Formula 1 drivers have been told by the FIA that if they do make two separate defensive moves in the same direction in the future they could be punished.

In the wake of Sebastian Vettel’s double block of Lewis Hamilton as they battled for position in the Russian Grand Prix, the incident was brought up in the drivers’ briefing in Japan last weekend.

There, Hamilton wanted clarification about whether or not drivers were allowed to move twice in the same direction and escape sanction – as he felt that Vettel’s actions were not acceptable.

The FIA has long made it clear that if a driver changes direction more than once in a bid to defend his position, then he will be investigated by the race stewards for a breach of the rules.

In Russia, Hamilton felt that Vettel moved twice – once to initially close the door and then again later to leave his Mercedes rival with nowhere to go.

F1 race director Charlie Whiting has maintained his belief that Vettel’s actions could not be viewed as two separate moves because they were in the same directon.

But, he has now explained to drivers that in the future moving the same way may not necessarily be allowed if there is a time gap between the actions.

“The rule about two moves is traditionally about making a move one way and then making a second move the other way,” said Whiting, when asked by Motorsport.com about the outcome of the discussion in the drivers’ briefing last weekend.

“I think everyone felt that that was what was generally understood by the rule, but I must say that when I first saw the incident in the race in Russia I thought the same: he [Vettel] has moved twice when I saw it from Lewis’ onboard.

“But when you look at it from track cameras and a forward shot when they are coming towards you, it is much less clear: that it looks like one move with a hesitation.

"It doesn’t look like two distinct moves, which is why the stewards did not feel that they could justify a penalty.”

Whiting is clear now though that if a driver makes a second move in the same direction, with a pause in the middle, then that will be treated as a breach of the rules.

“What I did clarify to them is that if a driver does two moves in the same direction, that is the same as doing one in either direction,” he said.

“So if Seb had gone once, looked and then gone again very, very clearly I think that would be equally bad as making a move in either direction.”

March 17 - Australian Grand Prix
March 31 - Bahrain Grand Prix
April 14 - Chinese Grand Prix
April 28 - Azerbaijan Grand Prix
May 12 - Spanish Grand Prix
May 26 - Monaco Grand Prix
June 9 - Canadian Grand Prix
June 23 - French Grand Prix
June 30 - Austrian Grand Prix
July 14 - British Grand Prix
July 28 - German Grand Prix
August 4 - Hungarian Grand Prix
September 1 - Belgian Grand Prix
September 8 - Italian Grand Prix
September 22 - Singapore Grand Prix
September 29 - Russian Grand Prix
October 13 - Japanese Grand Prix
October 27 - Mexican Grand Prix
November 3 - United States Grand Prix
November 17 - Brazilian Grand Prix
December 1 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Note, some dates are still subject to change.

Formula 1 risks losing one of its current manufacturers if the escalating costs of engine development are not cut in the near future, fears Renault.

Amid growing signs that engine budgets are ramping up in the battle between F1's current four manufacturers, Renault thinks that spending requirements are now getting to the point where they are harder to justify to parent companies.

Renault F1's managing director Cyril Abiteboul says that the huge investment rival Honda has made to get its engine programme back on track is proof of how spending is now accelerating.

Asked about the progress that Japanese manufacturer has made with its latest upgrade, Abiteboul told Autosport: "It is not a surprise because it was very clear last year already that Honda were making very rapid progress.

"Reliability was not there last year, but it was extremely clear, and I remember in Spa, there was a very clear signal that Honda was on the move given the huge investment which we understand that Honda is putting in.

"It is not a surprise that this is paying off because we are still in an F1 that is rewarding how much you are spending rather than how you are spending it. And that is a concern."

With F1 manufacturers already braced for added investment to revamp engines for 2021, when louder and higher-revving powerunits will be introduced, Abiteboul thinks that questions may be asked about the current escalating costs.

"That [rising cost] is in my opinion untenable," he said. "It may be paying dividends for Honda now, but at some point it will be untenable for one of the four - and who knows what will happen then.

"I think F1 cannot afford to lose one of them. And I don't see enough decision/action being taken to alleviate that necessity to spend in a way that might be untenable in the medium to long term."

Abiteboul has said that Honda's progress this year to lift its performance will now result in Renault needing to ramp up its own efforts to move forward.

"They are definitely back," he said. "They are at a similar level to us in terms of competitiveness this year because of our decision on Spec-C. That is why again we cannot sleep on next year's engine development.

