Six races to go: the calendar’s final quarter. The business end of the year. The last push. That bit of the year where all the races turn into an amalgamated blob of half-remembered overtakes at weird times of the day, before finally concluding in an Abu Dhabi encounter that will either be saturated in tedium, or offer a masterclass in how to put on a championship finale. And never the twain shall meet.
Thankfully, unlike 2024, the final run-in of flyaways is not a series of dead-rubber races; millions of pounds are not being expended for little material yield. This time there’s a championship battle on the cards, at least only notionally unless the gap between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris comes down to a tangible range in the final couple of races. There’s a lot left to play for, which means the usual winding-down period in development to focus on 2025 is a much more precarious situation to manage.
But it’s the constructors’ championship that pays the big bucks. Aside from who wins the title, there’s little more than honour in the other drivers’ placings; the difference between 14th and 15th in the standings will be inconsequential.
What is the difference between, say, ninth and 10th in the constructors’ title? That’s circa an extra $10 million, depending on the size of the prize pot, and can demonstrate the disparity between operating at the cost cap and falling short. Alternatively, perhaps the extra $10m pays for some new infrastructure, covers off a debt or allows for a little more fidelity with simulations. The possibilities are endless.
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That’s why the constructors’ placings are valuable, but there’s also said to be a couple of extra payment columns that also reward recent success in the championship, with extra payments made to those who have finished in the top three in recent years. The flipside to a better championship position is reduced aerodynamic testing. Would a team rather have an extra $10m, or the extra 10% in wind tunnel testing time? If so, that determines whether a team wants to force the issue for a position change in the final few races of the season.
Still, there are plenty of key battles available in the championship, with varying levels of prestige. Here are the three main ones that remain hotly contested.
McLaren took the lead in the constructors’ championship after Oscar Piastri’s win in Azerbaijan, and Lando Norris’ win in Singapore opened a 41-point buffer that looks set to extend if Red Bull cannot resume its early-season form. During Red Bull’s mid-season regression, it seemed somewhat inevitable that McLaren would overtake it in the teams’ standings; given the performance disparity between the two, it will be an arduous task for Red Bull to reclaim it.
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The eventuality that looks a smidgen more likely is that it will face a challenge from Ferrari over second, as just 34 points separate the two teams. Both Red Bull and Ferrari appear to have gotten over the respective issues that cost performance in the middle part of the season; the RB20’s ever-shifting balance created a disconnect between driver and car, while Ferrari’s floor developments instigated bouncing during the high-speed corners.
Red Bull retains a car performance advantage, but relying on Max Verstappen for the bulk of its points effectively means it goes into the race with one hand behind its back. Both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz can be expected to contribute to the Prancing Horse’s burgeoning tally, while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez seems to be nothing more than a presence in the lower reaches of the points. And, on current form, Red Bull might be spending more time looking in its rear-view mirror…
Fourth and fifth are pretty much sewn up: Mercedes is 112 points shy of Ferrari in the constructors’ standings, and 243 clear of Aston Martin. Nothing short of capitulation will change the order here.
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Despite its regression, Aston Martin’s grasp of fifth looks reasonably assured too; there’s a 52-point gap between it and the sixth-placed RB. For its part, RB is just three points ahead of Haas – and of the two, the American team outfit has the greater form behind it. Although a smaller team than RB by some magnitude, Haas under Ayao Komatsu’s leadership has become a far more diligent operation compared to its years under Gunther Steiner; its focus on getting the most bang for its buck has led to a much more felicitous season compared to 2023.
Nico Hulkenberg has been one of the stars of the midfield; the two sixth-place finishes at Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring helped the team make huge inroads into RB’s early advantage in the constructors’ title. While Kevin Magnussen has not been as prolific, the Dane has played a valuable support role to Hulkenberg this season and helped the German fortify his position within the top 10 – albeit with a sometimes-controversial modus operandi.
At RB, Yuki Tsunoda has been the main points-getter, but the addition of Liam Lawson for the final six rounds should offer a little more exuberance in the midfield. Flashes of performance from Daniel Ricciardo were just that, and the team needs a driver who is a little less sporadic. Lawson, who comfortably sat on the line between points and the positions just outside during his five-race stint for AlphaTauri last year, should be in the mix more often.
It’s going to come down to upgrades here; Haas has a new package that it has earmarked for Austin, while RB should also have a few new parts for the final six races.
