Oliver Solberg says returning to the World Rally Championship’s top tier next year is his “dream”, but is wary not to make the same “mistake I did last time”.

The WRC2 points leader is yet to secure a WRC seat for next season but could have options to graduate to Rally1 or remain in the second tier for a third consecutive campaign.

Solberg’s best chance to make the step back to Rally1 next year is likely to come from M-Sport-Ford, with the team’s plans for its two Ford Pumas for next season, “up in the air”, according to team principal Richard Millener.

M-Sport could have both seats open for 2025 with its lead driver Adrien Fourmaux heavily linked to a move away from the British squad to pilot the third factory Hyundai entry.

Solberg was linked to a Rally1 drive with M-Sport for this season before opting to sign a deal with Skoda to compete in WRC2, driving for the Toksport outfit.

The 23-year-old admitted that making the leap back to Rally1 next year would be “difficult” and “attractive”, but ensuring he is making the right step is critical to the decision.

Solberg’s most recent Rally1 experience came in 2022 when the Swede endured a difficult part-time campaign piloting Hyundai’s third car that yielded four top-10 finishes and three retirements.

Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

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“I don’t think it [2025] looks very different to what I have now, and obviously the dream is to be in Rally1 but I think that will be difficult, but you never know,” Solberg told Autosport/Motorsport.com.

When asked about the possibility of vacant seats at M-Sport, he added: “If I think about my short-term future, maybe it would be very attractive, but long-term my dream is to stay in the WRC for a long time and I don’t want to do the same mistake I did last time with Hyundai.

“Obviously, [with] what happened there, you are very careful about what decision you make. I think M-Sport could be great and they have had a great season, it is difficult.

“I am one of the youngest [drivers here] but it is big step for your career and you want to be sure that you make the right one this time.”

Solberg maintains that he has “cool” options to continue in WRC2 if graduating to Rally1 next year doesn’t eventuate.

“I think I have very good options for WRC2 and I am extremely lucky with the options I have been offered,” he added.

“It is something that I don’t think anyone has got in WRC2 to be honest, for sure that is very attractive, but my dream is Rally1, but at least for WRC2 I have some cool options.”

Solberg’s stock could yet rise as the driver could secure a maiden WRC2 title should results go his way at the Japan season finale next month.

The Skoda driver currently leads the standings but won’t be competing on Japan’s asphalt roads having already completed his seven point-scoring events.

Solberg will however secure the title if rival Sami Pajari fails to finish either first or second in Japan.

“Obviously I love rallying so I will probably watch every stage [on TV at home],” he added. “But, normally when I watch its goes good for my competitors, so maybe I will just go and disappear somewhere.

“We will see, it could be very exciting.”

Honda is “prepared for some conflicts” with design legend Adrian Newey on how to best approach the 2026 Formula 1 regulations as they join forces at Aston Martin.

Newey’s arrival at the Silverstone-based outfit for next year was revealed in September following months of speculation over his landing zone in F1.

The Briton had announced his departure from Red Bull earlier in the season after almost two decades with the Milton Keynes-based squad, one of a number of key members of staff to seek employment elsewhere in recent years.

Honda had been in partnership with Red Bull since 2019, albeit leaving F1 in an official capacity at the end of the 2021 season and instead becoming a technical partner to the world championship-winning constructor.

The marriage faced the biggest issue, teams other than Ferrari, Mercedes and Alpine have in that the requirements from the chassis designers and the power unit design team can often clash, meaning compromises need to made rather than having a harmonious build process.

But, in spite of that, Red Bull and Honda have won each drivers’ championship since 2021 and taken the constructors’ title in the past two seasons.

Aston Martin will face the same task when teaming up with Honda for F1’s new era of technical regulations in 2026, but speaking to Motorsport.com in an exclusive interview Honda Racing Corrporation president Koji Watanabe said he hopes Newey’s arrival could spark a replication of the Japanese marque’s achievements this decade with Red Bull.

Lawrence Stroll, Toshihiro Sanbe,,President and CEO Honda Motor,Koji Watanabe, President of Honda Racing Corporation,,Martin Whitmarsh

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“We’re pleased to see Aston Martin taking steady steps to strengthen their competitiveness as a team,” said Watanabe.

“We’re very encouraged that they have solidified their management structure, including Newey’s involvement.

“I’ve worked with Newey before, and he has an incredible passion for building fast cars.

“While we build the PU and they build the car’s chassis, there are times when our visions don’t always align.

