🏁🟠 The problem with the big 'Max to McLaren' report | Pit Lane Chronicle

QUICK QUIZ QUESTION – Who holds the record for the most F1 World Championship wins at Spa-Francorchamps? The answer is at the bottom of this newsletter.

The main headlines and stories from the Formula 1 paddock this week:

🤔 This week we saw the most substantive report yet claiming that talks between Max Verstappen’s camp and McLaren are progressing. I know the author of this article well and know that he has the right contacts for this sort of story. The problem is, I’m also wary that it hasn’t really been picked up by any other leading F1 reporter, which tells me something may be amiss. Anyway, certainly a notable update – Thomas Maher, PlanetF1

❌ Mark Webber has moved to rubbish some claims that Oscar Piastri wants out of McLaren, potentially making room for Verstappen to join. Webber, the Australian’s manager, labelled such claims “nonsense” – The Express

👀 There were hints that Verstappen’s former Red Bull ally Helmut Marko might know what’s going on, after the Austrian was spotted meeting with Jos Verstappen and the Dutchman’s manager Raymond Vermeulen in Amsterdam. But Marko insists it was simply “a private visit” as Verstappen’s younger sister, Victoria, was getting married – Knut Okresek, OE24 (in German)

📰 Feel like you need to read one piece to summarise where we’re at with this whole saga? You’ll to well to find a better explainer piece than this one – Nate Saunders, ESPN

💥 Verstappen’s former team-mate Sergio Perez has this week, during an appearance on the High Performance podcast (below), revealed that he was told by Christian Horner in their first ever meeting that Red Bull would rather just race with one car for Verstappen rather than two, if they were able to. The Mexican, who won five races over four season at Red Bull, also said he felt he had “overdelivered” during that period, despite the sour ending.

🏎️ McLaren are mostly focused on their engines at the moment, having been left with an old spec for operational reasons at Silverstone. Team principal Andrea Stella insists there is no break down of trust with supplier Mercedes HPP and that the relationship remains “excellent” – Jake Nichol, RacingNews365

🔧 McLaren have never been an engine manufacturer before, but former team boss Guenther Steiner thinks now might be the right time for them to “grow up” and start building their own power units – Mathias Brunner, Speedweek

🎤 McLaren have confirmed they will end the year with a live show at the O2 Arena in London, an ‘in conversation’ event featuring Stella, chief executive Zak Brown and both drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris – Fleur Mealing, The Race

🗣️ Onto Mercedes, starting with this in-depth George Russell interview, in which he said he knows it is completely untrue to suggest anything at Mercedes is weighted in Kimi Antonelli’s favour – Jonathan McEvoy, Daily Mail (paywalled)

⚖️ Antonelli has been hampered by two big reliability issues in the last three races, though Toto Wolff said he would rather have to deal with this situation than create engines and cars that are more reliable but ultimately slower – Ben Vinel; Filip Cleeren, Motorsport.com

⚠️ Wolff has pointed to Ferrari as a constant threat to his team’s chances for the rest of the year, expecting the Scuderia to be a “strong competitor” at all types of circuit – Sam Hall; Adam Cooper, Crash

🎥 One circuit at which Ferrari may have an advantage over anyone else is the Madring, the new venue for the Spanish Grand Prix which is due to be held in September. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc both drove on a filming day there last week, Ferrari having been invited by the organisers of the race to test the circuit ahead of the main event in a couple of months’ time – Nick Golding, RacingNews365

🥵 Circuit manager Luis Garcia Abad suggested, though, that Ferrari might not have been able to collect much useful data for September’s race weekend, given temperatures were “over 37 degrees”, also claiming that both drivers had fed back that they “liked” the design – Connor Andrews, GPBlog

📝 A Hamilton contract extension has become a topic of conversation since he rediscovered his form again, though Frederic Vasseur isn’t at all keen on the idea of discussing it in public, saying: “I will discuss with him for the extension, not everybody” – Phillip van Osten, F1i

❌ One man who definitely wants nothing to do with F1 anymore is Pato O’Ward, the IndyCar driver who also serves as an F1 reserve for McLaren. Until recently, that is, because he has revealed he “politely asked to be fired” from that job because he is no longer interested in driving an F1 car after getting a sense of what the new power units feel like to drive – The Express

🇨🇳 There has been much talk of Chinese carmaker BYD potentially trying to build a new F1 team, though executive vice president Stella Li has said there is no “concrete” project going on right now, while special adviser Alfredo Altavilla said the company “would never participate in Formula 1 just to put a sticker on the side of a car”, hinting that they would only go for it if they went all-in on a project – GrandPrix.com

📆 Finally for this section, F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali has confirmed the 2027 calendar will be confirmed “very soon” and is set to feature more Sprint races than the current number of six. There may well be nine or perhaps even 10 race weekends out of 24 run with the Sprint format in use – Sky Sports

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The Belgian Grand Prix preview show is live, also featuring plenty of discussion about the latest talking points on Max Verstappen’s future – including Red Bull’s interest in Oliver Bearman.

