SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium: Max Verstappen, who faces a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race, topped the times for Red Bull ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in Friday’s opening free practice at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Five days after his sweary outbursts on team radio at the Hungaroring, the series leader and three-time world champion did his talking on the track by outpacing Piastri, who claimed his maiden Formula One victory in Hungary, by 0.531 seconds.
Verstappen clocked a best lap in one minute and 43.372 seconds and remained unchallenged at the front of the field throughout the session as he began his bid to end a three-race winless run by claiming his fourth consecutive Belgian triumph.
Williams’ Alex Albon was third fastest, ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez of Red Bull and Lando Norris in the second McLaren.
Carlos Sainz was ninth for Ferrari and Lance Stroll 10th for Aston Martin.
On a warm, if cloudy, summer’s day following an earlier rain shower in the Ardennes, Russell was the first man out, but it was Verstappen who set the first top time on hard tires in 1:44.706, Piastri soon clocking into second place, seven-tenths adrift of the Dutchman.
Norris, both Ferrari drivers and Hamilton, like the Australian, were initially on softs while Esteban Ocon, fresh from announcing his switch to Haas next year, was stuck in the Alpine garage as the team worked on a suspected water leak.
As Verstappen began to trim his time, his 10-place grid penalty for taking a fresh engine was confirmed along with one for RB’s Yuki Tsunoda who will start from the back of the grid after taking more power unit components.
By midway through the session, Perez had joined Verstappen on track and switched to softs, taking fifth place, but complained that his car was unresponsive. “I’m really struggling to know what the car is doing on entries,” he reported.
At this stage, Verstappen topped the times ahead of Piastri and Alex Albon, whose Williams was showing real potential, and the two Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton, with Leclerc sixth ahead of Perez.
With nine minutes remaining, and most drivers on softs after running qualifying simulation laps, Hamilton ran wide at Les Combes before pitting. “I’ve got to come in,” he said. “The bouncing is really bad.”
Russell had complained only minutes earlier that he had ‘no rear end’, but the drivers’ grumbles failed to hid the fact that they had shown inconsistent pace in the opening session run in conditions more suited to their package.
Verstappen tops times in opening practice, faces grid penalty
https://arab.news/jf3a2
Verstappen tops times in opening practice, faces grid penalty
- Verstappen clocked a best lap in one minute and 43.372 seconds and remained unchallenged at the front of the field throughout the session
- Carlos Sainz was ninth for Ferrari and Lance Stroll 10th for Aston Martin
President Mohammed Ben Sulayem announces FIA’s return to profitability
- ‘Improvement in financial health due to significant reduction of operating costs through an increase in revenues and savings’
DUBAI: Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the FIA president, has lauded the organization’s return to profitability due to a significant reduction of operating costs driven by an increase in revenues and savings.
The Emirati former professional rally driver, who was appointed FIA president in December 2021, was speaking after financial results to date for 2024 were unveiled at World Council meetings during the FIA General Assemblies Week in Kigali, Rwanda.
The FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) is the governing body of motorsport, including Formula 1, and promotes safe, sustainable and accessible mobility for all road users across the world.
The FIA forecasts an operating result of $2.3 million (SR8.6 million) profit in 2024 — a remarkable improvement given that it stood at just over $25 million loss in 2021. The forecast operating result would be the best of the last seven years and the first positive one since 2018.
This accomplishment is the product of a wide-ranging reform of the FIA introduced by 63-year-old Dubai-born FIA President Ben Sulayem. This included a fully independent financial audit of the organization.
“This achievement is a result of our commitment of reform of the organization in the areas of governance and finance,” Ben Sulayem said.
“The new FIA leadership inherited a financial situation which was not sustainable in 2022. We have worked hard to reduce a sizeable deficit and have stabilized the overall financial health of the federation.
“We have implemented cost-containment measures and revenue-generating strategies to put the FIA on a more sustainable financial footing to meet our primary purpose of supporting our member clubs.”
Several measures have been introduced to streamline the FIA’s accounting and reporting procedures to create a sustainable financial model.
Ben Sulayem said that the future of motorsport was being “driven by innovation and purpose,” noting significant investment from the FIA across global grassroots activities alongside substantial research and development in the safety, volunteers and officials spaces.
