Round-up: Williams reveal Sainz could have started Austrian GP, and more
Welcome to Thursday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
Is it time for Red Bull to do something truly radical?
Since Max is seems keen to race anything, and is probably out of the championship picture, why not ‘demote’ him? They might learn something interesting in the second half of the season.
Kvyat, Gasly, Albon, Checo, Lawson, Yuki aren’t bad drivers. They’ve had success both prior and post being that second seat. Is it the car? Is it Max?
Red Bull are in a very unusual position where they could put Max in another car, especially when he really isn’t likely to be fighting for much. Why not? It seems a better alternatively than to just repeatedly keep throwing other drivers into the second car and seeing if that changes anything?
If I was Hadjar I’d be gluing myself to the Racing Bulls seat, nothing good comes of the ‘promotion’. @Bernasaurus
‘In terms of Carlos, when he was on the grid and went to leave the grid, he found that the car wouldn’t move. And what we saw was that the rear brake circuit was effectively engaged, he was holding rear brake pressure, large rear brake pressure. A reset eventually fixed that. But in that process we did a number of other changes, and I think some have been negative overall. With Carlos, he thought he had to make up time to get back in the pit lane so we could start the race, and he was actually pushing the brakes awfully hard and they were ramping up in temperature quite significantly, and you saw the effect of that as he came back in. Now, it’s a number of faults here, really. First and foremost, we had a fundamental hardware fault that meant that the rear pressure could be held on. It’s a very unique circumstance of being on the grid, holding pressure during certain procedures, but irrespective, it has been found, captured, and that won’t ever happen again. Even beyond that though, I feel that how we worked with Carlos in our communication, we need to step up, because we could have helped him come back to the pit lane, reset the problem and still be in the race. Now that’s on us to make sure we work on as a result of it.’
‘ESPN’s live telecast of the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday, June 29, averaged 1.1 million viewers, a two percent gain over last year’s race and the largest audience ever for the event on U.S. television. The audience was up from last year’s viewership of 1.09 million, which at the time was the largest ever for the race.’
‘There are things that we need to solve in terms of facilitating the tie-down with Brexit. There are complications for the movement, there are complications for the visas for people.’
‘I think I was quite lucky with the advice. It was always just, ‘Go and have fun’. It wasn’t about trying to impress someone or be someone you’re not. ‘If you do this you’ll be on TV and make money’. It wasn’t about that, it was just, ‘Go and have fun’.’
‘The SCI is a first-of-its-kind industry benchmark ranking the sustainability initiatives of 117 permanent and temporary motorsport circuits around the globe. Circuits are assessed against 21 industry-specific criteria spread across seven sustainability categories using a robust, proprietary methodology.’
Dropping in at Number 10 🇬🇧
Ahead of the British GP and to mark the 75th anniversary of F1, we were invited to 10 Downing Street to meet with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to emphasise the importance of the sport to the United Kingdom’s economy. #HaasF1#F1#BritishGPpic.twitter.com/0uuYIZAh4Q
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) July 2, 2025
Before the Austrian Grand Prix Red Bull team principal Christian Horner gave an interview in which he said he wanted to make McLaren fans “cry”.Red Bull had one car last and one car out on the first lap of their home race, while McLaren finished one-two.Perhaps he meant “…with laughter.”#F1
Social media and links
The Vowles Verdict: Austria (Williams)
‘In terms of Carlos, when he was on the grid and went to leave the grid, he found that the car wouldn’t move. And what we saw was that the rear brake circuit was effectively engaged, he was holding rear brake pressure, large rear brake pressure. A reset eventually fixed that. But in that process we did a number of other changes, and I think some have been negative overall. With Carlos, he thought he had to make up time to get back in the pit lane so we could start the race, and he was actually pushing the brakes awfully hard and they were ramping up in temperature quite significantly, and you saw the effect of that as he came back in. Now, it’s a number of faults here, really. First and foremost, we had a fundamental hardware fault that meant that the rear pressure could be held on. It’s a very unique circumstance of being on the grid, holding pressure during certain procedures, but irrespective, it has been found, captured, and that won’t ever happen again. Even beyond that though, I feel that how we worked with Carlos in our communication, we need to step up, because we could have helped him come back to the pit lane, reset the problem and still be in the race. Now that’s on us to make sure we work on as a result of it.’
ESPN Formula 1 viewership notes after Austrian Grand Prix (ESPN)
‘ESPN’s live telecast of the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday, June 29, averaged 1.1 million viewers, a two percent gain over last year’s race and the largest audience ever for the event on U.S. television. The audience was up from last year’s viewership of 1.09 million, which at the time was the largest ever for the race.’
Domenicali to tell Starmer how vital F1 is to UK (BBC)
‘There are things that we need to solve in terms of facilitating the tie-down with Brexit. There are complications for the movement, there are complications for the visas for people.’
Ricciardo ‘enjoying life in the slow lane’ (F1)
‘I think I was quite lucky with the advice. It was always just, ‘Go and have fun’. It wasn’t about trying to impress someone or be someone you’re not. ‘If you do this you’ll be on TV and make money’. It wasn’t about that, it was just, ‘Go and have fun’.’
Circuit de Catalunya takes first place ahead of Mugello circuit with Silverstone and Circuit de la Sarthe sharing third (E-Novation)
‘The SCI is a first-of-its-kind industry benchmark ranking the sustainability initiatives of 117 permanent and temporary motorsport circuits around the globe. Circuits are assessed against 21 industry-specific criteria spread across seven sustainability categories using a robust, proprietary methodology.’
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