There’s also an additional show this week, a bit of entirely unserious fun for F1 fans who are also caught up with World Cup fever this summer. Richard Garnett, Abby and I discuss the drivers pairings and which nation would come out on top in an international F1 tournament featuring countries currently represented on the grid! 🌍⚽🏎️

Here are the main stories around F1’s seven midfield teams this week:

🤏 Just one point now separates Alpine and Racing Bulls in a close fight for midfield supremacy and managing director Steve Nielsen has declared a “development war” with their rivals between now and the end of the season – Samuel Coop, RacingNews365

🔨 Nielsen has also offered an update on Franco Colapinto’s future, stating the Argentine is improving but warning that he could lose his place anyway if “there’s a better option” – Anirban Aly Mandal, Motorsport Week

🙇 Adrian Newey has admitted the team is guilty of not having listened to its drivers enough when it comes to the development of their car this year – Jack Cozens, The Race

🪫 Fernando Alonso is not optimistic that Spa-Francorchamps will be much fun to drive in this new generation of F1 cars, predicting that they will be going through iconic sections like Eau Rouge and the subsequent Kemmel Straight with “less power than F2” – Jamie Woodhouse, PlanetF1

🔧 Alonso has also conceded that Aston Martin’s Budapest updates will not suddenly make them competitive and is adamant that “it cannot be the last step” made this year – Kada Sarkozi, GPBlog

📈 While Nico Hulkenberg continues to wait for his first points of the year, he is adamant that Audi have made a lot of progress but feels it just hasn’t been reflected in the standings yet – Nick Golding; Sandor Meszaros, RacingNews365

📆 Audi said before they started racing in F1 that the target was to win titles by 2030, and boss Mattia Binotto insists that has not changed based on how they have started this year – Ed Hardy; Roberto Chinchero, Motorsport.com

🤷 Valtteri Bottas feels Cadillac are still in “no man’s land” despite their Silverstone upgrades which made them a little more competitive, and hops to keep “chipping away” at the performance gap with some more new parts expected to debut at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend – Sam Hall, Crash

🗣️ Meanwhile, Sergio Perez has appeared on the High Performance podcast, during which he said he returned to F1 with Cadillac to prove he is still “one of the best” drivers on the grid.

🤔 As mentioned in the latest Pit Lane Torque episode above, Oliver Bearman has emerged as a left-field but also a not unrealistic target for Red Bull, should they find themselves in need of a Max Verstappen replacement – The Express

👏 Team owner Gene Haas’ foundation has announced a £1million donation to Silverstone University Technical College, which will allow the school to upgrade its equipment and facilities to give students access to tools and technology used by F1 teams – Charlie Haffenden, Banbury Guardian

👍 Liam Lawson has been praised by Naomi Schiff for how he has bounced back from the “borderline embarrassing” situation of being dropped by Red Bull Racing after just two weekends and rebuilt his career with junior outfit Racing Bulls – Michelle Foster, PlanetF1

🚗 Arvid Lindblad turns 19 next month but, despite being an F1 racer, still does not have a licence to drive a normal car on public roads! He’s confirmed he has passed his theory and now finally begun in-person lessons, as he felt it was “getting a bit silly” – Jake Nichol, RacingNews365

🏆 All their drivers are performing well at the moment, but Adrian Campos, head of the Campos Racing team in F2, is adamant that Red Bull need to find room in F1 next year for junior driver Nikola Tsolov who is absolutely flying in that championship, having become the first F1 driver ever to win three races in a row thanks to a clean sweep over the Silverstone weekend – Formula2.com

😟 Carlos Sainz has declared himself “concerned and frustrated” by the lack of progress made by Williams in recent months as the team’s gradual upgrades plan has not had the desired impact on performance – Josh Suttill, The Race

❌ Team principal James Vowles understands the frustration and admitted the Spaniard is right to say that performance is not improving “at the rate required in order for us to move forward” – Lydia Mee, Motorsport.com

🥊 More optimistically, though, Vowles said he sees this weekend’s Belgium race as an opportunity to “come back swinging” – Jack Oliver Smith, Motorsport Week

QUICK QUIZ QUESTION ANSWER – Michael Schumacher has won the Belgian Grand Prix six times, though Lewis Hamilton could match that record this weekend if he is triumphant in his Ferrari!

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.