Franco Colapinto, Williams FW46, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A524
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
In truth, Williams could be a contender for sixth in the championship given its progression following the summer break. The upgrades that it introduced in Zandvoort were, despite the physically tiny tolerance issues that resulted in its qualifying results being thrown out, a noticeable boost to the team’s fortunes; James Vowles’ team was disappointed not to break into the top 10 in Singapore.
Adding Franco Colapinto into the mix has been a masterstroke; the Argentine has immediately got on terms with Alex Albon and scored a healthy four points in only his second race. For his part, Albon has been able to take the revised FW46 into Q3 on three of the four occasions post-summer.
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Alpine can still challenge if Williams is beset by profligacy. Under new team principal Oliver Oakes, the team has largely sharpened up its act at the circuits, while technical chief David Sanchez is tasked with directing both the development of its 2024 car and addressing the A524’s long list of shortcomings into the next design. But the team appears to have stagnated of late, and its development path has been low-key at best.
The same can be said of Sauber. Still scoreless after 18 races, the Swiss squad looks no closer to breaking into the top 10 and may have to rely on a race with an anarchic streak to even get off the mark. Should Alpine improve, it could enter Williams’ orbit – but with Williams largely on the up, the British outfit may contend for an even higher finishing position.
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Red Bull says it “cannot afford” for there to be a big gap between its two drivers next year, as Sergio Perez faces increasing pressure to end this campaign on a high.
The Milton Keynes-based squad has already lost the lead in the constructors’ championship to McLaren and is in danger of conceding second place too with Ferrari now just 34 points behind.
It is not lost on Red Bull that its plight has not been helped by Perez failing to contribute as much as the team would have liked, with his 144 points tally so far this year well adrift of Max Verstappen’s 331.
Perez was given a stay of execution over his place in the squad following the summer break, with the team hopeful he could deliver more at venues he was better at. However, things have not been ideal, especially after he lost a potential podium finish in Baku following a late crash with Carlos Sainz.
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With Liam Lawson slotted in as replacement for Daniel Ricciardo at RB to evaluate his potential in being a Red Bull candidate for 2025, it is clear that the team is evaluating the best way forward.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says the need to understand what options it has available has become critical, because the title fight will likely be even harder next year.
And, with the difference between the leading positions in the constructors’ championship being around $9 million, Red Bull needs no reminding that having a second driver who costs it one or two places is costly.
“We desperately need answers,” Horner told Motorsport.com about its driver situation.
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Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
“When you look at our opponents, Ferrari will be strong next year, with [Lewis] Hamilton and [Charles] Leclerc. Plus McLaren with [Lando] Norris and [Oscar] Piastri is a strong line-up.
“We need to make sure that with both of our drivers, that there’s not a big gap between them because you can’t afford to have that.”
Lawson’s prospects for a potential move up to Red Bull, should he impress in the final races this year, have increased with rookie drivers in fashion once again in F1.
With Oliver Bearman and Franco Colapinto impressing so much, teams certainly seem more open-minded about putting youngsters in once again.
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Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko told Speedweek in his most recent column: “The GP appearances of Oliver Bearman and especially Franco Colapinto have shown that the youngsters are ready for the step up, and that the old philosophy of some team bosses, that you can only promote drivers with three or four years of experience to a top team, is outdated.
“Mercedes has now proven this with its driver decision, just as Red Bull Racing has done several times in the past.
“So you can rely on the youth. There is a certain risk, but it is manageable and it is worth it.”
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Joey Logano went through a roller coaster of emotions during last weekend’s Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Roval. He watched helplessly as Tyler Reddick charged through the field on fresh tires, slashing away at the points deficit while Logano could not move forward. At the checkered flag, Reddick was ahead by just four points.
However, about 2.5 hours later, everything changed. When Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet failed to meet minimum weight requirements in post-race tech, his disqualification and subsequent loss of points pushed him out of the playoffs. Logano’s title hopes were instantly revived, taking Bowman’s place in the Round of 8.
“I was obviously surprised,” said Logano in a Tuesday media availability. “I heard rumors before that of a delay in tech and some of those things going on. Usually, nothing happens. It was kind of a surprise to hear that. Typically, by the time you roll the car off the scales, they give them the opportunity to put weight in the cars and you’re usually fine, but in this case that wasn’t the case and I was like, ‘Well, would we be in?’ That’s the first question you have to ask and obviously the answer was yes, and then you’re still kind of cautiously optimistic because you’re thinking, ‘Well, there probably will be an appeal if there is and we may not know until later,’ so you kind of keep going on with your life and preparing for the next race.”
