobby Balboa (@bobby-balboa)
24th November 2024, 21:42
Perez has always been a strong driver in underperforming cars / underdog teams. However when he’s in a top team/car (McLaren & Redbull) he underperforms.
I would guess the pressure of a much better team mate combined with a car that is expected to be consistently in the top 6, if not podium or race winning positions, is too much for him.
As for suddenly falling off the cliff. He like Danny Ric who suffered a similar fate, said they didn’t know why & couldn’t understand it. However I think the reason is fairly clear.
They have both lost confidence in themselves which is a snowball effect that unless they can break it early just keeps getting worse the longer it goes on.
Perez knows he will never beat Max. Then the mistakes creep in & the Q1 exits & the unforced errors, maybe some overdriving to make up the deficit .
Lack of confidence leads to breaking earlier and not fully committing to the fast corners etc which all leads to slower lap times, Q1 exits, tangles with midfield/back markers and the negative snowball is in full motion.
Add into that the fans, social media & press constantly reminding him how much he is underperforming & doesn’t deserve a seat in a top car.
It’s quite easy for me to guess how such a driver can nosedive in performance.
The only surprising thing in Perez’s situation is that Red Bull are famous for axing their drivers at the first signs of not performing. Kuviat & Albon spring to mind but there have been many others.
Why is Perez so special then?
Sponsorship money is the only reason I can think of.
Red Bulls biggest mistake this season after loosing Newey was not signing Carlos from Ferrari. He’s a wasted talent at Williams and fully deserves to be in one of the top 4 teams.
Mercedes could have even signed him on a 1 year deal & put Kimi A in a Williams for a season to earn his stripes but if the rumours are true then Carlos was a fool to decline that offer because he didn’t want to sign a 1 year deal
SPArtacus
24th November 2024, 5:27
Anyway, RB should make their Vegas livery permanent.
SteveP
24th November 2024, 8:32
With matching suit/overalls for the drivers?