Formula 1 drivers have been caught up by the bumpiness of Interlagos’ new track surface, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri joking “seeing the end of the straight is the first objective” in Saturday’s sprint.

The historic Brazilian Grand Prix venue in Sao Paulo has been completely resurfaced for 2024, and while drivers agreed the new asphalt delivered more grip, they also felt it made the 4.3km loop a lot bumpier than it used to be

“I think everybody was thrown off a bit by just how bumpy the track was,” Piastri said after claiming a sprint pole ahead of McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.

“Seeing the end of the straight is the first objective. It’s bad, it’s really, really bumpy. And I think everyone’s had to change a lot of things on the car to make them somewhat comfortable.

“The grip is actually quite good, it’s just trying to keep all four wheels on the ground at once is not that easy.”

Piastri was not alone in his observations, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen also suffering aboard his Red Bull, which has been historically weaker over bumpy circuits.

“The car was a bit difficult on the bumps,” the world champion said after taking fourth on the sprint grid.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“They did the resurfacing, but they actually made it worse to drive. It’s extremely bumpy everywhere, so that’s not good for our cars.

“All the bumpy areas, the car is jumping around a lot, and it’s costing me quite a bit of lap time.”

The Mercedes drivers had a similar experience, with George Russell wondering “what happened” when they repaved it and Lewis Hamilton getting flashbacks to Mercedes’ bouncing-affected 2022 season.

“Yeah, the ride is pretty bad on the track, I think for everyone,” Hamilton said. “The track has been resurfaced, and they’ve not done a particularly great job. It’s bumpy for everyone.

“FP1 was like Baku 2022. It was a little bit better, in terms of it wasn’t hitting the deck so badly, so I wasn’t in pain or anything like that. But the thing is hopping through the corners, so it’s very hard to drive.”

Kevin Magnussen will sit out the entire Brazilian Grand Prix weekend due to illness, with reserve driver Oliver Bearman remaining in the car until Sunday.

On Friday morning Haas announced that Magnussen would have to sit out the Friday running after being taken ill, and that he would be replaced by Bearman for free practice and sprint qualifying. That also meant Bearman would stay in the car for Saturday morning’s sprint.

But in a further update Haas has now confirmed that Magnussen won’t be in the car at all this weekend, with Bearman also taking part in Saturday qualifying and Sunday’s grand prix.

“Haas F1 Team can confirm that Kevin Magnussen will not compete in the São Paulo Grand Prix and Oliver Bearman will race for the team for the remainder of the weekend,” the team shared in a statement, with Motorsport.com understanding Magnussen’s symptoms are nausea-related.

Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1 Team, speaks to the media

Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images

Bearman acquitted himself well on Friday in his first-ever visit to Sao Paulo’s Interlagos circuit, taking third in free practice before advancing to the top 10 in sprint qualifying. 

The Briton was on course for eighth place on the grid, but saw his SQ3 laptime deleted for exceeding track limits and will line up in 10th, ahead of experienced team-mate Nico Hulkenberg in 12th.

Bearman is set for his third grand prix start and his second for Haas, having already replaced Magnussen in Baku when the Danish driver served a one-race ban for accumulating too many penalty points.

The 19-year-old Ferrari junior, who has already been signed by Haas to step up to a full-time race seat in 2025, also deputised for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia when the Spaniard was treated for appendicitis.

Bearman’s third start also means Haas will have to rethink its plans for the Abu Dhabi post-season test, which Bearman was set to take part in for his 2025 employer.

Drivers are not allowed to have started in more than two grands prix to be eligible to drive the team’s second car designated for rookies, while the teams’ other car is used by regular drivers for Pirelli tyre testing.

Additional reporting by Oleg Karpov

A new Red Bull chassis didn’t help Sergio Perez turn his fortunes around as he could only qualify in 13th place for the sprint race in Brazil.

