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.

Weir’s goal set the tone for what turned out to be a difficult evening for Elena Sadiku’s Celtic side, as they continued in their first ever Champions League group campaign.

It’s now no points and no goals after opening with a home defeat by Dutch champions FC Twente, and this sore one in Madrid.

There was no doubt Real were the dominant side and probably should have made more of their chances early on, but Celtic battled until the final quarter when the dam broke and the hosts added three late goals.

Sadiku though, insisted 2-0 would have been a fairer reflection of the game.

“I think how we played football was amazing against a team like Real Madrid,” the Swede said.

“I’m very proud of the team. First half, we defended well and had energy from the girls.

“Second half, we created chances and that could’ve changed the game. We need to be executing those better.”

“For me, how we played football and how we attacked shows what I want with this team.”

Crichton agreed Celtic’s performance was an improvement on the defeat by Twente, where the Scottish champions struggled to create chances.

And, had Murphy Agnew and Emma Lawton made more of their opportunities, things might have been different.

“In my opinion it’s really harsh,” the former Scotland defender said of the scoreline.

“When you go up against top sides you expect to be without the ball and your goalkeeper to be worked and to have to put bodies on the line.

“When you look at Real’s 31 shots and 14 on target, they were lucky if a quarter of them tested [goalkeeper]Kelsey Daugherty.

“Celtic can keep their heads high and hopefully they will dust themselves down and give a better account of themselves against Chelsea.

“The Celtic manager said they were better equipped after the Twente game, and watching them for the 93 minutes I would agree.”

FOOTBALL’S booze ban will be lifted in a trial in the Women’s Championship.

Drinking alcohol in sight of the pitch is prohibited in the top five tiers of the men’s game, although allowed lower down the pyramid.

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But with the law not covering women’s football, a trial allowing drinking inside the stadium “bowl” will take place at two clubs in the second tier during this season.

Nikki Doucet, chief executive of Women’s Professional Leagues Limited, told Leaders Week London at the Allianz Stadium that the clubs where the trial will take place had yet to be decided.

She said: “ We are testing that actually in a couple of teams in the Championship this season and we’ll see what we learn from it.

“Our fan base and the behaviour is different to the men’s game.

“Ultimately it’s about being able to give our fans choices, while obviously maintaining the safety and what we need to do in terms of being responsible.”

The idea of fans being allowed to drink at grounds in League Two and the National League was proposed by former Sports Minister Tracey Crouch in her 2021 “Fan led Review”.

While it was backed by fans’ groups and lower division club bosses, the push-back from Police was massive and saw the idea kiboshed.

Sun Sport has been told that the Police position has not changed in terms of men’s football although there is no mechanism which would see local Forces able to prevent a women’s game trial.

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Drinking in view of the pitch has been banned in the men’s top five divisions since 1985.

Fans caught breaching the laws under the 1985 act can be banned from grounds, handed hefty fans and, in extreme circumstances, given three month prison sentences.

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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.

Artur Beterbiev has been ordered to defend his IBF light-heavyweight title against the mandatory challenger, a day after Dmitry Bivol appealed to the four sanctioning bodies to back an immediate rematch.

Russian Beterbiev, 39, became the division’s first four-belt world champion with a split-decision victory over compatriot Bivol in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Bivol’s promoter Eddie Hearn and manager Vadim Kornilov publicly lambasted the scorecards, which were 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112 for Beterbiev.

Bivol, 33, sent a request through his lawyer on Wednesday to the WBO, WBA, IBF and WBC, asking for their support in securing a rematch with Beterbiev.

But the IBF has now officially ordered Beterbiev to begin “negotiations” with a mandatory challenger, German Michael Eifert.

This may well not be the end of the matter, however.

The IBF says Beterbiev can still request an “exception” to make a voluntary defence which would be considered.

As sanctioning bodies, the organisations authorise fighters to compete for their world titles, but none of the four major sanctioning bodies have the power to overturn an official result.

The British Boxing Board of Control was in charge of overseeing the weekend’s event, as has been the case for most Saudi fight nights in the last 12 months.

While Hearn said the 116-112 scorecard was “disgusting”, Bivol did not publicly question the result.

Bivol suffered the first defeat of his 24-fight career, while Beterbiev was taken the distance for the first time as a professional.

LAS VEGAS – Kyler Phillips has had his eye on Rob Font prior to drawing him at UFC Fight Night 245.

Phillips (12-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) meets Font (20-8 MMA, 10-7 UFC) in Saturday’s co-main event (ESPN+) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Phillips, who’s coming off a win over Pedro Munhoz at UFC 299 in March, would have preferred a quicker turnaround, but likes his matchup against perennial contender Font.

“I did initially, but we got a good opponent. We got one of the names we wanted,” Phillips told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a UFC Fight Night 245 pre-fight news conference Wednesday. “So it’s an honor to be able to do that and step into the octagon with such a decorated fighter.”

Phillips has won seven of his past eight, and is expected to continue his ascent up the bantamweight ladder if he can get past the higher-ranked Font.

“I see myself matching up very well against anybody in the division, just because of my elusiveness and able to adapt on the fly at any given moment, but still have that basis of a strong fighter,” Phillips said.

You can watch Phillips’ full pre-fight interview in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 245.