Christopher Bell is the only Cup driver to make the Championship 4 in the first two seasons of the Next Gen era, and he is on the cusp of doing it for a third consecutive year. Despite his strong position, he only felt frustration after a dominant showing last weekend as he watched Joey Logano stretch the fuel and steal the win out from under him.

But the disappointing runner-up finish at Vegas still netted Bell a bucket of points — enough to put him ahead of the seven title contenders still fighting over the three remaining spots in the final four. That’s critically important as no matter what happens over the next two weeks, the driver with the most points (and no win in the Round of 8) will also have a clear pathway to Phoenix.

Bell’s true battle isn’t with the bottom four

He is 42 points above the cut-line, but the fight Bell really needs to pay attention to is the one to remain atop the points pile. Kyle Larson is just seven points behind him and William Byron is 25 points back. The top points-scorer is guaranteed one of those coveted four spots, no matter what. That fact certainly isn’t lost on the quietly clever driver of the No. 20 Toyota.

“Yeah, I think that’s what we’re planning on (gaining max points),” said Bell during media availability at Homestead. “You know, that’s why you’re in the Round of 8, trying to transfer to the Championship 4. You’re never really safe. The three of us William [Byron], Kyle [Larson] and myself have kind of, the way that the cards fell, we’re kind of essentially point racing each other, and the guys below that are far enough below, they’re basically out of the points and essentially racing for wins.

“Certainly, we’ll know more once we get through Homestead on Sunday night, but, right now, we’re planning on there being three winners and the three of us – William, Kyle and myself – are racing for that last points spot. There’s a good chance William, Kyle or myself could win this weekend and it could change. But + 42 (points) sounds great until you realize every time someone wins, that cutline shrinks more, more and more, or that gap to the cutline. You’re never safe and it’s going to be a battle.”

The lack of a safety net in this round makes it unique to the two that precede it where ‘okay’ runs are normally enough to skate through. But in this penultimate round, the entire dynamic changes and nothing short of a victory feels secure. Perhaps that’s why Bell was unusually animated on the radio when he lost the Vegas race to Logano’s fuel gamble.

Points vs. wins: A recent history

But is it really wise to prioritize points over race wins in this round? Taking a short walk back through recent history gives us some good insight into the answer.

Last year, Byron (+20 over nearest competition) was the driver who left Homestead with the most points of the non-winners. In 2022, it was Ross Chastain (+8 on nearest competition). Both drivers did end up making the Championship 4. However, it was a nail-biter for Byron who narrowly moved forward by a margin of just eight points. And Chastain? I think we all remember what he had to do, driving his car full-throttle into the wall and achieving what was once thought impossible in a daredevil move for the ages.

But the most interesting statistic here is that neither of those drivers went on to win the title while both of the NASCAR’s most recent champions [Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano] won their way into the finale. In fact, that trend continues back before the introduction of the Next Gen car with Larson in 2021 and Chase Elliott in 2020.

The last champion to actually point their way into the finale was Kyle Busch five years ago. In fact, it’s only happened three times in ten seasons with this current format. Bell is of the belief that winning in the Round of 8 — specifically the opening race as Logano just did — gives any driver a certain edge over the other contenders. 

“The Phoenix car is a special car and if you’re in the final four, it deserves to have more time and effort put into it,” explained Bell, who has only ever made the final four by winning Ro8 races. “So, winning that first race is huge and yeah, it’s an advantage. And I noticed that from winning Homestead last year, having that extra week to prepare.”

Max Verstappen says “nothing changes” for him after Formula 1 drivers and the FIA sat down to discuss tweaks to the series’ racing guidelines.

In Friday’s driver meeting at the Mexican Grand Prix, drivers were seeking answers from the governing body on how racing incidents are judged and whether F1’s current guidelines on driver standards are still fit for purpose.

The trigger for the discussion was Verstappen’s fight with Lando Norris at last week’s US GP, in which McLaren driver Norris was penalised for overtaking Verstappen off the track, but the Red Bull man went unpunished for pushing both cars off in the first place.

It was discussed whether Verstappen should have been punished as well, or whether the Dutchman was in the right but exploiting a loophole that went against fair racing.

Following discussions, the FIA agreed to revisit the guidelines in time for the Qatar GP at the end of November.

But, as far as world champion Verstappen is concerned, he won’t change his approach until told otherwise.

