Sergio Pérez has been given a further stay of execution at Red Bull, with a further assessment to be made after Monza. There remains the possibility of Daniel Ricciardo being drafted in for the remainder of the season in which event his RB seat would be taken over by the reserve driver Liam Lawson. However, Lawson was also a possible stand-in for Logan Sargeant at Williams. “We would be open to discussion about him going there on loan,” said Christian Horner, “but it would depend on for how long.”
Jonathan Wheatley handed in his resignation as Red Bull’s sporting director in order to take up his position as team principal for Sauber-Audi. His Red Bull role will be divided out between existing employees.
At the time of writing, Aston Martin was still awaiting the signature of Adrian Neweywho has reportedly agreed in principle to joining. The delay may be connected with an 11th hour offer made by Flavio Briatore for him to join Alpine. Oliver Oakes is the new principal there.
McLaren has extended the contract of team principal Andrea Stella. CEO Zak Brown said: “With multi-year extensions with Lando, Oscar and Andrea, we can confidently continue on our quest to become world champions.”
Former Haas sponsor Uralkali sent bailiffs and police to Haas in the Zandvoort paddock after the team’s non-payment of £6.8m relating to the release of the Uralkali-backed driver Nikita Mazepin in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Haas agreed to transfer the money by the Monday after the Dutch GP to avoid the legal seizing of assets which would potentially have prevented it from taking part in the following weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
Rwanda is in on-going discussions with F1 about hosting a grand prix there.
