Free Practice 1 at the Australian Grand Prix was cancelled on Friday as the expected heavy rain hit the Phillip Island circuit.

Race direction gave the 45-minute session every chance to go ahead, delaying the opening of pit lane multiple times in the hope that the rain would ease enough for the resurfaced track to dry.

Things briefly looked positive when, an hour and 40 minutes past the planned start time, the pits were finally scheduled to open.

However, amid what looked like general reluctance from most of teams and riders, the idea was quickly dropped. Shortly thereafter, the session was finally abandoned.  

“We have some aquaplaning and it’s better to wait until the rain stops,” reported multiple MotoGP race winner Loris Capirossi, who did several track inspections in the BMW safety car.

The cancellation of FP1 is likely to have consequences and could lead to some rescheduling of the programme. The soft rear tyre Michelin has brought to this track, which not only has a new surface but places unique demands on rubber, cannot safely go into a full race without any dry track time.

One year ago, adverse weather conditions forced flexibility on the part of the Australian GP organisers. With a better forecast for Saturday than Sunday, the Grand Prix was brought forward to Saturday.

While the grand prix went ahead and was won by Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco, the sprint – switched to Sunday in place of the grand prix – ultimately fell victim to the expected conditions and was called off.

Safety Car

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

This year’s rain came as no surprise given the forecast as it was earlier in the week. While torrential rain predictions did not materialise on the Japanese Grand Prix weekend two weeks ago, the forecast for Phillip Island has proven accurate thus far.

Although the high winds set to hit the island on the practice days stayed away on Saturday morning, they began to pick up following the cancellation of FP1.

Home rider Jack Miller will be among those riders pleased to see the rain. One of several riders eyeing the opportunity this outlier weekend may bring, the KTM man said on Thursday that minimal dry running will play into his hands.

Capirossi’s safety car outings this morning were notable for some lurid slides as well as some good humoured ‘penalties’ shown to him on a pit board by the bored Fabio di Giannantonio and Andrea Migno of VR46, complete with Rossi’s #65.

Ahead of Austin’s US Grand Prix, F1’s latest tech drama emerged after what has been a busy season for F1’s poachers and the FIA’s gamekeepers alike.

First, there was the classic F1 saga over flexing front wings, with aero-elasticity key to making this — and arguably any — generation of cars sing, a domain apparently mastered by McLaren and Mercedes in particular.

Flexing wings have always been a difficult area to police due to the difference between static tests and the reality of carbon fibre bending under load. But having already issued technical directives in the past to better advise teams on how the rules would be applied, the FIA was comfortable with what the teams were doing, and did not feel the need to impose stricter flex tests to police F1 designers’ favourite grey area.

Next, McLaren became the talk of the paddock once more in Baku with its innovative low-downforce rear wing, which created a mini-DRS effect that boosted its straight-line speeds. The design again passed the FIA’s existing tests, but this innovation was edging towards the darkest of grey areas. After conversations with the FIA, McLaren agreed to tweak its design for the next race it will use the wing — which is set to be at the Las Vegas GP.

The fact that the FIA let the front wing saga go, but that McLaren did end up altering its rear wing, shows the complexity of the matter for the governing body’s gamekeepers, and how each of the 10 teams are forced to operate in more shades of gray than a bestselling novel.

Now, it is Red Bull Racing that has been flagged by rival teams over the manner in which it has installed its race height-altering device to change the front bib.

What is the ‘front bib’?

All teams use such a system in some form, but teams suspect Red Bull’s — legal — cockpit-based solution could have been used overnight when the car is under parc ferme conditions, which is expressly forbidden.

Red Bull claims the device “is inaccessible once the car is fully assembled and ready to run”, and it has to be stressed that the team does not have to modify its car in Austin, but McLaren’s Oscar Piastri felt the parc ferme nature of the solution was “out of the gray area and into a black area.”

It will be almost impossible to prove that Red Bull ever used the device in parc ferme, so even as the FIA works on stricter procedures, it is a saga that won’t have a satisfactory conclusion for those who won’t give Red Bull the benefit of the doubt.

And if you are a rival team, why would you?

You may remember that Red Bull was also mentioned when the FIA reinforced its rule outlawing asymmetric braking, but is important not to throw everything onto one pile. The FIA explained that rule tweak was designed to make the 2026 regulations more robust, after which the new phrasing was retroactively added to this year’s rulebook — still with no indication of any team breaking the rules.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, leads Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

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Why all the grey areas, and why now?

But it doesn’t seem coincidental that the 2024 season has been marked by so many tech dramas.

The regulations are in their third of four seasons, with teams finding it ever harder to add performance through traditional means. Any marginal gains can make a substantial difference to the end result now, which invites out of the box thinking.

Additionally, a closing up of the grid has led to a gripping on-track battle between Red Bull and McLaren, which has also spilled out off the track with Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and McLaren CEO Zak Brown trading the occasional barbs, whether it was about these technical dramas or over high-profile staff leaving Red Bull for pastures new.