The under-fire Red Bull driver continues to struggle for form after a poor performance in the US GP in Austin followed by his shocking home race in Mexico last weekend, where he finished 17th.

The pressure on Perez is ramping up, and again questions have resurfaced as to whether he will be retained by Red Bull next season, despite having a contract in place.

Perez was quizzed about his latest poor result and reeled off a list of excuses.

He said: “We had a good FP1 and then we had a little bit of understeer with the track [temperature] coming down.

“We tried to [deal with] it with the brake balance and the tools that are available and then I ended up a little bit too rear-limited.

“And then was a bit confusing on the programme. We thought we might have a chance for a second lap, and unfortunately, we didn’t.

“Today we did struggle quite a bit and looking forward to tomorrow’s qualifying, really. We got caught out with the conditions, unfortunately. And that really was the difficult bit.”

Red Bull boss Christian Horner had earlier revealed the team had reverted to an old chassis to help boost Perez’s confidence.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Horner again pledged his support for his driver but stopped short of providing a ringing endorsement.

He said: “We’re doing our best to try and help rebuild his confidence. He had a horrible weekend in Mexico.

“We’ve changed his chassis this weekend. It’s an older chassis, that we’ve put him into just to give him that extra boost of confidence.

“Sergio is a seasoned campaigner. He’s been around long enough that he knows this is a results-based business.

“He knows that this season has been under-par for him. Nobody’s more acutely aware of that than Sergio, but we’re doing our best that we can to support him.”

Meanwhile, team-mate Max Verstappen will line up on the second row after qualifying in fourth place for the sprint.

The world champion also criticised the bumpy track for not helping his cause.

He said: “As soon as we went into qualifying, it looked like we were definitely off the pace.

“The car was a bit difficult on the bumps. They did the resurfacing but they actually made it worse to drive. It’s extremely bumpy everywhere, so that’s not good for our cars.

“All the bumpy areas, the car is jumping around a lot, and it’s costing me quite a bit of lap time.

“Normally when you’re already quite a bit off over one lap, I don’t think we are particularly strong in the race. So we’ll have to see how that goes tomorrow in the sprint.

“I also know there’s maybe some weather around that can come, but maybe not for the sprint.”

After every F1 qualifying session, Motorsport.com publishes each team’s qualifying record in terms of team-mate duels.

This record is based exclusively on qualifying results so that grid penalties don’t alter the statistics.

When a driver can’t put in a representative lap time due to a technical issue or an incident, this will be mentioned in the table.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen	24-1 (19-1 without sprints)	Sergio PErez
1	Bahrain	5 (+0.358s in Q3)
1	Saudi Arabia	3 (+0.335s in Q3)
1	Australia	3 (+0.359s in Q3) Advertisement
1	Japan	2 (+0.066s in Q3)
4	China (sprint)	6 (+0.347s in Q3 – rain)
1	China	2 (+0.322s in Q3)
1	Miami (sprint)	3 (+0.235s in Q3) Advertisement
1	Miami	4 (+0.219s in Q3)
1	Imola	11 (+0.530s in Q2)
6	Monaco	18 (+0.349s in Q1)
2	Canada	16 (+0.966s in Q1) Advertisement
2	Spain	8 (+0.658s in Q3)
1	Austria (sprint)	7 (+1.322s in Q3)
1	Austria	8 (+0.888s in Q3)
4	Great Britain	19 (+6.006s in Q1 – went off) Advertisement
3	Hungary	16 (+0.799s in Q1 – crashed out)
1	Belgium	3 (+0.606s in Q3 – rain)
2	Netherlands	5 (+0.387s in Q3)
7	Italy	8 (+0.040s in Q3) Advertisement
6 (+0.210s in Q3)	Azerbaijan	4
2	Singapore	13 (+0.899s in Q2) Advertisement
1	United States (sprint)	11 (+0.954s  in Q2)
2	United States	10 (no lap time – track limits) Advertisement
2	Mexico	18 (+0.808s in Q1)
4	Brazil (sprint)	13 (+0.535s in Q2) Advertisement

