In the round-up: Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko says Max Verstappen must be careful to avoid triggering an automatic race ban.
In brief
Stewarding consistency worries Marko
Verstappen moved onto eight penalty points at the final round in Abu Dhabi. “He’s picked up two points again,” Marko observed following the world champion’s first-corner clash with Oscar Piastri.
Any driver who reaches 12 penalty points incurs an automatic ban, as Kevin Magnussen did earlier this year. “He’s now on eight so we need to start being careful,” Marko told Sky Germany.
He fears Verstappen could move unexpectedly closer to a penalty due to inconsistency in F1’s stewarding. “With certain stewards, this penalty is often harsher,” he said.
“But that’s a problem everyone has, and it’s been raised several times before — that more consistency here would be better and would improve the sport as well.”
Marko said Verstappen’s apparent reference on his radio to the stewards as “stupid idiots” was “not very diplomatic.”
F2 grid grows ahead of test
Four more drivers have confirmed their places on the Formula 2 grid for next year.Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic, who was promoted to a podium finish in his third race by Paul Aron’s disqualification last weekend, will partner Williams junior Luke Browning at Hitech. Sebastien Montoya also moves up from Formula 3 and will drive for Prema.
Pepe Marti, who scored his first win on Saturday last weekend, will remain at Campos for a second season. Ritomo Miyata, who made his debut in the season this year with Rodin, has moved to ART.
F2’s three-day post-season test begins today at Yas Marina.
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Ferrari will always make its cars in Italy, CEO says (Reuters)
'Vigna also said Ferrari was 'very proud' of a deal it announced earlier on Tuesday, to supply engines and gearboxes to a new Cadillac Formula 1 team in a multi-year agreement from 2026 the company announced earlier on Tuesday. 'We are very glad of this selection, and this makes us proud,' he said. 'In our DNA is racing. We have been present in this sport, which is now becoming entertainment, since the beginning.''
'Everything that Brad does on the track, the little tricks that he does, drivers have done through the decades in various races. Because he doesn’t have the fastest car and he’s not the fastest driver. He has to use clever tactics to stay up with these other drivers.'
Eifel Germany Open World Map coming in summer 2025 (Assetto Corsa)
'We’re pleased to announce a major milestone in the development of Assetto Corsa Evo: the introduction of an open world that faithfully recreates the iconic Eifel region surrounding the legendary Nürburgring, also known as the Green Hell.'
New content: Ferrari 499P (iRacing via YouTube)
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Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
Ferrari has now issued a version of their Andretti power unit statement which includes no mention of Andretti and refers to them throughout as Cadillac. Suspect FOM will prefer this version of Ferrari's announcement…
#F1
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine.bsky.social) 10 December 2024 at 21:51
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Comment of the day
Why did some drivers get to make an early start with their new teams but others like Lewis Hamilton didn’t? HW Small has a theory:
Alpine saw an opportunity to give Doohan extra experience, and applied sufficient pressure to Ocon to make it happen. Ruthless, yes, but not baffling.
The same can be said for Hamilton not driving for Ferrari – Mercedes are going from two strong drivers to one plus a rookie, so why give Hamilton/Ferrari an advantage? The reason may be ‘off circuit contractual stuff’ which, perception-wise, is better than the Ocon situation, but if the will was there I am sure things could have been shuffled.
HW Small
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Debaser91, Ryan and Miguel Bento!
SPArtacus
11th December 2024, 3:30
Jos told the stewards they better start being careful “…if they know what’s good for them.”
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
12th December 2024, 19:30
I hear Jeff Gillooly is still hanging around the paddock.
X1Znet (@x1znet)
11th December 2024, 4:51
COTD: Maybe the reason is Hamilton hates testing?
SteveP
11th December 2024, 7:34
Well, there’s an idea Sherlock, I wonder why none of the rest of us thought of that?
Maybe start being careful right at the start, and make a habit of it? Yeah, there’s an idea.
anon
11th December 2024, 16:49
It’s also rather ironic for Marko to play the “biased stewards” card when Derek Warwick has been criticised in the past for being biased towards Verstappen, given he’s been rather outspoken in his support for him.
Jere (@jerejj)
11th December 2024, 7:46
I already replied to the COTD in the original article, but to summarize here:
Yes, Alpine indeed effectively pressured Ocon to agree on early release mutually & besides remaining contractual requirements, Hamilton himself didn’t desire to participate in the post-season test.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
11th December 2024, 7:51
Gosh, that’s the first time I can recall Marko being so directly critical of Max.
