Ahead of Austin’s US Grand Prix, F1’s latest tech drama emerged after what has been a busy season for F1’s poachers and the FIA’s gamekeepers alike.

First, there was the classic F1 saga over flexing front wings, with aero-elasticity key to making this — and arguably any — generation of cars sing, a domain apparently mastered by McLaren and Mercedes in particular.

Flexing wings have always been a difficult area to police due to the difference between static tests and the reality of carbon fibre bending under load. But having already issued technical directives in the past to better advise teams on how the rules would be applied, the FIA was comfortable with what the teams were doing, and did not feel the need to impose stricter flex tests to police F1 designers’ favourite grey area.

Next, McLaren became the talk of the paddock once more in Baku with its innovative low-downforce rear wing, which created a mini-DRS effect that boosted its straight-line speeds. The design again passed the FIA’s existing tests, but this innovation was edging towards the darkest of grey areas. After conversations with the FIA, McLaren agreed to tweak its design for the next race it will use the wing — which is set to be at the Las Vegas GP.

The fact that the FIA let the front wing saga go, but that McLaren did end up altering its rear wing, shows the complexity of the matter for the governing body’s gamekeepers, and how each of the 10 teams are forced to operate in more shades of gray than a bestselling novel.

Now, it is Red Bull Racing that has been flagged by rival teams over the manner in which it has installed its race height-altering device to change the front bib.

What is the ‘front bib’?

All teams use such a system in some form, but teams suspect Red Bull’s — legal — cockpit-based solution could have been used overnight when the car is under parc ferme conditions, which is expressly forbidden.

Red Bull claims the device “is inaccessible once the car is fully assembled and ready to run”, and it has to be stressed that the team does not have to modify its car in Austin, but McLaren’s Oscar Piastri felt the parc ferme nature of the solution was “out of the gray area and into a black area.”

It will be almost impossible to prove that Red Bull ever used the device in parc ferme, so even as the FIA works on stricter procedures, it is a saga that won’t have a satisfactory conclusion for those who won’t give Red Bull the benefit of the doubt.

And if you are a rival team, why would you?

You may remember that Red Bull was also mentioned when the FIA reinforced its rule outlawing asymmetric braking, but is important not to throw everything onto one pile. The FIA explained that rule tweak was designed to make the 2026 regulations more robust, after which the new phrasing was retroactively added to this year’s rulebook — still with no indication of any team breaking the rules.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, leads Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

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Why all the grey areas, and why now?

But it doesn’t seem coincidental that the 2024 season has been marked by so many tech dramas.

The regulations are in their third of four seasons, with teams finding it ever harder to add performance through traditional means. Any marginal gains can make a substantial difference to the end result now, which invites out of the box thinking.

Additionally, a closing up of the grid has led to a gripping on-track battle between Red Bull and McLaren, which has also spilled out off the track with Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and McLaren CEO Zak Brown trading the occasional barbs, whether it was about these technical dramas or over high-profile staff leaving Red Bull for pastures new.

“It’s all part of the sport,” Brown told Motorsport.com earlier this year. “You’re trying to win every battle in Formula 1 on and off the track. You’re looking over every single mirror and every single wing.

“I’m going to do everything I can that’s appropriate to help McLaren win. And I would expect the other nine teams to do the same. And that means we’re going to be at odds with each other from time to time.”

Red Bull’s Helmut Marko added: “One time some teams will accuse others, and then the ones that are behind are blaming the others and say that they don’t have it. This is a normal game as long as I am in Formula 1 and it has always been like this.”

Now that is at least one thing McLaren and Red Bull can agree on.

Sebastien Bourdais will join the factory Cadillac team for the final round of the 2024 World Endurance Championship in Bahrain early next month.

Bourdais, the outright 2014 Daytona 24 Hours winner, will join Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber in the #2 Chip Ganassi-entered Cadillac V-Series.R for what would be his third appearance in WEC this year.

The Frenchman started the season with the American outfit in the new Qatar 1812km round before returning at the Le Mans 24 Hours in Ganassi’s second entry, teaming up with IndyCar star Scott Dixon and sportscar ace Renger van der Zande in the #3 Caddy.

“It’s good to get back in the car with Alex and Earl,” said Bourdais, who finished third in the recently concluded IMSA SportsCar Championship with the US arm of the Ganassi Cadillac squad. 

“Performance-wise, it seems like the car is in a really good window. It’s pretty light, good on power and competitive, so there is definitely something to play for. Bahrain is a really big challenge. It’s an extremely abrasive racetrack. 

