Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur believes that Formula 1’s backmarkers disobeying blue flags ultimately cost Charles Leclerc second in the Mexico Grand Prix.

Leclerc had a gap of over three seconds to Lando Norris going into the final 15 laps of the 71-lap affair at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez but had to watch his advantage dissipate when the two started to lap traffic – encountering Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto.

The Monegasque then cleared the now-lapped with about half of that initial advantage, which Norris was able to close down and begin applying pressure. Leclerc then went wide at the Peraltada at the end of lap 62 and saved his Ferrari from succumbing to a snap of oversteer – which let Norris through.

Vasseur disagreed with an assessment that Norris was faster in the closing stages, stating that Leclerc lost time and tyre temperature wrangling with the traffic – particularly Stroll, behind whom Leclerc lost most of his advantage.

“It’s your analysis [Norris was faster] but I’m not really aligned. I think that Charles had good pace, but we lost three seconds with the guys who were blue-flagged,” Vasseur explained.

“And we also lost a lot of temperature in the tyres at this stage and he made a mistake, but I think from the beginning, the race was under control.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“Charles was not happy yesterday with P3 or P4, but still today he did a good race. I’m a bit upset with the story with the blue flag, it cost us P2. But at the end of the day, it is like it is, but we have to be focused now on the next one and forget this one.

“When you do five corners when the guy has a solid blue, it’s not unfortunate. It’s a mistake of the guy.”

Elaborating further when speaking to Sky Sports F1, Vasseur stated that “[Leclerc] lost three or four seconds into the traffic with some idiots. Norris came back, Charles pushed a bit too much. Perhaps he lost also a little bit of temperature in the tyres when he was with these guys.

“Honestly, they have to respect the blue flag and I don’t understand why the FIA didn’t give them a penalty. We had four seconds on Norris. And after the three guys, we were 1.2 or 1.3 ahead.”

Leclerc suggested that he had “no chance” of beating Norris when the McLaren driver began to close, stating that his clash with Max Verstappen had helped Ferrari build something of a buffer.

“Lando was flying, and I think as a team, we’ve been pretty lucky that whatever happened with Max and Lando at the beginning of the race, slowed him down massively.

“His second stint was very, very impressive. On my side, there was no way that I could stay in front. I knew that it would be very difficult.

“I knew that I had to have an incredible exit out of the last corner, so I tried to put everything to have a really good exit, went over the limit, lost the car and lost the position, but I felt it was a question of laps or corners before I lost that position.”

As the curtain twitches in readiness for it being brought down on another season of MotoGP action, even with two rounds remaining it certainly isn’t premature to brand Pedro Acosta’s rookie campaign a roaring success.

It’s a statement that could justly hang on the strength of results alone, his five trips to the grand prix podium, four sprint top-three finishes and Japanese GP pole position at the very least ensuring some TV time for those sponsors that didn’t default to Ducati – thoughts and prayers to the others that sided with Honda and Yamaha.

More than that though, while he may be the only fresh face on the grid this year, in some ways it feels as though he has been around for much longer.

Granted this could be a trick of the mind permeated by that fresh face having received plenty of attention prior to his MotoGP graduation or because it’s easy to mistake his GasGas KTM Tech3 machine for a Ducati from a certain distance, but it’s also primarily a measure of how at home he has appeared in MotoGP since day one. Indeed, some quick turns out of the box in pre-season testing was enough for Acosta to skip the recipe instructions and get stuck into the mix.

The same was on show in Thailand where, in his first fully wet MotoGP race, Acosta learnt on the job to power to the podium only behind title fighters Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.

“I was struggling a lot to warm up the brake disks and, I don’t know why but since I am in MotoGP, it is taking me a bit more time compared to, for example, Jack and Brad,” Acosta said after the race. “Also I was not having the best feeling with the rear tyre, out of Turns 5 and 6 I was spinning a lot and it was like riding on ice. It was quite tough to analyse in my head.

Acosta’s late-race charge in Thailand saw him return to the podium

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I started to push to take out everything and it was quite tough at the beginning, also I ran wide at Turn 3 and Turn 1, but it is true that with five or six laps to go it was like I pulled a switch and I started to go fast. It is difficult to understand, but we were in the right direction.”