In fairness, if the stewards were more consistent, he would probably already be on 12 points.
osnola
12th December 2024, 19:00
And with a different passport he would have had some fines /s
Jo
11th December 2024, 8:05
Penalty points can be picked up for stupid things too that aren’t necessarily dangerous or the mistake of the driver (such as Verstappen got in Qatar qualifying).
Also the team need to be careful too, to help prevent impeding during qualifying and keep him informed of fast laps.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
11th December 2024, 9:32
What a wicked sense of
humour Marko has.
As if Max needs to contest the same number of races as everyone to win the title!.
He could easily sit out a few and still win.
Adam
11th December 2024, 9:49
But who would they put in the car? They can barely decide who to put in the car next to Max let alone if they have to replace him for a race. The state the Red Bull driver pool is in at the moment they’d probably have to pull Coulthard out of retirement!
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
11th December 2024, 10:11
Well he would still go midfield. BUT the real driver for the job is drumroll Kyle Larson , come on down.
Now a few laps round some FIA track and you’ve got a super licence. And no Kyle you have to give the car back next race.
Frank
11th December 2024, 11:40
If next season is as close as many people seem to expect, you do not need much imagination to see the competition taking rurns in being tough whilst dueling Verstappen. We might see a season where he is divebombed, pushed and bullied by a different driver every race. Chances of that really happening are slim perhaps, as any driver would benefit from being more careful as the others fall into retirements. You end up with a little prisoner dilemma there, but what a DTS season it would be.
Femke
11th December 2024, 10:50
Try to overtake without hitting others.
I guess his SR in iRacing is in the negatives
Moi
11th December 2024, 15:19
In the end penalty points as they are now are just another resource in the F1 game.
You maximize results (providing you accrue them by actions that benefit you) by getting no more but also no less that 11 / season.
Martin (@f1hornet)
11th December 2024, 17:15
Keith’s Bluesky comment is amusing to me. I did find it strange how Ferrari’s statement mentioned Andretti, when I thought the whole thing was that Cadillac had come in and cut out Andretti (other than Mario being a sort of advisor on the board). The Ferrari statement seemed to suggest something else: That this is a re-branding of the original bid, delayed by a year to 2026.
The Dolphins
11th December 2024, 19:58
That’s exactly what it is. Andretti have been hiring and progressing with their UK operations as soon as “Cadillac” got a verbal agreement. Cadillac will be their partner in a way that TAG Heuer was Red Bull’s PU
SteveP
11th December 2024, 21:18
Interesting theory.
Three companies with the name Andretti in UK companies house records:
ANDRETTI UNITED EXTREME E LIMITED Company number 12700687 – Michael Mario Andretti is one of the officers of the company and “Has significant influence or control”
Ownership: Andretti Autosport Holding Company Inc: >25%25%<50%
and
UNITED AUTOSPORTS LIMITED Company number 06966350
BROWN, Zakary Challen
Nationality American
Country of residence England
Occupation Corporation President
#############
ANDRETTI FORMULA E LIMITED Company number 09243026 – No Andretti is, or has been, an officer of the company. Daniel Towriss listed as the only Director, other named officer is "Business Manager"
###########
ANDRETTI RACING LIMITED Company number 14194212
Unit 1134 Silverstone Park, Buckingham Road, Silverstone, Towcester, England, NN12 8FU
– Incorporated on 24 June 2022
Daniel Towriss listed as the only Director, no other named officers. No Andretti is, or has been, an officer of the company.
A quick guess is that Michael, with the Andretti name, was an interesting label to attach to the business venture for F1, and the real power (Towriss) was apparently in with GM on the discussions with FOM.
The only venture MA seems to any control of is the Extreme E and that looks to be shared with one Zakary Challen Brown of McLaren F1 fame.
Make of that what you will, but it does look rather like MA was merely a frontman that became rather inconvenient.
Jogo
11th December 2024, 21:49
Is one race ban still severe enough nowadays? With 24 races per year?
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
12th December 2024, 19:33
they should just do drive throughs for people who intentionally/willfully choose to take other people out. If the other driver has to quit or pit due to damage, add 10 seconds stop and go.
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
12th December 2024, 12:52
F1 WDC 2025 will be decided by the stewards. F1 is being manupilated by the FIA to get want. No second 2023 season.