The Vision 2030: FIA Motorsport Strategy, which provides a substantial platform for growth and further success, was also unveiled in Kigali during the FIA General Assemblies Week, with more details to be shared in 2025.
“This year has been a time of change and growth,” Ben Sulayem said. “We have built a stronger organization redefining our leadership with high-level appointments that bring a wealth of professional experience to the Federation.
“Together, we are forging the future of global motorsport and as we celebrate 120 years of the FIA, we honor the achievements of our past while propelling ourselves to a future driven by innovation and purpose.
“The FIA is on the right track. The 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season was record-breaking and highly competitive, and we continue our collaboration with Formula 1 and General Motors as we move toward an eleventh team on the grid from 2026.”
The 2024 F1 season concluded in dramatic style with the FIA Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championship being decided at the final race in Abu Dhabi earlier this month. McLaren claimed the honors in the UAE capital city, winning their first FIA Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championship in 26 years.
Former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan reveals cancer diagnosis
- “Way back in March and April I was diagnosed with bladder and prostate cancer, and then it spread into the spine and the pelvis, so it was quite aggressive,” Jordan said
- “Some very dark days in there, but we pulled out of it, thankfully”
LONDON: Ex-Formula 1 team owner and media personality Eddie Jordan says he has been treated for “quite aggressive” cancer.
Speaking on the “Formula For Success” podcast which he hosts with former driver David Coulthard, Jordan said he was diagnosed this year and urged listeners to seek medical advice for any health concerns.
“Way back in March and April I was diagnosed with bladder and prostate cancer, and then it spread into the spine and the pelvis, so it was quite aggressive,” Jordan said.
In response to comments from Coulthard regarding chemotherapy, Jordan added: “Some very dark days in there, but we pulled out of it, thankfully.”
Irish businessman Jordan operated his own racing team in lower-level series before moving up to F1 in 1991, giving future seven-time champion Michael Schumacher his first race that year.
Other drivers over the years included Damon Hill, who won the 1996 championship with Williams, future Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who was third in the championship for Jordan in 1999.
Jordan Grand Prix won four races before Jordan sold the team in 2005. Following more sales and name changes since then, the team competes as Aston Martin.
The 76-year-old Jordan also acted as the manager for car design great Adrian Newey when he left Red Bull for Aston Martin this year.
F1 Academy winner Abbi Pulling excited about stepping up to GB3
- ‘It’s such a positive time to be a female in motorsport’
- Brit won record 9 races in the 2024 women-only series
ABU DHABI: In her own words, Abbi Pulling is “living the dream.”
The 21-year-old racing driver wrapped up her historic year on the track by clinching the F1 Academy championship last weekend at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit, where she won two of the three races, and was second in the third.
Overall, Pulling enjoyed a record nine race wins in the female-only series in 2024, along with 10 poles. The Rodin Motorsport driver made the podium in every single race throughout the season.
It was a remarkable step up for the Brit, who admittedly struggled in her first campaign in F1 Academy in 2023, where she went winless to finish fifth in the championship.
“The first year was super hard. The transition from last year to this year, I did a really big deliberate step in my mental attitude and it’s really made the difference this year,” Pulling told Arab News after securing the F1 Academy title.
“I wanted to step up this year and show that I am capable of what I’m capable of and that I can go on to do great things.
“I think this year I’ve done everything I could, at every point I’ve maximized — there was only one race, Zandvoort, where I finished P3. We were fast there but I made a mistake.
“It’s nice and satisfying to be able to come away from a season, knowing that I’ve done almost everything I could. That’s very special.”
What makes Pulling’s year even more special is the fact she was running a dual program, racing in the British F4 Championship alongside the F1 Academy.
In May, she won a race at Brands Hatch — the second stop of the championship — to become the first woman in history to claim a victory in British F4.
Despite missing six races, Pulling finished the 2024 British F4 Championship in seventh place with one win and three podiums.
Her triumph in the F1 Academy comes with a fully funded seat for the GB3 Championship with Rodin Motorsport in 2025. This is a huge relief for Pulling who knows how difficult it can be to secure the finances needed to continue climbing up the motorsport ladder.
After making a promising single-seaters debut in British F4 in 2020 — finishing sixth overall, with four podiums — Pulling had to withdraw from the 2021 championship due to a lack of funding and her future in the sport was unclear.
