Mercedes is set to use the final Formula 1 races of the season to gain further understanding of its weaknesses, having accepted it will finish fourth in the constructors’ standings.

The Silver Arrows displayed a turn in fortunes mid-season and after a winless 2023 picked up three race victories during the summer.

George Russell capitalised on contact between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris to win in Austria, before Lewis Hamilton took two race wins in Britain and Belgium, but the team has failed to continue that form into the end of the campaign.

Although Russell initially led early in the wet conditions at Interlagos last time out, he fell to fourth after pitting before the red flag to extend a run of races without a podium dating back to the September’s Azerbaijan GP, when Russell inherited third after Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez‘s late tangle.

With the gap to Red Bull in third now 162 points, and having seen its struggles lie in similar areas since the dawn of the ground-effect era, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin insisted the team would now focus on how to get on top of those issues for 2025 and the final year of the current rule cycle.

“The main thing in terms of learning is that the corners that we are weak in are still the same ones. It is the interconnected, slow corners. That is normally where we trip up,” explained Shovlin.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“Going into the weekend, we certainly had sector two in Brazil, which has a lot of those corners, on our radar as an area that we might struggle.

“The big focus in these remaining races for us is learning what we can. We are in a position in the championship where we cannot challenge in front of us. It is very unlikely we are going to see any challenge from behind.

“Our focus has very much shifted to learning what we need to this year to apply to next year in order to get on top of those issues.”

Despite its struggles in the rain during the Brazilian weekend, Shovlin pointed to the advantages of being able to run the car in the wet as part of its learning process ahead of the new campaign.

“In Brazil, it was useful having that wet running because you want to get a read on the car in the wet,” he added. “There is always a few wet quali and race sessions over the year. It was reassuring to see that the pace in those conditions was decent.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, on the pit wall

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“But we are going to be looking at all the remaining tracks to assess performance and just confirm what we understand about this car and whether the changes we are hoping to make for next year are going to improve those areas.”

On the specific characteristics that can be reviewed, Shovlin said: “Vegas has a lot of straight line and low-speed corners. Qatar is a faster track and then, finishing in Abu Dhabi, which is a mix of everything, it will give us a good read on how we are performing and who is the benchmark.

“Sometimes it is Red Bull, sometimes McLaren, sometimes Ferrari, but it will allow us to establish the gap that we need to close down over those winter months.”

Red Bull was concerned about being portrayed as the “villain” in the new Formula 1 film, co-producer Jerry Bruckheimer has revealed.

The upcoming F1 movie has seen heavy involvement from the real-world paddock, with filming continuing to take place on grand prix weekends, including at the recent Mexico City Grand Prix where star Brad Pitt was pictured waving to fans.

The cars used for the fictional APXGP feature F1 bodywork bolted to F2 machinery, with Mercedes having created the unique vehicles.

Due to this involvement, the black-and-gold cars feature Mercedes and AMG logos, something that led to rival teams, including Red Bull, fearing how they would be portrayed in the production.

In conversation with outgoing Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei at the 2024 Investor Day event in New York, Bruckheimer said: “The interesting part is that, since we teamed up with Mercedes, the other teams said ‘wait a second, this movie is going to be about Mercedes and we’re going to look bad’.

“Red Bull said ‘we’re going to be the villains’. It took us three years to convince them that they weren’t going to be the villains and we finally got to a place where all the teams are really leaning into us to really help us.”

When the title of the film was revealed in July, it was met with a mixed reaction, with it branded as either alienating or a good piece of marketing by our writers.

Brad Pitt

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

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Asked why this simplistic titling was important, Bruckheimer said: “Because the greatest racing movies were Le Mans and Grand Prix, and now there’s going to be F1.”

F1 has a release date of 25 June 2025 in the UK but details on where the global premiere will take place remain unconfirmed with Bruckheimer joking, “That’s up for discussion.”

