The FIA’s Formula 1 Commission has approved the introduction of driver cooling kits for the 2025 season, to be used in extreme heat conditions.

Driver cooling has become a topic since the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, with several drivers suffering from symptoms of heat exhaustion after the chequered flag.

As first reported by Motorsport.com in July, the FIA and all F1 teams initiated research to improve the venting and cooling of drivers in such extreme conditions.

Initial proposals involved fitting a simplified air conditioning system to the cars but while exact technical details are yet to emerge, Motorsport.com understands the solution now agreed between the FIA, F1 and all teams involves a simplified system that no longer requires an AC unit.

The system will only be mandated by the FIA in extreme heat conditions, with the minimum weight of the cars increased correspondingly when applicable.

The Commission also agreed to change the protocol for closing up the grid whenever certain cars don’t make it to the start of a race. The issue came up in Brazil when Williams driver Alex Albon failed to make the start after a heavy crash in that morning’s qualifying session, with his team unable to repair the car due to the compressed timetable.

Mechanics clear the grid prior to the start

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Albon’s car was withdrawn long before the race, but per the existing grid protocols the definitive starting grid had already been set and his seventh place on the grid was still left vacated.

Motorsport.com understands the FIA will now tighten up its procedure by forming the final grid one hour before the start at the latest. That means cars that are withdrawn up to 75 minutes before the start will be not be included in the final grid, and the following cars can all move up the relevant positions to close up the grid.

During the Geneva meeting the Commission, which was chaired by the FIA’s head of single-seaters Nikolas Tombazis and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, also tidied up elements of the 2025 financial rules, approving expanded exemptions against the cost cap for costs relating to sustainability initiatives.

The meeting discussed the progress that has been made on the 2026 technical regulations to improve the performance levels by increasing downforce, as recently explained by Tombazis. The statement said the FIA is confident that the much-discussed technical regulations for 2026 will be ready in time for approval by the FIA World Motor Sport Council after the conclusion of the 2024 season.

There have also been revisions to the FIA sporting regulations to incorporate gender-neutral language, removing certain masculine pronouns and other gendered language. Similar tweaks had already been made to the sporting regulations of F2 and F3 late last year.

It’s shocking to think NASCAR’s playoff format has been around for 20 years. Its Chase for the Cup, the original ‘new’ playoff format, kicked off in 2004. In its first three years, it produced three champions from three different organizations. It seemed to be accomplishing exactly what NASCAR intended it to do, keeping the title fight interesting to the very end. And then came along Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus, and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team to smash their hopes into a million Lowe’s-colored pieces.

NASCAR has always been keen to tweak the format, and come 2014, the series’ complete overhaul stunned the racing world. The new, multi-round elimination format would hopefully ensure no single driver could ever game the system like that again. Except, after Joey Logano’s  third title win in Phoenix, along with Team Penske clinching a third consecutive Cup title, you have to wonder if maybe they’d successfully accomplished NASCAR’s nightmare: Cracking the code to winning the playoff game as the No. 48 once did.

Championship victory lane: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2010 champion Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorspor

Photo by: Motorsport.com / ASP Inc.

Think of it this way, Logano is this format’s Jimmie Johnson. Now, stay with me because I’m not saying Logano has had Johnson-esque seasons. But he is the only driver to win three titles in this format, collecting three of the last seven Cup championships. After last weekend’s 1-2, Penske has now won three consecutive which hasn’t been done since the Johnson era. Obviously, it’s not the five years of dominance the Johnson/Knaus enjoyed, but it’s still quite the feat for a format designed to ensure any sort of dominance or consistent winning is prevented. Yet, no driver has made more final four appearances than Logano.

A look at the years where Logano has won reveals a common trend: Every single time he won the Cup, he always won the first race in the Round of 8 too. Logano advanced on by shoving Martin Truex Jr. out of the way to win Martinsville in 2018, out-dueled Ross Chastain at Vegas in 2022, and bested everyone in a fuel-mileage race at Vegas in 2024. For the two weeks that followed these critical race wins, his team focused solely on the finale, enough that he usually ran terribly at the races in between. Yet he’d then go on to win the finale and title. He never won more than two races during the 26-race regular season of any of these title runs either, but he did win when it mattered most. 

