Alpine boss Bruno Famin has confirmed that the agreement with Michael Andretti’s team to supply it with RenaultF1 power units lapsed in March of this year, the original terms having been agreed in the expectation of Andretti being granted an entry earlier than has been the case. Famin says that he will await the outcome of Andretti’s attempts to reach a commercial agreement with F1 before considering whether to make a new supply arrangement. Renault is the only one of the four current F1 engine manufacturers not supplying a customer team. Its recent bid to be permitted an equalisation ‘holiday’ from the power unit spec freeze has been rejected by the F1 Commission.
McLaren has launched a £19m compensation claim against IndyCar champion Álex Palou, partly to cover the money it invested in preparing him for F1. The team insists Palou was in breach of contract in opting to extend his IndyCar deal with current team Chip Ganassi Racing.
Two days after the Qatar Grand Prix current supplier Pirelli was confirmed as having won the F1 tyre supply tender to the end of 2027, having won out over the only other bidder, Bridgestone.
Liam Lawson has been retained by Red Bull as its official third driver in 2024 for both the AlphaTauri and Red Bull Racing teams. This comes after his stand-in performances at AlphaTauri for the injured Daniel Ricciardo.
Circuit of the Americas chairman Bobby Epstein reported that the track’s hosting of a Saturday sprint event this year had made no impact upon ticket sales and he remains ambivalent about repeating the experiment. “We will work with F1 and let them decide what’s best, but we’re happy for it to rotate around a little.” Promoters have to pay F1 extra for the sprint event format.