“In such cases, there are conflicts between what the chassis team wants and what the PU team wants, but together, we’ve managed to create the best car in the world.

“With Newey now at Aston Martin, I expect similar challenges to arise, but I hope this will lead to the Aston Martin Honda team becoming the best in the world. We’re prepared for some conflicts. Of course, it’s not just with Newey.”

The tech intrigue surrounding Red Bull’s front bib adjuster has thrown a spotlight on Formula 1’s parc ferme rules.

Central to the issue surrounding Red Bull is not that it had a device inside the car that can raise or lower the bib.

Instead, it all revolves around whether or not the team ever used it to make such a car change during parc ferme restrictions that are in place between the start of qualifying and the race.

The theory from some of its rivals is that it would be very simple for a Red Bull mechanic to lean in the cockpit with a tool and make such an adjustment on the sly.

Red Bull suggests such claims are nonsense and that it would have been impossible for it to do anything like that without getting spotted by the FIA, as it showed off a two-foot long tool that it says was used to make the tweaks in practice.

The views on both sides of the debate seem pretty entrenched right now. But, from the FIA’s perspective, the policing of parc ferme rules are pretty robust.

F1’s parc ferme rules are laid down in the sporting regulations and mainly allow only maintenance and safety changes, whether it be repairing accident damage, fixing broken components or alterations to improve driver comfort.

Set-up tweaks are heavily restricted and pretty much the only performance element that can be changed is the front wing flap angle. Teams cannot add, remove or replace bodywork parts.

If there are any parts of the car that the team wants to replace, then it must lodge a written request with the FIA and ensure that any new components are similar in design, mass, inertia and function to the original. Any parts taken off a car are also retained by the FIA should further checks be needed.

FIA delegates are checking the Red Bull Racing RB20 of Max Verstappen

Photo by: Andreas Beil

A watchful eye

To ensure teams comply with the rules, the FIA has two systems in place – one human and one electronic.

The first element is the use of scrutineers, who are assigned to each car for the duration of the weekend, to check the rules are complied with.

As the FIA’s deputy technical delegate Manuel Leal explained: “We have 20 scrutineers monitoring every single operation that is being done to the car and writing that down for us to check later.

“Also, at the beginning of the season, teams have to submit a list of operations they will normally conduct in parc fermé within the regulations, and we approve them or not.

“Each car is different so they might say that for them to check the combustion chamber, they need to remove the spark plugs and for removing the spark plugs, they need to remove something else. This list is given to the scrutineers, so they can follow what’s going on.” 

Beyond the scrutineer physically logging everything the team does, there are cameras inside the garages too.

Leal pointed out: “We have an overhead camera above each car that is monitored and recorded.

“Essentially, it’s similar to the CCTV any security firm might run. We monitor in real time, there are people watching constantly, and we can view anything that happens to that car.”

Set-up sheets

There are further ways that the FIA has to ensure that teams are not making sneaky changes to their cars that would be outside the regulations.

“The teams need to declare a set-up sheet for each car before qualifying,” explained Leal.

“That details cambers, toes, corner weights and so on. So, for example, if they crash and need to put the car back together, we will go down and check that they are only repairing the crash damage and not changing the set-up.

“We need to see the same cambers, the same toe and we will want to do a set-up check.

“If something needs to be replaced, say a potentiometer on a suspension has failed, we need to see evidence of the failure, and if it’s related to a critical performance point, such as weight distribution, ballast, suspension set-up, or aero – bar the front wing flap – then you will have an FIA person checking that it’s the same.”

Nikolas Tombazis, Head of Single Seater Technical Matters, FIA

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Fitting seals

The FIA is aware that scope is there for teams to make adjustments deep within the car that could alter a setting, which is why there are further ways it can guarantee compliance.

This is through the appliance of seals on device that can change settings – and that is something which happened with the Red Bull bib adjuster in Austin.

“Engines and gearboxes are, of course, sealed,” says Leal. “But we have the right to apply seals to whatever part we wish to keep track of.

“So if there is something we are concerned about that is critical and difficult to see live, even with the cameras, then we will add a seal.

“As a minimum, it’s gearboxes, power units, energy recovery systems, bodywork panels, the driver’s seat, but we can place seals wherever necessary. I think over the course of the season we order anything up to 40,000 seals, so that gives an indication of how stringent our checks are.”

Teams can work on their cars for two hours after qualifying, before a cover must be placed over it and left secure until the following day.

This cover is then removed five hours before the start of the formation lap for any further work.