“I was starting to move forward,” further explained the Team Penske driver. “You get there literally the moment we get out of the race car. It takes a little bit to get your thoughts collected and, honestly, by the time I was driving home, my wife and I were talking about something far more important than what we were doing at the racetrack. My mind was already starting to shift on what were the next moves and kind of getting over the race. Then I started hearing the rumors from there and the phone started to ring shortly after.”
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Although this year been a bit of an ‘off’ year for Logano compared to previous seasons, he still appears to be in a very strong position. Penske has won back-to-back championships in the Next Gen era, and he has won races at every single track in the penultimate round of the playoffs.
“Trends are trends for a reason,” noted Logano, agreeing that Penske has a knack for rising to the occasion when the championship trophy is in sight.
His dramatic win at Martinsville in 2018 launched him into the Championship 4 and allowed him to earn his first title over Martin Truex Jr. In 2022, his Round of 8 victory at Las Vegas put him into the Championship 4 again, this time beating Ross Chastain for the crown. Homestead, which now sits as the middle race in this round, was actually the title-decider when Logano won his first championship. And yes, he won that race too.
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“We’ve done it before, we can do it again,” he declared when asked about his chances heading into this round.
Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang
Photo by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images
Going into Vegas and looking at the final eight drivers in contention, Logano’s season has been the weakest, despite two race wins. He is last in top-fives, last in top-tens, and holds the lowest average finish among the Round of 8 field. But he’s certainly stepped it up since the playoffs began, especially in qualifying. He’s advanced into the pole round in five of the last six races, which is critical if he wants to score stage points. Logano believes there is a path forward on points for him, even sitting last in the reset standings. He is 40 points behind Kyle Larson, who sits at the top of the points pile, but only 11 points below the cut-line.
“I feel like we’ve been steadily getting better and improving throughout the season to where we are now. I feel confident in the speed we have in our car,” said Logano, who later added: “The stats may not look like it. It may look like we’re underdogs from the outset looking in, but internally we feel very confident in our race team that we can make a run at this thing and get ourselves into the Championship 4. We’ve seen it in the past where you get in there and anything can happen at Phoenix. The goal right now is to look at the next three races and how do we maximize that. We can point our way in. We’re only 11 out, so it’s not a lot of points by no means. It can happen very quickly, so one race at a time. Right now, the focus is Vegas and we’ll try to maximize the day there.
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Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang
Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images
“We’ve lived this story many times before. Yeah, would it be easier if you had more playoff points? Yeah, but you know what? You win this weekend and you’re sitting as the favorite going into Phoenix, so it changes like that and that’s with the playoff system that we have. Every point matters throughout the whole season. I’m not discounting that, but you have to be your absolute best at this point in the season or else those points don’t even matter, so I feel confident in our team that we’ve got that. We’re still alive. We’re still going and that’s the name of the game in these playoffs. You just have to stay alive long enough. I said it last year that we did not accomplish that. This year, we’re gonna keep the pressure on all the way through.”
But the playoffs are nothing if not unpredictable, and the current car has only added to that. Half of the playoff races have been won by drivers that didn’t even make the playoffs with 18 different drivers visiting Victory Lane this year. Logano seemed unfazed by the dramatic shift from being eliminated to suddenly being thrown back into contention on Sunday night.
“It’s NASCAR, man,” smiled Logano. “I don’t know what to tell you. Expect the unexpected. You’ve got to go and just roll with the punches and go with the flow and just continue on. I feel like these days more and more there are just seasons like this. There’s just more crazy things that can happen than ever before, and a lot of that is due to the Next Gen car.”
Christian Lundgaard and Arrow McLaren were finally able to get some quality time together at the IndyCar Series testing last week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For Lundgaard, track day was more focused on the team-building experience — getting acclimated to the crew and organization, rather than trying to make record lap times.
“It was a little bit of a mix from a run plan standpoint of view,” Lundgaard told Motorsport.com. “It was good to understand how they’re working as a team and for us to work together on the No. 7 car and get used to each other. Obviously, get some more information for the month of May. So, it was a good start, but it’s difficult, man. It’s difficult when you only know one thing and suddenly you’re here working in a completely different way as you’re used to. But again, change is good.”
The 23-year-old Dane, with one career IndyCar win (Toronto, 2022) so far, was able to pound laps in the recognizable papaya colors last Friday at IMS, which marked his first outing with the team since being announced as part of the 2025 roster in early July. But after spending the last three full-time seasons with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, there was quite a bit to get acclimated to.
Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images
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“The car has more natural pace than what I was previously used to,” he said.