When Maffei said, “I thought we had an idea. I thought I knew, but OK,” Bruckheimer added:

“I think we’re going to show it to the drivers and to the F1 teams in Monaco and then we’ll have premieres in New York, London and a bunch of other cities.

“Brad is really invested in this movie. He doesn’t like to do press but I think we’ll take him on a world tour where he’ll be glad to show his efforts in driving and acting in this movie.”

Bob Pockrass

FOX NASCAR Insider

Tony Stewart has spent the past couple of years training himself to drive a car that goes from 0 to 330 mph in a matter of seconds.

He’ll admit that it took him a while for his brain to process information as quickly as required in a dragster. Does that mean he can process everything quickly, now?

He’s not sure. Ask the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion about processing changing diapers, and he laughs about what his next challenge in the upcoming days.

“I’m trying to find every and any way I can to get out of having to change diapers,” Stewart said in an interview a few weeks ago. “But my wife is a very strong-willed woman, and she has assured me that I am not, under any circumstances, getting out of these responsibilities as a father and a parent.

“And I don’t blame her. It’s part of it.”

Stewart’s wife, Leah, is due in the next couple of weeks and the pending birth is the most exciting thing in the life of the NASCAR Hall of Fame driver. When they decided they wanted to start a family, Leah opted to step out of her top fuel car and Stewart, still a relative newbie in the drag racing world, stepped in.

It hasn’t been easy. Like any competitor, Stewart wants to consistently vie for wins. But he has embraced this new racing life. His NASCAR racing days in the rear-view mirror, Stewart has found joy in the challenge of competing in a totally new discipline where the car goes from 0 to 100 mph in 60 feet on its way to a top speed of 334 mph. 

“The car is going down the race track, and your brain’s behind it going, ‘Wait a minute, what’s going on? And how do I get caught up?’” Stewart said. “But like anything else — if you want to lift weights, you’ve got to work up to it. Your brain has the ability to do exactly the same thing. It is caught up now in the car.

“I know what the car is doing. If it moves, I know where it’s at. I know what to do to respond to it, but it took a while for my brain to get used to processing information as fast as it’s happening in a dragster.”

Heading into this weekend’s National Hot Rod Association season finale at the Pomona (Calif.) Dragstrip, Stewart sits 10th in the standings, having failed to advance out of the first round in 10 of 19 events this year. He has made the finals once, with his best finish a runner-up at Sonoma. He is a candidate for Rookie of the Year, but the season hasn’t gone as well as he wished.

“I’d like to say it’s going great,” Stewart said. “But it’s been a struggle this year. … . It was a big learning curve for me as a driver, for the team and the crew to tune the car to sit there and figure out how to make the car run better and perform the way that they need to perform.”

Stewart spent one year racing a top alcohol dragster and this year moved to the top fuel category. He has three victories in the top alcohol division.

“I thought at the beginning of the season that I, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was going to be the weak link of the team,” Stewart said. “I felt like the team was going to be better suited to win rounds and try to win races than I was going to be capable of at that time.

“Luckily, I’ve got a great wife that’s a great teacher, and I got up to speed fairly quickly on what I need to do as a driver to drive the car. We’ve just struggled.”

For Stewart, it’s the mindset that is the biggest difference between his former racing life and current one. He was used to 3.5-hour races. Now he does races in 3.5 seconds. 

“I’d say on the sprint car and the NASCAR side of things. the driver usually ends up being 70 percent of the equation of the success of it,” Stewart said. “That’s because of what they do with their hands and feet in the car, and where they’re lifting and how they’re driving the race car.

“They can manipulate the race car a little bit to a certain degree and make up for what it’s not doing that they need it to do. The NHRA side is opposite of that. It’s 70 percent of the tuners and 30 percent the drivers, There’s nothing I can do as a driver to make it go faster, but there’s about 20 ways every run that I can screw it up and slow it down or cause something catastrophic with the engine.”

Among the challenges were a change in chassis specs that no one knew how they would impact the performance. And then there was something else.