And to further check compliance, the FIA does regular examinations of cars on race morning with its own staff to be totally sure that everything is in order.

Leal added: “FIA personnel typically do set-up and parts spec checks on Sunday morning, just to make sure that there is nothing a scrutineer has missed, which to be honest is rare.

“But it’s just a further level of vigilance for us to make sure that teams have stuck to the regulations, that we have a level playing field and that, unless there is a compelling reason, we go into the race with cars in the condition they qualified.” 

Super Formula has insisted that the removal of its planned South Korea race from the 2025 calendar does not mark the end of its plans to expand its footprint in Asia.

The Japanese championship announced in August that it would be visiting the Inje Speedium circuit next year, in what was set to be its first overseas race since 2004.

However, it was revealed earlier this month during the most recent round at Fuji that the Inje race would not be going ahead after all as negotiations between Super Formula organiser JRP and the promoter of the Inje event failed to reach a positive conclusion.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, JRP President Yoshihisa Ueno made it clear that the door is open for a fresh round of negotiations with Inje, although he stressed there aren’t “concrete” plans for the venue to feature on the 2026 calendar.

“We had imposed a deadline of mid-September to conclude the negotiations because we needed to start preparing for next year and also we needed to submit a final version of the calendar to [JAF],” explained Ueno.

”Unfortunately we couldn’t make it in time, but it’s not the end of the road and we would like to continue discussions with them to try and make the race happen in the future.”

Pit lane

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Inje may not be Super Formula’s only option to hold an overseas round in 2026, with Ueno revealing there have been approaches from “several circuits in Asia”, without giving away any specific countries or tracks.

But Ueno cautioned that any agreement to host a race in Asia must be mutually beneficial and ultimately lead to an uptick in Super Formula’s popularity overseas.

“We want to play a role in making motorsport culture grow in that country, so it will lead to an increase in fan interest in the championship,” he said. “It has to benefit us as well.”

Even with no overseas race on the 2025 schedule, Super Formula is still set for its largest ever number of races in a single season with 12, up from this year’s nine.

This comes as a result of the number of double-headers being expanded from two this season to five, with only the Autopolis and Sugo rounds staying as one-race weekends.

While Super Formula has been working towards increasing the number of races in recent seasons, Ueno admits that the congested nature of the domestic motorsport calendar makes it challenging to increase the number of events held on Japanese soil.

He suggested there could be up to three overseas rounds held in future, with fewer constraints in terms of available dates due to the warmer climates of other Asian countries.

“Our goal is to eventually have 10 events in a year,” stated Ueno. “But because the schedule in Japan is quite crowded with SUPER GT and Super Taikyu, the extra ones will have to be outside Japan.”

Ueno added that the ideal scenario for Super Formula would be to have all weekends as double-headers, which could mean a 20-race schedule in future.

“We are thinking about going in that direction,” he admitted. “There are still many things that need to fall into place for that to happen, though.”

Mercedes thinks that its rollercoaster United States Grand Prix form was triggered by a set-up that ‘flirted’ with the ground too much.

The German manufacturer was left scratching its head at the end of the Austin weekend as it struggled to understand why it had been so competitive in sprint qualifying, with both cars in contention for pole, and then struggled so much the rest of the weekend.

Adding to its woes were identical spins that George Russell and Lewis Hamilton suffered at Turn 19, one in qualifying and one in the race, which fuelled questions over whether an upgrade fitted to the W15 had trigged some unexpected problems.

It has left team boss Toto Wolff convinced that its pre-summer form – when it won three races out of four – is now long gone and the squad is once again adrift of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull.

“We’re back to underdog status,” said Wolff. “We are not back to the pre-summer situation. It’s not about coming into the weekend and thinking we’re going to win this.

“It’s more going into the weekend and thinking at the moment we’re the fourth team on the road.”

George Russell, Mercedes W15

Photo by: Andreas Beil

While the team is still working on understanding its car better, James Allison thinks that there is a simple explanation for what happened in Austin – and it revolves more around its set-up choices than anything else.

Speaking in Mercedes’ regular post-race debrief about what had gone wrong between Friday and the rest of the weekend, he said: “That is the million-dollar question.

“Not only did George nearly secure the pole in that [sprint pole] session, but Lewis also nearly smashed it utterly out the park. He was way ahead of any of the times until he got a bit tangled up with [Franco] Colapinto.

“Why that did not materialise in the rest of the weekend, is the key question for us. My guess is that we were flirting a bit too closely with the ground.

