When Fortec Motorsport bowed out of International Formula 3000 at the end of 2000, it did so with a single podium courtesy of Jamie Davies finishing second in Monaco. Another provisionally taken by Andreas Scheld at the Nurburgring was chalked off for the most minor of technical infractions, a stray piece of tape on the front wing endplate following a change of nose robbing the German of a true shock result in mixed conditions.

But it is conceivable that the team’s tally might well have been far higher had a promising test with a future world champion resulted in a race deal. The small matter of a route to Formula 1 unexpectedly opening up for Jenson Button ultimately took care of that.

Button’s meteoric rise from British Formula 3 to F1 with Williams for 2000, after beating Bruno Junqueira in the race to replace Alex Zanardi, is well-known. But less remembered is his appearance at a three-day end-of-year F3000 test at Jerez 25 years ago, as he evaluated the next stage of a career that would a matter of days later take in a maiden F1 test as his prize for winning the previous year’s McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.

Button made his F3000 bow with Super Nova before moving on to Fortec, a team new to the category for 1999 that had peaked with two fifth places for ex-F1 racer Norberto Fontana. After setting the sixth-fastest time, he made an impression on team boss Richard Dutton.

“If you’d asked me a week ago whether he was ready for F3000, I’d have said not,” he told Autosport at the time. “After what I’ve seen, however, I’d say he’s ready now.”

It turned out that Button was ready for far more than F3000 – a point that was quickly apparent to Fortec team manager and Button’s engineer at the test, David Hayle.

“He was definitely one of those drivers that was mature beyond his years in terms of ability,” recalls Hayle. “Nothing fazed him. You couldn’t put him off his stride, he was permanently in the zone when he was in the car. It was a really, eye-opening experience to get somebody so young, so mature and so good all together.”

Button impressed Fortec with his maturity when he stepped up from F3 in November 1999

Photo by: Russell Batchelor / Motorsport Images

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Button had graduated from Formula Ford to the F3 ranks for 1999 with the Renault-powered Promatecme team, ending up best of the rest behind title protagonists Marc Hynes (Manor Motorsport) and Luciano Burti (Paul Stewart Racing). His performances had attracted attention from the Prost F1 team, who would give him a trial at Barcelona in December and ignite speculation that he could race for its F3000 arm – a race winner with Stephane Sarrazin in 1999 – if he didn’t return to F3 with Promatecme.

Fortec had run Kristian Kolby and Matt Davies to fourth and fifth in the 1999 British F3 standings, and so got a close look at the upstart Button. Hayle says the “massive PR campaign” behind Button had intensified its desire to beat him and admits to becoming saturated by the hype, but it bred in him a curiosity that this might just be a very special driver who Fortec couldn’t afford not to try out at the next level.

Hayle recalls making a pitch to a reluctant Dutton before proceeding anyway to organise a meeting at Towcester’s Little Chef with Button’s manager David Robertson. “We agreed a very favourable deal for him to do it,” he says, clarifying that this was initially only for one day of the test due to the proximity of Button’s run in the 1998 world championship-winning McLaren MP4-14.

“We got in the car and I was like, ‘this is amazing’. The position was great, low, it was like ‘what’s going on?’”
Jenson Button

Speaking to Autosport in 2020, Button revealed he didn’t get on well with Super Nova’s Lola B99/50. “I hated the test, was really slow on the first day,” he said.

But when he headed to Fortec, it was a revelation for both parties. Button recalled: “The next day and we got in the car and I was like, ‘this is amazing’. The position was great, low, it was like ‘what’s going on?’”

Hayle was assigned to be his engineer and, as he got to know the driver that would become a 15-time Grand Prix winner, discovered that he was “really pleasantly surprised by what I saw as the real Jenson Button, as opposed to the Jenson Button that we’d been competing against all season”.

“Underneath there was a really just genuine, easy-going boy that was bloody good in a race car,” he says. “We did the test and it was one of the easiest days at a race track that I’ve that I’ve had. He was great; he was calm, bought into everything that you asked him to do.”

First day in Lola B99/50 was a struggle with Super Nova before productive test with Fortec

Photo by: Russell Batchelor / Motorsport Images

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Conversation soon turned to the prospect of continuing for the final morning of the test on 10 November. “We hastily moved stuff around and got him in,” says Hayle, before the team and Button’s entourage – which included his late father, John – went to dinner at a pizza joint near the track.