It’s therefore little wonder Acosta will graduate to full factory orange for 2025 as part of KTM’s line-up alongside Brad Binder, though the jury is perhaps still out on whether the promotion is more symbolic than reward in performance terms.

At the very least, Acosta’s switch will give KTM pride – and possibly a touch of smugness – at seeing the fruits of its investment in the youngster reap rewards, not least because it puts some faith back into the firm’s esteemed junior development after misfiring with Remy Gardner, Raul Fernandez and Augusto Fernandez in recent seasons. But next season will see a turning of the tables that will shift the onus back towards KTM to reward Acosta with his investment in the manufacturer for taking him onto the next step, or more accurately the top step of the podium.

While KTM has provided the platform to get Acosta to MotoGP, it is now up to the manufacturer to springboard him towards race victories he is evidently capable of achieving

Acosta has also conceded he has to “bite my tongue” and bank finishes in order to gain race data and experience with an eye on the future – having crashed out of the Thailand sprint race to go alongside his two grands prix crashes at each Misano round, the Japanese GP main race and the Australian GP sprint which ruled him out of the next day’s full-distance event.

“I have to focus on finishing races even if I have to bite my tongue and finish fifth,” Acosta said after crashing out of the Thailand sprint on Saturday. “Many times we are at a point where we push and we don’t crash because that’s the way it goes, and many other days we push to be with them [Ducati] and we crash. Now the goal is to finish races, which will be important to start well next year.”

It’s by no means a foregone conclusion either. While KTM has readily earmarked itself as a familiar frontrunner ever since its breakthrough season in 2020, it hasn’t been matched with so much race-winning silverware.

KTM’s last grand prix win came two years ago in Thailand

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Miguel Oliveira brought about its most recent win at the 2022 Thailand GP, this weekend marking an unhappy two-year anniversary, and while he achieved four of KTM’s six victories to date, his form elsewhere was patchy. Binder on the other hand – winner of the other two – has established himself as a steadfast racer rather than an out-and-out contender for victories each weekend.

Of greater concern however is that while KTM has avoided the slump in competitiveness experienced by Honda and Yamaha, it has made only modest progress over the past four seasons amid a deluge of well proven Ducati bikes.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed, of course, with the big axe being wielded at a senior level to remove Francesco Guidotti a year before his contract expires. In his place comes Aki Ajo, a shrewd choice with impressive credentials cultivated by his eponymous team’s success in Moto2 and Moto3. More importantly, however, he is someone who shared KTM’s vision for Acosta long before he reached the heady heights of MotoGP.

Even so, while KTM has provided the platform to get Acosta to MotoGP, it is now up to the manufacturer to springboard him towards race victories he is evidently capable of achieving.

This brings us to another more engaging trait of Acosta’s: His ambition. Indeed, for all of his confident swagger on track, Acosta exerts similarly bolshie determination off it.

For a manufacturer not adverse to the odd contractual bungle, credit then to Acosta for being the one to issue the ultimatum of a guaranteed KTM seat in 2024 or he’d head elsewhere. While KTM sensibly bowed to his demand, it’s indicative of the issues it may face in the future in retaining him if it can’t find those precious few tenths that will make the difference between victory and making up the numbers in MotoGP.

For the most part though, KTM isn’t prepared to rest on its laurels for 2025. In addition to Ajo’s appointment, there is talk Dani Pedrosa will assume a more senior management role in addition to continuing to provide his invaluable development intel.

Can Acosta reuniting with team boss Ajo provide KTM a spark to reignite its MotoGP form?

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Plus, while Tech3’s new line-up of Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini is at odds with KTM’s desire to promote young talent, their experience and success with other manufacturers ensures the Austrian firm has arguably the most intriguing rider line-up among its four riders.

No rider is bigger than the team it races for but in this case, KTM is very aware of the potential it has racing with Acosta.

As for whether KTM has the ability to realise Acosta’s full potential? That remains the lingering question mark…

Can KTM provide Acosta and co with the bike to fight Ducati in 2025?