“These cars like running low and you generally pick up lap time as you can get the car nearer to the ground. But, push it too far and the car starts behaving in an unpleasant fashion.

“If you just hit a bump wrong, it will unseat the car, make the rear end come out on you and just deliver a level of performance that when it is good, it is great.

“But if you just hit a bump at the wrong moment or a crosswind at the wrong time, then you get punished for it. My guess is that we were just pushing our luck a little bit too much in terms of how near to the ground we got, how stiff we ran it.”

While Hamilton suggested after his early race exit that the team needed to question whether or not to continue with the latest upgrade package, Allison says there are no doubts it is a step forward.

And, while acknowledging that the spins suffered by Hamilton and Russell were unusual, he does not think they were triggered by new parts.

“All the things we measured suggested that the upgrade package was behaving as we would expect,” he said. “The downforce was there.

“We did not see prior to the spins anything breaking down on the flow structures under the car. There is every reason to think the updates were good and we will enjoy that for the remainder of the year.

“The spikiness that we saw that pitched us into the barriers on an unusual number of occasions was because we had the car too low, too stiff, and had the handling degrade unacceptably as a result.”

Valentino Rossi’s run in BMW’s M Hybrid V8 LMDh at the World Endurance Championship rookie test in Bahrain next month has been confirmed. 

BMW has officially revealed the seven-time MotoGP champion’s participation in the test with the factory WRT Hypercar class squad on the day after the final round the 2024 WEC along with that of fellow factory drivers Dan Harper and Max Hesse. 

The confirmation comes four weeks after Rossi, who is racing a WRT BMW in the LMGT3 class of the WEC as well as in the GT World Challenge Europe, unilaterally announced that his promised run in the M Hybrid would come as expected at the rookie test. 

Rossi, who got his first taste of a prototype in a WRT-run ORECA-Gibson 07 LMP at the rookie test last year, said: “I am thrilled that I can test the Hypercar – we have been looking for a date for a long time, and now it has finally worked out. 

“I really wanted to do this test to get a feel for what the BMW M Hybrid V8 can do. 

“Many thanks to BMW M Motorsport for this opportunity.”

BMW M Motorsport boss Andreas Roos added that he is “looking forward to seeing what our rookies can do”.

#20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Sheldon Van Der Linde, Robin Frijns, Rene Rast

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

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Briton Harper and German Hesse are being given an outing in the M Hybrid after impressing at the wheel of BMW’s M4 GT3 since their graduation from the marque’s revived junior programme to full factory status for 2023.

Their successes together this year include a third-place finish in the Nurburgring 24 Hours with the RMG team and a GTWCE Endurance Cup victory at Paul Ricard in April, sharing an M4 GT3 with Charles Weerts and Augusto Farfus respectively. 

Harper and Hesse have already driven the M Hybrid: they have undertaken aerodynamic testing and Hesse has been involved in development on the simulator.

Rossi, Harper and Hesse join a growing list of drivers confirmed to take part in the rookie test in Bahrain aboard Hypercar machinery.

It includes Theo Pourchaire and Clement Novalak with Peugeot, Victor Martins with Alpine and Arthur Leclerc with Ferrari. 

Esteban Masson will be given a run with Toyota after racing for sister marque Lexus in LMGT3 this year.

Reshad de Gerus, who finished third in LMP2 at the Le Mans 24 Hours with IDEC Sport this year, has been nominated to take part by the series organiser. 

The Frenchman will drive for whichever marque wins the manufacturers’ title. 

Motorsport.com says

Valentino Rossi driving a car that competes for outright honours in the WEC and at Le Mans  may grab the headlines for BMW as well as the series, but his run shouldn’t be regarded as a try-out for a seat in one of the M Hybrids for next year or any other time. 

This is a PR opportunity and a bit of fun for Rossi. We shouldn’t forget that his post-MotoGP career on four wheels is as much about enjoyment as trying to win races. 

Rossi has stated that his target isn’t to race BMW’s LMDh, though he has qualified that with a ‘you never know’. 

The reality is that he is nearly 46 and coming to the end of only his third full season of car racing. He’s not on the pace of his professional team-mates in the M4 GT3, so it would be unrealistic to expect him to match them in a prototype. 

Hypercar in the WEC is far too competitive to have any weak links in the chain.

The world shouldn’t be speculating whether Rossi will ever race the M Hybrid, rather where he will be competing in 2025. The Italian plans to cut back on his schedule next year and will have to decide between the WEC and the GTWCE.