Beware the 48…and now the 22?

When the Chase for the Cup kicked off each year, everyone knew that they had to accept Johnson and the No. 48’s eventual success. It wouldn’t (and didn’t) matter what sort of season they had up to that point. Johnson and team always found a way in through those final ten races. Hell, he even managed to win a couple more titles as NASCAR changed the format around on him, including his record-tying seventh title in the Championship 4 era. That actually would be the first time Johnson had ever won at Homestead, because in all of the years before that, he never needed to (points racing was still a crucial part of the old playoff format). Like Logano, he did exactly what he needed to do, when he needed to do it, and benefited greatly because of it.

These teams basically used the first 26 race weeks to prepare and perfect their cars for the races that truly mattered. Just look at Logano earlier in the year. His crew always seemed to be figuring things out and stumbling over themselves at the start of these seasons that lead into title wins. In 2024, he had just one top-five finish in the first 14 races. In 2022, Logano was a third of the way through the season before he even won a race. In 2018, it was the same story again, with a single superspeedway victory during the entirety of the regular season.

Logano’s consistent approach of winning — when he needed to — is extremely reminiscent of the Hendrick No. 48 of the late 2000s. Again, Logano isn’t dominating like Johnson did, but that’s not what this particular format demands. We’re looking at a format where you can technically win the Daytona 500, DNF the next 25 races, then proceed to bounce through each round on the back of race wins and capture the big prize.

If you can make the playoffs and survive the first two rounds, you’re only one win away from being within reach of the crown. It’s frustrating to many as Logano is taking mostly average seasons, like his 17.1 average finish this year, the lowest-ever for a championship-winning driver, and turning them into gold, but he’s simply gaming the system better than those around them, just like the No. 48 of old.

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang and Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

And this had bled over to his Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, who earned only one regular season win in 2023 and two in 2024 before collecting playoff wins at the most critical moments — including the Round of 8. Where Blaney differs from Logano is that he tends to win the closing race of that penultimate round instead of the opener.

On the flip side, and what makes the two different, is the majority of Johnson’s wins during that five-year run were earned during the regular season. Why? Because — and I know I’m repeating myself but I want to emphasize this — that’s what the format demanded. The final ten races worked as a sort of a mini-season with the most points over those ten weeks serving as the path towards the title. There were still bonus points, but they came from wins during the regular season, so that’s what he did while remaining consistent in the finals stretch.

While still a force of nature in the postseason, 22 of Johnson’s 35 wins between 2006 and 2010 came during the regular season. He only went out to win a bunch of playoff races when he couldn’t shake his rivals. For example, in 2007, he was trailing Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon halfway through the postseason, so like flipping a switch, Johnson proceeded to win four of the last five races, crushing the hopes of his fellow Hall of Famer.

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang, winner, Burn Out

Photo by: Gavin Baker / NKP / Motorsport Images

As for Logano, he wasn’t always like this. Looking at the strongest season of his career (2015), he finished sixth in points. That year, he appeared to go 100% in every single playoff race whether he was locked into the next round or not. He ended up sweeping an entire round, which has never been done by anyone else in this format (although Larson did win three in a row across two rounds in 2021).

But Logano didn’t make it to the Championship 4 that year because in his quest to win no matter what, he drew the ire of Matt Kenseth by spinning him out in the battle for the win. Kenseth took revenge at Martinsville while Logano was leading, sinking his 2015 title bid. Maybe he learned something from that, as what we’re seeing now is a far more decisive Logano who is aggressive, but only when it matters. Perhaps Kenseth did him a favor that day, helping to shape the three-time champion we now know.