“I sat next to Jenson and said, ‘I owe you an apology’,” relates Hayle. “‘All year long, I’ve really been giving you a hard time. Not just me; everyone’s giving you a hard time because of the whole PR thing that’s behind you and I joined the bandwagon. I thought you were made up and it wasn’t real, but I got it wrong; you’re bloody good in a car, I’m really enjoying the test. I’m sorry’. And he said, ‘Oh, yeah, but I’m used to it, I got it from everyone’.”

To Hayle, Button’s performances on the second day were telling of his approach. In Jerez, he explains, typically teams would use one set of tyres in the morning then save a set for the afternoon. Since Button was only staying for the morning, Hayle devised a plan to use both sets. He says minimal changes were made after the first run, which was benchmarked against Mario Haberfeld in the sister Fortec car.

“It was nothing significant, it was more a case of ‘just show me where I need to improve,’” explains Hayle. Once that was taken on board, Button went out again, taking the rest of the pitlane by surprise.

Hayle recalls “the whole paddock scrambling to get drivers and people back on the cars, putting on another set of tyres” to follow suit, bucking convention. “He ended up P6 out of 44 cars, or something like that,” adds Hayle. “It was just incredible.”

How representative testing times are can be up for debate. After all, the test was topped by Haberfeld, who went on to sign for Fortec but didn’t score a point in a season blighted by a huge qualifying accident in Barcelona. Davies was brought in for two races while the Brazilian recovered, his Monaco showing putting to rest memories of a trying 1999 with Edenbridge as he focused subsequently on sportscars.

But other rookies in 2000 provide a hint of what Button might have achieved in the category. Sportscar convert Mark Webber (European Arrows) was a winner at the second time of asking at a wet Silverstone, after a robust move on fellow newcomer Darren Manning (Arden). Fernando Alonso was unable to take the start at Silverstone due to a technical irregularity with his Astromega car’s engine studs, but tracked winner Junqueira all the way to the flag in Hungary before putting together a dominant performance in Spa on his way to F1 with Minardi.

Fortec’s only podium of 2000 came with stand-in driver Davies in Monaco

Photo by: Lorenzo Bellanca / Motorsport Images

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And while Button himself admitted that the Apomatox/Prost Junior team would have been the more likely option for 2000, if Williams had chosen Junqueira instead, he believes he could have mastered the Lola B99/50.

“You get used to something over time,” he said. “Super GT when I jumped in it, didn’t enjoy it at all and I was nowhere. After a few days testing, we were on the pace and we won the championship that year [in 2018], so it just takes time. We learn to adapt, some cars take longer than others.”

But when the Williams opportunity came, F3000 would naturally fall by the wayside and his affiliation with Fortec proved fleeting. Yet Hayle has no doubt that “skipping F3000 was absolutely the right thing to do for him”, as Button put together a decent first season in F1, reaching the points in the second race and on five further occasions to peak with fourth at Hockenheim.

“If you get the chance to go to F1, without doing [F3000], why wouldn’t you?” he says.

Button joined Williams for 2000 and the rest was history

Photo by: Motorsport Images

The FIA has increased the allocation of superlicence points awarded for Super Formula for 2025, bringing it roughly in line with Formula E and the World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class.

Up until now, the champion of the Japanese single-seater series has received 25 points, putting it in line with the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, with 20 and 15 points going to the second- and third-placed drivers respectively.

However, according to the latest version of the FIA’s International Sporting Code, Super Formula’s allocation has been boosted for 2025, with the winner now receiving 30 points, the second-placed driver 25 and the third-placed driver 20.

That matches both Formula E and FIA Formula 3, with only Formula 2 and IndyCar awarding more, while bringing it roughly in sync with the WEC’s top division, which awards 30 points to the champions and 24 for second.

The full allocation for the top 10 finishers in the championship is now 30-25-20-15-12-9-7-5-3-2, which exactly mirrors the scale for FIA F3.

In a statement supplied to Motorsport.com, a spokesperson for the FIA cited the “evolution” of Super Formula in recent seasons as an explanation for the change.

“The allocation of FIA superlicence points is regularly reviewed as the single-seater pyramid changes and develops over time,” read the statement.

