🏁🏎 More team boss axe rumours ahead of Imola | Pit Lane Chronicle
Yet more Alpine chaos this week, along with some glorious unseen footage of a key moment in F1 history and an update on Christian Horner's future at Red Bull
The European season is here! First up, it’s a trip to Imola this weekend for what may prove to be one of F1’s last visits to a historic, classic venue – more on that below. It’s the first race of the second triple-header of the season already, with the iconic Monaco GP to follow and then a short hop south-west to Barcelona.
This newsletter looks beyond just the stories about McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull to shine a light on the other six teams that make up the rest of the grid and help make F1 the vibrant sport it is today. Read on for some of the news that made the homepages of the top F1 sites – but also plenty more content that probably didn’t.
The Formation Lap
The main headlines and stories from the Formula 1 paddock this week:
💥 A pretty big bombshell dropped in the last seven days when multiple reports claimed that Christian Horner could be on the verge of losing his job – Harry Smith, The Express
↳ My understanding, though, is that there is no indication that neither Chalerm Yoovidhya and his family, who own 51 percent of the main Red Bull company, nor 49 percent shareholder Mark Mateschitz, want Horner gone.
↳ Red Bull celebrate their 400th race in F1 at Imola this weekend and sources within the team believe the rumours about Horner’s future may have been started by those wanting to distract from that milestone.
🏎 Red Bull are making their own engines for the first time from next year and Ford chief Mark Rushbrook has spoken about how their partnership has evolved to the point they’re more involved than was ever the plan before – Ronald Vording, Autosport
🤓 Max Verstappen tested a Ferrari GT car at the Nürburgring this week and tried to go unnoticed by using the name ‘Franz Hermann’, but naturally word of his presence got out – Scott Trotter, The Mirror
🕴 Carlos Sainz Snr is considering a run for the FIA presidency and has explained why he feels now is the right time to take on unpopular incumbent Mohammed ben Sulayem, who is up for re-election later this year – Rebecca Clancy, Autosport
🔴 Lewis Hamilton’s struggles continued in Miami, of course, and he cryptically said “something is holding us back”, suggesting that it’s not going to magically get better for him or Ferrari any time soon – Phillip van Osten, F1i
↳ Hamilton will race in front of Italian fans for the first time as a Ferrari driver when he takes to the Imola track this weekend.
🗣 Lewis also showed his class with his comments on his Mercedes successor, 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli, getting his first pole in F1 at the Miami sprint last time out – Formula1.com
🤷♂️ Lando Norris believes it is “impossible to know” how Verstappen’s Red Bull car compares to his McLaren machine. – Jack Oliver Smith, Motorsport Week
🏎 For those who are interested in the technical side of the sport, this is a great analysis of how McLaren’s brake designs are helping them to really look after their rear tyres during a race, giving them a clear edge on the competition – Jon Noble; Rosario Guiliana; Gary Anderson, The Race
🎬 The final trailer for the upcoming F1 movie starring Brad Pitt was released on Monday – If you haven’t seen it yet, here it is 👇
⏪ If fictional racing isn’t your thing, then on Tuesday F1 marked the 75th anniversary of the first ever World Championship race, the British Grand Prix, by releasing some amazing colourised footage from that day at Silverstone – Watch it by clicking here
😂 Plenty of good video content came out this week, not least this footage of the full Lego race ahead of the Miami GP which is basically just 15 minutes of 20 F1 drivers howling with laughter while they act like big kids. Perfect if you need something to smile about – Watch it by clicking here
🎖 Martin Brundle picked up his medal on Tuesday at Windsor Castle, after he was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year’s Honours List last December, for his services to motor racing and to sports broadcasting – Here’s what he said about it on X
Fan Focus
Favourite team?
A British F1 fan in the 1990s was either for Williams or McLaren, so on the toss of a coin I went for Williams. But my absolute favourite driver of all time was and still is Jean Alesi. Unbelievable to watch, incredible car control. But for choosing to stick with Ferrari at their worst he could have been a multiple world champion.
Favourite memory?
Undoubtedly being at the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix, a race that is truly one of the all-time thrillers. The cars then sounded a million times better than the whining things of today, and the buildings trapped the noise. Williams and Nigel Mansell managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory but it didn’t matter – it was unbelievable. Also, it was my first holiday with my new girlfriend. Next week we celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary!
Favourite car?
It’s an obvious one, I think: the Jordan 191. Why? Well, just look at it!
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F1 hot-take?
It’s one we can all see coming: Lewis and Ferrari are going to end in tears. Retirement for him is coming soon.