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton	6-19 (5-15 without sprints)	George Russell
9 (+0.225s in Q3)	Bahrain	3
8 (+0.144s in Q3) Advertisement	Saudi Arabia	7
11 (+0.059s in Q2)	Australia	7
7	Japan	9 (+0.242s in Q3)
2	China (sprint)	11 (+0.058s in Q2) Advertisement
18 (+0.489s in Q1)	China	8
12 (+0.028s in Q2) Advertisement	Miami (sprint)	11
8 (+0.040s in Q3)	Miami	7
8 (+0.270s in Q3) Advertisement	Imola	6
7 (+0.078s in Q3)	Monaco	5
7 (+0.280s in Q3) Advertisement	Canada	1
3	Spain	4 (+0.002s in Q3)
6 (+0.216s in Q3) Advertisement	Austria (sprint)	4
5 (+0.063s in Q3)	Austria	3
2 (+0.171s in Q3) Advertisement	Great Britain	1
5	Hungary	17 (+0.881s in Q1)
4	Belgium	7 (+0.349s in Q3 – rain) Advertisement
12 (+0.396s in Q2)	Netherlands	4
6 (+0.073s in Q3) Advertisement	Italy	3
7 (+0.415s in Q3)	Azerbaijan	5
3	Singapore	4 (+0.026s in Q3) Advertisement
7 (+0.533s in Q3)	United States (sprint)	2
19 (+0.618s in Q1) Advertisement	United States	6
6 (+0.295s in Q3)	Mexico	5
11 (+0.258s in Q2) Advertisement	Brazil (sprint)	6

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc	15-9 (12-7 without sprints)	Carlos Sainz
2	Bahrain	4 (+0.100s in Q3)
5 (+0.250s in Q3) Advertisement	Australia	2
8 (+0.104s in Q3)	Japan	4
7 (+0.352s in Q3 – rain) Advertisement	China (sprint)	5
6	China	7 (+0.008s in Q3)
2	Miami (sprint)	5 (+0.354s in Q3) Advertisement
2	Miami	3 (+0.073s in Q3)
4	Imola	5 (+0.263s in Q3) Advertisement
1	Monaco	3 (+0.248s in Q3)
11	Canada	12 (+0.037s in Q2) Advertisement
5	Spain	6 (+0.005s in Q3)
10 (no lap time in Q – technical issue) Advertisement	Austria (sprint)	5
6 (+0.193s in Q3)	Austria	4
11 (+0.254s in Q2) Advertisement	Great Britain	7
6 (+0.209s in Q3)	Hungary	4
2	Belgium	8 (+0.723s in Q3 – rain) Advertisement
6	Netherlands	11 (+0.225s in Q2)
4	Italy	5 (+0.006s in Q3) Advertisement
1	Azerbaijan	3 (+0.440s in Q3)
9 (no lap time in Q3 – track limits) Advertisement	Singapore	10 (no lap time in Q3 – crashed out)
3	United States (sprint)	5 (+0.030s in Q3)
4 Advertisement (+0.088s in Q3)	United States	3
4 (+0.319s in Q3)	Mexico	1
3 Advertisement	Brazil (sprint)	5 (+0.104s in Q3)

Charles Leclerc	1-0	Oliver Bearman
2	Saudi Arabia	11 (+0.530s in Q2)