"And we also need to put that in perspective of 2021, where we want to start as early as possible. As always we need to see how we can balance short term objective with long term objectives."

“Charles Leclerc to race for Ferrari in 2019” has been arguably the driver market story of the year. The inexperienced Monegasque will become the Scuderia’s youngest driver since 1961 when he lines up on the grid next year, which brings with it more than its fair share of pressure. It’s a huge challenge but one Leclerc is excited about. And If he doesn’t deliver, the 20-year-old says Ferrari would be well within their rights to get rid of him...

Ferrari traditionally favour experience with their driver line-up, but they’ve broken the mould for 2019 with the recruitment of Leclerc, who will partner four-time champion Sebastian Vettel.

He will be their youngest driver since the late Ricardo Rodriguez, who raced for them at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix, aged 19 years and 208 days and the least experienced Ferrari debutant since Gilles Villeneuve who joined with just one race for McLaren under his belt.

Is he nervous? “Not at all,” he tells Tom Clarkson on this week’s edition of Beyond the Grid, presented by Bose, that will be released on Wednesday.

“I’m not a nervous person, there are tensions in this sport and at the start, there is adrenaline, but I would not say it is nervousness.

“If you ask me about the pressure, I think I can handle this because I have a mentality that I don’t feel the pressure at all. I know lots of people say, ‘yeah but the pressure in Ferrari is on another level’, but my mentality allows me to take of all the pressure.

“I don’t really take into consideration what people are expecting from me. The only thing I do is focus on myself and try to give the best possible performance on track."

And what if that performance isn't deemed good enough?

“I’m also very honest," adds Leclerc. "If I’m not good enough next year, I should be dropped by Ferrari and this would be completely understandable for me. This is how I see it.

“If I’m good enough, I deserve to stay there. If I’m not, I deserve to be left off and I think that takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders.”

Ferrari have favoured one driver over the other in the past in order to maximise their chances of winning the drivers’ championship, but Leclerc insists there is “absolutely not” anything in his contract that will stop him taking the fight to Vettel next year.

“I know lots of people are thinking this and me saying that won’t change what people think,” he adds. “But as in every team, you start the year on an equal status and then at one point, once one driver is fighting for the championship and one is not.

“Then I believe it’s normal for the second driver to help the first one, which I’m ready to do in case I am the second driver and I don’t have my chances to win the championship. But apart from that, I don’t think I will go there to be a second driver.”

Stroll and his associates paid £90m for the assets of the old team before creating a new company and lodging a new entry with the FIA, under the Racing Point name.

As the original company is under administration, usually that £90m would be locked into a legal process that could take months or even years before the funds are divided up and used to pay the creditors, led by Mercedes and Sergio Perez.

As that figure is more than enough to pay the creditors, all are guaranteed to receive the full amount owed.

However, Stroll took the unusual step of taking over those debts himself and ensuring that the creditors were paid immediately, rather than having to wait for the legal process to unfold. When that process is finally completed, Stroll will get his money back.

"It's important to note that the current shareholders have taken all the risk for the creditors," team principal Otmar Szafnauer told Motorsport.com. "And have put it in extra money such that the creditors can be paid off immediately, and not at some future date, post-administration. That can take one or two years sometimes.

"Lawrence wanted to do what's right by the suppliers that have supported us, and a lot of them are industry suppliers who don't just supply us, but other teams in the paddock.

"And he thought it was right to take care of those people, by guaranteeing that they get 100% of their debt, and in a timely fashion."

Szafnauer suggested that the process of paying the creditors could be completed this week, just two months after the sale to Stroll.

"We're going through all of them, just as they come up, so probably 100% or if not 95% of them will be paid by the middle of October.

"That's not usually what happens in administration, and it's something that we should take note of, and also thank the new shareholders for – not me thanking them, but all the creditors getting paid off early. It takes that worry completely away.

"He'll get it back when the creditors are paid by the administrator, whenever that is."

Szafnauer has been impressed by Stroll's straightforward approach to business.

"He's definitely a motivator and he's a clear and direct talker, so you get good direction. He's got high expectations, which is fine by me. I grew up in a society in the States where people had expectations when they're laying out a bunch of cash.

"I'm happy the expectations are there. We worked hard to make sure we deliver upon those expectations. The nice thing about Lawrence is he tells you exactly what he's thinking, and he's straightforward about it.