The Chase for the Cup had Johnson and people hated it because he was too dominant. The elimination format today has Logano, but people hate it because he’s not dominant enough during the year. When NASCAR used a season-long format, people hated that a driver [Kenseth] with a single win in March could point their way to the title. No matter the system, someone is going to figure it out how to hack it and take advantage of that opportunity. That’s just how it is. Logano and Team Penske together appear to have harvested that power. We’ll see if they continue to put it to use for another title in 2025.

Following heavy flooding in Valencia, MotoGP has moved the venue for the season finale to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The race will officially be called as the Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona, with all proceeds going to those affected by the natural disaster in Valencia.

Barcelona already held a round earlier in the year, but the stakes will be higher this time as Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia battle for the 2024 riders’ title. The odds are in the favour of Martin, who holds a 24-point lead going into the weekend and has a chance of sealing the title as early as Saturday’s sprint race.

Event	Date
	10:45
Barcelona GP FREE PRACTICE 1
Barcelona GP PRACTICE Advertisement
Barcelona GP FREE PRACTICE 2
Barcelona GP QUALIFYING 1
Barcelona GP QUALIFYING 2
Barcelona GP SPRINT Advertisement
Barcelona GP WARM UP
Barcelona GP Race

2024 MotoGP Barcelona Grand Prix session timings in different timezones

2024 MotoGP Barcelona Grand Prix session timings in the UK and Portugal

Friday 15th November 2024

• Free Practice 1: 09:45 – 10:30 GMT
• Free Practice 2: 14:00 – 15:00 GMT

Saturday 16th November 2024

• Free Practice 3: 09:10 – 09:40 GMT
• Qualifying: 09:50 – 10:30 GMT
• Sprint: 14:00 GMT

Sunday 17th November 2024

• Warm up: 08:40 – 08:50 GMT
• Race: 13:00 GMT

2024 MotoGP Barcelona Grand Prix session timings in Europe 

Friday 15th November 2024

• Free Practice 1: 10:45 – 11:30 CET
• Free Practice 2: 15:00 – 16:00 CET

Saturday 16th November 2024

• Free Practice 3: 10:10 – 10:40 CET
• Qualifying: 10:50 – 11:30 CET
• Sprint: 15:00 CET

Sunday 17th November 2024

• Warm up: 09:40 – 09:50 CET
• Race: 14:00 CET

2024 MotoGP Barcelona Grand Prix session timings in the US (Eastern Time)

Friday 15th November 2024

• Free Practice 1:  04:45 – 05:30 ET
• Free Practice 2:  09:00 – 10:00 ET 

Saturday 16th November 2024

• Free Practice 3: 04:10 – 04:40 ET 
• Qualifying: 04:50 – 05:30 ET 
• Sprint: 09:00 ET 

Sunday 17th November 2024

• Warm-up: 03:40 – 03:50 ET
• Race: 08:00 ET 

2024 MotoGP Barcelona Grand Prix session timings in the US (Pacific Time)

Friday 15th November 2024

• Free Practice 1:  01:45 – 02:30 PT
• Free Practice 2:  06:00 – 07:00 PT

Saturday 16th November 2024

• Free Practice 3: 01:10 – 01:40 PT
• Qualifying:  01:50 -02:30 PT
• Sprint: 06:00 PT

Sunday 17th November 2024

• Warm-up: 00:40 – 00:50 PT
• Race:  05:00 PT

2024 MotoGP Barcelona Grand Prix session timings in Australia

Friday 15th November 2024

• Free Practice 1: 20:45 – 21:30 AEDT

Saturday 16th November 2024

• Free Practice 2: 01:00 – 02:00 AEDT
• Free Practice 3: 20:10 – 20:40 AEDT
• Qualifying: 20:50 – 21:30 AEDT

Sunday 17th November 2024

• Sprint: 01:00 AEDT
• Warm-up: 19:40 – 19:50 AEDT

Monday 18th November 2024

2024 MotoGP Barcelona Grand Prix session timings in Japan

Friday 15th November 2024

• Free Practice 1: 18:45 – 19:30 JST 
• Free Practice 2: 23:00 – 00:00 JST 

Saturday 16th November 2024

• Free Practice 3: 18:10 – 18:40 JST 
• Qualifying: 18:50 – 19:30 JST
• Sprint: 23:00 JST

