Hello from rainy Denmark. Not quite Monaco, but I can’t afford a yacht yet (and I also get seasick), so it’ll have to do.
The top story of the week: Pat Symonds leaves role as F1 Chief Technical Officer, joins Andretti as Executive Engineering Consultant
Andretti just had another mic drop moment 🎤
Why is this important? Since F1 rejected Andretti’s application to join the grid in 2026, they’ve been systematically blasting away every single argument against them joining: They’ve brought in GM, they’ve opened up facilities and hired staff in Silverstone, they’ve stated their intent to run in junior series, and now they’ve made a massive signing in Pat Symonds.
In case you’re not familiar with Symonds, he’s been in Formula 1 since the early 1980s, he’s been a race engineer for Michael Schumacher and an important part of the Benetton team in the 90s when they won their championships. He’s been with Toleman, Benetton, Reynard, Renault, Manor and Williams. He also played a role in the 2008 Crashgate controversy, which resulted in him being banned and subsequently unbanned from the sport. Since 2017, he’s been Chief Technical Officer for Formula 1, overseeing the work on technical regulations and development.
The rest of the stories this week:
- Mercedes Chief Aerodynamicist, Gioacchino Vino, leaves team after six seasons
- Sainz will not being going to Mercedes
- Tsunoda is interested in going to Haas
- Bottas may be returning to Williams
- Alpine evaluating driver options for 2025, Schumacher a possibility
- Eddie Jordan, Adrian Newey’s business manager, says no decision has been made on Newey’s next move
- F1 looking to expand with races in Asia, Thailand being a strong contender
- Follow up to the above: Thai PM attends Imola GP, meets with Domenicali and other stakeholders
- New Concorde agreement will continue Ferrari’s heritage team payout, but with a cap
- Teams push to have new Concorde agreement exclude parental leave, staff entertainment from cost cap (Quick note: The current Concorde excludes leave and entertainment, but the new one currently being negotiated includes it, in return for an overall cap increase)
- Vettel unlikely to return to F1, cites family life as main reason
- Greg Maffei, Liberty Media CEO, reportedly told Mario Andretti: “I will do everything in my power to see that Michael [Andretti] never enters Formula 1”
- Andretti has hired two American lobbying firms to assist in their efforts to have the US Congress put pressure on F1
- Follow up to the above: Bipartisan group of US senators call on President, Justice Department and FTC to investigate Andretti rejection
- The Indy500 will be available to watch for free on YouTube in the UK
- Former Alpine F1 CEO Laurent Rossi leaves Renault to join a venture capital firm
- The FIA abandons spray guard development, cites only marginal benefits from testing as reason
- McLaren reveals Senna tribute livery for Monaco, Norris and Piastri reveal matching helmet designs
And remember: Putting flame decals on your car absolutely counts as tuning and makes it go faster.
That’s it for this week. Until next time, thank you for being here.