“Obviously, you know, not having Leah in the car and adding a driver that’s a little heavier in the race car, we knew that would be a factor to some degree, just not sure how big of a factor that was going to be,” Stewart said.

Stewart doesn’t know whether he will run in place of his wife at the start of next season. The NHRA has adopted rules for how points would be allocated if a driver uses a substitute driver for part of a season because of a driver’s pregnancy or fertility treatment. Those rules would allow, in certain situations, for the points earned by the replacement driver to go to the primary driver’s season total.

“Obviously I’m not a woman, and I have no idea what childbirth is like and what it takes to recover from that,” Stewart said. “I’m learning more and reading more about it, and it’s not an easy journey to get back to the forum before you get pregnant.

“We’re still trying to figure that out, but it’s ultimately going to be Leah’s decision. The reason I’m driving the car this year is because I’m just the replacement driver. I’ve told everyone, I’ll drive the car until she’s ready to come back. It is ultimately her race car and her race team, and when she wants to get back in that car, it’s going to be sitting there for her.”

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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Tony Stewart

The Monaco Grand Prix’s position on the Formula 1 calendar remains intact, bar a minor date tweak, as a new deal has been signed to run until 2031.

But given the iconic race’s place in F1 has come under question in recent years, is this the right move for the series? Our writers give their input.

There’s enough room in the calendar for one weekend where the thrill isn’t the race – but it has its own charm – Alex Kalinauckas

One of the best things about Formula 1 is that it’s a broad church. The Monaco GP sums this up well.

It’s a track from a bygone era, which deserves considerable recollection and respect. It’s where the excesses of the modern iteration of the championship (such as the huge team motorhomes) must be crammed into a small space. This also applies to car size, with the lengthy modern machines even more of a challenge for the drivers to thread through the principality’s barriers. This is by far the best thing about Monaco.

Yes, it can come at the cost of a processional race in dry conditions, but everything that pre-dates a sunny Sunday on the riviera is still an essential part of excelling in grand prix racing. Qualifying speed is a massive part of the overall test for success for drivers, which in Monaco is hyper-focused by the track’s compact nature.

The thrill of Monaco qualifying is up there with the best that F1 can offer. Around all the heartbreak and eventual joy for home hero Charles Leclerc in this challenge in recent years, the 2023 event stands out most vividly in this regard. Max Verstappen‘s stunning third sector ended up being the only thing standing between a first Aston Martin F1 win ever and a 33rd for Fernando Alonso.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19

Photo by: Erik Junius

It was a lap for the ages – at a time when on other ‘normal’ circuits the opposition couldn’t get close. Monaco’s layout negates any particular power or aerodynamic design efficiency prowess. A year on, Verstappen having to push so hard to compete with the reinvigorated Ferrari and McLaren squads led to him hitting the wall and losing his victory shot.

Monaco is famously a ‘sunny afternoon for shady people’. Yet given the alternative these days would be another identikit street track in a different city or a runoff-heavy Tilkedrome – both things that induce similar angst at the heart of this discussion – that shade is only coming from people who can’t accept that the specifics of Monaco are a price worth paying for one weekend in 24. Plus, if it’s a wet affair, it’s also an instant classic.

And then there’s the list of F1 legends to have won in Monaco. With many more to come, they deserve to be given the opportunity to shine at this intrinsic challenge of grand prix racing and put their names alongside those who previously starred on the streets of Monte Carlo.

Monaco is not what it once was – the jewel in the F1 crown – Mark Mann-Bryans

The challenge of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix is indeed a unique one – but since when should the result of a Formula 1 race be determined over one lap on a Saturday afternoon?

The current cars, for starters, are too big and too wide to promote any tangible sense of a battle for position that is not decided by undercuts or timely safety cars.

Research conducted earlier this year found that, after the first lap, on-track overtakes at Monaco for the past decade totalled 101 – there were 99 at the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix alone.