The W Series — a predecessor to the F1 Academy — came to the rescue as Pulling got a chance to fill in as a reserve driver for the Puma W Series Team. She competed in just four races in 2021 yet finished seventh in the W Series championship with one podium and one pole.
Pulling had a full seat in the W Series in 2022, which she finished in fourth with Racing X. The series unfortunately went into administration and was liquidated. But then came another women-only series to the rescue — The Formula One-backed F1 Academy.
At the start of 2023, Pulling became a full-time member of the Alpine Academy program and made her F1 Academy debut with Rodin Motorsport — a team that one year later would help her make a historic return to British F4 and become the championship’s first female race winner.
“For me, the financial side of things is so important,” said Pulling, excited about her next chapter in GB3. “I had to pull out of a championship in 2021, it was a really tough time.
“But I was so lucky that there was an all-female championship to jump into, that one had everything paid for, and then F1 Academy came along and continued that dream. And for that I’m so grateful, because I wouldn’t be here today without them two organizations taking me on.
“I think you have to put things in perspective. If I was a guy, that would have been the end of the road for me; so I’m trying to make the most out of everything given to me.
“I’m so aware how lucky I am to be in this situation and I just want for the people that either can’t make that first step into karting, or can’t make the jump up into cars, or for whatever reason have to stop, or can’t get in in the first place, I want to do my best for all of them.”
Pulling feels prepared to take that next step up the ladder to GB3, and says she is “living proof” that the F1 Academy can help women transition into higher racing categories in mixed series.
“Obviously paired with a dual program as well,” she added.
“F1 Academy opened me up to the relationship with Rodin Motorsport, which then got me a relationship with Rodin Cars. And then in 2024 I’ve been doing a dual campaign British F4 with Rodin Cars and Rodin Motorsport, and obviously F1 Academy with Alpine Academy and Rodin Motorsport.
“So that alone has opened that door to do a dual campaign, get more seat time. I’m living proof that it’s working.
“Going around to tracks like this, Yas Marina, I wouldn’t have been here without the championship. It’s a very fun track to end the season on.
“They’ve given us plenty of seat time this year, lots of experience managing tires in hot conditions, changeable conditions as well. It’s been a really fun season.”
Pulling paid tribute to Alpine and believes the Enstone outfit have helped her become a “more well-rounded driver,” placing special emphasis on her physical preparation off the track.
Like any racing driver, Pulling’s dream is to one day land a seat in F1, but even if she does not, she is certain another woman will in the near future.
“There’s not been a wave like this ever (for women in motorsport). I’m going to ride it as long as I can,” she said.
“It’s just such a positive time to be a female in motorsport. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. I don’t know when it will be, but I’m certain that we’ll have a female driving in a Formula 1 car soon.
“And if it’s not me, I hope it’s the girls that I’ve been racing against or a young girl that’s been watching that is inspired by what we’ve been doing.”
Pulling’s motorsport dream was sparked when she was just 3 years old, watching her father, Andy, compete on motorbikes. At age 8, she opted for four wheels instead of two like her father, and by 14 was crowned national junior karting champion back home in the UK.
The rest, as they say, is history, and Pulling has now become the most promising female prospect in the world of motorsport.
Is it what she hoped it would be?
“It’s not always as glitzy or as glamorous as people think, but I’m living the dream,” she said.
NEOM McLaren’s Taylor Barnard ‘hadn’t written a speech’ after becoming youngest-ever Formula E podium finisher in Brazil
- Mitch Evans of Jaguar TCS Racing also made history by winning from 22nd on the grid
- Round 4 of the season will take place at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Feb. 14-15 after 6 successful seasons in Diriyah
SAO PAULO: NEOM McLaren driver Taylor Barnard, aged only 20 years and 189 days, has joked that he did not have a speech ready after becoming Formula E’s youngest-ever podium finisher, surpassing Daniel Abt’s record set in 2015.
The 2024-25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship kicked off at the weekend, with Mitch Evans of Jaguar TCS Racing taking first place, Antonio Felix Da Costa of Tag Heuer Porsche in second and Barnard third.
Thanks to Barnard and his teammate Sam Bird, who finished fourth in the action-packed race in Brazil, NEOM McLaren are leading the Teams’ table, having stormed through the field after starting from 17th and 16th, respectively.
“I hadn’t written a podium speech,” Barnard said. “Especially after the start of that race, I took off my front wing and had to change it, come into the pits and I had a Drive-Through Penalty, unfortunately. I don’t know what to say.”
