Lewis Hamilton says he went against his Mercedes Formula 1 team by not pitting for fresh tyres for a late British Grand Prix fastest lap attempt.

Hamilton scored a record-breaking sixth victory at Silverstone after a safety car period allowed him to jump ahead of polesitting team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

The two Mercedes drivers opted for diverging strategies, with Bottas committing to stopping twice and Hamilton attempting a long first stint on medium tyres, which ultimately meant he did not need to stop again.

Helped by the safety car, Hamilton had pulled 21 seconds clear of Bottas in the closing stages, and therefore could have pitted for a second time and still emerge with his lead intact, virtually guaranteeing himself the fastest lap bonus point on soft tyres.

But the reigning champion decided not to stop, not wanting to risk the pitstop going awry, and he still beat Bottas to the fastest lap on his worn hard tyres.

Asked if he had considered stopping again at the end when he had the margin over Bottas to do so, Hamilton replied: "Why take the risk?

"I had a pitstop window, but there's the entry of the pitlane, there's the stop, there's extra pressure on the mechanics to do the pitstop - not that I doubt them at all, but you just give a chance to it [to go wrong].

"I had saved enough in the tyres, I felt good with the hard tyre, I could keep going. I did have some blistering, so I was kind of conflicted, [thinking] should I stop?

"It would have brought us closer, but there were seven laps left, it's very hard to catch a 21-second delta at the pace I could still do, so I decided [not to stop].

"It's rare to go against the team, but I decided today that was the best thing for me."



Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had said part of the rationale for wanting to bring Hamilton in towards the end was to protect him from a possible second safety car restart.

Asked about the situation by Autosport, Wolff said: "We had some intense debate among us whether to pit for - we had a free pitstop for another soft at the end - or not.

"From a racing driver's standpoint it's always a risk to pit, but from a pure data standpoint you have a free stop, you'd rather go for the soft, because if a safety car happens you're really exposed at the end with the hard tyre.

"So it was 50/50 and then we asked him what he thought about it, and he made the right call I believe, with a little worry in the end about having a blister.

"But I think overall the tyre held on, seven laps to the end, and it was right to keep him out."

The person behind the Twitter account for embattled Haas Formula One sponsor (?) Rich Energy, who might or might not have had too many energy drinks this week, has been busy. In a recent attempt to reveal the “#truth,” the account posted what seems to be the details of its own sponsorship deal with Haas—which Haas, naturally, wants to collect on.

The latest tweet from the Rich Energy account came on Sunday, and appears to show a letter addressed to Rich Energy CEO William Storey from Haas F1’s legal representation.

The apparent letter, among other things, details the terms of the sponsorship agreement between Haas and Rich Energy—something that’s been a mystery since the partnership was announced in late 2018.

The apparent letter refers to an email sent from Storey to Haas team principal Guenther Steiner, which seems to have recounted what Rich Energy did on Twitter this week: that the company was terminating the deal due to poor performance, and, a reason that wasn’t tweeted, for the removal of its stag logo from the cars after it was ruled to have infringed upon British company Whyte Bikes’ logo.

(Haas still ran Rich Energy colors at the British Grand Prix over the weekend, releasing a statement on Thursday that said Rich Energy was still its partner. Storey later said certain shareholders are trying to overthrow him.)

That’s a breach of the sponsorship agreement between the two, the letter said, since Rich Energy wasn’t contractually able to terminate the deal until Dec. 1, 2022. It also mentions that performance expectations weren’t part of the agreement, and therefore aren’t a basis for terminating the deal.

Haas has apparently decided to accept the breach, though, and wants 35 million pounds of damages, or $44 million at current exchange rates, within two weeks. Whyte Bikes told Jalopnik on Friday that Rich Energy failed to pay the company a court-ordered $45,000 by its deadline, and Storey did not respond to request for comment on that claim.

Jalopnik asked both Storey and Haas for confirmation that this is a legitimate letter sent by Haas’ legal representation, and will update this story if we hear back. The last time a similar letter was posted, Haas declined to comment and Storey did not respond.

We’ve also asked Storey if he’s running the account. He hasn’t responded.

What’s interesting about the apparent letter, posted by the Rich Energy account itself without retractions, is that it, if legitimate, lines out the “sums due” by Rich Energy over the next two seasons. Here they are, emphasis ours:

If real, this means the mysterious energy-drink company out of Britain, which many questioned the existence of due to its limited distribution and murky past, agreed to pay 14 million pounds, or $17.6 million, for the 2020 race season, and 15 million pounds, or nearly $18.9 million, for 2021.

It’s not Mercedes-AMG Petronas money, estimated to be $75 million annually via Forbesand Formula Money, or Ferrari-Philip Morris, said to be $50 million, but it’s still a lot—especially for a company shown to have had 581 pounds in the bank in 2017. (Storey called that figure “irrelevant” when talking to Jalopnik.)