“It’s all part of the sport,” Brown told Motorsport.com earlier this year. “You’re trying to win every battle in Formula 1 on and off the track. You’re looking over every single mirror and every single wing.

“I’m going to do everything I can that’s appropriate to help McLaren win. And I would expect the other nine teams to do the same. And that means we’re going to be at odds with each other from time to time.”

Red Bull’s Helmut Marko added: “One time some teams will accuse others, and then the ones that are behind are blaming the others and say that they don’t have it. This is a normal game as long as I am in Formula 1 and it has always been like this.”

Now that is at least one thing McLaren and Red Bull can agree on.

Sebastien Bourdais will join the factory Cadillac team for the final round of the 2024 World Endurance Championship in Bahrain early next month.

Bourdais, the outright 2014 Daytona 24 Hours winner, will join Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber in the #2 Chip Ganassi-entered Cadillac V-Series.R for what would be his third appearance in WEC this year.

The Frenchman started the season with the American outfit in the new Qatar 1812km round before returning at the Le Mans 24 Hours in Ganassi’s second entry, teaming up with IndyCar star Scott Dixon and sportscar ace Renger van der Zande in the #3 Caddy.

“It’s good to get back in the car with Alex and Earl,” said Bourdais, who finished third in the recently concluded IMSA SportsCar Championship with the US arm of the Ganassi Cadillac squad. 

“Performance-wise, it seems like the car is in a really good window. It’s pretty light, good on power and competitive, so there is definitely something to play for. Bahrain is a really big challenge. It’s an extremely abrasive racetrack. 

“Tyre deg is very high and using the tyre the right way and not hurting it but making it function without making it slide is a critical thing to do. You have to do it with setup, dampers, traction control and you name it. We’ll try to find some recipes that work and hopefully, we’ll wind up in a good spot.”

Ganassi/Cadillac Racing has been one of the few teams to take advantage of the regulations to run a two-driver line-up for six-hour races this year.

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

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This meant that Lynn and Bamber raced as a duo in five of the eight rounds this year, with Bourdais partnering them for the pair of rounds in the Middle East at either end of the campaign and IndyCar champion Alex Palou serving as the third driver in the Le Mans centrepiece event.

It marked a shift in the marque’s approach from 2023, when the now-retired Richard Westbrook took part in every round along with Lynn and Bamber.

The WEC was planning to mandate three drivers in each Hypercar entry from 2025, but appears to have gone back on that idea after pushback from teams.

Cadillac’s best result of the season so far is a fourth-place finish achieved at the returning Austin event in September.

The General Motors brand will end its partnership with Ganassi following the Bahrain event to begin a new chapter with Jota, which will be running a pair of V-Series.Rs in Hypercar next year after competing in 2023-24 with customer Porsche machinery.

“We started off the season really well. Eventually [we] didn’t get the result because of the circumstances, but we certainly deserved a good finish,” said Bourdais.

“The car was very competitive in the race and we played the short game really well. Unfortunately, it’s been a bit of a tough season results-wise. There was always something coming in the way of a good result. If we could send it off on a high that would be pretty cool.

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

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Other changes

Elsewhere, Alpine has shuffled its driver line-up following Nicolas Lapierre’s decision to retire from racing. While Jules Gounon will join the team as expected, he has been drafted in the #35 Alpine A424 alongside Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin.

Charles Milesi moves from the #35 car to team up with Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #36 car, taking the spot previously occupied by Lapierre.

In LMGT3, Conrad Laursen will replace Clemens Schmid in the #78 ASP Lexus RC F GT3, while Giorgio Roda and Giammarco Levorato will race the #88 Proton Ford Mustang GT3, with both Mikkel Pedersen and team owner Christian Ried stepping away from the cockpit for the bonus points finale.

Liam Lawson says thinking about auditioning for a Red Bull seat in 2025 is “very far” from his focus, which is simply on meeting the performance criteria set by RB on his Formula 1 return.

The New Zealander will return to an F1 seat in Austin after Daniel Ricciardo was let go by RB following the Singapore Grand Prix, with Red Bull seeking to assess his performance versus Yuki Tsunoda as it considers its driver options for the future.

Lawson was touted as a potential replacement for Sergio Perez earlier this year, although Red Bull decided to put its faith in Perez lifting himself out of a mid-season slump.

Asked if there were any indications from Red Bull over what Lawson needed to do to put himself in the frame for a Red Bull drive, potentially as early as 2025, he replied that he was only focused on the performance targets he had been set.

“I mean, I think [that thinking about a Red Bull drive is] very far ahead, honestly,” Lawson said. “The target or the goal that’s been set out is the same as it’s always been since I was 17 and joined the program.

“It’s all performance-based, and that’s basically how they’ll be looking at it. Obviously, Yuki’s done a very good job the last couple of years, and especially this year.

“He’s the benchmark for them to compare me against; he’s the only one in the same car as me. So I’ll be directly compared with him.

