2024 British GP what to watch for: Will Lando and Max clash again?

“All three times he’s doing stuff which can easily cause an incident. And in a way just a bit reckless – he seemed like a little bit desperate from his side. There’s times when I think he goes maybe a little bit too far.”

While Verstappen refused to take the blame, his team boss Christian Horner defended him, saying McLaren criticism was “wrong and unfair”.

“Certainly, from Max’s side, he’s not going to change,” he said. “There’s an element, I think, of Lando learning how to race Max and they’re discovering that.”

Horner’s McLaren counterpart Andreas Stella claimed post-race that stewards need to enforce harsher penalties, citing Verstappen’s continued aggressive driving a result of not being punished for his 2021 clashes with Lewis Hamilton.

Four days later at Silverstone, and Norris appeared to have come around to Horner’s way of thinking. “I probably said some things I didn’t necessarily believe in,” he told the pre-British GP press conference. “Max has a very different way of racing, compared to a lot of others, and that’s some of the reasons of why he’s a champion. It’s tough. It’s on the limit. It’s what I love. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole fight I had with him. It was a shame things ended the way they did

“I didn’t expect an apology from him. I don’t think he should apologise. I thought it was good racing, at times very close to the edge. But we’ve spoken about it and we’re both racing again.”

With both Red Bull and McLaren looking highly competitive this weekend at the rapid Silverstone circuit, F1 could be set for fireworks again.

Ollie Bearman confirmed at Haas

As long rumoured, young British star Ollie Bearman has now been confirmed at Haas for 2025 and beyond in a “multi-year deal.”

The Ferrari junior impressed during his last-minute super-sub appearance for the Scuderia – replacing an unwell Carlos Sainz –  at this year’s Saudi Arabian GP by coming home seventh and holding off Lewis Hamilton.

“It’s hard to put into words just how much this means to me,” he said. “To say out loud that I will be a Formula 1 driver for Haas F1 Team makes me so immensely proud.”

The five-time F2 race-winner first made his mark for Haas in FP1 for last year’s Mexico race, and has six scheduled this season for the team again.

Having already run in Imola and Barcelona, the Brit makes a third appearance at his home race. Will that new contract bounce see him go even faster than before?

F1 driver market rumour mill rumbles on

Carlos Sainz’s continued hesitance on deciding his F1 future has left teams and drivers alike frustrated, as demonstrated across the last few races meetings.

“Carlos is the cork in the bottle – a lot of guys are waiting for him to make a move,” said Kevin Magnussen in Spain.

The Dane is still under consideration for the second Haas seat, but that appears to be the least-desired on the grid. He and his fellow free agents Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu all await news on Sainz’s decision – and are becoming more disgruntled by the minute.

At first it seemed like Sauber-Audi was going to be the Spaniard’s first choice, before Williams became Sainz’s most likely destination. Then Alpine entered with a late preliminary offer, on the basis that it might have a customer Mercedes engine deal in 2026.

With those other drivers apparently becoming “bored” with Sainz’s deliberating, now Audi and Williams are thought to be looking elsewhere – more rumours could yet emerge across the British GP weekend.

F2 stars to enjoy grand prix limelight at Silverstone

Joining Bearman will be a number of other F2 prospects making FP1 appearances at the British GP as teams fill their young driver appearance quotas.

Red Bull will replace Sergio Perez with Isack Hadjar, the French-Algerian driver currently sitting second in the F2 standings with two wins to his name this year.

Alpine will give a run-out to its junior driver Jack Doohan in place of Pierre Gasly, the son of Australian MotoGP legend Mick gunning to fill the vacancy the team still has for 2025. This will be Doohan’s sixth FP1 run, his first ‘appearance’ this year coming at a washed out Montreal, with the Queensland native having had two free practice goes in 2022 and 2023 each also.

Further back on the grid Williams will put Franco Colapinto in Logan Sargeant’s car. The Italian is fifth in the F2 championship with one victory at Imola.

Can under-pressure Perez rediscover his early 2024 F1 form?

Since the F1 battle at the sharp end has become more intense, so Red Bull’s wing man Sergio Perez has been pushed down the order.

After scoring several runner-up positions early on in 2024, the Mexican has found himself scrapping for meagre points offerings as both Ferraris, Mercedes, and McLarens seem to have got ahead on form.

What this means is that Red Bull has now been regularly outscored at several races. Over the last five GPs, Red Bull has been the third best team with 116 points, while Mercedes has racked up 132 and McLaren 144.

If the trend continues, the team could still be under pressure in the constructors’ battle.

“We’re doing our best to find out what is missing, because the first four or five races were very competitive and whatever has happened to cause him to drop off,” team boss Christian Horner has said.

“We just need to get to the bottom of it and help him recover.”