In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton says he is looking forward to the winter break after another frustrating day in the Mercedes.
In brief
Hamilton ‘just wants to get through next races’
Asked after yesterday’s sprint race if he believes his struggles in 2024 will end when he moves to Ferrari in 2025, Hamilton replied: “I have no clue and I don’t have an answer for you.”
“It’s not been great,” he told the official F1 channel. “At this point I really don’t care. I just want to get through these next couple of races and do my job, turn up and then I’m looking forward to the winter break.”
Hamilton has two grands prix left as a Mercedes driver before moving to Ferrari. “I woke up this morning and the most important thing is to live with gratitude,” he said. “So I’m really grateful that I get to do what I love doing, even when there are days that I don’t love it as much.
“I’m really so lucky to be here amidst all these other amazing athletes. I know it’s painful when it doesn’t go well, no one likes losing, but that’s a part of the journey.”
Aron becomes Alpine reserve
Alpine has announced Formula 2 racer Paul Aron will take over from Jack Doohan as their F1 reserve driver in 2025.With Doohan promoted to a race seat next season, Aron will join the team now run by former Hitech team principal Oliver Oakes – the team Aron has raced with this season in F2.
Aron currently sits third in the F2 standings having passed Zane Maloney with a fifth place finish in yesterday’s sprint race. He will start today’s feature race from pole position.
Ferrari fined for unsafe release
Ferrari has been hit with a €5,000 (£4,153) fine after Carlos Sainz Jnr was released in front of Hamilton during yesterday’s qualifying session.
The team admitted that Ferrari’s mechanic responsible for releasing Sainz from the garage gave the driver the signal before he was ready to pull away, with the resulting delay meaning he emerged just in front of Hamilton.
Sainz will start today’s race from seventh on the grid, one place behind Hamilton.
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Drugovich to participate in Abu Dhabi practice and end-of-season test (Aston Martin)
'Felipe will take the place of Lance Stroll for the hour-long session at Yas Marina Circuit before Lance returns to the AMR24 for FP2. Aston Martin can also confirm that Felipe will drive during the end-of-season test held at Yas Marina Circuit. The announcement finalises the team's testing line-up, with Felipe and Jak Crawford each behind the wheel of an AMR24 for the season's final day of running. '
Bottas's huge net worth, Red Bull comments and relationship with Olympian (Mirror)
'Like most F1 stars, Bottas has a base in Monaco. But unlike his rivals, Bottas boasts a home in Lapland, which is presumably getting rather busy at this time of year. The luxurious lodge, on the edge of a lake in northern Finland, is said to boast a floor-to-ceiling glass bar, sauna facilities and a spacious garage. As you would expect, there’s a racing simulator too.'
Sagrera and Nael secure steps up to F3 for 2025 (Formula Scout)
'Eurocup-3 champion Javier Sagrera and Formula Regional Europe race-winner Theophile Nael are the latest drivers to seal a step up to FIA Formula 3 for 2025. Sagrera has signed to compete with AIX Racing after spending the last four years at the sub-F3 level. Nael was Spanish F4 champion in 2023 in what was his first full year of car racing after he debuted together with Sainteloc Racing midway through the previous season. He stepped up to Sainteloc’s Formula Regional squad for 2024 and came ninth in the European championship after a strong end to the year that included a maiden win at the Red Bull Ring.'
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The margins of success and failure in qualifying are tiny these days.
Yesterday Sergio Perez missed the cut for SQ2 by 13 thousandths of a second.
Today he made it into Q3 by 12 thousandths of a second.
#F1 #QatarGP #RaceFans
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine.bsky.social) 30 November 2024 at 18:43
"I am very proud of everyone" 🫶#F1 || #QatarGP
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) November 30, 2024
Strange scenes seeing Sergio Perez having a close look on his own car and then comparing it to Max' car… #F1 #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/Xs3aCqXNQI
— Christian Menath (@MSM_Christian) November 30, 2024
UNSTOPPABLE. ALL. SEASON.
Take a bow, Abbi 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/cdn8XQHpkh
— BWT Alpine Formula One Team (@AlpineF1Team) November 30, 2024
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Comment of the day
Sergio Perez’s bizarre start to his sprint race yesterday leaves Bernasaurus perplexed…
I’ve really tried to avoid jumping on the ‘Checo is terrible’ wagon. We don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, obviously money is involved and Max Verstappen is a special talent. The second seat at Red Bull is certainly the ‘second’ seat. The field is very very close now, and the Red Bull isn’t at the front of that field, so yeah, the odd Q1 elimination can and will happen.
But for Checo to have been in F1 for 14 years and have someone who’s been in F1 for six races realise the race has started before he did, in the pit lane…
The Red Bull might not be the quickest car right now, but it’s still quick enough to win the title. Everyone would love to see Carlos Sainz Jnr sat in that seat or quite frankly anyone in F2 in that car.
I might have gone off the deep end with this one… Why not rotate drivers with a super license? Put it under ‘Celebrating 20 years of the Young Drivers scheme’ and have Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Sebastian Vettel et al have a race each? Throw Colton Herta in even?