Sunday 17th November 2024

• Warm-up: 17:40 – 17:50 JST
• Race: 22:00 JST

2024 MotoGP Barcelona Grand Prix session timings in India

Friday 15th November 2024

• Free Practice 1: 15:15 – 16:00 IST 
• Free Practice 2: 19:30 – 20:30 IST

Saturday 16th November 2024

• Free Practice 3: 14:40 – 15:10 IST 
• Qualifying: 15:20 – 16:00 IST
• Sprint: 19:30 IST

Sunday 17th November 2024

• Warm-up: 14:10 – 14:20 IST
• Race: 18:30 IST

Can’t find your country or region in the list? Check the MotoGP schedule page for the broadcast times in your local timezone.

Can I stream the Barcelona Grand Prix?

MotoGP has its own on-demand streaming service, offering live broadcast of practice, qualifying and the Sprint, as well as highlights. The MotoGP Video pass is available for an annual fee of 139.99 euros. Several local broadcasters also stream MotoGP races on their official websites

With a large amount of recent news to dissect, Bryn Lucas chats with Kevin Turner and Alex Kalinauckas to answer your questions. Topics include the departure of the FIA’s F1 Race Director Niels Wittich and his reported firing, the shocking statement from the Grand Prix Drivers Association, Alpine’s confirmed purchasing of Mercedes power units and gearboxes for 2026, Dan Fallows stepping down as Aston Martin’s technical director, and F1 having a huge live show to launch the 2025 season, and why it’s seen as a “travesty” by Alex. If you have any questions, be sure to leave them in the comments below! #f1 #fia #gpda

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Welcome to the 2008 Formula 1 grid: Lewis Hamilton clinched his maiden world championship, Red Bull was on the brink of dominance, and everyone was embracing their emo phase. A resurfaced video from the final race of the season showed key members of the paddock, including most of that season’s drivers, lip syncing My Chemical Romance’s punk rock hit, “Welcome to the Black Parade.”

If that’s a string of words you never expected to read in a sentence, you should remember that the late 2000s had a very different vibe. The endearing clip, which has the feel of a middle-school iMovie project, was actually an ITV production that aired before the last race of the season in Brazil.

For those still new to F1, ITV held the series’ broadcast rights in the UK from 1997 to 2008, totaling 206 Grands Prix over 12 years (BBC regained the rights in 2009, but agreed to a deal with Sky Sports just two years later). The network was credited with changing the way we consume F1 by producing more interviews, better camera angles, and in-depth reporting. However, it was heavily criticized for interrupting races with commercials, ultimately missing over 31 races’ worth of live action. Notably, the ad breaks meant viewers didn’t get to see Damon Hill’s stunning pass on Michael Schumacher at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix or the gearbox issue that dashed Hamilton’s title hopes at Interlagos in 2007, among other pivotal moments.

But let’s get back to the video: long before lip-syncing-as-entertainment was normalized by TikTok, ITV tapped a few familiar faces to help them say goodbye to the sport. While drivers like Hamilton, Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg only made brief appearances, others were clearly very enthusiastic about the task at hand.

David Coulthard, along with future world champions Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel fully embraced the emo spirit, playing air guitar and dancing around while mimicking the American emo band. Martin Brundle, Ted Kravitz, Steve Rider, James Allen (who has since joined Motorsport Network), and the late Murray Walker were also featured in the video, before ITV made a self-deprecating reference to their significant number of commercial breaks.

It was followed by clips of some of the most iconic on-track moments of the previous decade, a brief David and Victoria Beckham cameo, and concluded with an ode to Hamilton’s first title. “Surely the first of many for Lewis Hamilton, the world is at his feet,” the commentator accurately predicted at the end of the clip. Watch the full video below and see who else you spot.