McLaren

Lando Norris	19-6 (16-4 without sprints)	Oscar Piastri
7	Bahrain	8 (+0.069s in Q3) Advertisement
6 (+0.043s in Q3)	Saudi Arabia	5
4	Australia	6 (+0.257s in Q3) Advertisement
3	Japan	6 (+0.271s in Q3)
1	China (sprint)	8 (+3.050s in Q3 – rain)
4 Advertisement	China	5 (+0.108s in Q3)
9 (+0.311s in Q3)	Miami (sprint)	6
5	Miami	6 (+0.081s in Q3) Advertisement
3 (+0.017s in Q3)	Imola	2
4 (+0.118s in Q3) Advertisement	Monaco	2
3	Canada	4 (+0.082s in Q3)
1	Spain	10 (no lap time in Q3 – went off) Advertisement
2	Austria (sprint)	3 (+0.208s in Q3)
2	Austria	7 (+0.330s in Q3) Advertisement
3	Great Britain	5 (+0.207s in Q3)
1	Hungary	2 (+0.022s in Q3) Advertisement
5	Belgium	6 (+0.046s in Q3 – rain)
1	Netherlands	3 (+0.499s in Q3) Advertisement
1	Italy	2 (+0.109s in Q3)
16 (+0.576s in Q1) Advertisement	Azerbaijan	2
1	Singapore	5 (+0.428s in Q1)
4	United States (sprint)	16 (+0.962s in Q1 – time deleted) Advertisement
1	United States	5 (+0.620s in Q3)
3	Mexico	17 (+1.092s in Q1) Advertisement
2 (+0.029s in Q3)	Brazil (sprint)	1

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso	17-8 (15-5 without sprints)	Lance Stroll
6	Bahrain	12 (+0.399s in Q2) Advertisement
4	Saudi Arabia	10 (+0.726s in Q3)
10 (+0.480s in Q3)	Australia	9
5 Advertisement	Japan	16 (+0.770s in Q1)
3	China (sprint)	15 (+0.558s in Q2)
3 Advertisement	China	11 (+0.186s in Q2)
8 (+0.044s in Q3)	Miami (sprint)	7
15 Advertisement (+0.205s in Q2)	Miami	11
19 (+0.459s in Q1 – went off)	Imola	13
16 Advertisement (+0.291s in Q1)	Monaco	14
6	Canada	9 (+0.473s in Q3)
11 Advertisement	Spain	14 (+0.244s in Q2)
13 (+0.031s in Q2)	Austria (sprint)	12
15 Advertisement	Austria	17 (+0.163s in Q1)
10 (+0.332s in Q3)	Great Britain	8
7 Advertisement	Hungary	8 (+0.201s in Q3)
9	Belgium	15 (+1.458s in Q2 – rain)
7 Advertisement	Netherlands	9 (+0.224s in Q3)
11	Italy	17 (+0.396s in Q1)
8 Advertisement	Azerbaijan	14 (+0.978s in Q2)
7	Singapore	17 (+0.410s in Q1)
14 Advertisement (no lap time – track limits)	United States (sprint)	13 (no lap time – track limits)
8	United States	14 (+0.330s in Q2) Advertisement
13	Mexico	14 (+0.126s in Q2)
16	Brazil (sprint)	19 (+0.302s in Q1) Advertisement

Alpine

Pierre Gasly	11-14 (8-12 without sprints)	Esteban Ocon
20 (+0.155s in Q1)	Bahrain	19
18 (+0.004s in Q1) Advertisement	Saudi Arabia	17
17 (+0.365s in Q1)	Australia	15
17 (+0.308s in Q1)	Japan	15
16	China (sprint)	17 (+0.088s in Q1)
15 Advertisement (+0.240s in Q2)	China	13
16 (+0.312s in Q1)	Miami (sprint)	13
12 Advertisement	Miami	13 (+0.047s in Q2)
15 (+0.475s in Q2)	Imola	12
10 Advertisement	Monaco	11 (+0.389s in Q2)
15	Canada	18 (+0.146s in Q1)
7 Advertisement	Spain	9 (+0.268s in Q3)
9 (+0.523s in Q3)	Austria (sprint)	8
13 Advertisement (+0.085s in Q2)	Austria	10
20 (+5.247s in Q1 – rain)	Great Britain	18
20 Advertisement (+0.117s in Q1)	Hungary	19
12 (+0.175s in Q2 – rain)	Belgium	10
10 Advertisement	Netherlands	17 (+0.277s in Q1)
14	Italy	15 (+0.028s in Q2)
DSQ (fuel flow) Advertisement	Azerbaijan	19
18 (+0.354s in Q1)	Singapore	15
12	United States (sprint)	17 (+0.052s in Q1) Advertisement
7	United States	13 (+0.435s in Q2)
8	Mexico	19 (+0.468s in Q1) Advertisement
7	Brazil (sprint)	17 (+0.422s in Q1)

