Author Archives: PressBox

Christian Horner said Red Bull promoted Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson to its senior Formula 1 team too early, arguing that each driver needed more time to develop before stepping into the lead seat. Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Horner said he did not agree with the speed of the promotions and blamed Helmut Marko for pushing young drivers into Formula 1 before they were fully developed. He said the junior system was also driven by a need to justify its existence through quick promotions.

Horner said each of the three drivers had only about a year or less of Formula 1 experience before being placed in the senior team, where they were asked to perform in a difficult car alongside a generational talent. He said that setup made success almost impossible. He also pointed to Pierre Gasly’s struggles in 2019 as an example of the pressure those drivers faced, and said he worked hard to secure Albon a Williams seat after Red Bull dropped him.

Horner also wrote in Drive that he opposed Lawson’s promotion for the 2025 Formula 1 season, saying Lawson was too inexperienced for the Red Bull seat after only 11 starts. Lawson’s stint quickly unraveled after he crashed out in Australia and finished 12th in China, and Red Bull replaced him with Yuki Tsunoda before the Japanese Grand Prix. Horner said Lawson had only a brief two-race stint at the start of 2025 before being sent back to a junior or affiliate team.

Max Verstappen said he expected a rough weekend at Circuit of the Americas because of the track’s bumps and was not ready to call himself a victory contender there, even as Red Bull arrived as a favorite for the United States Grand Prix. Organizers have resurfaced part of the circuit between Turns 9 and 11 and smoothed bumps near Turns 12 and 19, but Verstappen said COTA would still pose a new challenge and that he was unsure whether the RB22 would be in the fight for victory.

Verstappen said he was taking each race as it comes despite Red Bull’s improved form since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. In the previous three rounds, he won two Grands Prix and one sprint race and finished second once. He said Red Bull was focused on enjoying the remaining races and on adding more podiums and a few wins, with 150 points still available.

The bumpy surface at COTA stands out as a concern even though Formula 1’s current cars are supposed to handle it better than they did last year. Verstappen, who joked that he might need to “order a new spine” after the race, is fourth in the championship, eight points behind Lewis Hamilton and 17 behind George Russell, while Kimi Antonelli’s 119-point lead makes a fifth title unrealistic. He said Red Bull would then move on to Mexico, where high altitude and hot conditions would provide another test.

The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council approved new 2027 Formula 1 operational rules designed to close a loophole that allowed spending to be hidden across other company programs and special projects divisions. The changes will force a much stricter separation between Formula 1 operations and product development, Formula E, the World Endurance Championship and sailing.

Under the new rules, shared facilities such as wind tunnels, simulators, dynos, test benches, data centers and IT systems will face tighter limits, and they must be used without simultaneous overlap or information crossover. Teams will also have to limit shared office space, restrict core work in common areas, keep access logs, and use separate messaging and data systems.

The regulations will bar non-F1 staff from entering F1 factories and prevent Formula 1 personnel from visiting other divisions. Any move between departments will require a new contract and disabled company access, including badges and email access, and personnel moving into Formula 1 will face a three-month cooling-off period. The FIA expects the changes to raise staffing costs and reduce the synergies teams had used between motorsport and non-motorsport programs.

Formula 1’s two American teams will arrive at the United States Grand Prix in Austin with special liveries, led by Cadillac’s cowboy-inspired MAC-26 design for its first race at Circuit of the Americas. Cadillac said the black-and-white look was meant to reflect American West culture beyond standard patriotic motifs and to reinforce its identity during its first visit to the track.

The livery features patterns based on cowboy clothing and leatherwork, along with the Austin skyline, a track map, 50 stars, cacti and an upward-facing horseshoe. General Motors designers in Michigan and Cadillac’s UK-based technical team developed the design, which is Cadillac’s third one-off livery of its first Formula 1 season after Miami and Silverstone.

Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will wear matching race suits with the Austin design, while Colton Herta is scheduled to drive Friday practice for Cadillac in place of Perez. Haas is also set to bring a special livery to Austin, with a Godzilla-themed design planned for the second time this year.

Max Verstappen said Isack Hadjar could eventually replace him as Red Bull’s leading driver after he retires from Formula 1, and that the team should keep bringing in young talent. Verstappen called Hadjar a “great” teammate, said he does not plan to race forever and said he hopes Hadjar can take over his role one day. He also said Red Bull has traditionally developed young drivers.

Hadjar is in his first Red Bull Formula 1 season after one year with Racing Bulls, and he has already made a strong impression. He had scored two podium finishes, helped Verstappen deliver Red Bull’s first double podium since 2014 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and became the first driver since Sergio Perez to out-qualify Verstappen on merit at the Japanese Grand Prix. He qualified inside the top 10 in every race except Singapore, where reliability issues affected his RB22.

With six rounds left in the 2026 season, Verstappen was fourth in the standings with 221 points and Hadjar was eighth with 97. Hadjar had scored 52.4% of Verstappen’s points in 2026 and, in fair qualifying comparisons, his deficit to Verstappen was just over two-tenths of a second. He also missed three race weekends in 2026 because of a wrist injury.