Hello! What a good time for George Russell to finally get back on the winning train – a week before his home race. And, if his past results at Silverstone are anything to go by, he’ll need all the good vibes he can get.
He never got a point there in his first four races but, given he was in an uncompetitive Williams, that was to be expected. But his poor run at Silverstone has continued since stepping up to Mercedes, with his fifth place in 2023 the best result he has yet to secure at a British Grand Prix. A year earlier he was out on lap one, famously running across the track to see if Zhou Guanyu was okay after his huge first-corner flip.
Russell then qualified on pole in 2024 but a water leak ended his day and left Lewis Hamilton to take his ninth Silverstone win, while last year Mercedes read the weather radar all wrong and he was on the wrong tyre after the formation lap. He eventually limped home to finish 10th.
Given Mercedes’ results this year, and the timely rediscovery of his own form, this feels like Russell’s best chance yet to win his home race – or at least get on the podium for the first time. Hamilton won it in 2024, Lando Norris in 2025. Can Russell make it three different British winners in as many years? We’ll see.
There’s no guarantee Hamilton and Ferrari will be in the fight, as proven in Austria on Sunday where they had no race pace and just went backwards after a strong qualifying. Two weeks earlier, of course, Hamilton was back on the top step of the podium. They’re really blowing hot and cold at the moment. As are McLaren, who need their upgrades to work if Norris is to have any chance of successfully defending his crown there.
The real threat looks like it might come from Max Verstappen. Again, it’s a sample of one and we need to see how the new Red Bull car is on another circuit, but in Spielberg he finally had pace to burn in a car that was on weight for the first time all year. Had it not been for his qualifying crash and then the questionable decision to extend the middle stint on Sunday, he might have been the one on the top step at the Red Bull Ring rather than Russell.
Verstappen is 98 points off the top of the championship with 14 rounds remaining, which sounds like too big of a mountain to climb until you remember that he was 104 adrift with nine rounds to go last year, and finished just two points off Norris. If Red Bull can replicate that level of performance over the next few months, and upgrade further, the Dutchman could well be in this fight after all.
Let’s sweep up the rest of the week’s news.
This newsletter looks beyond just the stories about McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull to shine a light on the other seven teams making up the rest of the grid and help make F1 the vibrant sport it is today – and there are dedicated sections for each below. So read on for some of the news covering the homepages of the top F1 sites, but also plenty more content which probably didn’t.
You might notice that this newsletter is now sponsored by Gullivers Sports Travel. I'm really proud of this newsletter and the community we have grown, so thank you for being part of it.
QUICK QUIZ QUESTION – Lewis Hamilton won the British GP seven times in eight years between 2014 and 2021. Who interrupted that streak? The answer is at the bottom of this newsletter.
The main headlines and stories from the Formula 1 paddock this week:
💪 Having been at a “low point” during his recent winless run, Russell declared himself revitalised again by that first Grand Prix victory since Melbourne – Sky Sports
😌 Toto Wolff, who told Russell to “just drive” during the race, explained that he did so to refocus his driver on the simple things and to stop him getting into what he called “a spiral of overthinking” – Kada Sarkozi, GPBlog
💥 Russell secured pole with an extraordinary lap, in multiple ways. It was incredibly quick, so fast that he still comfortably took pole position even despite slowing for yellow flags in the final sector after Max Verstappen crashed on his final run. In such situations, double-waved yellow flags are usually flown which would see any uncompleted laps deleted. But, this time, the marshals flew only single flags for the first 15 seconds, meaning drivers had to slow but could still complete their laps. That was why Russell’s pole lap was able to stand, and the fact it was still quicker than anyone else was pretty remarkable – Lawrence Barretto, Formula1.com
🟨 Kimi Antonelli had the same opportunity, but he thought he saw double-waved yellows and so completely backed out of the lap. He then started Sunday’s race sloppily, going off track several times which cost him track position to Max Verstappen. Wolff said he is confident his driver will not make those errors again after undoing his race within just a few corners – Haydn Cobb; Oleg Karpov, Motorsport.com
📆 Russell said in Austria that he knows he will “definitely” be driving for Mercedes in 2027 despite speculation that he could be the one to make room if Verstappen were to join the Silver Arrows – Mat Coch, PlanetF1