Is a race or a circuit defined solely by the number of overtaking opportunities? Of course not, but at a time when more fresh eyes are tuning in than ever before, there has to be something more than the annual procession around world-famous casinos.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Purists love Monaco for the blurry footage of their all-time favourites putting in sublime drives against the odds, at a time when nothing summed up the grit and glamour of F1 dovetailing like a Sunday in Monte Carlo.

Even off-track things have changed. The VIP guestlist for Monaco is now firmly underneath the likes of Miami and Las Vegas on the clipboard. Getting inside the velvet rope is much more important at those American races than in the principality.

Business is still conducted on the yachts moored in the harbour, of course, but that clientele, too, is finding new homes.

Saudi Arabia, Singapore and once again, Miami (there is a reason F1’s owners pick these places…) are where contracts get signed, handshakes are made, and deals are done.

Monaco will forever have its rightful place in F1 lore, but sadly it has now become stale. Ironically, it has been overtaken.

Monaco’s history is intrinsically tied to its grand prix – Stuart Codling

The Monaco Grand Prix epitomises the principality it calls home: tiny but fiercely independent, and as indomitable as the rocks upon which it perches. In the centuries since Francesco Grimaldi sneaked into the castle disguised as a Franciscan monk, then opened the doors to an invasion force led by his cousin (an origin story depicted in the Monegasque coat of arms), foreign powers have squabbled repeatedly over this small but strategically useful spot.

Likewise, the grand prix has weathered assaults on its status.

Juan Manuel Fangio, Alfa Romeo 158, leads Bob Gerard, ERA A

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Monaco’s land border is just 3.7 miles long, although reclamation projects and modern architecture have enabled it to expand outwards into the sea as well as upwards and downwards. The rocks which once sheltered pirates now enclose a bewildering network of subterranean road and rail tunnels.

Against this tapestry of continuous transformation, both geographically and demographically – two-thirds of the population are ‘foreigners’ – the grand prix acts as a fundamental connection between Monaco’s past and present. When the race was first held in 1929, the principality’s chief source of income was casino receipts. While gambling remains an industry and a tourist draw, Monaco’s post-war reputation as a dissolute Nazi hangout required the ruling family to make a course correction in which the grand prix played a central role.

Putting Monaco on the map was the point of hosting a grand prix in the first place. The Automobile Club de Monaco craved recognition from the Association Internationale des Automobile-Clubs Reconnus (the forerunner of the FIA) but this wasn’t forthcoming: the Monte Carlo Rally, which had been held since 1911, stopped short of the border. To be accredited as a national sporting body the ACM would have to stage a race on sovereign territory.

Antony Noghes, son of the ACM’s founder, duly walked the narrow streets until he alighted on a potential route which, by and large, remains the same to this day.

“This skirted the port,” Noghes said later, “passing along the quay and the Boulevard Albert Premier, climbed the hill of Monte Carlo, then passed round the Place du Casino, took the downhill zigzag near Monte Carlo Station to get back approximately to sea level and from there, along the Boulevard Louis II and the Tir aux Pigeons tunnel, the course came back to the port quayside.

“Today the roads comprising this circuit look as though they were made for the purpose.”

Graham Hill, BRM P261

Photo by: Sutton Images

Despite the unpromisingly narrow layout, dirt-surfaced and crisscrossed by tramlines, the first events proved successful because Noghes attracted a high-quality international field. Post-war, though, Monaco was tainted by its association with the Vichy regime and by society scandal: Princess Charlotte, the heir presumptive, had divorced her husband and taken several lovers including her doctor and a notorious jewel thief, Rene Girier. Casino receipts were down 90%.

Upon acceding to the throne in 1949 – the year the Monaco Grand Prix had to be cancelled because the state coffers were running on empty – Charlotte’s son Rainier III set about rebuilding Monaco’s economy and reputation, diversifying into tourism and the attraction of foreign tax exiles. Hosting a prestigious international motor race would make Monaco a destination again.