“For me, in terms of racing, nothing changes,” he said. “Look, the rules can always be better, you should always strive for that, right? It’s never perfect. I understand that.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, battle into turn 1

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

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“But I think, where the problem starts is that on that track you can very easily just drive offline. And if there’s just a gravel pit, you never get into that situation either, because the car on the outside never brakes that late as there’s obviously the risk of going off. And the same on the inside, because then you always go in more carefully, so you never have that scenario.

“On certain circuits with a lot of run-off that is a problem and of course the FIA sees that too. They might also want to, like in Austria, put in a few gravel traps. That does help.”

Asked if he felt there was a move by rival drivers aimed specifically at curbing how he races, Verstappen said: ‘No. I just think they want to know themselves [what the rules are].”

Ferrari’s Mexico GP polesitter Carlos Sainz is hopeful that the solutions the FIA is working on for Qatar will improve the racing and lead to less confusion among drivers about what is allowed and what isn’t.

“I think it was a positive, productive meeting,” he said. “A lot of drivers opened up about how they felt about each situation and what we think is the best way forward.

“How you interpret the rules and those driving guidelines that the stewards are going to apply penalties with, they’re still the same coming into this weekend and probably I think they will be applied in a similar manner.

“But I think in Qatar we will have some solutions that hopefully will offer a better understanding for the driver and better racing in general. Hopefully it should be better.”

Additional reporting by Erwin Jaeggi

Carlos Sainz says Ferrari’s upturn in form is “bittersweet” for him, because he feels the squad is gearing up to be firmly in the world title hunt next year when he’s no longer there.

Ferrari has overcome a car development setback in the middle part of the 2024 season to regain competitiveness in recent races, especially on circuits with relatively few high-speed corners.

Charles Leclerc won Monza’s Italian Grand Prix in September and was fighting for victory in Baku, while a botched qualifying session prevented both he and Sainz from competing up front in Singapore. But the pair struck back by taking a 1-2 victory last week in Austin, led by Leclerc, which is bringing Ferrari back in championship contention.

Ferrari’s resurgence is the culmination of a long process, with the team unable to sustain its development rate after a strong start to the 2022 season. In 2023 Fred Vasseur came in as a team boss to drive the squad forward in every department as he aimed to improve its culture and weed out operational mistakes, which is paying dividends this year with much improve race pace.

Sainz has been there for most of the build-up, joining Maranello from McLaren for 2021, but he will be departing for Williams next year after Vasseur snapped up Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes at the start of the year.

So, while the Spaniard was buoyed by Ferrari’s upturn in performance as he took his sixth pole of his career with the team, he admitted his Mexico pole was tinged with sadness as he won’t be able to complete his journey with the resurgent Scuderia in 2025.

Pole man Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari, in the post Qualifying Press Conference

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

“It’s very sweet, given how good the car is, how well I’m driving recently, obviously optimistic going into the last five races,” he said after beating 2024’s title protagonists Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, as well as Leclerc, in qualifying.

“At the same time, it’s bittersweet because it gives me a feeling Ferrari might be in the fight for the world championship next year and I will not be there to use it.

“I feel like I’ve been quite a big part of this team during the last four years trying to prepare the team to fight for that championship next year. And the fact that I’m driving well, being fast with the car and I’m leaving in five races is definitely leaves me a bit… I don’t know how to say it, but not with a very good feeling.

“But it is what it is. I’m going to try and win more races, stand on the podium for as long as I can during these five races and enjoy that. And then we will think about next year.”

Ferrari may yet win the constructors’ title this year, bringing the gap with McLaren down to 48 points, and following just eight points behind Red Bull.

Sainz felt Ferrari’s high-speed cornering weakness compared to McLaren, which is still the dominant car in fast corners, will come to bite Ferrari in Qatar, but he expects other circuits to be stronger for the Scuderia.

“We are still lacking in high speed corners, especially in qualifying mode, which makes me feel like Qatar will still be a difficult race for us,” the 30-year-old explained.

“But at all the other circuits hopefully we’ll be in the mix, which means you give yourself a chance at winning at almost every track except for Qatar that I think is not a Ferrari track at all.”

Liam Lawson believes that RB was a shoo-in for the final stage of Mexican Grand Prix qualifying, had team-mate Yuki Tsunoda not crashed at the close of Q2 in Formula 1 qualifying.

Lawson and Tsunoda were sat on the cusp of progressing into the top-10 shootout, and the Japanese driver had looked particularly competitive throughout all three practice sessions – placing third in both Friday outings and seventh in FP3.

Tsunoda then overcooked it on the brakes at Turn 12 during his final lap of Q2; although his crash into the barrier entering the Foro Sol stadium was somewhat sedate, it nonetheless brought out the red flag.