It also shows the apparent details of a deal that neither Haas nor Rich Energy would elaborate on, which made it even more perplexing. Haas has supported its own race cars through Haas CNC, and it wasn’t clear how much Rich Energy was actually paying to be a “title partner” for the team.

In addition to that, the letter posted by Rich Energy refers to its stag logo being removed before the Canadian Grand Prix in June, and seems to say that Storey suggested Haas “wrongly removed the infringing logo.”

When the logos were pulled, Rich Energy said it asked Haas to remove the logo because it didn’t “want any media circus” while Rich Energy fought, and later lost, what it referred to as a “baseless case” against it. Rich Energy said the directive came from itself, not Haas, which doesn’t seem to be the claim now.

But this is the new normal in the world of Rich Energy and the Haas F1 team, whose rocky relationship over the past nine months or so is detailed, as full as we’ve been able to detail it, in the related stories you see below.

Who’s excited to see what happens on Twitter this week?

Update: Sunday, July 14, 2019 at 3:34 p.m. ET: Storey responded to Jalopnik via email, saying the email is “from Haas lawyers 100 percent.” Jalopnik was shown the email directly from the Jeremy Courtenay-Stamp at the Ebury Partnership with the subject “Our client: Haas Formula LLC.”

An attachment in that email also included Storey’s original email to Steiner, which said “removing [the] stag logo unilaterally in Canada when not required undermined [Rich Energy] to the world’s media,” which suggests a different reality from how Rich Energy described the removal when it happened.

Storey said he remains CEO and the largest shareholder at Rich Energy, and has “the support of the board of Rich Energy.” He’s “consistently telling it as it is and Haas and the minority shareholders are not,” he wrote.

“Their complicity in seeking to remove me as CEO (a position I of course still hold) is wholly unacceptable conduct given I did the deal with them and I gave personal guarantee,” Storey said via email. “It is like me seeking the removal of Gene Haas! Disgraceful.”

Haas has not responded to Jalopnik’s request for comment, but we will update this story if the team does.

Red Bull revealed that the team's pre-race scramble on the grid at Silverstone was caused by the sudden discovery of minor cracks in the rear wing endplates of the team's RB15 cars.

In the minutes heading into the start of Sunday's race, a frenzy broke out on the grid, with the Red Bull crews seen changing the rear wing endplates on the cars of Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit undertook the changes after getting the all-clear from the FIA as the cars were still under Parc Fermé conditions.

"One of the mechanics doing one of the checks found a crack in the rear wing of Max, so we applied to get permission to change it," team boss Christian Horner explained after the race.

"Then, there was an inspection on Pierre’s and we could see the very start of a crack appearing in the same place. So permission to change them both was granted just as a security, and we did that."

As an extra measure of precaution, crews also consolidated the endplates with tape and glue.

"The tape wasn’t going to reinforce it, it was more some glue that went on," Horner added.

The team was spared any further drama linked to the wing elements in the race, with Verstappen and Gasly unaffected by the issue, but the problem will warrant some forensic analysis this week back at Red Bull's base.

Refueling has been banned from Formula One races for a decade, as 2009 kicked off an era of fuel-free pit stops. Has the racing been better for a lack of petroleum? I’d venture to say that it has not, and FIA president Jean Todt might agree with me, according to a recent report from Autoweek.

The ban on refueling has meant Grand Prix racers have needed to carry all of their fuel on board for the entirety of the race, removing a crucial part of pit stop strategy. It also means the cars are bigger to accommodate a large fuel cell, and heavier than ever at the start of the race.

If you watch an F1 race, you can tell that the cars are often too large for the track they are racing on. The cars have certainly bloated in all directions since I began watching the sport. This is one factor that Todt has a problem with, and hopes that a smaller fuel tank would allow the regulations to mandate smaller exterior dimensions.

Right now, all of the teams start out with the same fuel level, and aim to end the race with just a bit more than empty. If all the teams are on an equal weight and equal fuel strategy, that instantly means fewer passes will take place than if refueling is allowed.

Refueling was initially banned for safety reasons, as pit stops were getting too fast and teams were having trouble getting the fuel safely into the cars in the short time it takes to change wheels. I would argue that slowing down the pit stops with a fuel stop would actually increase the safety, giving teams more time to make sure what they’re doing is correct. And the racing might be better for another five or six seconds on pit lane, as it gives the crew time to make aero adjustments that could save someone’s race.

The FIA already has the capability to measure fuel flow rates, as it does in the WEC endurance races. Mandating a certain fuel flow for the sake of safety isn’t beyond the scope of the sanctioning body’s capacity. Is a sub-2-second pit stop all that exciting to watch anyway? If you want to promote safety, mandate fewer team members on the hot pit lane, while we’re at it.

Teams have rebuked the idea of bringing back refueling to the sport, as the cost of designing and transporting a fuel rig would be a bridge too far.

