Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa finished the opening day of Formula E pre-season testing fastest at the Jarama circuit in Spain, as teams got to grips with the new Gen3 Evo machines.

The Portuguese driver posted a 1m29.220s with more than 60 minutes left on the clock during the three-hour afternoon session, leaving him 0.186s clear of Andretti’s Jake Dennis.

The opening session on Tuesday ran without issue after the all-electric championship opted to move venue following the devastating floods in Valencia, which have so far accounted for more than 200 deaths.

A minute’s silence was held on the grid prior to any running by all drivers and teams, with the decision taken only on Thursday to move the test from the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia to Jarama, just outside Madrid.

The 2.43-mile circuit previously held Formula 1 racing nine times between 1968-1981, and more recently has hosted bike and truck action, having remained largely unchanged during its 57-year tenure.

Maximilian Guenther was the first man to go below the 1m30s barrier, posting a 1m29.661s before the halfway point of the session as he prepares for his first season with DS Penske, having moved across from Maserati MSG in the off-season.

The German finished the session third, 0.441s off the quickest time and ahead of Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara and Stoffel Vandoorne, the Belgian having directly swapped with Guenther and taken the vacant seat at Maserati MSG.

Car of Pascal Wehrlein, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

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The second Andretti of Nico Muller finished sixth, the Swiss driver having joined from Abt, ahead of the second Maserati MSG of Jake Hughes, who joins the Trident from McLaren.

Da Costa’s team-mate and reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein finished eighth, having set the pace in the early running, as Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Penske) and Abt’s Lucas di Grassi – with Lola/Yamaha power for the first time – completed the top 10.

Neither Jaguar drivers Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy nor Nissan’s Oliver Rowland and Norman Nato completed any running during the session.

This was due to the sporting punishment which was handed out to both teams after each were found to have breached the championship’s cost cap limit for the 2022-23 season.

Further running is due to take place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with a simulation race due to be held on Wednesday afternoon, where the pit boost technology will be trialled ahead of being possibly implemented this season.

An all-female test is also due to still go ahead on Friday afternoon, with Indy NXT driver Jamie Chadwick and F1 Academy championship leader Abbi Pulling set to drive.

Johnny Herbert has insisted he is entitled to his opinions on reigning Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen as a response to criticism from the Dutchman’s father, Jos.

The two former F1 drivers are at loggerheads after Herbert initially remarked that the time penalties dished out to the Red Bull driver during the Mexico Grand Prix “would not stop [him] from pushing Lando Norris off the track in the future”.

Jos was livid that Herbert, who was acting as an FIA race steward at the Mexican Grand Prix, was airing his views in public having administered the penalties, insisting that “a steward shouldn’t talk to the press at all and just deliver work all the time”.

The bitterness continued at the Brazilian Grand Prix when Max Verstappen, who was also heavily criticised by Sky F1’s Damon Hill for his manoeuvres on Norris, claimed: “I’ve got the wrong passport for this paddock”.

However, Herbert – who was again an FIA race steward in Brazil last weekend – has insisted he is not biased.

And in a barb aimed at Jos, he questioned his position to be critical of Red Bull’s operations, having been outspoken against his son’s team on a number of occasions this year.

“I am Johnny Herbert the steward and the professional during a race weekend and Johnny Herbert a pundit at other times, who expresses what he thinks,” Herbert told SafestBettingSites.co.uk.

“When I am a steward, I do not express any opinions.

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“Everyone has an opinion. [Sky Sports F1’s] Martin Brundle has an opinion. Why can’t I when I am not at the race track? The race track has been my world for 50 years. If I don’t quite agree with what I see on the race track I will say so. It is not just Max. I’ll criticise anyone if I feel it is warranted.

“I understand it from Jos’s point of view because it is his son. Is there any bias? No, of course not. I wasn’t the only one to think that Max was over the top in Mexico. Lando Norris and [McLaren boss] Zak Brown thought so too.

“When I do speak to people on a Monday or Tuesday that is outside my stewarding responsibilities.

“Jos has always been very outspoken about what is happening at Red Bull. Is that his position to be? It is all very similar. If you have an opinion and you want to make it, then you can.”

Meanwhile, Herbert says that Norris, who trails Verstappen by 62 points in the drivers’ championship with just 86 available in the final three races, will learn from his title fight.

“McLaren and Lando missed out on seven points in Hungary because they let Piastri win and it’s those things they need to be conscious of going into next season,” added the three-time F1 race winner.

“Will they lose the championship this year? No, because they were always on catch-up. They could have got more points, but that is racing. Max had the clear lead and then didn’t win after June.

“McLaren will learn for next year and have a stronger mindset. Lando will go into 2025 knowing he can beat Max.”

Quotes credit: SafestBettingSites.co.uk

Prema Racing will field Robert Shwartzman alongside Callum Ilott for its maiden IndyCar campaign in 2025, bringing together two drivers the Italian squad had success with in junior formulas.

This is a new career path for Shwartzman, who won the FIA F3 championship in 2019 and was the F2 runner-up in F2 two years later – both times with Prema – but never made it to the Formula 1 grid.

Having been an F1 test then reserve driver for Ferrari in the last three years, Shwartzman raced for the prancing horse with affiliated outfit AF Corse in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup in 2023.

The 25-year-old subsequently joined the WEC’s Hypercar class this year in a Ferrari 499P, winning at Circuit of the Americas with team-mates Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye while taking ninth place in the drivers’ standings.

Shwartzman now takes on a new challenge in IndyCar and is aware that mastering many new tracks as well as the team’s Chevrolet-powered Dallara will put him to the test.

“Everything will be new to us and there will be many challenges, but it will also be a lot of fun and a lot of work at the same time,” the Russian-Israeli said. “I think a very successful future lies ahead for us.