And, barring a few financial issues in the early 1950s and the small matter of a bug going round in the early 2020s, the Monaco Grand Prix has been central to the principality’s success trajectory ever since.

Marc Marquez believes it would be impossible for him to replicate the success he enjoyed during his peak years at Honda when he joins the factory Ducati team in MotoGP next season.

For the first time since 2019, Marquez will be racing what is expected to be the best bike on the MotoGP grid, as he teams up with two-time champion Francesco Bagnaia at Ducati in 2025.

The Desmosedici has been in a class of its own this year, winning 18 of the 19 grands prix held so far. Only Maverick Vinales’ triumph on an Aprilia in the Americas GP prevented Ducati from completing a clean sweep.

Marquez has adapted well to the Ducati after spending 11 years on the Honda RC213V, winning three grands prix on last year’s GP23 bike and taking the fight to the latest spec bikes of Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini and Pramac’s Jorge Martin.

The Spaniard’s results are particularly impressive considering the other three riders racing the GP23 scored just two podiums between them, with VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio the highest-placed rider among the trio in eighth, five spots behind Marquez.

While he will finally get parity of equipment with Bagnaia next year, Marquez doesn’t think it would mean he will be able to enjoy the same success as he did in 2019, when he won 12 races en route to his sixth premier class title.

“Well, it was a year that I had not found myself in my sporting career and I hope not to find myself again, but it may happen, because it may happen. A year of looking for answers,” he said of 2024.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

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“I had a lot of questions in my head and it was a year of looking for answers. I have been finding them in a positive way because the main question was, am I still competitive enough to be in MotoGP? So that was yes, I’m still competitive.

“Logically it will be impossible to be the dominator like in 2019. Why? Because life happens for all of us who are here, the ones who are coming but we will try to keep that line as flat as possible to keep a high level in MotoGP and to stay competitive.”

Marquez’s impending move to Ducati has raised expectations from him, given how his success in the mid-to-late 2010s put him among the list of all-time greats in motorcycle racing.

But the current Gresini rider isn’t concerned by the weight of expectations on his shoulders, pointing out how fans assumed he will be a genuine title contender in 2024.

“Yes, there were also people who, when I announced that I was going to Gresini, said that I was going to be a winner all year. Then I said no,” he replied.

“And there were people who at Le Mans [and] Montmelo who said I would fight for the title. I said I’d like to say yes.”

Marquez remained in mathematical contention for the title for much of the year, even as Bagnaia and Martin were a step clear of the rest of the pack on their factory-spec GP24s.

The 31-year-old admitted that he himself thought that he had a chance to win the title, but by September it was clear to him that the championship was out of his reach.

“Obviously. I got to thinking because mathematically I had a chance, but then when I arrived at Mugello, Assen, I had the answer and my doubts were cleared and I said ‘I can’t, I can’t make it this year’,” he explained.

“Next year we’ll see, I have to do the pre-season and from there, before Thailand…”

Marquez has previously stated that he is joining Ducati to learn from Bagnaia, who he believes will be the benchmark in the team.

But while playing down his chances for 2025, Marquez knows that he has to target the championship straight away as he returns to a factory team after a year on a satellite bike.

Asked if there will be no excuses at Ducati next year, he said: “No, no, I have the two best bullets in the next two years. I have the bike that has won the past years with the team that has won.

“Well, we will see this year, but at the end, it is the factory team. Then we’ll see, but for me, I don’t have to prove anything.

“For me, it’s about continuing to be competitive in MotoGP and to be fighting for those three positions.

“First, it will be the goal, logically, out of the corner of my eye, we’ll have to look at the title because we are obliged in a factory team to look at the title to see where we are.”

Jenson Button will remain with the British Jota squad in the World Endurance Championship on its graduation to the factory ranks with Cadillac next season.

The 2009 Formula 1 world champion will move over with Jota from Porsche to Cadillac to drive one of two V-Series LMDhs to be fielded by the team in the Hypercar class.