This froze the Q2 order with both RBs just outside it, having both been on better laps and were attempting to surpass the benchmark 1m17.048s set by Pierre Gasly in 10th.

“It’s a shame obviously. We had a fast car all weekend,” Lawson said. “Obviously, Yuki’s been extremely strong in practice. We’ve been building up and I think we were right there in quali.

“I think the team’s worked extremely hard and given us a really fast car this weekend. So they deserve to have two cars, if not one, in Q3.

“I was considerably up. So honestly, even just with a normal sector two and three, it should have been enough. But yeah, that’s how it is sometimes.

“Unfortunately that’s the risk sometimes when you run towards the back [of the pack] and if there is a flag that’s what happens. We did all the right things, we built up and by quali we were honestly on the limit. I feel confident we would have been able to go through.”

Liam Lawson, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

Lawson nonetheless praised the trail that had been cleared by Tsunoda over the weekend with set-up, stating that his side of the garage had been using his data to help the Kiwi get his head around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

He added that RB was going to have to dig deep to beat Haas in the race, given that the two teams are separated by just two points in their battle for sixth in the constructors’ championship.

“It’s been perfect; it’s good to have a fast team-mate and be able to use his data and that’s what we’ve been doing all weekend honestly.

“It’s been useful, I think obviously having extra time this weekend has helped for sure. So yeah, just a shame we didn’t get to finish the lap.

“I feel for [the team] because they’ve worked really hard and this is a weekend where you don’t often have two cars that are very quick and capable of Q3.

“Haas have now completely capitalised on that and put both their cars in Q3 and because of what’s happened we’re now both out.

“We’re close to the points obviously we see where they’ve qualified. But we’re close and the long run looks good, so hopefully we can move forward.”

Ai Ogura has been crowned 2024 Moto2 World Champion with two rounds in hand after finishing second to Aron Canet at the Chang International Circuit, while David Alonso’s record-breaking Moto3 campaign continued with a 12th win of the season.

Coming into the Thai event with his first ‘match point’ shot at a maiden grand prix world title, though closest rival Canet did his bit by clinching a third victory of the season, Ogura held his nerve to secure the top three finish he needed to make title success a foregone conclusion.

Ogura – who will graduate to MotoGP next season with Trackhouse Aprilia – had run as low as seventh in the early stages after contact on the opening lap before picking his way through to finish behind Canet. 

With that result, Ogura becomes the first Japanese rider to secure an intermediate class title since Hiroshi Aoyama was crowned 250GP champion in 2009, while MT Helmets-MSI celebrated the title in its maiden season of Moto2 competition.

Moreover, after 12 years of Kalex dominance, it is a first Moto2 title to be won with the Speed Up-engineered Boscoscuro chassis.

Though his hopes of an elusive Moto2 title ended, a second win in four rounds for Canet sees the Fantic Racing rider tighten his grip on the runners-up spot. 

The Italian was in control from lap one to take victory by 2.5s from Ogura as American Racing’s Marcos Ramirez notched up the second podium of his Moto2 career.

In a race curtailed by a red flag with three laps remaining, home hero Somkiat Chantra came on strong in the latter stages to secure fourth place with rookie Diogo Moreira rounding out the top five.

Moto2 Thailand GP – Race results:

Alonso sets new record with Thailand Moto3 win

David Alonso, CFMOTO Aspar Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

In Moto3, David Alonso broke Valentino Rossi’s 27-year record for victories over a single-season in the entry-level category as he claimed the 12th win of a dominant title-winning campaign.

The Colombian picked his way to the front of a closely-matched lead group of five riders to hold on for victory in the shortened 12-lap encounter, heading off Luca Lunetta in second and Collin Veijer in third.

His fifth win of the season, Alonso had the honour of breaking Rossi’s erstwhile record of 11 wins across the 125/Moto3 class, achieved with his 1997 125GP title, having already established a fresh benchmark for the category as part of the current Moto3 era.

He wouldn’t have it easy amid damp conditions but after rising to the fore decisively with four laps remaining, the CFMoto Aspar Team rider benefitted from squabbles behind to remain out of reach to the flag.

In second, SIC58’s Lunetta came through for a career-best finish in second place ahead of Husqvarna IntactGP man Veijer, the duo capitalising on a wayward Ivan Ortola running deep into the final corner to rule himself out of the podium fight. 