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Toyota will fight for the World Rally Championship manufacturers’ crown at Rally Japan season decider without Kalle Rovanpera.

Rally Japan has released its entry list for next month’s (21-24 November) title decider confirming that Toyota will field three GR Yaris Rally1 entries.

Toyota’s bid to overhaul Hyundai and claim a fourth consecutive WRC manufacturers’ crown will be led by full-time drivers Elfyn Evans and home hero Takamoto Katsuta, while the third car will be piloted by eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier.

Two-time world champion Rovanpera will be absent from the Japanese team’s roster at its home event as the Finn has completed the half-season of events he was contracted to contest this year.

After claiming back-to-back world titles last year, the Finn opted to scale back to a partial campaign this year ahead of a full-time return in 2025. Rovanpera has contested seven of the 13 events this season, taking four wins in Kenya, Poland, Latvia and Chile to boost Toyota’s championship hopes.

Toyota will head to Japan facing a 15-point deficit to rivals Hyundai as the Korean marque aims to seal its first manufacturers’ crowns since 2020.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Hyundai will also field its customary three i20 N Rally1 entries driven by Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak, who will contest the drivers’ title, with the former holding a 25-point lead.

The third car will be driven by Andreas Mikkelsen in what will be his fifth event of the season.

M-Sport-Ford will field a pair of Puma Rally1 cars for Adrien Fourmaux and Gregoire Munster.

A total of 44 cars will tackle the event which will also decide the WRC2 title. Toyota’s Sami Pajari needed to finish first or second to beat current points leader Oliver Solberg to the crown.

World champion Auriol to make WRC return

Japan will also mark the return of 1994 world champion Didier Auriol, who will compete in a WRC event for the first time since the 2005 Monte Carlo Rally.

Auriol will drive a modified road-going Toyota GR Yaris prepared by Japanese team Fit-Easy Racing and will compete in the national class, driving alongside long-time co-driver Denis Giraudet.

The Frenchman’s WRC return arrives 30 years after he guided a Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 to the 1994 WRC title with co-driver Bernard Occelli.

Francesco Bagnaia admitted to some relief as he bounced back to secure victory in a “must-win” Thailand Grand Prix after being defeated by Jorge Martin in the sprint encounter.

The Italian achieved his first win in wet weather conditions, bringing his 2024 tally up to nine successes over full-length races. 

Coming after he finished third behind Martin in the sprint race, the double defending champion benefitted from a wide moment by his Pramac Ducati rival to move into the lead on lap five.

Though he’d engage in a to-and-fro with the close-following Marc Marquez in the ensuing laps, the Gresini rider’s fall on lap 12 would release Bagnaia to race home for an important victory.

“Absolutely, it was a must-win,” he declared. “In terms of the championship, not too much. But in terms of feeling, in terms of mental side, it was very important – not just for me, but also for him.

“I want to dedicate this victory to my team, because after the morning we just sat down and spoke about what to do to improve the situation because I was struggling a lot on braking.

“And we did it, again. I’m so happy. It wasn’t an easy race because it was very long and stressful, but as soon as I started I saw that my feeling was very good and I saw Jorge pushing a lot.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team, Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

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“But I just decided to wait two more laps to make sure the rear was more ready, and as soon as it was I just tried to catch him back.

“Then I opened the gap, but Marc was pushing hard. The lap he crashed on we were two tenths faster in sector three, so it was an incredible lap already and the pace was super strong.”

The results have reduced Bagnaia’s deficit to Martin as the championship protagonists are now separated by 17 points with two rounds and four races remaining.

“It’s a good day for us for everything,” added Bagnaia. “And the 17 [points] that is the gap is a good number for me. It was a day to make the difference and luckily we did it.

“I knew it was important that I finished first rather than second to gain more points for the championship.”

Bringing his career tally of MotoGP wins to 27, this was nonetheless Bagnaia’s first achieved in wet conditions, a small career milestone that gives him confidence moving forward.

“Because I always crashed, but I was always not fast enough,” he said. “Two years ago I was fighting for the win [in the wet in Thailand], but I finished two seconds behind the leader.