🤝 Wolff backed that up, confirming Russell is correct and that it means he is no longer actively pursuing Verstappen – Sam Hall, Crash
🗣️ Instead, Verstappen’s entourage has approached McLaren, with chief executive Zak Brown taking the meeting. It’s believed talks went no further than simply being exploratory for now, but it’s clear Verstappen and his manager, Raymond Vermeulen, are considering their options – Ben Anderson; Jon Noble, The Race
🍌 Brown has made it clear he is happy with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, though he did end his long-winded answer by saying he’d “of course” be interested in Verstappen “if someone slipped on a banana peel” – Formula1.com
🥈 Verstappen enjoyed his best result of the season so far in his upgraded Red Bull, but he said he thinks the team “still has too many issues” to be in the title conversation right now – Filip Cleeren, Motorsport.com
🐌 McLaren certainly don’t look in the fight right now and Norris said he thinks his team is “two or three months behind” their rivals – Jake Nichol, RacingNews365
🟠 Piastri was surprised that he finished fourth and ahead of both Ferraris, having expected the Scuderia to be stronger after qualifying second and third behind only Russell – Formula1.com
💃 McLaren had planned to bring their own version of the ‘Macarena’ rear wing, but they decided not to test it in practice as they felt it wasn’t quite ready for a real-world test just yet – Henry Valantine, PlanetF1
🤷 Lewis Hamilton admitted Ferrari’s poor race performance at the Red Bull Ring was “a reality check” for the team, because they’re not sure why there was such a large performance swing from Barcelona – Giles Richards, The Guardian
❌ What Hamilton is sure about is that Verstappen shouldn’t have tried to overtake him around the outside of turn six as they battled for position during the race. He said the Dutchman “should have backed out” of the attempted move as “you don’t expect to go around the outside of a champion” – Laurence Edmondson, ESPN
🔮 Nevertheless, Jenson Button thinks Hamilton will be confident heading into the British Grand Prix as he chases a remarkable 10th Silverstone success – Sky Sports
🏎️ Charles Leclerc struggled again and admitted he needs to get “a clear picture of what I want from this car” – Sam Hall; Adam Cooper, Crash
❎ In democracy news (ha!), the FIA has passed a proposal put forward by Mohammed ben Sulayem ending term limits for presidents. It means the previous 12-year limit has now been abolished, meaning MBS can theoretically remain president forever. Other changes include the new requirement for presidential election candidates to “demonstrate sufficient experience within an FIA member or an FIA body”, making it so much harder for anyone to stand against MBS in the future. Get used to him being around – Andrew Benson, BBC Sport
👍 He has at least one high profile fan in the form of former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who said in Austria at the weekend that he thinks Ben Sulayem “has done a super job” – Thomas Maher, PlanetF1
📺 Finally for this section, Sky Sports veteran Rachel Brookes suddenly announced before the Austrian GP that she has immediately left the broadcaster, confirming that she will still be “involved” in F1 and that she will be at Silverstone this weekend – The Express
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Two episodes to plug this week! Our Austrian GP debrief is live, as is an interview with Juan Pablo Montoya in which he discusses his recent public spat with Max Verstappen. Both can be found below! And I’ll be recording a British Grand Prix preview show from Silverstone which is set to come out on Thursday on the same YouTube channel.
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Here are the main stories around F1’s seven midfield teams this week:
AUSTRIAN GP RESULT
Pierre Gasly – 13th
Franco Colapinto – 15th
Constructors’ championship – 5th (57 points)
0️⃣ Gasly failed to score a point over a race weekend for the first time all year, hampered by a loss of power on the first lap and then “very poor” tyre degradation for the rest of the Grand Prix. Colapinto fared no better in the other car – Valentin Glo, AutoHebdo
🔜 Alpine remain at the top of the midfield for now but the ambition, Gasly said, is to be fighting the top teams “as soon as possible” – Balazs Szabo, F1 Technical
🏆 Gasly finally has his trophy from the Monaco GP after Red Bull arranged to return it, though their appeal, along with that of McLaren, remains ongoing and so we still don’t have closure over that mess just yet – Sam Hall, Crash
AUSTRIAN GP RESULT
Fernando Alonso – 18th
Lance Stroll – DNF
Constructors’ championship – 10th (1 point)
📈 Another difficult weekend as Aston Martin continue to tread water until their upgrades arrive, though Alonso was pleased with the progress they made over the course of the Austria weekend – Evie James, Motorsport Week