Still, he fared better than Taiyo Furusato, who finished by sliding across the finish line separated from his Honda Team Asia machine after being felled in contact with Veijer on the exit of the final corner. Despite the unconventional conclusion, he was reinstated to fifth behind Ortola.

Further back, after Leopard Honda riders Adrian Fernandez and Angel Piqueras crashed out on the final lap, David Munoz and Joel Kelso came through for sixth and seventh, while Scott Ogden collected a season’s best eighth place finish on the MLav Racing Honda.

Moto3 Thailand GP – Race results:

1	D. Alonso CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team	80		CF MOTO	12			160.0		25
2	L. Lunetta SIC58 Squadra Corse	58		Honda	12		0.353	159.9		20
3	C. Veijer Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP	95		Husqvarna	12		0.169	159.9		16
4	I. Ortola MT Helmets – MSI Advertisement	48		KTM	12		0.414	159.9		13
5	T. Furusato Honda Team Asia	72		Honda	12		0.747	159.8		11
6	D. Munoz BOE Motorsports	64		KTM	12		0.809	159.7		10
7	J. Kelso BOE Motorsports	66		KTM	12		0.314	159.6		9
8	S. Ogden FleetSafe Honda – MLav Racing	19		Honda	12		2.216	159.3		8
9	S. Nepa LEVELUP – MTA	82		KTM	12		2.619	159.0		7
10	T. Suzuki Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP	24		Husqvarna	12		0.667	158.9		6
11	R. Yamanaka MT Helmets – MSI	6		KTM	12		0.732	158.8		5
12	D. Holgado Red Bull GASGAS Tech3	96		GASGAS	12		2.600	158.5		4
13	R. Rossi CIP	54		KTM	12		0.057	158.5		3
14	F. Farioli SIC58 Squadra Corse	7		Honda	12		3.292	158.1		2
15	J. Roulstone Red Bull GASGAS Tech3	12		GASGAS	12		2.101	157.8		1
16	J. Antonio Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	99		KTM	12			157.8
17	T. Buasri Honda Team Asia	5		Honda	12		0.681	157.7
18	X. Zurutuza Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Advertisement	85		KTM	12		1.813	157.5
19	N. Fabio LEVELUP – MTA	10		KTM	12			157.5
20	D. Almansa Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team	22		Honda	12		0.053	157.5
21	M. Bertelle Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team	18		Honda	12		0.423	157.5
22	A. Fernandez Leopard Racing	31		Honda	12		23.939	154.5
23	N. Dettwiler CIP	55		KTM	12		0.066	154.5
dnf	Á. Piqueras Leopard Racing	36		Honda	10		2 Laps	159.5	Accident
dnf	J. Esteban CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team Advertisement	78		CF MOTO	9		1 Lap	158.3	Accident
dnf	E. O’Shea FleetSafe Honda – MLav Racing	8		Honda	9		1’46.572	142.0	Retirement

A server crash for Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli meant it was unable to provide its usual data for timing screens and broadcast graphics during 2024 Mexican Grand Prix qualifying.

The issue first became apparent when the McLaren drivers who, like their Ferrari rivals, were sent out on medium tyres at Q1’s commencement.

But F1’s broadcast graphics continued to show them as running soft tyres at this stage, while later issues arose with data that is supposed to state if a driver is running new or used tyres.

This is particularly pertinent for qualifying given the drivers regularly try and get through different stages of the session using older tyres so they can enjoy the best grip from new ones for their critical later runs.

When asked what had happened at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez by Autosport/Motorsport.com, Pirelli motorsport Mario Isola said: “There was a crash of the system. Basically, the system was not working.

“We didn’t receive the data from the tablet [used to log the tyres each driver is on when leaving the garage], so we didn’t have the data on our server and it was impossible to communicate that to F1.

“We are investigating the reason why we had this issue because it never happened in many years. It’s strange.

Mario Isola, Racing Manager, Pirelli Motorsport, talks to the press

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

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“Our system that obviously works with Wi-Fi  and other systems that are provided by other companies.

“We need to understand where the issue came from to avoid that it happens [in the Mexican GP on Sunday] and other occasions.

“To be honest, it was strange because it never happened before. We will investigate.”

Pirelli is predicting Sunday’s race to be a one-stop affair, with most drivers stating on the mediums and then finishing the contest on the hards.

But it has not ruled out some drivers trying a contra-strategy of starting on the hards and running as long as possible in the hope of a late safety car.

If this happens, the soft tyre could be an option to get to the end as it will provide extra grip at the restart and does not degrade as badly as when the cars are running full tanks at the start of the race.