“The pace was there but not enough. Today from the start I believed a lot in trying to do it, and it was the best time.” 

Here we go again. There’s still a sprint and a grand prix left in Formula 1’s penultimate triple-header of the year for things to get ugly at least a third time in this run between 2024 title contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris and up next after Brazil is Sin City…

Given last Saturday’s news that the FIA is open to altering F1’s racing guidelines – the topic of the Mexico event’s build-up – there had been relief in some quarters of the F1 paddock.

The hope is that this willingness to engage on racing rules, and fast, might finally stamp out Verstappen’s cynical professional foul tactic.

This was in action at Turn 4 of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on lap 10 of last weekend’s Mexico Grand Prix. Again it – and the even worse move a few seconds later at Turn 7 – eclipses a famous Ferrari win. But Fred Vasseur and co are actually gleeful that the focus keeps falling elsewhere, while the Scuderia concentrates on notching up wins.

This time, after the ruling on the Verstappen/Norris Austin Turn 12 clash had been botched by their predecessors, the Mexico stewards penalised the world champion for doing yet another ‘turning-defence-into-attack’ move – this one sent Norris off across the Turn 4 grass – and they did so with a 10-second penalty, with another soon to follow.

On Turn 4 alone, this sets a strong precedent the stewards at the upcoming Brazilian and Las Vegas races must heed.

On the specifics of the 10s penalty, FIA sources explained in the Mexico paddock that this is actually the standard sanction for such a transgression per the penalty range guidelines given to the stewards.

Verstappen and Red Bull have disputed the pair of 10s penalties he was given for his actions fighting Norris

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

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Yet Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko claimed “it’s a reaction to all the incidents that took place in Austin” – the combination of Verstappen’s total penalty count at play.

But the explanation of why this was objectively harsher than Norris’s five-second penalty for overtaking outside track limits in that Austin clash is because there the stewards are understood to have applied mitigating circumstances from Verstappen’s apex diving.

This time, with no doubt Norris was ahead at the apex of Turn 4, Verstappen still shoved him wide.

Post-race, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner offered more deflection defence. He claimed Norris was “15km/h faster and later on the brakes than his fastest lap” and “wouldn’t have made the corner” and presented a print off of GPS traces of Norris’s quickest lap of the race, overlaid with those from the clash with Verstappen.

“Can the rules be better? Maybe yes, maybe not. It’s always the same thing. I just drive how I think I have to drive” Max Verstappen

“He would’ve run off track,” Horner added. “You can see from his onboard steering and of course, at this point in the race, he’s got probably 80kg more fuel than at the point that he’s done his done his fastest lap [on lap 68, when Norris didn’t have DRS as he did when attacking Verstappen].”

But not only is Norris’s trajectory from his onboard feed indicating he would have made the corner had he not been forced off, the GPS trace data Motorsport.com has seen of other Norris laps skews Horner’s braking point claim because Norris braked not much later than he did on either the preceding lap nine or lap 11 afterwards and in both those cases made the corner.

He did, it should be noted, apply no lift and coast in the clash with Verstappen – slamming on the brakes as soon as he released the throttle as Turn 4 approached and, as with the Austin incident, Verstappen seemed to release the throttle differently to other laps rather than releasing his brakes. His dab of right-hand down was what put Norris on the grass.

Was the decision to heavily penalise Verstappen an after effect of the Austin clash?

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

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Post-race, having looked pretty chilled as he waited for space to open up in the written media pen area of the paddock – smiling and joking with a Red Bull press officer – Verstappen then gave rather clipped answers to questions from the scrum of journalists.

Here, Verstappen pointed out inconsistency in stewarding decisions from the last two weekends.

“At the end of the day, everyone speaks for themselves,” Verstappen said. “Can the rules be better? Maybe yes, maybe not. It’s always the same thing. I just drive how I think I have to drive. Last week that was all right, this week, 20-second penalty. That’s what it is. Life goes on.”