“Tyre deg is very high and using the tyre the right way and not hurting it but making it function without making it slide is a critical thing to do. You have to do it with setup, dampers, traction control and you name it. We’ll try to find some recipes that work and hopefully, we’ll wind up in a good spot.”

Ganassi/Cadillac Racing has been one of the few teams to take advantage of the regulations to run a two-driver line-up for six-hour races this year.

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

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This meant that Lynn and Bamber raced as a duo in five of the eight rounds this year, with Bourdais partnering them for the pair of rounds in the Middle East at either end of the campaign and IndyCar champion Alex Palou serving as the third driver in the Le Mans centrepiece event.

It marked a shift in the marque’s approach from 2023, when the now-retired Richard Westbrook took part in every round along with Lynn and Bamber.

The WEC was planning to mandate three drivers in each Hypercar entry from 2025, but appears to have gone back on that idea after pushback from teams.

Cadillac’s best result of the season so far is a fourth-place finish achieved at the returning Austin event in September.

The General Motors brand will end its partnership with Ganassi following the Bahrain event to begin a new chapter with Jota, which will be running a pair of V-Series.Rs in Hypercar next year after competing in 2023-24 with customer Porsche machinery.

“We started off the season really well. Eventually [we] didn’t get the result because of the circumstances, but we certainly deserved a good finish,” said Bourdais.

“The car was very competitive in the race and we played the short game really well. Unfortunately, it’s been a bit of a tough season results-wise. There was always something coming in the way of a good result. If we could send it off on a high that would be pretty cool.

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

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Other changes

Elsewhere, Alpine has shuffled its driver line-up following Nicolas Lapierre’s decision to retire from racing. While Jules Gounon will join the team as expected, he has been drafted in the #35 Alpine A424 alongside Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin.

Charles Milesi moves from the #35 car to team up with Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #36 car, taking the spot previously occupied by Lapierre.

In LMGT3, Conrad Laursen will replace Clemens Schmid in the #78 ASP Lexus RC F GT3, while Giorgio Roda and Giammarco Levorato will race the #88 Proton Ford Mustang GT3, with both Mikkel Pedersen and team owner Christian Ried stepping away from the cockpit for the bonus points finale.

Max Verstappen is poised to continue his ongoing row with the FIA after he was punished for swearing.

The Formula 1 world champion was hit with a community service sanction at the Singapore Grand Prix after he used foul language in a live televised press conference.

The Red Bull driver responded to the penalty by holding his own impromptu press briefings in the paddock in Singapore after giving short answers during the FIA press conferences, which is he requested to attend.

Verstappen said he had yet to receive the full details of his punishment but he would continue to hold his own media round tables where he would continue to speak his mind.

Speaking at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, he said: “I have not heard anything [from the FIA], so for me it doesn’t really change anything.”

When asked to clarify what he meant and whether he would do his own media, away from the FIA, he added: “With the situation. I mean, I also have to talk less, so it is fine for me.”

Verstappen’s stance has received the backing of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, with George Russell saying the organisation is hoping to have a hearing with the FIA next week to discuss the incident.

Verstappen also said he would be open to discuss the matter with FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem – and would be waiting for his call.

He added: “At the end of the day, everyone has their own opinion, but it is quite clear that, like I said already it was silly stuff.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President, FIA, with Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“I am always open for a chat [with Ben Sulayem], but from my side at the moment it is not that I am the one who has to reach out with this stuff. I just live my life and continue, nothing changes.”

When asked if the FIA had made something from nothing, Verstappen said: “Yeah, but that is in general the world in which we live in, right? A lot of stuff is like that.

“This particular scenario, I think it is very unnecessary. Of course I know you can’t swear but that is more related to insults and then you see comments from people saying they don’t want kids seeing that.

“Well, when I was five years old, I never watched a press conference in my life anyway. At school, you say way worse things than that, that’s just how life is.

“If you want to set an example, yeah, sure, but I don’t think you should make a big deal of it. I just want to live my life, and if I don’t agree with something I will say it. That’s it.”

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have denied the adjustable front bib ride height device at the centre of a technical storm engulfing Red Bull at Austin has ever added Formula 1 car performance.

On Thursday at the United States Grand Prix, Red Bull admitted it was the team involved in discussions with the FIA over a clampdown on such a system – following the governing body being alerted to its existence at the previous round in Singapore.

It has been suggested that this device had a range of settings that could be adjusted – most likely by a mechanic at specific times – to help alter the car ride height.

