Two races down, twenty-two to go and while it’s business as usual at the sharp end of the grid, F1 never suffers from a shortage of drama and intrigue. As I mentioned in my season preview, 2024 is The Year Of The Silly Season and as we’ve witnessed in just a quick fortnight, things are downright silly out there!
What is going on at Red Bull? As a fellow buzzard stated last week, this has all the makings of a season of Succession. In Bahrain, we had Jos publicly stating that Horner had to go or else the team would implode and was seen multiple times huddling around Toto Wolff. And then there was the anonymously leaked email detailing the allegations made against Horner by a female employee of the team that arrived to select media and F1 team personnel during a live practice session. My hope is that Marko didn’t realize the Netflix cameras were following him when he snuck through the garage to the hospitality center to send The Anonymous Email. After a perfect weekend on the track for RBR, it was reported that Horner had the support of the Thai board members who possess 51% of the voting rights in the company, in addition to the current sponsors, business affiliates and team personnel. Advantage Horner. A week later in Saudi it felt like the news of Marko’s demise was imminent until Max, who had been doing an admirable job of toeing the company line, dropped the bomb and said if Marko goes, he goes. So who is going to go and what is the better option for the team moving forward?
Who would you rather see go?:
A. Horner, Newey, Ford and a few blue chip sponsors.
B. Max, Marko, and Jos.
If you chose A, skip ahead to 2026 when the team is in disarray trying to come to grips with a new rules package with an 80+ year old leader at the helm. (hmm, sounds a bit like the country on my passport). Max is pissed, Jos is pissed, and civil war ensues.
If you chose B, skip ahead to watching Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz battle it out for the championship in the 2025 Newey designed car while Max is bringing home a bunch of 4th’s in the Mercedes.
And in other news, how about Ollie Bearman! From the category of, You Couldn’t Make This Stuff Up, comes Bearman, an 18 year old Brit who received the shock call up of a lifetime. For those who don’t follow this sport closely, Bearman is a hot shit prospect who looked destined for F1 after finishing 3rd as a 17 year old in his inaugural F2 campaign last year. But the thought of an 18 year old getting called up to drive for Ferrari a few hours before FP3 on an incredibly demanding street circuit with the world watching is beyond comprehension.
I’ve been trying to think of the American sport equivalent and it would be like a Triple A pitcher getting called up to the Yankees (at 18 years old!) and starting the following day AND going 7 innings and allowing 2 runs. Or a kid getting the call up from the Lakers G league team and finding that Anthony Davis is out that night and he’s up on the board as the starting center. Suddenly the kid finds himself setting picks for LeBron and finishing around the rim like a veteran. It’s essentially unheard of!
As the lights went out, I was locked in on row 6 with both hands ready to cover my eyes. Bearman made a clean start and aggressively placed his nose up the inside of Tsunoda multiple times on the first lap. I kept waiting to see a red car go careening into the barriers with carbon fiber and wheels flying everywhere, but Bearman wisely didn’t force the issue and used the DRS to his advantage to slip on by. Every time the cameras zoomed in on Mr. Bearman in the Ferrari garage, he looked like he was on the verge of passing out. It was great stuff, and for a final exam in this 48hr F1 driver crash course, The Bear (can’t wait for the bad nicknames) had to soak up the pressure of Norris and Hamilton closing quickly on softs over the final laps. My first thought was to text out to a few friends that Ferrari signed the wrong Brit for 2025, but I thought better of it. Regardless, what a cool story and I’m officially on the Bearman Bandwagon for ‘25. Do the right thing Gene!
In fact, here is a new idea to spice up the show: At every race after FP2, a blind draw is held to see which team has to run their 3rd driver for the rest of the weekend. The team can choose which driver to replace and is no longer eligible to be chosen if they have already used the 3rd driver twice. So 20 races per year, we will get the Bearman scenario. There is a big logjam of talent waiting in the wings so who knows, maybe one of these 3rd drivers is the next Schumacher.
In the season preview, BEV had a bunch of questions for each team. After two races, I think we have our answers:
Red Bull – Will Perez buckle under the pressure of being the perfect #2? So far he looks like the perfect #2. As long as Red Bull have a car that is 20+ seconds better than the rest, Perez is perfect. What happens though if it’s only a 10 second gap? Will there be an exodus if Horner is forced to resign? TBD Did they get too greedy in coming up with a unique new design rather than sticking with an evolution of the old 22 out of 23 race winning warhorse? No, they nailed it!
Mercedes – At what point do they start to phase out Lewis and put all of their energies and development bits into Russell’s side of the garage? Looks like Lewis has already phased himself out with another car not capable of getting near a win. Who the heck are they going to sign? Ask Jos. Do they have the engineering staff in place to regain the upper hand come 2026? I’m starting to think the answer is No. They had their incredible 8 year run but this is now three years where they can’t get close to a Red Bull with no end in sight.
Ferrari – Have they found a solution for their long run tire woes? It seems like they are in a much better place with the tires at the moment. Same as above regarding Hamilton, at what point do they phase out Sainz? They got Bearman baby! After pulling off the Hamilton signing coup, can Fred Vasseur assemble the technical team to return Ferrari to glory? If Red Bull blows up, there will be a lot of key personnel there for the taking.
McLaren – Will they start the year on competitive footing to make a run at second in the constructors race? They look much better than last year, but still have a ways to go to surpass Ferrari. Will Piastri make the 2nd year leap and give Norris a real fight for inter team superiority? The leap seems real. He outqualified and beat Lando in Saudi. I’m still calling it advantage Lando, but let’s see what the next few races have in store. Can Zak Brown set the record for most blue chip sponsors on the side of a car? Why yes, of course.
Aston Martin – Will Lawrence Stroll be able to accept being a 5th place team or will he tire of mediocrity and cut bait? TBD. Can Lance close the massive gap to Alonso? No, and his early crash out of the points in Saudi won’t help his reputation much. And if not, does he keep his seat as long as pops owns the team? Get Drugovich in there!
Alpine – Who will emerge as the victor in the Ocon v Gasly battle? Who cares, this team is fighting for survival. Who is now managing this team and will they last a season? Seems like everyone quit after they saw the car on track in Bahrain. Is the Renault board still all in on F1 knowing they could sell the team for a massive sum? Heads will be rolling, again.
VCARB – Can Danny Ric get the upper hand on year 4 Yuki? Nope. Yuki owns D. Ric. Will this be the surprise team who claim a fighting 5th in the constructors championship? Sadly, no, 6th is their best case scenario.
Stake – Will the Sauber gang do anything noteworthy this year? Not unless you consider wheels not coming off during pitstops as noteworthy.
Williams – Will Sargeant become a respectable F1 driver this season in year 2? Not looking good. Is James Vowles the man to lead Williams back into the hunt for race wins? Seems like a smart engineer, so maybe not wins but respectability. Can the team retain Albon if they show significant gains? If he doesn’t go to RBR, he’s probably stuck at Williams.
Haas – When will Gene give up the fight and sell? (Andretti-Cadillac anyone?). Kudos to Haas for winning the coveted 10th place prize in Saudi. Hire Bearman.
See you next month with more F1 insanity.