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

Enzo Fittipaldi will slide in the cockpit for an evaluation test in IndyCar machinery with Arrow McLaren later this month at The Thermal Club, the team confirmed on Friday.

The 23-year-old Miami-born Brazilian American currently competes in Formula 2 with Van Amersfoort Racing, where he currently has one win and two podiums and sits 12th in the championship standings. 

Arrow McLaren, which has already set next year’s lineup with Pato O’Ward, Christian Lundgaard and Nolan Siegel, confirmed the news via a statement:

“Arrow McLaren will satisfy their allotted evaluation test with Enzo Fittipaldi at The Thermal Club on Tuesday, November 19,” the statement read. “Each lap in our cars is important as we continue preparations for the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season, and we’re proud to extend this one to Enzo, whose family is so closely connected to the history of McLaren Racing.

“We’re eager to collect learnings and apply them in the form of a points race at The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix on March 23. For removal of doubt, our 2025 lineup is firm with Pato, Nolan and Christian.”

Pietro Fittipaldi, Enzo Fittipaldi in October 2023 at Sebring International Raceway.

Photo by: Dale Coyne Racing

The grandson of two-time Formula 1 World Champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi, Enzo is also the brother of Pietro Fittipaldi. Pietro is a reserve driver for Haas F1 Team, who also just completed his first full-time IndyCar season with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

This will mark just the second time that Enzo, the 2018 Italian Formula 4 champion, has driven an IndyCar. In October 2023, he pounded laps at Sebring International Raceway for Dale Coyne Racing, sharing the track with brother Pietro, who was testing with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at that time.

The upcoming test with Arrow McLaren is set for Nov. 19 just outside of Palm Springs, California, the venue that previously hosted the $1 Million Challenge — a non-points exhibition for the IndyCar Series — during the 2024 season. The Thermal Club will next host a championship round in North America’s premier open-wheel champion on March 23, 2025.

Damon Hill stands by his criticisms of Max Verstappen’s driving, saying the Dutchman uses “fear and intimidation” against his Formula 1 rivals.

The 1996 world champion has come under attack from Verstappen in the wake of remarks he made this week accusing the Red Bull ace of acting like Wacky Races villain Dick Dastardly.

Speaking on a Sky podcast, Hill said that the second clash between Verstappen and Lando Norris in Mexico last week was something he was not very happy with.

“The second move was just daft and Dick Dastardly stuff,” said Hill. “He accelerated to the apex and drove Lando off the track and Lando didn’t have much option. That was silly driving.”

Verstappen said in Brazil that he felt some remarks made this week against him were simply about causing mischief.

“[I listen to] people that are objective and close to me and not just there to stir [things up],” said Verstappen when asked about Hill’s comments. “Some people are just being very annoying.

“I know who these people are, although I don’t really pay a lot of attention to them anyway.”

While Hill was obviously in Verstappen’s sights when he made those remarks, the Briton said on Friday that his opinion was unchanged.

Asked on Sky if he stood by his comments, he said: “Yes, I do. I think that he [Verstappen] is using fear and intimidation.

Damon Hill

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

“I think he also has explained a little bit more about his tactics, which has been that he regards it as a gamble. Sometimes it may pay off and sometimes he may get the better of the stewards, they might not apply a penalty. But he’s also using it as a way of compromising the title contender in Lando Norris.

“So, there’s some logic, there’s some method, to his angriness, if you want to call it that, on the track.

“He, as he says, he knows what he’s doing, but is it right and is it fair? And I think there’s also rules….to ensure fairness, and we shouldn’t be condoning driving cars off the track.”

Hill reckoned that Verstappen’s aggressive approach to racing was something that he had carried with him since he first entered F1.

“I’m clear about what I understand Max to be,” added Hill. “He’s been like that, and he’s been consistent from the moment he arrived in F1 in using what was regarded as dangerous tactics.

“The regulations have been brought in to clear up some of the things that he himself has brought upon himself, because of the way he drives.

“The FIA bring in regulations, obviously, to try and contain it, because they don’t race to be like that. They don’t want dangerous situations as well, such as changing lines in the braking area and stuff like that, which is what he used to get up to as well.”

Hill also said it was wrong of Verstappen to suggest that it was only a couple of people who were criticising him.

“When he makes the point about individuals, it’s not individuals, it’s almost universal disapproval,” added Hill. “That’s the point. It’s not a vendetta against Max. It’s simply the people who watch the racing want it to be conducted in a reasonable and fair way.

“If everybody was doing this, it would be daft, it would be silly, and it wouldn’t be worth watching. We like close racing.

“Where we are, in Sao Paulo, this is where it all started, a little bit in ’21, with him running deep into Turn Four [against Lewis Hamilton].

“Everyone went, ‘hang on a minute, you can’t just run the guy off, clean off the road to defend.’ And he’s still doing it.”

Verstappen and Russell then lowered the first place benchmark, before Perez nipped ahead on a 1m12.099s.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

That stood as the top spot for a little while, before Russell and then Verstappen got back ahead with 1m11.806s and 1m11.712s efforts respectively.

After a lull in action to allow for initial set-up adjustments, the drivers headed back out on the same rubber as before – with Hamilton climbing the order to sit second with his first timed lap back on track.

Approaching the final third, Russell made an early switch to the softs and duly retook first with a 1m10.791s, but it took a chunk more of the session before any more of the frontrunners did likewise.

That looked to be toppled when Verstappen went quicker than Russell in sector one on his first flier on the softs in the closing minutes, before the Dutchman lost enough time in sector two to be behind the benchmark and he then aborted the lap in any case.

This confined Verstappen to 15th with his best time coming from the mediums, while Perez did complete a softs run that was only good for 19th in the replaced chassis he is running this weekend.

Russell was finally beaten with Norris’s final lap in the closing minute, as the McLaren driver posted a 1m10.610s, which did not feature Norris’s best final sector on the session.

Hamilton did not run the softs and so ended up 16th in a session where there was much driver feedback on savage bumps in the new track surface.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix – Free Practice 1

Max Verstappen will take a five-place grid penalty for an engine change for Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix, as he moves on to his sixth internal combustion engine of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

The championship leader had already taken a new ICE beyond the allowable limit of four at July’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, this being the third successive year that Red Bull had chosen to take the hit at that circuit.

Following a series of power unit issues in Mexico’s Friday sessions, as an air leak kept Verstappen confined to the garage during the final part of FP1 and the majority of FP2, Red Bull has chosen to take another engine from outside its pool.

This means that Verstappen will lose five places from wherever he qualifies for Sunday’s grand prix, although his sprint race qualifying result will be unaffected.

Verstappen will also use a new exhaust system, taking him up to eight used throughout the season, with eight permitted through the year.

The Dutchman has been in an increasingly precarious situation with his engine allowance for much of the season, as a problem with one unit in practice for the Canadian Grand Prix in June led to a lengthy inspection – leading to a fourth ICE being used as early as Spain.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

This led to Red Bull taking a new Honda powerplant at Spa, but Verstappen has now lost another from his pool as a result of the issues in Mexico.

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko told Austrian broadcaster ORF that the engine eventually used at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez “was no longer intended for the race, and the older an engine gets, the more its performance diminishes.”

He added that the Red Bull was giving up approximately “three to eight km/h on the straights” thanks to the reduction in horsepower.

Asked on Thursday if Brazil was one of the less compromising races to take a power unit penalty, Verstappen responded that it was not a certainty that he could recover ground lost to a penalty.

“That is something that is always unknown. You think that one particular track is the best place to take an engine or whatever penalty, but it’s never guaranteed. But yeah, it’s a possibility.”