A second full season in the WEC for 44-year-old Button was confirmed on Thursday when the full driver roster was announced for the Cadillac Hertz Team Jota entries.

Will Stevens and Norman Nato have joined Button in switching from Jota’s two-car squad of customer Porsche 963 LMDhs.

Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn will continue with Cadillac at Jota in the WEC after two years racing the General Motors brand’s solo Hypercar entry run by Chip Ganassi Racing

Sebastien Bourdais also makes the move from Ganassi, with which he has been a full-season regular in the IMSA SportsCar Championship since 2022 after calling time on his IndyCar career.

Cadillac Racing driver line up

Photo by: Richard Prince

He is switching series having raced alongside Bamber and Lynn in the Qatar and Bahrain WEC rounds at the beginning and end of this year’s campaign.

It will be the first full-time programme outside of North America for the Frenchman since his season and a half in F1 with Toro Rosso in 2008-09.

Bourdais will not remain with Cadillac in IMSA’s GTP class next year, but will stay in the series after signing a deal with Tower Motorsport to race in the LMP2 division.

Cadillac and Jota have yet to reveal the driver combinations for its two WEC entries, which will retain the #12 and #38 race numbers from the Porsche programme.

Bamber will also be competing for Cadillac in IMSA next year with Action Express Racing, but it is expected that the Jota programme will take precedence on the clash between the Spa and Laguna Seca races in May and at the Le Mans 24 Hours should the American team contest the WEC double-points round for a third year in succession.

Button was widely expected to stay with Jota having revealed at the start of the season that he saw his time in Hypercar as a two-year venture.

He had, however, refused to confirm his plans and whether he would continue racing ahead of the announcement on Thursday.

Button said: “I’m delighted to be continuing my journey with Hertz Team Jota as they form their new partnership with such an iconic brand as Cadillac.

“Racing with Jota this season has been such a privilege as they’re a team steeped in success in endurance racing and an operation I’ve long admired.

“Those achievements and hard work have now led to this exciting next chapter seeing them partner with Cadillac, a marque which has already impressed with what it has achieved to date in both WEC and IMSA.

#38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Jenson Button, Philip Hanson, Oliver Rasmussen

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

“The driver line-up is pretty impressive: we bring our collective experience of working with the Cadillac platform and the experience of working with Jota together.

“We have all the ingredients for a great season ahead.”

Jota director David Clark stated: “Cadillac’s pedigree in motorsport speaks for itself, and with these six drivers we will be in a strong position to challenge for race wins.”

Bourdais, 45, said he was “thankful to be part of this new adventure”, adding: “It’s a known quantity with the car and the GM people, so it’s cool to be able to continue there.”

Stevens, who took victory in the #12 Jota Porsche in last May’s WEC round at Spa, is continuing a relationship that stretches back to 2016.

The Briton has been a fixture with the team since winning the WEC P2 crown in 2022, saying: “I’ve made no secret of my intention to be with Jota for the long haul and to do this with Cadillac makes it even more special.”

Cadillac is upscaling its WEC assault this season in line with a new rule mandating two-car entries for manufacturer teams competing in Hypercar.

Ganassi fielded only one car in the WEC in 2023 and 2024: its two-car IMSA assault of 2022 with the DPi-V.R Daytona Prototype international was effectively split in half at the start of the Hypercar era, with one car racing in the world championship and one in North America.

It unilaterally announced in March that its relationship with Cadillac would come to an end at the conclusion of this year’s WEC and IMSA campaigns.

Ganassi ran Bamber and Lynn as a duo in the six-hour WEC races this year, but Jota always intended to stick with three drivers on its switch to Cadillac.

Team boss Sam Hignett has stressed the importance of racing with the same line-up as at Le Mans in all WEC events.

Jota will shake down its V-Series.R chassis at the Anneau du Rhin circuit close to the German border in northern France next week.