"The nice thing is that you can have a debate with him, and he'll listen, and you'll come to a conclusion. But once a decision's made, then you've got to get on with it."

Alexander Albon has emerged as favourite to replace Brendon Hartley and partner Daniil Kvyat at Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula 1 in 2019.

However, the Anglo-Thai racer first has to get out of his existing deal to contest the 2018-19 Formula E season with Nissan.

It’s understood that Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko is negotiating with Nissan for the release of the 22-year-old, and that it will become clear in the next few days whether he has been successful.

Nissan is understood to be extremely frustrated with potentially losing a driver to whom it had made an early commitment, and it remains to be seen how the discussions will unfold.

Albon was scheduled to test for Nissan in Valencia this week, alongside teammate Sebastian Buemi, but he did not appear on track on Tuesday.

Albon made the decision to take up the Formula E route around the time of the Hungarian GP when it appeared that no F1 opportunities would be forthcoming. He thus signed a multi-year deal with Nissan, whose Formula E team is run by DAMS - the squad for which he has won four F2 races in 2018.

However, subsequent movements in the driver market such as Daniel Ricciardo’s decision to join Renault – which led to Pierre Gasly’s promotion from Toro Rosso to Red Bull Racing – left the Faenza team short of options.

Albon was backed by Red Bull in karting and Formula Renault, but was dropped after 2012. However, since then the Anglo-Thai racer - who finished runner-up to Charles Leclerc in GP3 in 2016 - has been rehabilitated in the eyes of Marko.

If talks are successful and the move to F1 is completed, Albon will join fellow F2 frontrunners George Russell and Lando Norris in stepping straight into F1 race seats, while Hartley - who was brought back into the Red Bull fold midway through 2017 - will be left without a drive.

From Thursday October 18, you’ll be able to put the 2018 Formula 1 season in your pocket with the fantastic, free new mobile game from Codemasters. Check out the trailer above...

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But Formula 1 isn’t just about testing yourself against the stopwatch – it’s about mano a manocompetition too, and in F1 Mobile Racing, you’ll be able to take on other gamers from around the globe in thrilling real-time, player-versus-player races, as well as building and customising your own F1 machine from the ground up.

F1 Mobile Racing will be available to download for free from October 18 for iOS users (excluding China). Releases for Android devices and China will follow shortly. Click here to find out more.

Because of the massive amounts of rain, the Circuit of the Americas in Austin is currently a chaos. A few of the roads at the American track are currently under water, and more rain is expected in the coming days.



Back in 2015, the second Free Practice session at COTA was even cancelled because of the weather circumstances. Looking at the weather in Texas for this weekend, we think this could well happen again.

Especially on Friday, a lot of rain is expected to fall, but on Saturday the visitors best bring their umbrella's too. However, the race itself on Sunday will most likely stay dry.

Even though the little floods at Circuit of the Americas will most likely not jeopardize anything come this weekend, it is a bit concerning that this isn't the first time that it's happened. As we said, it wasn't much different just three years ago, when FP2 was cancelled because of the brutal weather.

Formula 1 has moved to prevent a repeat of Max Verstappen's corner-cutting controversy in last year's United States Grand Prix by installing new kerbs at the Austin track.

Verstappen was furious at the end of last year's race when he was handed a five-second penalty - which cost him a podium finish - after he was ruled to have gained an advantage by cutting the track at Turns 16 and 17.

The Dutchman had snatched third place on the road from Kimi Raikkonen on the final lap by diving inside the Ferrari driver at the double apex right-hander, but with all four wheels off the circuit he was deemed to have completed the pass illegally.

Although there was controversy over the incident, which included Verstappen launching an attack on the stewards over why he had been penalised while others had got away with track limits abuses, the FIA has decided to take action for this year.

Ahead of this weekend's US GP, the FIA has confirmed that two major new kerbs have been fitted at the location.

The new kerbs, which are two metres long, one metre wide and 50mm high, have been installed behind the apex kerbs at Turns 16 and 17.

Last year, drivers had no such deterrent to stop them running off-track at those corners.

Verstappen said at the time: "I think all the fans loved [the overtake], it was a great move.

"They told me I was gaining an advantage [by cutting the corner], but if I was really gaining an advantage, I would be doing that every single lap - which I was not."

The FIA has also added new kerbs at the exit of Turn 1 in a bid to deter drivers from running wide there.

The new bumps are similar to those that have previously been used at Turns 11, 15 and 19.