Want to feature in a future edition of Fan Focus? Fill out this Google Form and email a photo of yourself to pitlanechronicle@reachplc.com, and keep your eyes peeled on the next Pit Lane Chronicle! 👀
Poll Position - have your say
Paddock Press
Here are the main stories around F1’s six midfield teams this week:
🔵 Alpine
🚨 The chaos at Alpine didn’t stop after last week’s Pit Lane Chronicle was published. It wasn’t long that news broke that Oliver Oakes’ resignation as team principal came after his brother, William, was arrested while carrying a “large amount of cash” – Tom Cary; Ben Rumsby, The Telegraph
↳ Tom also produced this interesting piece looking at Oakes’ rather unusual career in motorsport up to now, including how he was being tipped as a potential successor of Horner at Red Bull – Tom Cary, The Telegraph
🇦🇷 Franco Colapinto will debut for Alpine at Imola this weekend, after the controversial call to drop Jack Doohan. This is a really good piece looking at whether the Argentine is actually an upgrade for Alpine – Pablo Elizalde, Motor Sport Magazine
🇲🇽 Speaking of drivers, news broke this week that Alpine have held talks with Sergio Perez over a 2026 seat, despite the Mexican already being in advanced discussions with the new Cadillac project – Scott Mitchell-Malm, The Race
🏆 Alpine would already have had a big name driver on the books had they not lost Fernando Alonso at the end of 2022, and Renault chief Luca de Meo admitted this week that they might not have lost the Spaniard if they had treated him better – Alejandro Fernandez Montealegre, Car and Driver (in Spanish)
🟢 Aston Martin
😬 It’s been a rough season for Aston so far who remain a long way off the pace and, as far as Fernando Alonso is concerned, the Miami race provided the most obvious evidence yet of their decline – Taylor Powling, Motorsport Week
♥ Alonso also received some sad news this week and took to social media to pay tribute to his long-serving physiotherapist, Fabrizio Borra, who has died, aged 64, after a cancer battle – Fernando Alonso on Instagram
💥 The 14 points scored by Aston so far this year have all come courtesy of Lance Stroll, but the Canadian has complained about the car being “slow all season” and demanded his team improve “in all areas” – Formula1.com
⚫ Haas
🤝 Esteban Ocon has opened up on his start to life as a Haas driver, including his blossoming relationship with new race engineer Laura Mueller, who is F1’s first woman in such a role – Jack Oliver Smith, Motorsport Week
↳ Mueller is one of many female trailblazers in F1 mentioned in this piece looking at the extraordinary women who are paving the way for others in the sport – Paris Nicola, The Roar
🥵 Poor Ollie Bearman said he’s ready to “suffer” the heat of being in the cockpit of an F1 car with Haas currently unable to run the FIA’s new cooling vests because of a weight issue – Sam Cooper, PlanetF1
🇩🇰 Former Haas driver Kevin Magnussen has opened up on his baptism of fire when he first entered F1, including one former boss who demanded he be as quick as Lewis Hamilton when the Dane was still a rookie – Matt Bishop, Motor Sport Magazine
⚪ Racing Bulls
👀 Helmut Marko insists it was the right decision to drop Liam Lawson to Racing Bulls, with Yuki Tsunoda “much closer to Verstappen” – Michel Milewski, Bild (in German)
↳ Lawson has yet to score a point since his return to Racing Bulls and former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya thinks he might lose his place on the grid altogether unless he can turn things around quickly – Amos Murphy, The Express
↳ But this piece suggests there are “positive signs” in the data for Lawson despite his struggles so far in 2025 – John Smith, Total Motorsport
👏 Isack Hadjar has probably been the pleasant surprise of the season so far and has opened up on how his first experiences of being an F1 driver have differed so vastly even compared to Formula 2 last year – Jake Nichol and Aaron Deckers, RacingNews365
⌚ Something a little different here: The CEO of high-end watch company Tudor explaining why they have invested so much in sponsorship of Red Bull’s sister squad – Chris Hall, Financial Times
🟢 Sauber
⏪ This weekend’s Imola race will mark Sauber’s 600th in F1, though the team has had many names over that time. This is a fun piece recalling some of the key moments in the outfit’s history – Jake Boxall-Legge, Motorsport.com
🌟 Sauber have been notoriously rubbish at changing tyres quickly in recent times, but they impressively broke a Ferrari streak last time out in Miami with their speed in the pit lane – Balazs Szabo, F1 Technical
🆕 Rookie Gabriel Bortoleto is relishing the opportunity to race at Imola for the first time in F1, but knows that “it is a place that demands your full attention” – Sauber Group website
🔵 Williams
🗣 George Russell has said before he was with Williams for two years too many, and former boss Claire Williams has opened up on why she forced the Brit to stay for so long before he was allowed to step up to Mercedes – F1 Beyond The Grid podcast
👀 Team orders was the topic of conversation at Williams after the Miami race with Carlos Sainz furious over his treatment on track, but boss James Vowles insists team-mate Alex Albon was not to blame for overtaking the Spaniard when Sainz had been told that he would not be passed – Keith Collantine, RaceFans
🇺🇸 Vowles has also opened up on how the US has gone from being a relative outsider in terms of interest in F1 to the fastest-growing market for the sport to tap into – Andrew Beaton, Wall Street Journal
😍 Vowles is one of three Williams staff heading to the Goodwood Festival of Speed later this summer, along with F1 Academy driver Lia Block and Williams ambassador Jamie Chadwick, to drive Nigel Mansell’s legendary FW14B – Formula1.com
Best of Substack
Here are some of the F1-related posts I enjoyed elsewhere on Substack this week:
🔥 Really enjoyed this summary of the chaos at the F1 grid’s most chaotic team and a look at “the smouldering husk of Alpine’s team structure” – Aaron Guy Leroux, The Installation Lap
💪 This is a fun look at Lewis Hamilton’s daily routine, illustrating just how physically-demanding it is to be an F1 driver – Hao Nguyen, Balance the Grind
🇮🇹 Ahead of what could be the final F1 race at Imola this weekend (my understanding is that no final decision has been made about its place on the 2026 calendar just yet) this is a great piece on what we would be missing if it were to disappear from the sport – Vincenzo Landino, Business of Speed
🏁 On the 75th anniversary of that first World Championship F1 race, I loved this look back at everything that happened at Silverstone on that momentous day – Elizabeth Blackstock, Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys
The Chequered Flag
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 Daily Mirror’s Formula 1 Correspondent. I live in Merseyside with my fiancée Abby and our one-year-old daughter Eve who isn’t speaking yet but already knows how to make race car noises – “Vroom vroom!”
🏎 My aim is to provide a clear path to news about the teams or drivers you love and support without having to get past the mountain of content all focused on the Lewis Hamiltons and Max Verstappens of the F1 world.