Williams

Alexander Albon	14-2 (13-0 without sprints)	Logan Sargeant
13	Bahrain	18 (+0.373s in Q1) Advertisement
12	Saudi Arabia	19 (+0.419s in Q1)
12	Australia	DNS
14	Japan	19 (+0.176s in Q1)
18	China (sprint)	20 (+0.111s in Q1)
14	China	20 (+0.974s in Q1 – spin) Advertisement
20 (+0.307s in Q1)	Miami (sprint)	19
14	Miami	17 (+0.144s in Q1) Advertisement
14	Imola	– (no lap time – track limits)
9	Monaco	17 (+0.397s in Q1) Advertisement
10	Canada	13 (+0.251s in Q2)
19	Spain	20 (+0.356s in Q1) Advertisement
19 (+0.236s in Q1)	Austria (sprint)	15
16	Austria	19 (+0.120s in Q1) Advertisement
9	Great Britain	12 (+0.242s in Q2)
13	Hungary	14 (+0.114s in Q2) Advertisement
11	Belgium	19 (+1.508s in Q1 – rain)
DSQ (technical infringement)	Netherlands	– (no lap time – crash in FP3) Advertisement

ALEXANDER ALBON	5-2 (4-1 without sprints)	FRANCO COLAPINTO
9	Italy	18 (+0.519s in Q1)
10 Advertisement (+0.329s in Q2 – pitlane incident)	Azerbaijan	9
11	Singapore	12 (+0.007s in Q2)
18 Advertisement (+0.448s in Q1)	United States (sprint)	10
16	United States	17 (+0.011s in Q1)
9 Advertisement	Mexico	16 (+0.369s in Q1)
9	Brazil (sprint)	14 (+0.431s in Q1)

RB

Yuki Tsunoda	13-8 (12-6 without sprints) Advertisement	Daniel Ricciardo
11	Bahrain	14 (+0.149s in Q2)
9	Saudi Arabia	14 (+0.461s in Q2)
8	Australia	18 (+1.297s in Q1)
10	Japan	11 (+0.055s in Q2) Advertisement
19 (+0.571s in Q1)	China (sprint)	14
19 (+0.303s in Q1)	China	12
15 (no lap time – track limits) Advertisement	Miami (sprint)	4
10	Miami	18 (+0.293s in Q1)
7	Imola	9 (+0.209s in Q3)
8 Advertisement	Monaco	13 (+0.376s in Q2)
8 (+0.236s in Q3)	Canada	5
17 Advertisement	Spain	18 (+0.090s in Q1)
14	Austria (sprint)	16 (+0.024s in Q1)
14 Advertisement (+0.123s in Q2)	Austria	11
13	Great Britain	15 (+0.680s in Q2)
10 Advertisement (+0.030s in Q3 – crashed out)	Hungary	9
18 (+1.142s in Q1 – rain)	Belgium	13
13 Advertisement	Netherlands	16 (+0.340s in Q1)
16 (+0.044s in Q1)	Italy	12
12 Advertisement	Azerbaijan	15 (+0.210s in Q1)
8	Singapore	16 (+0.369s in Q1)

YUKI TSUNODA	3-1 Advertisement (2-0 without sprints)	LIAM LAWSON
9	United States (sprint)	15 (no lap time – track limits)
11	United States	15 (no lap time – grid penalty)
11	Mexico	12 (+0.033s in Q2) Advertisement
18 (+0.545s in Q1)	Brazil (sprint)	8