“During the most recent meeting of the Superlicence Working Group, an update to the points allocated to Japanese Super Formula was approved for implementation from 2025.

Liam Lawson, TEAM MUGEN

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

“This update reflects the evolution of the series as one of the fastest single-seater competitions outside of the FIA Formula One World Championship, with the Working Group noting that there have been several recent examples of drivers competing in Super Formula moving to Formula 1 and other FIA World Championship categories.”

The reference to drivers going on to race in F1 is likely a nod to current RB driver Liam Lawson, who finished runner-up in Super Formula last year behind Ritomo Miyata.

Ryo Hirakawa and Sacha Fenestraz are two other recent examples of Super Formula alumni who have gone on to race in FIA world championship categories, WEC and Formula E respectively.

Another factor that may have influenced the decision to increase the number of superlicence points is the number of races, which will increase to 12 from the current level of nine as all bar two of the seven rounds become double-headers.

Series organiser JRP has outlined plans to increase this number further in future years, with a medium-target of 20 races held over 10 race weekends.

Current Super Formula points leader Sho Tsuboi has already reached the 40-point threshold required for a superlicence on the back of his title success in Super GT in 2021 and 2023.

Should he win the title this weekend at Suzuka, he will remain at 40 points as the 20 points earned for his 2021 GT500 title are due to expire after this season.

Sho Tsuboi, VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Of the other title contenders, second-placed Tadasuke Makino currently sits on 27 points, but is set to lose 10 of those points after this year, meaning he would only become eligible for a superlicence if he became champion this weekend.

However, under the 2025 system, the extra five points would be enough to tip him over the 40-point threshold even if he finished second.

Tomoki Nojiri and Ayumu Iwasa have both reached the 40-point mark; Nojiri from his past success in Super Formula, becoming champion in 2021 and ‘22, and Iwasa from his Formula 2 performances in 2022-23.

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes would like nothing more than to end their 12 years together on a high.
However, based on recent form, there is a very real risk that their time may finish not with a bang, but with a whimper.

If things continue like they did in Brazil last weekend, where Hamilton qualified 14th and finished 10th while team-mate George Russell started on the front row and fought for the win, then there will not be much to smile about when the curtain comes down in Abu Dhabi.

Hamilton’s own verdict after the Brazilian Grand Prix was pretty damning, as he labelled the race as “crap” on Sunday night.

He added: “Yesterday [Saturday] was terrible. Today [Sunday] was terrible. Yesterday was bad. Qualifying was bad. Sprint race was bad. The car’s just been bad all weekend.”

He further fuelled intrigue about the scale of the struggles enveloping him as he delivered a cryptic message over the radio straight after the chequered flag.

“That was a disaster of a weekend, guys,” he said on the cooldown lap. “That’s the worst the car has ever been. But thank you for contributing to try, and great job to all the guys at the pitstop.

“If this is the last time I get to perform it was a shame it wasn’t great – but grateful for you.”

Some interpreted those comments as a revelation that Brazil was going to be Hamilton’s last race, although that is certainly wide of the mark.

And, although it is not clear exactly what he was referring to, his remark about the pit crew on a day when they were not actually called into action, was more likely a reference to the fact that some personnel were having their last race appearance of 2024 in Brazil due to the shuffling around of staff to cope with the intense schedule for triple headers.

The root of the problem

While the current performances on the track are not great, what is perhaps the biggest issue right now is that neither Mercedes nor Hamilton had an immediate answer after Brazil for what had gone wrong, despite there being some clear symptoms.

What is at play is a repeat of what he has been battling since the summer break, when his form took a big dip from that spell in July when he took two wins from three races.

Primarily, the problem appears to be about Hamilton having a lack of confidence in the car, especially its rear end.

As the above graph comparing the telemetry traces of Hamilton (blue) and Russell (red) in Q1 on Sunday morning shows clearly, there is a remarkable difference in the way the drivers were feeding in the throttle – mainly in the lower speed corners.

As the bottom trace shows, Russell could increase the accelerator consistently, whereas Hamilton’s lack of confidence is crystal clear. The loose rear end means he is constantly having to back off and that leaves him bleeding speed and lap time.