There would be lots of development and financial drawbacks, but the marketing value might make it work? Surely better than Checo, doing what he’s doing now.
Bernasaurus
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to James Kehoe, Blythe Schembri and Dan!
SPArtacus
1st December 2024, 1:54
Not sure what Ferrari could have done. The moment he waved him out, the Merc launched out and since the Merc was literally in the next garage, there was no way he could have checked him up in time.
As for Lewis, I think he’s far from done, but his attitude’s always been poor when he’s driven a car that wasn’t the best on the grid or close to it. They also comprise most of the seasons in which a teammate beat and/or was very close to Hamilton. For Lewis, it’s usually either hammer time or moaning time. That said, I’m looking forward to his matchup with Charles and I think he’ll fare a lot better than his detractors are saying/hoping.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
1st December 2024, 8:22
Hamilton is doing just fine for being on the out, having a team boss publicly throw you under the bus, and not being apprised of whats going on with the car. It’s obvious hes clueless, yet George is throwing it near the pointy end, which tells everyone all they need to know, he’s on the outside, and it’s not comfortable, especially when its obvious that Hamilton has always been keen to work with his team and be a real positive force for the betterment of the team. But the last few years haven’t been like that.
And it’s obvious Toto wanted to replace Lewis with George from the beginning. So ask yourself, why Mercedes has been sucking for the last 3 years, its because it’s taken that long to develop George and the car, while trying to slowly push Hamilton by the wayside.
So I wouldn’t harp on him too much, after all the toxic drama, after all he’s achieved, I think he deserves to have been treated better on his way out. And he’s always been pretty honest in front of the cameras, more than anyone really deserved to be fair, but probably why a lot of people like, and still like the guy.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
1st December 2024, 8:47
also, just spit balling, it would appear that Toto, and perhaps maybe other ‘bosses’ see drivers with a shelf life of about 7 years, after they mature. So I would look at it like this :
Lewis – out after 2021, him getting 3rd in the championship last year really shows how good he is. The post covid retirement, which was the beginning of the attempt to redraw the stock market following the hype of the bio-terror garbage, which was just an excuse to steal from the tax payers.
George – has reached maturity, (development for 4+ years), looking to retire him @ 2031, right at the end of the dot com business cycle.
Kimi – (3-4 years of investment) means he reaches maturity (think bonds) @ 2028/2029, right at the beginning of the end of the business cycle which started in 2000/1999 w/ the dot com crash (finishes in 2030+correction period { 1+ years :: secret sauce } )
In effect, if you look at how Toto has ‘planned’ his drivers out, they mature, peak, or retire about the business cycles going forward (smaller ones). So he is looking to capitalize on them during peak hyper-capitalization periods. Which makes sense because that’s when there would be most spending going on.
The only problem is, 2031, might end on the bottom. So yeah, Kimi might be a thing today, but at the peak of his career he could be facing some very serious sponsor/financial issues. At the end of the day, these guys are just financial instruments for Toto, he has a time table, that works in conjunction with the ‘worlds financial markets’. Which just happens to coincide with a lot of other ‘time tables’ which are not appropriate for this website. #rollerball
SteveP
1st December 2024, 13:25
R-i-i-g-h-t…
Anti-vaxxer, bleach user? Space-lasers?
James Coulee
1st December 2024, 9:38
Sure, Toto is really happy to pay Hamilton a boatload or millions more than to Russell just to have the joy of conspiring to make Hamilton slow. That’s how it works.
David BR (@david-br)
1st December 2024, 11:08
Those pay deals were agreed before Hamilton decided to leave for Ferrari (for whatever reasons).
As a thought experiment, if Hamilton did think (know even) he was being compromised by the team in various ways because he was leaving, what would his reaction be? Different from his end days at McLaren I think. After so much success at Mercedes, I imagine he’d keep mostly quiet, take the blame on himself and say he’ll be happy when this miserable season is over (and he’s off to Ferrari).
Which is exactly what he’s been saying for half a year. Make of that what you will.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
1st December 2024, 14:40
@david-br yeah with Hamilton leaving, Russell is Mercedes’ future and Toto’s job is to build his confidence as much as possible since F1 is as much a mental sport as one of skill.
Obviously, they couldn’t have Hamilton outperforming Russell all season long – that would have left them in shambles.
André
1st December 2024, 12:42
Yep, I think Hamilton’s main weaknesses are:
– not very strong mind through adversity; gets “defeatist” very easily when things go wrong; tends to think there’s a conspiracy against him; lacks motivation; but you see what he can do in races close to his heart, such as Silverstone.
– not the highest intellect out there, not very technical; drivers like Sainz and Alonso have much better awareness and control over their race strategy; they are much less reliant on the team for guidance.
Rosberg’s main weapons against Hamilton were exactly those: mind games and technical proficiency to extract performance from little details that would get Hamilton puzzled or take him longer to figure out. But, if you give Hamilton all the tools, he’ll just drive faster.
