Liam Lawson says his working relationship with Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane has not really changed since Permane moved into the role. Lawson said: "Alan was obviously sort of the chief engineer when he was in the team, so when I was coming into Formula 1, that was his role. I already had so many technical conversations and engineering conversations, and car and driver conversations that you would normally have with an engineer with him, so when he went to team principal, nothing really changed on that side."

George Russell says he prepares for a Formula 1 weekend like revising for a school exam, putting the work in before a race and then trusting his instincts once he is in the car, speaking after finishing second at his home grand prix at Silverstone. Russell said: "I like to do my preparation and work very hard on the week off. But then once I arrive at the race track, I go in with an open mind. I see it as revising for an exam and then performing the exam. Once you're in that room performing and doing that exam, you can't do your revision. So you've just got to trust what you've learned before… trust in what you've learned, trust in your instincts, and just let it flow."

TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss says Cadillac will judge Colton Herta more on the work he is doing in Formula 1 than on his midfield Formula 2 results. Towriss said: "For Colton it was all about learning – coming here learning tracks, tyres and that certainly is happening. There've been some bumps in the road with the team, things haven't gone from a result standpoint as good as we would have hoped but I think that's to be expected and kind of just the way Formula 2 works, and bluntly where Hitech is at this point. In addition to what he's doing in F2 there's all the work that's being done in the F1 sim."

Sergio Perez says the next two to three months are “critical” for Cadillac’s future in Formula 1 as the new team starts to shape its 2027 car through key development decisions. Perez said: "We are at a critical stage where I think the next two, three months are critical in our future, in terms of development into next year's ideas and decisions that the team needs to take for next year. Now it's a very critical period for our team."







Former Red Bull control engineer Michael Manning has started a new role at Williams as its Chief Engineer – Trackside Engineering, which he confirmed in a LinkedIn post. Manning spent almost 15 years at Red Bull working closely on Max Verstappen’s car operations before leaving after last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Manning said: “I’ve begun a new challenge as Atlassian Williams F1 Team’s Chief Engineer – Trackside Engineering,” adding that “it is the ambition for the future that drew me to this role” and that it is “a real highlight to be working alongside Carlos and Alex again”.



Length of lap: 7.004 km Lap record: 1:44.701, Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing, 2024 Start line / Finish line offset: 0.124 km Total number of race laps: 44 Total race distance: 308.052 km Pitlane speed limits: 80 km/h in practice, qualifying and the race CIRCUIT CHANGES A new gate has been installed at the pit exit road on the right-hand side. The wall has been extended on the right-hand side approaching Turn 2. The Kemmel straight (between Turns 4 and 5) has had rain grooves cut into the asphalt. The track surface has been ground down at Turn 14 to remove a bump. At the apex of Turn 5 the grasscrete behind the kerb has been removed and replaced with asphalt. The kerb at the apex of Turn 18 has been reduced.


Haas driver Ollie Bearman was moved to tears after driving Ayrton Senna’s race-winning Lotus 97T at Silverstone. Guided by Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok, Bearman took the car – which Senna drove to his first grand prix victory at Estoril in 1985 – for a handful of laps at his home circuit and described it as “quite an emotional moment” and “an incredibly special experience”, adding: “Sometimes you have these days in racing where it reminds you of why you fell in love with the sport.”

The FIA has expanded the use of straight-line mode for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, adding activation on the downhill run from La Source towards Eau Rouge and taking the circuit to five SM zones in total. Drivers will still have to close the movable wings before Raidillon, while Overtake Mode will be available on the pit straight. Fernando Alonso warned the layout will sharpen the energy-management trade-offs, saying: “Silverstone and Spa, they are very thirsty on energy and you cannot deploy on all the straights.”

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