“I think the balance has some familiarity to, again, what I’m used to. I didn’t really expect the biggest difference to be in handling. So, I think a lot of it was kind of what I expected, which is a good thing. But it was good to get to work with everybody. That was more of the task for us was to get to feel the car, get to work with everybody, for all of us to learn how to work together and the tools that I have available and the people that are available.”
Perhaps no change was tougher to get adjusted to on his first day, though, than what he wraps his hands around in the cockpit, as he transitions from a Honda machine at RLL to Arrow McLaren’s Chevrolet.
“To me, getting to work with a new steering wheel was probably actually the biggest difference for me,” he said. “That took a little time getting used to, but it was all fine after that.”
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Although the team has yet to confirm its engineering lineup for next year, it’s important to note that Chris Lawrence was the one up on the timing stand working with Lundgaard. Lawrence has long been embedded with Arrow McLaren, working extensively with Felix Rosenqvist, and then working with Alexander Rossi for the 2024 season.
While Arrow McLaren is keeping Lundgaard busy in the off-season, traveling around constantly, the test provided a good base line on things to work on for the next few months before racing returns in March 2025.
“I would want to spend a lot of time with Chevy just to make sure that I’m up to date on procedures,” Lundgaard said.
“All these different kinds of things. The basic simple things that I think you wouldn’t really think about, that would typically be muscle memory but is different because it is a different team and a different engine manufacturer. So, the small basic things that make sense that you need to be aware of, to make sure that we nail those.”
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As one of 11 drivers and team combinations doing hybrid testing at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, Lundgaard completed 88 laps, with a best of 219.566 mph. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou set the fastest mark at 224.342 mph.
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Hendrick Motorsports opted not to appeal the Alex Bowman disqualification from the Charlotte road course, an admission that there didn’t appear to be such an extenuating circumstance that they could convince an appeal hearing officer that it didn’t violate the intent of the rule.
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HMS thought Sunday it had all four of its cars advance to the Round of 8 until Bowman’s car failed post-race weight requirements. Instead of earning 29 points, the disqualified Bowman earned one point for the event, putting him below the playoff cutline and Joey Logano into the playoffs.
All cars go through pre-race tech and must weigh 3,400-3,500 pounds depending on the weight of the driver (drivers are weighed periodically throughout the year). The top-5 cars, and then in the playoffs, the playoff cars, are weighed post-race. There is a tolerance of 0.5 percent, about 17 pounds, in the post-race inspection to allow for any natural loss of weight from the competition as parts and pieces break and fluid levels can fluctuate.
“Hendrick Motorsports will not appeal the disqualification of the No. 48 car following Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Roval,” the team said in a statement. “NASCAR allows a clear margin to account for the difference in pre- and post-race weight.
“After a thorough review by our team and the sanctioning body, we simply did not give ourselves enough margin to meet the post-race requirement. Although unintentional, the infraction was avoidable. We are extremely disappointed to lose a playoff spot under these circumstances and apologize to our fans and partners.”
Whether Hendrick did something uncouth or just is a victim of circumstance can be debated. The sport has a history of ingenious ways to take weight out of the car (and maybe even put it back near the end of the race). Wherever there is a tolerance, teams potentially will do things to get closer to the tolerance level. On pit road, drivers push their speed to the 5 mph tolerance above the speed limit.
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There likely are ways to slyly remove weight or change a piece sometime between pre-race tech and the end of the race. Teams have put weight in a helmet bag. Teams have put different air in tires for tech in order to make the car heavier. It’s part of the game. It’s not that no one tries to get the car lighter after they go through tech, it’s just how far they want to get to the line where if something unintended happens, they fail the weight requirement.
NASCAR hasn’t said how much off the Bowman car was in tech, so there’s no way to definitively know how close they were. But the team was allowed to top off fuel and purge and replace its water system. That didn’t help the car make weight, and likely was key to the decision not to appeal as it appeared NASCAR gave Bowman’s team every opportunity to make weight.
It’s unfortunate for Bowman and hard to say how much it helped him, whether the weight of the car was worth the nine points he needed to advance to the next round. But it’s obvious Hendrick folks didn’t see a way where they could— pardon the pun — tip the scales in their favor. So they have paid the price.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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The ERT Formula E team has been acquired by new American owners and undergone a rebrand for the upcoming season, where it will race under the banner of Kiro Race Co and run Porsche powertrains.
The team has been acquired by US-based investment firm The Forest Road Company, via additional capital from Ares Management, and will race under an American licence for the 2024-25 campaign, which gets under way with Valencia pre-season testing next month.