“I guess the goal or the expectation from them is for me to compete alongside him. In terms of where that sets me out for next year or in the future, I have absolutely no idea. But that’s the target that’s been set out.”

Liam Lawson, Reserve Driver, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Lawson said that there were no specific points targets set out that he needed to achieve, but he felt that he needed to break into the top 10 quickly to help RB cement its claim for sixth in the constructors’ championship.

He added that the nature of the Austin F1 sprint weekend was a “difficult” way to return, given his lack of experience on the circuit and the limited practice running available to him.

“[The break has been about] just preparing as much as possible; it’s a difficult time to come into the season, obviously with a sprint weekend this weekend, new track, end of the season, so I’m just trying to be as ready as possible.

“I think it’s not as simple as a position or like ‘this is where I want to be’. I think it’s scoring points mainly for myself, because what the team’s going to judge me on is how I perform, and the best way to do that is score points.

“And also for the team, fighting for P6 in the championship as well. I’ll basically be trying to get to the points as soon as possible, for me that’s the goal.”

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have denied the adjustable front bib ride height device at the centre of a technical storm engulfing Red Bull at Austin has ever added Formula 1 car performance.

On Thursday at the United States Grand Prix, Red Bull admitted it was the team involved in discussions with the FIA over a clampdown on such a system – following the governing body being alerted to its existence at the previous round in Singapore.

It has been suggested that this device had a range of settings that could be adjusted – most likely by a mechanic at specific times – to help alter the car ride height.

While using such a system is normal, it would be illegal if this action was performed once parc ferme conditions began after qualifying and until the start of a race (including sprints).

A Red Bull representative said: “Yes, it exists although it is inaccessible once the car is fully assembled and ready to run.

“In the numerous correspondence we have with the FIA, this part came up and we have agreed a plan going forward.”

Red Bull’s drivers then faced the media in the paddock at the Circuit of the Americas, with Perez speaking first.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

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When asked by Motorsport.com how the team had reacted to the saga, Perez claimed: “There has been nothing that we were doing. We never actually talked about it. It was impossible.

“If anything, for example, I remember here that last year it was a sprint event, so we ended up with the ride height [close to] the moon.

“It was completely out of it because we were concerned about something like what happened to Mercedes [and Ferrari, being disqualified for excessive underfloor plank wear] that could happen to us.”

Pressed on whether he and Verstappen knew the controversial part existed, Perez replied: “I knew it existed but it was not available to us [to be used].”

Regarding the implication that such a device – if used under parc ferme conditions – would be performance-enhancing and if they expected any impact on performance, both Red Bull drivers denied this.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Verstappen claimed when he first saw the initial story about the device being discussed with the FIA, he believed it actually involved another team.

“It is open source, right?” he said of the parts whose design has to be submitted to the FIA so competitors are aware.

“Everyone can see it. For us it was just an easy tool when the parts were off. It was to adjust, but once the whole car is built together you cannot touch it. So for us it doesn’t change.

“When I read it [the story], I was thinking about other teams doing it and then I found out it was related to our team, and we never even mentioned it in the briefing.”

The saga over the Red Bull system comes hot on the heels of technical intrigue surrounding the team’s main rival McLaren, which has made changes to its rear wing following controversy over a ‘mini-DRS’ concept.

Perez said that ultimately it was down to the FIA to decide if what teams were doing was allowed or not.

“I think it is down to the FIA to draw a line whether it is legal or illegal,” he explained. “They are the ones who control the sport, so at the end of the day it is up to them to decide.”

Brodie Kostecki has provided details on just how sick he was on the way to taking his first Bathurst 1000 win last weekend.

Speaking on Supercars’ Drivers Only podcast, Kostecki said: “Well, I had the shits with myself, but I literally had the shits that day.

“Physically, I was feeling horrible to the point where I was on the shred. It was not good. I wasn’t feeling good on Friday.

“On the Friday, I was just minimal laps trying to stay fresh for qualifying. But yeah, I was getting a bit of double vision and all that sort of stuff going on. Bit feverish.

“I was glad to actually just put it in the Shootout, to be honest.”

Such were Kostecki’s issues that co-driver Todd Hazelwood was wary about sharing the car in the race with an unwell teammate, joking: “We did joke on Saturday, like, we’re going to have to put a garbage bag in the seat.

“Like, ‘I don’t want to be sitting in that’.”

Brodie Kostecki, Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

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Under the circumstances, the flat-out 30-lap sprint to the end of the race with Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney barely a second behind him – all the while managing a tight fuel window – was even more impressive.

“Those last 30 laps there were gruelling, they were so intense,” Kostecki said.

“It was within a second for a lot of, you know, for over 50 percent of that last stint. And I’ve got a display on my dash that shows me how far Broc was behind me.

“I’d be going down the hill every lap, pretty much hanging my balls out on the line, ready to write this Chiko roll off and roll through the sand.”

The 26-year-old has two rounds remaining until the end of the season, after which he will move to Dick Johnson Racing to race a Ford Mustang in 2025.