One race to prove himself at Alpine? Heat is on Jack Doohan as Ocon signs off

“It must be super challenging for everyone within the FIA right now,” Russell said. “We’d love to get a little bit of clarity and understanding of what’s going on and who’s getting fired next.”

The response from Ben Sulayem did little to appease the drivers, and nor did the fact that just a few hours after the president’s comments there were a number of significant penalties handed out to a large number of the grid. All of the drivers involved had created situations that could be penalised, of course, but the timing was enough to fuel conspiracy theories among the most sceptical.

Sunday definitely wasn’t a day to get the FIA and the drivers on the same page.

GM project latest

One of the biggest talking points of the weekend was naturally the announcement from Formula 1 that it is expanding the grid to 11 teams in 2026 and working with General Motors on its entry.

It marks quite a u-turn from a year ago in Qatar, where the message from F1 was that it was unlikely the Andretti Global bid was going to convince it to open up to a new team, and the existing constructors’ all pushed back against an extra arrival within their ranks.

Some of those comments – including from Williams team principal James Vowles about protecting his team’s position – were even more interesting in the context of a Department of Justice investigation into potential anti-competitive practices, and the DOJ situation has clearly had some form of influence over what has happened since.

This weekend, there was a more positive response from the teams, even if they were still unsure what F1 itself was going to agree in terms of an anti-dilution fee.

A source within the GM project found it all particularly amusing given they insist hardly anything has changed in the bid, save for Michael Andretti no longer being the CEO of Andretti Global and the entry now representing a full works’ team from 2028 onwards.

There are still plenty of unknowns, though, such as what needs to happen before the FIA would issue the entry and grant GM the same access to data and suppliers that the existing teams have. For example, GM is not privy to Pirelli tyre data, and will not receive the wind tunnel tyres to begin 2026 work on January 1 until it has confirmation of its entry from F1.

The impression this weekend is that there is still a long way to go and some interesting conversations to be had over the coming months.

Paddock zombies

I know, I know, I complain too much about the schedule in this feature sometimes. But as F1 broke new ground and held its 23rd race weekend of the season for the first time – the previous longest season having been 22 races – it was notable just how crazy the calendar is to end the season.

Speaking to team members who had come straight from Las Vegas, a glance at the watch on Friday reminded them what they were asking their body clocks to do. When FP1 ended it was 6:30am in Las Vegas, when they’d be into the early part of their sleep given that schedule the previous weekend.

Unsurprisingly, your body doesn’t switch that quickly to allow any sort of quality sleep, especially when you add in a 15-hour flight (if you’re lucky enough to go direct on a charter flight) in between the back-to-back races. And already drained from the Las Vegas demands, Qatar was only the middle of three in a row.

It’s the team bosses who approve the calendar supplied to them by F1, and given the dollars on offer with each additional race, there doesn’t appear to be any significant pushback on behalf of their employees. So they’ve got the same challenge to face in 12 months’ time, and who knows after that…

Navigating the Audi announcement

Being part of a team can look really attractive, but there are plenty of times I am really glad I don’t have to worry about optics from a competitor’s point of view.

Take the Audi investment announcement this week, for example. There have been rumours relating to its F1 project for a number of months despite it having committed to completing a 100% takeover of Sauber, and at the Qatar Grand Prix it was the perfect location to communicate a partnership with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

Selling a major minority stake in the team can be taken as a negative, but the reality is there are so few teams that are wholly owned by one company. Mercedes is the perfect example, with the equal share ownership between Mercedes itself, Toto Wolff and INEOS.

But Audi faced questions about scaling back before it has even entered as a full constructor, and the viability of the F1 project when it has faced uncertainty within its core business.

As fair as those topics are to bring up, they need to be taken in the context of the fact that QIA is the third-largest shareholder in the Volkswagen Group – Audi’s parent company – and therefore already in many ways an investor in the team. This direct shareholding doubles down on its support for the F1 project, suggesting it is seen as an important marketing aspect to help the automotive side of the company, too.

Ultimately, it’s an F1 team finding extra investment from the sort of source that is hardly unique within the sport.

But make a big deal about it, and skeptics accuse you of trying too hard to put a positive spin on the news. Announce it far more subtly, and questions are raised about attempting to bury the information. You’re never winning on that front.