The current generation of ground effect machinery are pretty brutal machines – running super stiff and super close to the ground – and they are not very forgiving when driving on the edge.

Some drivers are better suited to overcome an unpredictable balance, but Hamilton is finding himself put a bit more on the back foot by it.

And typically, when a driver loses faith in the rear end, it slides more – and that then compounds tyre temperature issues.

So what starts out as a small issue can quickly manifest itself into something bigger and can make two nearly identical cars vastly different in how they develop over a race stint.

As Mercedes head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin explained this week: “It is fair to say Lewis was struggling predominantly with a lack of rear grip.

“If we look at how he had set up his car, it is not obvious where that was coming from.

“But in the sprint race, as soon as you have got less grip and you are getting the snaps of oversteer on exit, you generate more temperature. That in itself will prolong the problem.

“As with any race, we spend a lot of time digging into the data, trying to understand it, and Lewis’ engineering crew will be working with him on this issue, trying to make sure we get to the bottom of it before Vegas.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Hamilton’s struggles in finding a set-up he feels comfortable with have also not been helped much by Mercedes’ latest upgrade that arrived at the United States Grand Prix.

While it appears to have ticked all the boxes when it comes to deliver extra performance on track, there are some questions about it also adding some behavioural instability as well – as was witnessed by Hamilton’s race exit in Austin a day after George Russell’s qualifying crash.

And a particular weakness the car has, in dealing with successive low-speed corners, is something that has not been improved with the latest changes.

Shovlin added: “We have not had such good performance in the dry, but the issues that we are struggling with with this update are the same as the ones we were struggling with before.

“Where we tend to be weak, it is in the slow speed corners, particularly the ones where you have got one corner following into another. There is a lot of turning of the car, and that is a weakness that we need to work on.”

With sector two of Interlagos being pretty much all about interconnected slow corners, it was obvious that the Brazil event was going to potentially be more difficult than normal for the team.

Working on a solution

The only positive for Hamilton right now is that at least Russell’s performances show what is possible with the car.

And some forthcoming high-speed venues, especially Qatar, could help better expose the strengths of the W15 package rather than its weaknesses.

Hamilton has admitted that things are not easy right now, but there was no other option than to dig deeper with his team to try to find a way out of it before Abu Dhabi.

“Obviously, it’s devastating to have these bad races in the second half of the season,” he said. “But all I can say is, we’re trying. 

“But it’s definitely not acceptable. It’s definitely not good enough. And we have to take accountability. I have to take accountability. But I am driving.; I am doing the best with what I’ve got. 

“The car has been the worst this weekend, and I don’t know what it is. We’re going to have to find out what it is.”

That work began for Hamilton this week with some intense work at the factory to sit down with the engineers, and spend time in the simulator yesterday, to try to get some answers as to what is happening.

Las Vegas will tell us just how much those efforts have paid off.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes would like nothing more than to end their 12 years together on a high.
However, based on recent form, there is a very real risk that their time may finish not with a bang, but with a whimper.

If things continue like they did in Brazil last weekend, where Hamilton qualified 14th and finished 10th while team-mate George Russell started on the front row and fought for the win, then there will not be much to smile about when the curtain comes down in Abu Dhabi.

Hamilton’s own verdict after the Brazilian Grand Prix was pretty damning, as he labelled the race as “crap” on Sunday night.

He added: “Yesterday [Saturday] was terrible. Today [Sunday] was terrible. Yesterday was bad. Qualifying was bad. Sprint race was bad. The car’s just been bad all weekend.”

He further fuelled intrigue about the scale of the struggles enveloping him as he delivered a cryptic message over the radio straight after the chequered flag.

“That was a disaster of a weekend, guys,” he said on the cooldown lap. “That’s the worst the car has ever been. But thank you for contributing to try, and great job to all the guys at the pitstop.

“If this is the last time I get to perform it was a shame it wasn’t great – but grateful for you.”

Some interpreted those comments as a revelation that Brazil was going to be Hamilton’s last race, although that is certainly wide of the mark.

And, although it is not clear exactly what he was referring to, his remark about the pit crew on a day when they were not actually called into action, was more likely a reference to the fact that some personnel were having their last race appearance of 2024 in Brazil due to the shuffling around of staff to cope with the intense schedule for triple headers.