And he’s right – although only because the outcome was wrong in Austin. There, either Verstappen should have been sanctioned for forcing Norris off or no penalty handed to the McLaren driver. But, given the rules on overtaking off track are clearer, a suggestion that both being punished was the better Austin outcome came up time and again in the paddock in Mexico.

That inconsistency is precisely why it’s so important to draw a new line here – before the Qatar round in early December post-Interlagos and Vegas. This is where the FIA’s racing guidelines changes will be presented to the drivers again.

Given GPDA director George Russell claimed that “19 out of 20 [drivers], we’re all aligned on where it needs to be”, surely these will go through with the drivers’ body’s seal of approval.

He may still have a 47-point buffer over Norris, but Sunday’s action indicated that Verstappen won’t stop racing Norris that hard.

Verstappen still has a healthy points lead over Norris with four rounds to go despite the outcome in Mexico

Photo by: Mark Sutton

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While that was of little doubt, the more worrying element was how Horner suggested Verstappen’s reaction to ‘clash one’ with Norris caused the second penalised incident.

“I think that was the frustration of potentially Lando not giving back the place,” he said. “Things, they only escalate.”

Well, they just shouldn’t and the Turn 7 clash was an even more egregious move, with Norris correct to call Verstappen out as “dangerous”.

So, to Brazil, with the spectre of Verstappen’s bitter 2021 race there with Hamilton having risen and hovering over the current title battle

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella revealed afterwards that the team has told Norris it approves and “confirm the way you go racing – it is not for you to go there and find justice yourself – you go racing in a fair, sportive way”.

Even Verstappen offered little defence of his second attack – saying only “Turn 7 is what it is”. This speaks volumes.

And so, to Brazil, with the spectre of Verstappen’s bitter 2021 race there with Hamilton having risen and hovering over the current title battle.

The debate over such moves will inevitably rumble on. But a line has been drawn here in Mexico and it is critical to F1’s future sporting health that it is preserved.

As F1 rumbles on to Brazil next weekend, what will Sao Paulo produce?

Photo by: Andy Hone

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Max Verstappen could be set for an engine change grid penalty at this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, with Red Bull worried about his lack of straightline speed.

The Dutchman had a difficult time in the Mexico GP with engine problems during practice on Friday forcing an unprompted power unit switch for the rest of the weekend.

And while the use of his pool engine meant no further mechanical issues, its high mileage meant a decline in its performance and hampered the three-time world champion in the race.

Speed trap figures across the start/finish straight, before DRS is activated, showed Verstappen topped out at 251.4km/h – which was well adrift of team-mate Sergio Perez on 253.4km/h.

Verstappen was second slowest of all at the first intermediate trap, logging 299.6km/h compared to Perez on 303.1 and title rival Lando Norris on 307.9km/h.

With Red Bull already on the back foot with its RB20 struggling to match the race form of Ferrari and McLaren, the team knows it probably needs to commit to a fresh power unit to help boost Verstappen’s hopes – and Interlagos makes sense because it is a track where overtaking is easier.

While the key talking point after the race for Verstappen was on his penalties for driving infringements against Norris, Red Bull says that the lack of speed is a much bigger worry.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko told Motorsport.com: “More alarming is that we couldn’t make the tyres work – both medium and hard.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“We were nowhere near the two front teams, and I guess part of the problem is that Friday, we couldn’t drive because of the engine problems.

“We have to do something, that’s clear. We also will have a change the engine because we had been so slow on the straight.

“This engine, which was in the car, was not supposed to be in the car, so most likely Brazil could happen.”

Speaking to Austrian broadcaster ORF, Marko said that the engine Verstappen used in the Mexico race had only been intended to be used in practice sessions for the remainder of the campaign.

“The engine we had in there was no longer intended for the race, and the older an engine gets, the more its performance diminishes,” he said.

“The penalty would be five places. That wouldn’t be so severe in Brazil, for example, where you can overtake relatively easily. But we saw that we were missing three to eight km/h on the straights.”

Verstappen currently holds a 47-point advantage over Norris in the standings, and any engine penalty would only mean a grid drop for the main grand prix rather than the sprint race that Brazil will host on the Saturday.