“The team did an absolutely amazing job with the second Attack Mode strategy, it made it easy for me and Sam to pass and get up to the front and we both did a great job. He protected me at the end so thanks to him for the great teamwork. I didn’t expect to be standing here.”
Evans also made history by becoming the first driver to win from the back of the grid, after starting from 22nd in the debut race for the GEN3 Evo car. The introduction of a powered-up “Attack Mode,” now with a four-wheel drive boost, added a new layer of strategy, enabling Evans to charge through the field late in the race. With this stunning performance, Evans now leads the Drivers’ standings.
Sao Paulo delivered 111 overtakes, five leaders and dramatic moments including a safety car and two Red Flags; one followed a crash involving reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein, whose Porsche ended upside down after hitting the wall. Thankfully, Wehrlein was unharmed.
His Porsche teammate Da Costa came second in the race, Mahindra Racing’s Edoardo Mortara secured fifth place, followed by both Nissan Formula E Team drivers Norman Nato and Nyck de Vries in sixth and seventh, respectively. Sebastien Buemi (Envision Racing), Dan Ticktum (CUPRA KIRO) and Jean-Eric Vergne (DS PENSKE) completed the top 10.
Formula E heads to Mexico City for round two of Season 11 on Jan. 11 next year.
Jeddah will be the new home of Formula E in Saudi Arabia, hosting the thrilling race at the iconic Jeddah Corniche Circuit — known as the fastest street circuit in the world — on Feb. 14-15.
It follows six successful seasons racing in Diriyah, and marks a new chapter in Formula E’s history since its inaugural race in Saudi Arabia in Season 5.
Tickets go on sale for inaugural Jeddah E-Prix
- Saudi Arabia will welcome Formula E to Jeddah in 2025 for Season 11 after six years of racing in Diriyah
- Rounds 3 and 4 of the all-electric series will take place on Feb. 14-15 at a revised Jeddah Corniche Short Circuit
JEDDAH: Formula E has today announced that tickets for the 2025 Jeddah E-Prix — the new host city for the all-electric championship’s race event in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — are on sale.
The Early Bird sale has begun, with prices starting from SAR 50 ($13), giving fans the opportunity to receive 25 percent off full-price tickets ahead of the general sale on Sunday, Dec. 22, when tickets will start at SAR 70.
Following six successful previous events in Diriyah, Formula E will return to Saudi Arabia, which will play host to a race event for its seventh year. The 2025 Jeddah E-Prix will take place on Feb. 14-15 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, set against the backdrop of the Red Sea coastline.
“Bringing Formula E to Jeddah for the first time is an exciting milestone for the championship,” Jeff Dodds, CEO of Formula E, said. “Saudi Arabia has been a key part of our journey, and racing in Jeddah reflects our commitment to growing the sport in new and dynamic cities around the world. The combination of Jeddah’s rich motorsport culture and its forward-thinking vision for sustainability makes it an ideal host for Formula E. We can’t wait to see the cars light up the iconic Corniche Short Circuit and deliver a spectacular debut race for fans.”
This will be the first time fans in Saudi Arabia can catch a glimpse of the all-new GEN3 Evo race car as it is put through its paces on the revised Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The new GEN3 Evo car is capable of 0-60mph in just 1.82 seconds — 36 percent faster than the previous GEN3 and 30 percent faster than a current Formula One car.
“We are thrilled to bring Formula E to Jeddah for the first time in 2025,” said Alberto Longo, co-founder and chief championship officer, Formula E. “This city embodies a unique blend of tradition and innovation that defines our championship. This new addition to the calendar also highlights our ongoing commitment to expanding the reach of Formula E, and we look forward to making history in Saudi Arabia once again.”
Carlo Boutagy, founder of CBX, promoter of the Jeddah E-Prix, added: “It is incredibly exciting to be bringing Formula E to Jeddah for the first time, showcasing the power of electric motorsport to another part of Saudi Arabia.
“Not only will Jeddah provide thrilling racing as teams face new challenges on an unfamiliar circuit, but we are also creating experiences and activations away from the racing to engage our fans to offer the most entertaining weekend possible, whether that be their time in the Fan Village or the concerts after the race.”
- Tickets for 2025 Jeddah E-Prix are available for sale from WeBook.