Sauber

Valtteri Bottas	23-2 (19-1 without sprints)	Zhou Guanyu
16	Bahrain	17 (+0.001s in Q1) Advertisement
16	Saudi Arabia	– (no lap time – crash in FP3)
13	Australia	20 (+0.848s in Q1)
13	Japan	20 (+0.541s in Q1)
9	China (sprint)	10 (+2.493s in Q3 – rain) Advertisement
10	China	16 (+0.336s in Q1)
18 (+0.093s in Q1)	Miami (sprint)	17
16 Advertisement	Miami	20 (+0.361s in Q1)
16	Imola	17 (+0.208s in Q1)
19 Advertisement	Monaco	20 (+0.516s in Q1)
17	Canada	20 (+0.926s in Q1)
12 Advertisement	Spain	15 (+0.511 in Q2)
18	Austria (sprint)	20 (+0.472s in Q1)
18 Advertisement	Austria	20 (+0.214s in Q1)
16 (+1.241s in Q1 – rain)	Great Britain	14
12 Advertisement	Hungary	18 (+0.550s in Q1)
14	Belgium	20 (+2.244s in Q1 – rain)
18 Advertisement	Netherlands	19 (+1.093s in Q1)
19	Italy	20 (+0.344s in Q1)
17 Advertisement	Azerbaijan	18 (+0.628s in Q1)
19	Singapore	20 (+0.482s in Q1)
19 Advertisement	United States (sprint)	20 (+1.324s in Q1 – time deleted)
18	United States	20 (+0.076s in Q1)
15 Advertisement	Mexico	20 (+0.679s in Q1)
15	Brazil (sprint)	20 (+2.117s in Q1)

Haas

Nico Hulkenberg	16-7 (14-5 withOut sprints) Advertisement	Kevin Magnussen
10	Bahrain	15 (+0.678s in Q2)
15 (no lap time – technical issue)	Saudi Arabia	13
16 Advertisement (+0.267s in Q1)	Australia	14
12	Japan	18 (+0.310s in Q1)
13 Advertisement (+0.005s in Q2)	China (sprint)	12
9	China	17 (+0.448s in Q1)
10 Advertisement	Miami (sprint)	14 (+0.284s in Q2)
9	Miami	19 (+0.236s in Q1)
10 Advertisement	Imola	18 (+1.013s in Q1 – impeded)
12	Monaco	15 (+0.285s in Q2)
19 Advertisement (+0.761s in Q1)	Canada	14
13	Spain	16 (+0.229s in Q1)
17 Advertisement (+0.196s in Q1)	Austria (sprint)	11
9	Austria	12 (+0.085s in Q2)
6 Advertisement	Great Britain	17 (+0.976s in Q1 – rain)
11	Hungary	15 (+0.231s in Q2)
16 Advertisement	Belgium	17 (+0.192s in Q1 – rain)
14	Netherlands	15 (+0.080s in Q2)
10 Advertisement	Italy	13 (+0.287s in Q2)
6	Singapore	14 (+0.503s in Q2)
6 Advertisement	United States (sprint)	8 (+0.215s in Q3)
12 (+0.070s in Q2)	United States	9
10 Advertisement (+0.479s in Q3)	Mexico	7

NICO HULKENBERG	0-2 (0-1 without sprints)	Oliver Bearman
13 Advertisement (+0.223s in Q2)	Azerbaijan	11
12 (+0.335s in Q2)	Brazil (sprint)	10

Charles Leclerc has been summoned by the FIA stewards at the Brazilian Grand Prix for swearing in the post-race press conference in Mexico last weekend.

The Monegasque swore when describing his late-race moment in the Mexico City race, where he ran wide at the final corner as he fought hard with Lando Norris.

“I had one oversteer and then when I recovered from that oversteer, I had an oversteer from the other side and then I was like, ‘f***’,” he said.

Quickly realising that the use of swear words in press conferences is now frowned upon after Max Verstappen was punished for cursing in Singapore, Leclerc immediately apologised.