While using such a system is normal, it would be illegal if this action was performed once parc ferme conditions began after qualifying and until the start of a race (including sprints).

A Red Bull representative said: “Yes, it exists although it is inaccessible once the car is fully assembled and ready to run.

“In the numerous correspondence we have with the FIA, this part came up and we have agreed a plan going forward.”

Red Bull’s drivers then faced the media in the paddock at the Circuit of the Americas, with Perez speaking first.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

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When asked by Motorsport.com how the team had reacted to the saga, Perez claimed: “There has been nothing that we were doing. We never actually talked about it. It was impossible.

“If anything, for example, I remember here that last year it was a sprint event, so we ended up with the ride height [close to] the moon.

“It was completely out of it because we were concerned about something like what happened to Mercedes [and Ferrari, being disqualified for excessive underfloor plank wear] that could happen to us.”

Pressed on whether he and Verstappen knew the controversial part existed, Perez replied: “I knew it existed but it was not available to us [to be used].”

Regarding the implication that such a device – if used under parc ferme conditions – would be performance-enhancing and if they expected any impact on performance, both Red Bull drivers denied this.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Verstappen claimed when he first saw the initial story about the device being discussed with the FIA, he believed it actually involved another team.

“It is open source, right?” he said of the parts whose design has to be submitted to the FIA so competitors are aware.

“Everyone can see it. For us it was just an easy tool when the parts were off. It was to adjust, but once the whole car is built together you cannot touch it. So for us it doesn’t change.

“When I read it [the story], I was thinking about other teams doing it and then I found out it was related to our team, and we never even mentioned it in the briefing.”

The saga over the Red Bull system comes hot on the heels of technical intrigue surrounding the team’s main rival McLaren, which has made changes to its rear wing following controversy over a ‘mini-DRS’ concept.

Perez said that ultimately it was down to the FIA to decide if what teams were doing was allowed or not.

“I think it is down to the FIA to draw a line whether it is legal or illegal,” he explained. “They are the ones who control the sport, so at the end of the day it is up to them to decide.”

Brodie Kostecki has provided details on just how sick he was on the way to taking his first Bathurst 1000 win last weekend.

Speaking on Supercars’ Drivers Only podcast, Kostecki said: “Well, I had the shits with myself, but I literally had the shits that day.

“Physically, I was feeling horrible to the point where I was on the shred. It was not good. I wasn’t feeling good on Friday.

“On the Friday, I was just minimal laps trying to stay fresh for qualifying. But yeah, I was getting a bit of double vision and all that sort of stuff going on. Bit feverish.

“I was glad to actually just put it in the Shootout, to be honest.”

Such were Kostecki’s issues that co-driver Todd Hazelwood was wary about sharing the car in the race with an unwell teammate, joking: “We did joke on Saturday, like, we’re going to have to put a garbage bag in the seat.

“Like, ‘I don’t want to be sitting in that’.”

Brodie Kostecki, Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Photo by: Edge Photographics

Under the circumstances, the flat-out 30-lap sprint to the end of the race with Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney barely a second behind him – all the while managing a tight fuel window – was even more impressive.

“Those last 30 laps there were gruelling, they were so intense,” Kostecki said.

“It was within a second for a lot of, you know, for over 50 percent of that last stint. And I’ve got a display on my dash that shows me how far Broc was behind me.

“I’d be going down the hill every lap, pretty much hanging my balls out on the line, ready to write this Chiko roll off and roll through the sand.”

The 26-year-old has two rounds remaining until the end of the season, after which he will move to Dick Johnson Racing to race a Ford Mustang in 2025.

The feel-good stories and underdogs are gone — eliminated through the first two rounds. Even Alex Bowman, who went from being the fourth driver at HMS to one of the strongest playoff drivers, has now been eliminated after an unfortunate DQ. Half of the eight remaining title contenders are former Cup champions. In fact, every champ from the last four seasons is still in the fight, and all four Championship 4 drivers from last year remain as well. There are no weak links, which should make for a thrilling and dramatic Round of 8 as four of them will see their title hopes shatter into pieces while the other four move on to Phoenix.

Sitting atop the standings is Kyle Larson, the clear championship favorite. He has more wins, more top-fives, and more laps led than anyone else this season. There’s really not more to say about him beyond the fact that he is ‘the guy’ until one of the other prove otherwise, but there’s plenty that could.