It will retain its base at Silverstone and has also announced a new technical partnership with Porsche, running the German manufacturer’s 99X Electric powertrain which has been renamed the 99X Electric WCG3.
The unit will undergo an upgrade ahead of the new Gen3 Evo era, but essentially be an older spec than those used by the factory team and customer outfit Andretti, while Porsche will be the only manufacturer to supply three teams on the grid.
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“This is truly a historic moment for our team,” said team principal, Alex Hui. “Bringing a US-based asset management group like Forest Road into Formula E is a testament to the series’ growth and our team’s potential.
“Their investment allows us to build with confidence for the future and compete at the highest level. We are excited to work with them and Porsche Motorsport to achieve our goals.”
Sergio Sette Camara, ERT Formula E Team, ERT X24 Dan Ticktum, ERT Formula E Team, ERT X24
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
ERT, which stood for Electric Racing Technologies, officially joined the grid ahead of the 2023-24 season after the squad previously known as NIO 333 ended its collaboration with Chinese manufacturer NIO.
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Prior to that, the team existed under various guises since the all-electric championship’s formation back in 2014-15, including NEXTEV/Team China Racing which won the inaugural drivers’ title with Nelson Piquet Jr.
The team struggled for performance last season, finishing 11th and last in the teams’ standings with Dan Ticktum and Sergio Sette Camara, with the former’s finish of fourth in Misano the best race result.
Kiro Race remains the only outfit on the grid yet to announce its driver line-up for the upcoming season, but this will be confirmed in the coming weeks.
Jeff Dodds, CEO of Formula E, added: “This is a fantastic development for Formula E and for Kiro Race Co.
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“It marks the entry of a sophisticated investor group with a strong track record in the sports and entertainment industry.
“This investment in the team and its ambitious new owners will help us continue to grow the championship and make it more attractive to fans and partners around the world.”
Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly have joined Acura for its 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship GTP campaign with Meyer Shank Racing after leaving Cadillac and BMW.
Two-time Daytona 24 Hours winner van der Zande has switched to the Honda brand after seven seasons with Cadillac, first with the Wayne Taylor Racing team with which he won the IMSA blue riband enduro in 2019 and ’20 and then Chip Ganassi Racing.
Yelloly has made the move from BMW, which announced his departure on Monday, after six years as a factory driver, in which time he won the Nurburgring and Spa GT3 24-hour enduros and took a first IMSA win for the German marque’s M Hybrid V8 LMDh in IMSA last year.
He and Van der Zande will be the full-season drivers in one of the pair of Acura ARX-06 LMDhs fielded in the GTP class by MSR, which is returning to IMSA after a one-year break.
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The other car will be shared by former MSR Indycar driver Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun, who will reprise their partnership of 2023 that yielded a controversial victory at Daytona.
MSR was subsequently found to have manipulated information from its tyre pressure sensors, and was fined and given a points deduction but retained the win.
The team, which was out of contract with Acura at the end of the season, was not retained as Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti undertook a planned expansion to two cars.
#60 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Helio Castroneves
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
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WTR has now returned to Cadillac for 2025, which precipitated the return of MSR in conjunction with the Honda Racing Corporation USA organisation (formerly known as Honda Performance Development) that runs the Acura LMDh programme.
HRC US will take a deeper role in the running of the cars at the tracks and will be responsible for engineering one of the entries in 2025.
Van der Zande thanked Cadillac for “everything they have done for me over the past seven seasons”.
“Although it’s hard for me to leave, it’s time for a new chapter that I am really looking forward to,” he said.
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“I’ve been racing against Acura for the past seven years and they’ve always been a fierce competitor, but I’m excited to now be on their side and tap into their resources and see what we can do.”
Yelloly also thanked his former employer for which he drove in the GTP ranks in 2023 and ’24 with the Rahal team.
“They were the first to give me a chance as a works driver back in 2019, and together we celebrated many great successes,” he said.
Yelloly ends a lengthy stint as a BMW works driver to join MSR/Acura
Photo by: SRO
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“I’m really excited to be joining the Acura MSR/HRC project. Clearly the team is very hungry and willing to push flat out, which sits well with me as I have the same type of mentality.”
Team boss Mike Shank said: “Putting Tom and Colin back in the driver’s seat just made sense. The two of them had an incredible season in ’23 and I think that’s just cracking the surface on what they can accomplish together.
“And then with the addition of Renger and Nick, they both have extensive prototype experience and have shown a lot of strength the past few seasons, so I think they will be a big asset to the team.”
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