Robert Shwartzman, Prema Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“IndyCar is a very competitive series, with so many strong drivers, and I’m looking forward to the racing, as it looks really cool.

“I have never driven on ovals and to master them, it will be a completely new challenge.

“However, with Prema we achieved a lot in the past, and I think that my F1 and endurance experience will be helpful to make us evolve fast and get up to speed quickly.”

Prema team owner Rene Rosin branded Shwartzman “an extremely talented driver”, adding: “I think that, by working together, we will be able to overcome the steep learning curve that lies ahead of us.”

Meanwhile, Prema’s IndyCar CEO Piers Phillips concurred: “Robert has a very impressive resume and has been competitive everywhere he went, from single-seaters to GT and prototypes.

“We think his skills and versatility will help him considerably, and will also help our team to learn faster and be more efficient.”

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The World Rally Championship is set to drop hybrid power from its Rally1 cars, beginning from next season.

The future of hybrid power in the WRC’s top class has proved to be a long-running saga this year with the debate re-ignited following a mid-season change to the hybrid unit user guide from control supplier Compact Dynamics.

Prior to last month’s Central European Rally, the future of hybrid power in Rally1 was put to an FIA e-vote. Today the matter was discussed during a WRC Commission meeting where Motorsport.com understands it was agreed to remove hybrid power from Rally1 cars, starting from next year. 

This decision is however yet to be officially ratified by the FIA, which is likely to happen at the next World Motor Sport Council meeting.

This is the second U-turn over the use of hybrid power, introduced alongside the new Rally1 regulations in 2022, this year.

In February, the FIA’s working group formed to “evaluate and recommend the future direction of rallying” proposed to remove hybrid power as part of raft of changes for 2025.

However, WRC teams pushed back against the changes, resulting in the current Rally1 regulations staying put for 2025 and 2026 in what was seen as a U-turn from the FIA.

But the future of hybrid power came under the spotlight again following the introduction of Compact Dynamics safety guidelines at the Acropolis Rally Greece in September.  

The new regulations stipulate that if the 130kW hybrid unit suffers three shock errors over 15G or one over 25G, it has to be stripped apart and sent back to the supplier for a full repair that can take months to complete. Previously these units could be reset on site during a rally. 

Teams believe the change will significantly raise hybrid unit repair costs, with M-Sport-Ford arguing it would no longer be financially viable for the team to continue.

“It is not a request to remove it for what it is, it is a request to remove it because we can’t actually repair and run them at an economic price for M-Sport. We are talking a few extra million euro to do it and that is not something we can deal with,” M-Sport team principal Richard Millener told Motorsport.com at last month’s Central European Rally.

Rich Millener, Team principal M-Sport Ford Rally

Photo by: M-Sport

Speaking at last month’s penultimate round of the championship, Toyota and Hyundai bosses both admitted they would support measures to remove hybrid if it meant it would ensure the current level of participants for the future.

“We will never actively or proactively request to remove the hybrid from WRC. Having said that, we also need to be pragmatic and recognise the fact that the WRC community is a small community, and as any small community, we need to look after one another,” said Hyundai’s team principal Cyril Abiteboul.

“So if there are any steps that must be taken in order to guarantee participants and competitors at the events we will accept to take those steps.”

Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala added: “Performance-wise, the cars are pretty good even without it. But it shouldn’t get too difficult for the teams, and if there is a risk that teams cannot be in the World Rally Championship because they are running out of units, then it shouldn’t be that way.”

McLaren has continued to push developments of its MCL38 at the back end of the Formula 1 season, as it knuckles down to try to secure the constructors’ championship.

And while its rivals pretty much steered clear of any upgrades in Brazil for what was the third race of a triple-header, it was interesting that McLaren elected to bring a new rear and beam wing arrangement.

McLaren’s approach on this front has been fascinating this year, as it is head and shoulders ahead of its competitors in terms of the sheer scale of development that has been undertaken in this area.

The team has introduced seven different rear wing configurations to cope with the different downforce and drag characteristics that each venue demands.

New options were added to the pool in Saudi Arabia, Imola, Monaco, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and now Brazil.

Of course, it would all be for nothing if the designs did not combine well with the beam wing solution that is also fitted to the assembly.

That is why we have even seen it arrive with several beam wing options alongside each new rear wing specification to trim the car accordingly.

In fact, the development of the beam wing has been even more extensive, with 12 new options added to its pool during the season so far.

There were new beam wings at the Saudi Arabian, Miami, Emilia-Romagna, Monaco, Belgian, Dutch, Singapore and United States Grands Prix, whilst three solutions were introduced at Silverstone.

These include everything from more traditional two-piece designs to single elements and numerous bi-plane style arrangements.

McLaren MCL38 beam wing comparison, Brazilian GP

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

In terms of the new Brazilian GP rear wing design, the most obvious difference is the shape of the mainplane.

This element forms more of a V-shaped profile where it tapers outward and upwards from the deeper central section.

The leading edge, seen in the main image, is also more steeply rolled than its closest kin within the family of solutions available.

Notably, the tip section of the rear wing also differs from other designs in this downforce range, with a squarer profile, like the one used on its highest downforce option.

These design differences are likely the result of an acceptable efficiency trade-off between two of its other specifications, as the reduction in height across the mainplane’s span provides the necessary downforce and drag for the circuit characteristics, whilst also providing more of a benefit when DRS is deployed.

Meanwhile, the shape of the lowermost beam wing element has a reverse tapering in the central section to discreetly mirror the geometry of the mainplane above.

The difference in beam wing layout to the corresponding rear wing selection can be seen in the comparison above.

But while McLaren ran its new rear wing for sprint qualifying and the sprint on Saturday, when it came to the trickier wet conditions posed by qualifying and the race it opted for its higher downforce arrangement.