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images

For example, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott. NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver and the 2020 series champion only has one win this year, but he leads the entire pack in best average finish (11.7). He has been nothing if not consistent, ever-present in the front-half of the field and likely to make some noise in the races ahead. After a dismal 2023 where a broken leg derailed his entire year, he has carefully made his way through the mayhem and unpredictability of this year’s championship without ever truly feeling the pressure of being eliminated. He even entered the Round of 12 cut-off race on the bubble, but he was never really part of that tense storyline as he quickly scored a mountain of stage points. 

Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

The only two-time Cup champion in the Round of 8 is a bit of surprise, considering the fact that he was out at the checkered flag last weekend. Bowman’s disqualification nearly three hours later paved the way for his playoff re-entry. Joey Logano, who won the title in 2018 and 2022, is one of just two drivers to win multiple titles under this volatile playoff format. Team Penske is also looking for its third straight Cup title in the Next Gen era, but despite Logano’s resume, he has actually underperformed compared to recent seasons. Despite this, he has shown the ability to step it up when the moment demands it, and that’s nothing new for Logano. Likely the most aggressive driver still in the title fight, he has won at all four tracks that end the 2024 season.

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Then there’s his Penske teammate and reigning champion Ryan Blaney. Despite scoring just one point at Watkins Glen in the Round of 16 and crashing out heavily at Talladega to finish a season-worst of 39th, he remains in contention. Like Logano, he knows how to step it up when the pressure is on. In every other playoff race, he’s scored anywhere between 33 and 53 points per race. No driver has ever won back-to-back championships in this knockout format, but the the feisty driver of the No. 12 just might.

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Discount Tire Ford Mustang

Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images

So, half of the remaining title combatants have already won championships, including the last four from 2020 – 2023. They are here for a reason, but the challengers who have yet to hoist the Bill France Cup are just as competitive.

For example, there’s Denny Hamlin, despite a somewhat rocky playoff run so far. He’s also got a lot going on right now with a contentious lawsuit against NASCAR involving the team he co-owns, but as a driver, he is the most successful to ever race that has yet to win a Cup title. Three Daytona 500 victories, 54 Cup wins, and five consecutive seasons finishing fifth or higher in the final standings. He has never missed the playoffs since this format was introduced in 2014, and he is perhaps the hungriest driver here. We’ve seen him wall his good friend Larson for wins, we’ve seen him get into physical altercations with Logano (more than once), and he thrives off of fans’ shower of boos every time he wins. This is the exact sort of driver you want going into this round, which is more a battlefield than a stock car race. He will do whatever it takes to smash through that glass ceiling and become a champion.

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, FedEx One Rate Toyota Camry

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

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And what about the third Hendrick driver to advance? William Byron started the year by winning three of the first eight races, including the Daytona 500. However, we haven’t seen him in Victory Lane since April. But the driver of the No. 24 appears to be finding his footing just in time for the final stretch. He scored three straight podium finishes in the Round of 12, scoring so many points that he didn’t even need to win in order to lock himself into this round early. It would be foolish to count him out.

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images

Tyler Reddick is perhaps the most interesting driver on this list. 23XI Racing has never made it beyond the Round of 8, and neither has Reddick. Of course, there’s also that lawsuit hanging over them. Reddick drove like a champion at Roval, using fresh tires to cut through the field in closing laps, erasing the double-digit points deficit and narrowly escaping elimination. Some might be quick to disregard him but we should remember that this driver won the regular season championship. He has heavily relied on those bonus points through what has been a rough playoffs, but this is a driver who just showed the world that he can extract everything and then some out of the car when his back is against the wall. After that late charge at the Roval, he’s already proven to be championship material.

Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, Monster Energy Toyota Camry Justin Haley, Spire Motorsports, Mattress Warehouse Chevrolet Camaro Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang

Photo by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images

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So that’s it for thi — wait, aren’t we missing someone? Oh right … Christopher Bell! As he himself will tell you, everyone always overlooks the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. And there is really no good reason for it. He is quiet and makes little noise on the track, but he is always a contender. Bell is the only driver to have made the Championship 4 in both years of the Next Gen era. He has also finished seventh or higher in seven of the last eight races — the only result worse than that was 14th. He is consistent, ever-present and a very legitimate title threat. Before the playoffs, this writer picked him to win it all for all the reasons we just covered. He is NASCAR’s ‘silent assassin.’ People always wonder where Bell came from when the big prize is in sight, but he’s always been right there, but nobody — including his rivals — seem to realize that until it’s too late.

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, DEWALT Toyota Camry

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images