“Oh, sorry! Oh no, I don’t want to join Max,” Leclerc said.

Leclerc was seen in conversation with an FIA official after the press conference, and it is understood a note was sent to the race stewards earlier this week advising them of a potential rules breach.

With the stewards in Brazil only convening properly on Friday morning, it took them until shortly after the start of sprint qualifying to react to that note and decide that the matter did need a proper hearing.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

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They stated that Leclerc was being called up for an “alleged breach of Article 12.2.1.k of the International Sporting Code – Language during the Mexico FIA Post Race Press Conference.”

Leclerc’s summons came after Verstappen, who has been punished with a day of community service for his swearing, expressed some surprise in Brazil for his Ferrari rival not being questioned by the FIA.

“Apparently, it only counts for me anyway, because after the race in Mexico, someone was swearing. I didn’t hear anything from it,’ he said.

“It’s weird. Actually what he says is worse than what I said in the context, and it was a much more important press conference with more people watching.”

The hardline stance from the FIA on swearing came in the wake of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem expressing his displeasure at the language of drivers in F1.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, he said: “I know, I was a driver. In the heat of the moment, when you think you are upset because another driver came to you and pushed you…when I used to drive in the dust [and something like that happened], I would get upset.

“But also, we have to be careful with our conduct. We need to be responsible people and now with technology, everything is going live and everything is going to be recorded. At the end of the day, we have to study that to see: do we minimise what is being said publicly?”

When Red Bull’s second Formula 1 team rebranded to RB at the start of this year, it came after abandoning an original idea to become Racing Bulls.

At the time it was felt that an official title of the ‘Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula 1 team’ was too much of a mouthful, so RB it would be.

Fast forward to now and a change of plan is in the offing. The team is set to go back to what it was intended from the off, replacing its RB moniker with the Racing Bulls tag for the 2025 season.

After a campaign where it has felt that the RB abbreviation has not really engaged with fans or the media, it has reached the conclusion that its initial idea was actually the best.

And it makes most sense, with the official company name being ‘Racing Bulls S.p.A’, its email addresses being from ‘Racing Bulls’ rather than ‘RB’ and most people in the paddock referring to it as that as well.

Speaking to ServusTV about the plans in Brazil, team CEO Peter Bayer said that the shift from RB to Racing Bulls was not as dramatic as some have suggested – and was certainly not a major rebrand.

“Racing Bulls. Visa Cash App Racing Bulls – nothing will actually change,” he said.

Peter Bayer, CEO of RB F1 Team, Laurent Mekies, Team Principal of RB F1 Team

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

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“The only question throughout the year was: ‘What does RB mean, what does RB mean? Now we’re making it official: RB means Racing Bulls.”

But a change from RB to Racing Bulls, which will formally be confirmed when the FIA publishes its entry list for next year, does not actually mean its entire identity is changing – especially when it comes to the car name.

This is where the situation becomes slightly complex. That is because what we know the chassis name to be – the VCARB01 – isn’t actually officially what the chassis is under the wording of the regulations.

There is a difference in the rules between what the chassis is called, and what the car name is.

According to Article 8.2 of F1’s Sporting Regulations, the official name of the team “must include the name of the chassis.” But the chassis is not the car’s name.

So in FIA terms, there is a chassis definition – where Mercedes has the Mercedes, Ferrari has the Ferrari and RB has the RB.

Then there is what the teams officially call their car – and what we know them to be. Mercedes has labelled its 2024 challenge the W15, Ferrari the SF-24 and RB the VCARB01.

Liam Lawson, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

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For next year, it is understood RB’s chassis on the entry list will be known as the ‘Racing Bulls’, while its car will be called the VCARB02.

And while the Racing Bulls identity will be more obvious next year, it is understood that much of the current Visa CashApp RB branding and its logo will remain identical – as that happily works from a corporate perspective.

Additional reporting by Frederik Hackbarth