Perhaps his current struggles have to do with the intellect/technical aspect of the sport, to be better able to adapt his driving style to this generation of cars. Some people are suggesting that he’s been compromised since his announcement of leaving for Ferrari, but remember that his qualifying woes against Russell started not in 2024, but in the second half of 2023 after Russell sorted himself out.
Parte
1st December 2024, 13:07
Absolute baloney right there. Bias from you trying to say intellectually and technically Alonso and Sainz are superior. Come up with something better. LH has already checked out. He already stated some races ago that he won’t be out qualifying GR. He know a whole lot you don’t. At the end of the day second is first loser. If the team are treating him like an outsider cos he is leaving thats on them. I don’t see same happening at Ferrari
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 6:06
You can’t say someone is biased simply because they say something you don’t like or agree with about a driver.
And sometimes the truth hurts. Lewis is definitely not the sharpest protractor in the math lab.
SteveP
1st December 2024, 15:40
Which LH duly did, and, but for an engine blow up (Malaysia) when he was coasting home way in front, he’d have finished the season 25 points better, Rosberg three poorer, and the joint story of Rosberg/Hamilton racing would have continued as previous.
Pure bad luck for LH.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 6:07
That bad luck is more than balanced out by Lewis’ famous good luck.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 6:15
I’d put only a negligible amount of his struggles down to intellect related issues. Rather, as we’ve both pointed out, he easily slides into a defeatist mindset and has never been great at adapting to unpredictable cars. Now pair that + the fact he’s leaving for Ferrari with his inherent paranoia that even flared at the best of times and you’ve got someone who is probably thinking the car can’t be trusted and is intentionally bad. He’s probably spending as much mental energy on his suspicions as on how to fix the issues.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st December 2024, 6:34
Zhou still has space for a reserve driver role at Alpine as an alternative.
Inspector Checo
A driver rotation, as suggested in the COTD, effectively a la WRC, could work itself.
However, I doubt any team would wish to do so due to certain inconveniences.
Also on this day in Motorsport, the 2019 Abu Dhabi GP took place on this day five years ago, which was the last race Robert Kubica participated in, & could’ve been the last for Nico Hulkenberg.
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
1st December 2024, 11:34
Kubica replaced Raikkonen for a couple of races in 2021.
notagrumpyfan
1st December 2024, 12:17
From memory a team can only have four different drivers in a single season. Not much of a rotation.
CryptidBadger (@ninjabadger)
1st December 2024, 11:05
This might be a question for the end of the season, but could the longer seasons be having a greater effect on drivers mentally, especially drivers not battling at the front?
Having to go out, weekend after weekend, just in the hope of maybe getting a scrap point can’t be easy.
The idea of starting a season slow and the dread of “it’s gonna be a long season” must get amplified as more races are added, plus sprints. And made worse the further down the grid you are.
What must be going through Bottas’ and Zhou’s head as they arrive at race weekend 17, 18, 19, 20, 21…
We’ve seen new faces come in, later in the season, and impress in their initial outings. Is that just newer talent moving in, or also the effect of replacing a mentally drained driver for a fresher one?
And if that could be the case, should teams lower down the grid start looking into having an actual third driver (rather than just used for test/sim work). To step in for a race or two, just to spread the load and keep overall mental strength in a more healthy condition?
Granted main drivers likely wouldn’t admit to such a weakness, and would hate the idea of losing track time to someone else. But at the same time, if they feel momentium is moving against them in the latter stages of the season, they might appreciate the ability to take a step out for a race weekend and get some air.
It’s also unlikely to work at the top teams, as those drivers are actively seeking to add to their points/podium tally, so missing a race is a greater penalty.
Ludewig
1st December 2024, 11:48
#grateful
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
1st December 2024, 13:00
I think HAM is surprised he is persona non grata at Mercedes these days. Just a vastly different vibe than when he was number 1 there and their future.
David BR (@david-br)
1st December 2024, 13:31
@jimfromus He tried to minimize the repercussions of leaving in various ways, but yes, it feels like he’s been persona non grata most of the season. The lack of team enthusiasm after his win at Silverstone was telling. It’s understandable given him leaving was a vote of no-confidence in the team and it’s also understandable (albeit cynical) that the team, including Wolff, have been happy to lever his dissatisfaction with the car into a narrative of Hamilton’s decline. After all, he’ll be a rival at Ferrari next year.
Russell’s problem: he’s already not the future, Antonelli is, and if they could put Verstappen alongside the latter, they would.
SteveP
1st December 2024, 19:29
The main thing for Russell to note is that he absolutely must make Antonelli look second rate in 2025, or he is the one on a dodgy footing, especially if Verstappen comes available for 2026.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
1st December 2024, 14:34
We’ll see next year – obviously once you announce that you’re leaving a team, your performance is unlikely to improve especially in F1. It’s not the end he wanted but it was an end that was inevitable – it was bound to happen at some point. At least he can leave on the terms of his own choosing this time around and start afresh once again.