The root of the problem

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

While the current performances on the track are not great, what is perhaps the biggest issue right now is that neither Mercedes nor Hamilton had an immediate answer after Brazil for what had gone wrong, despite there being some clear symptoms.

What is at play is a repeat of what he has been battling since the summer break, when his form took a big dip from that spell in July when he took two wins from three races.

Primarily, the problem appears to be about Hamilton having a lack of confidence in the car, especially its rear end.

The current generation of ground effect machinery are pretty brutal machines – running super stiff and super close to the ground – and they are not very forgiving when driving on the edge.

Some drivers are better suited to overcome an unpredictable balance, but Hamilton is finding himself put a bit more on the back foot by it.

And typically, when a driver loses faith in the rear end, it slides more – and that then compounds tyre temperature issues.

So what starts out as a small issue can quickly manifest itself into something bigger and can make two nearly identical cars vastly different in how they develop over a race stint.

As Mercedes head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin explained this week: “It is fair to say Lewis was struggling predominantly with a lack of rear grip.

“If we look at how he had set up his car, it is not obvious where that was coming from.

“But in the sprint race, as soon as you have got less grip and you are getting the snaps of oversteer on exit, you generate more temperature. That in itself will prolong the problem.

“As with any race, we spend a lot of time digging into the data, trying to understand it, and Lewis’ engineering crew will be working with him on this issue, trying to make sure we get to the bottom of it before Vegas.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Hamilton’s struggles in finding a set-up he feels comfortable with have also not been helped much by Mercedes’ latest upgrade that arrived at the United States Grand Prix.

While it appears to have ticked all the boxes when it comes to deliver extra performance on track, there are some questions about it also adding some behavioural instability as well – as was witnessed by Hamilton’s race exit in Austin a day after George Russell’s qualifying crash.

And a particular weakness the car has, in dealing with successive low-speed corners, is something that has not been improved with the latest changes.

Shovlin added: “We have not had such good performance in the dry, but the issues that we are struggling with with this update are the same as the ones we were struggling with before.

“Where we tend to be weak, it is in the slow speed corners, particularly the ones where you have got one corner following into another. There is a lot of turning of the car, and that is a weakness that we need to work on.”

With sector two of Interlagos being pretty much all about interconnected slow corners, it was obvious that the Brazil event was going to potentially be more difficult than normal for the team.

Working on a solution

The only positive for Hamilton right now is that at least Russell’s performances show what is possible with the car.

And some forthcoming high-speed venues, especially Qatar, could help better expose the strengths of the W15 package rather than its weaknesses.

Hamilton has admitted that things are not easy right now, but there was no other option than to dig deeper with his team to try to find a way out of it before Abu Dhabi.

“Obviously, it’s devastating to have these bad races in the second half of the season,” he said. “But all I can say is, we’re trying. 

“But it’s definitely not acceptable. It’s definitely not good enough. And we have to take accountability. I have to take accountability. But I am driving.; I am doing the best with what I’ve got. 

“The car has been the worst this weekend, and I don’t know what it is. We’re going to have to find out what it is.”

That work began for Hamilton this week with some intense work at the factory to sit down with the engineers, and spend time in the simulator yesterday, to try to get some answers as to what is happening.

Las Vegas will tell us just how much those efforts have paid off.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

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Earlier this week, NASCAR issued substantial penalties to the three teams involved in what series officials deemed to be a form of race manipulation — the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet of Ross Chastain, and the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota of Bubba Wallace. Crew chiefs, spotters, and key executives were suspended for one week. Each team and driver were docked 50 points, and fined $200,000 (100k for the team and 100k for the driver).

Initially, all three teams made it clear that they intended to appeal the penalties. 23XI, who is also fighting for the Cup title this weekend with Tyler Reddick, quickly decided to withdraw their appeal. But both Chevrolet teams involved moved forward. However, after Trackhouse lost their appeal on Thursday evening, RCR lost their own.

Those who heard the case from Trackhouse: Kelly Housby, Lyn St. James, and Steve York. Trackhouse will not appeal the penalty any further.

In a statement released from the panel, they explained the decision: “We feel in the best interest of racing and to protect the integrity of the sport, it was appropriate to uphold and affirm NASCAR’s decision with regard to the NASCAR rule 4.4, attempting to manipulate the outcome of the race.”