🟢 Alonso admitted retirement is still a possibility this year, but did rule out a switch to another team after speculation that he could be tempted by manager Flavio Briatore to rejoin Alpine – The Express
🔧 Adrian Newey hopes he can convince the Spaniard to stay on, confirming that those upgrades are coming before the summer break at the Hungarian Grand Prix – Andrew Benson, BBC Sport
AUSTRIAN GP RESULT
Gabriel Bortoleto – 11th
Nico Hulkenberg – 12th
Constructors’ championship – 9th (2 points)
🤏 It was another pointless weekend for Audi though, again, they only just missed out. Bortoleto felt he executed “the best race I could” but still missed out on tangible reward – Formula1.com
🤷 Hulkenberg is the latest target of rumours suggesting his place is not safe, given he has yet to score a point this year. My own sources suggest this is complete nonsense, however – Tyler Rowlinson, F1 Oversteer
AUSTRIAN GP RESULT
Sergio Perez – DNF
Valtteri Bottas – DNF
Constructors’ championship – 11th (0 points)
🔥 Cadillac brought a lot of upgrades with them to Austria, but it proved to be their worst weekend in F1 so far as brakes fires forced both cars to retire within the first few laps of a very hot Grand Prix – Phillip Horton, AutoWeek
😡 Perez said the situation was “totally unacceptable” as he called for his team to get a handle on the issues quickly – Adam Cooper, Crash
⛔ Bottas suggested they had been too aggressive in their approach as he said Cadillac should sacrifice some of their aerodynamic efficiency in the name of reliability – Jake Nichol; Sandor Meszaros, RacingNews365
AUSTRIAN GP RESULT
Oliver Bearman – 14th
Esteban Ocon – 16th
Constructors’ championship – 7th (21 points)
📉 A strong start for Haas on Sunday ultimately was in vain as the unfortunate timing of the virtual safety car, plus some poor pace in the middle stint, ended any chance of pushing for the points – Michael Duforest, AutoHebdo
🔮 Ocon’s future continues to be in doubt with a new report claiming Leonardo Fornaroli’s test at Jerez last month was actually “a quasi-shootout” with Ryo Hirakawa to be the top name on the list in case Haas do switch things up for 2027, with Bearman setting a reference time – Jamie Klein, Japan Racing Insider
🇦🇺 Haas reserve Jack Doohan would also like to be in an F1 race seat next year, and admits he’s likely to look at other racing options for 2027 if he doesn’t get one – Ludo van Denderen, GPBlog
💥 Hirakawa will probably be better placed if he stops hitting mechanics in the pit lane, like he did during FP1 in Austrian on Friday. The mechanic in question went flying over the front left tyre when Hirakawa failed to stop in time but, luckily, sustained no lasting damage – Jamie Woodhouse, PlanetF1
AUSTRIAN GP RESULT
Liam Lawson – 9th
Arvid Lindblad – 10th
Constructors’ championship – 6th (44 points)
👏 It’s now four consecutive points finishes for Lawson while Lindblad is on an impressive streak of his own – Ben Waterworth, Speedcafe
👍 Alex Brundle is now satisfied that Racing Bulls are “best of the rest” in the F1 pecking order, despite still trailing Alpine in the constructors’ championship – Lydia Mee, Motorsport.com
🙃 All the positivity makes the story suggesting Lawson’s place might be under threat even more ridiculous. And team principal Alan Permane has confirmed that, in fact, it’s not true that Formula 2 driver Nikola Tsolov has already been signed to potentially replace the New Zealander in 2027 – The Express
AUSTRIAN GP RESULT
Alex Albon – 17th
Carlos Sainz – DNF
Constructors’ championship – 8th (11 points)
🤦 Another difficult weekend for Williams and Sainz declared after his DNF: “We don't have reliability, we don't have pace, we don't have a car capable of scoring points”. Not exactly a rave review – Owen Bellwood, Motorsport.com
🤔 Sainz has also said he will not give too much thought to his future until at least the summer break, and insists his “intention” is to continue with the Williams project – Samson Ero, GPBlog
🆙 Williams are planning a “small” upgrade for Silverstone and both drivers hope it will make them more competitive there – Balazs Szabo, F1 Technical
QUICK QUIZ QUESTION ANSWER – Sebastian Vettel stopped Lewis Hamilton from making it five Silverstone wins in a row, taking advantage of a slow start from the Brit who could not convert pole.
Thanks so much for reading this week’s edition of Pit Lane Chronicle. This newsletter is FREE for all to enjoy. Please do let me know what you think, with any tips, comments and suggestions always welcome!
✍ My name is Daniel Moxon and I’ve been an F1 fan since I was old enough to listen to my dad’s tales about Ayrton Senna and Damon Hill. I clearly caught the bug as I now work as the senior Formula 1 correspondent across Reach PLC’s titles including the Daily Mirror and Daily Express. I live in Merseyside, in the north west of England, with my fiancée Abby and our two-year-old daughter Eve, who likes to watch races while sat in her ride-along Mustang.
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