So with new regulations looming on the horizon, Todt wants to investigate the ups and downs of fuel filling during the race. If all of these other lowly series can manage it, surely Formula One can. As a long time fan that has been bored nearly to tears during multiple Grands Prix in the last decade, I am willing to give anything a go at this point.

Competing within sight of their factory and with plenty of staff in attendance, Racing Point had hoped to turn their run of bad luck around at Silverstone, and in the early running Sergio Perez looked to be in the mix for points. But ultimately the team made the short trip home with a third consecutive non-score, with Perez’s race wrecked by contact with Nico Hulkenberg which was attributed to a faulty steering wheel.

The contact came at the sweeping Brooklands bend and saw Perez’s Racing Point pitch into the side of the Renault. The Mexican lost his front wing and was forced to pit as he fell down the order to a seventeenth place finish.

“During the safety car period I [had] an issue with the steering wheel," said Perez. “My brake balance [ended] up massively forwards, I couldn't stop the car and then I end up hitting Nico. So it was ruined with the safety car, with the issue on the brakes.”

The result is Perez’s worst result of the season and is only the second time he has been beaten by team mate Lance Stroll in 2019, the Canadian finishing P13. The Mexican has now failed to get a point since Azerbaijan as Racing Point’s miserable run continues.


The team looked to have potentially turned a corner on Friday after Perez’s encouraging pace but could not keep that form into the weekend. But the Safety Car period is where Racing Point lost out the most, as their midfield rivals made vital stops and prevented the team from making their favoured one-stop strategy work.

Perez said: “We were very unlucky today. The first stint was very strong - I was managing my race, looking after the tyres and we were on course to score some points. Then, the Safety Car came out just after I had pitted and that’s what ruined my race.”


The RP19 is set for a major upgrade ahead of the next race in Germany which the team have high expectations it will bring them closer to their midfield rivals.

Racing Point currently lie seventh in the constructors' standings with 19 points, tied with Toro Rosso who sit eighth in the table.

Haas F1 boss Guenther Steiner was left fuming after a lap-one collision between teammates Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen ended their day before it even began in Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

Steiner, famed for his furious rants after the successful Netflix series documenting the 2018 season, no doubt went into an utter meltdown directed at his two drivers after first lap contact put both drivers out of the race.

Unsure of where the pace had gone since the season opener in Australia, Haas had put Grosjean in a ‘launch spec’ car while Magnussen was driving the fully updated version -- the idea being to try to solve at least a few problems in the development direction they had taken. This plan did not go well.

“It was a very disappointing race for us,” said Steiner. “I’m just stating the obvious here. The best that our drivers could bring to the battle was a shovel -- to dig the hole we’re in even deeper. We need to go back, regroup, and see what we do in future.”

In the usual chaos on lap one, Magnussen made contact with the right rear of Grosjean’s car. Grosjean picked up a puncture, but both drivers would soon retire with crash damage.

“I picked up the rear right puncture,” said Grosjean. “After the pit stop, the damage to the car, on the floor, the brake ducts and so on, it was too much to be able to carry on racing. We had to retire the car unfortunately. It’s a real shame. We wanted to evaluate both packages on the cars today. My car felt really good on the way to the grid, I was encouraged by those laps, and was hoping for a good race.”

Both drivers were scored with DNFs and at the bottom of the order.

The struggling Haas F1 Team may be preparing for a change in its driver lineup.

Having blamed Pirelli tires for at least part of the reason the team is sitting in ninth place in the Formula 1 constructors' championship and now dealing with a controversy involving the team's own title sponsor Rich Energy, boss Guenther Steiner is adding his drivers to the equation of what's wrong.

"I don't want to blame one of them right now, but I don't like the situation," he told the Danish Ekstra Bladet newspaper.

Steiner said he "could not believe" that Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen crashed into each other on lap 1 at Silverstone, having warned them about it earlier in 2019.

Asked if the problem is the chemistry between the drivers, Steiner answered, "I don't know. I need to think about it with a clear head and find out what we do. That's my job. Because that's not acceptable.

"I don't have the solution now, but I have to find out how we move forward. For me, this is a question of the team above the individual."

It is believed the driver most likely to leave Haas would be Romain Grosjean, potentially to be replaced by Sergio Perez. Grosjean has been with the team all four years, but he is having his worst season in the standings. He left Silverstone 17th with just two points.

Perez, who is in 13th place with 13 points, could lose his place at Racing Point. That team is rumored to be considering former Force India driver Esteban Ocon.

On my best day, I don’t think I could’ve concocted the bizarre story about Haas Formula One sponsor Rich Energy: a supposed energy drink empire out of Great Britain, aimed directly at Red Bull, with a shady past and a bombastic CEO who comes off on Twitter like racing’s bargain-basement Donald Trump. Evidently, some folks at “Rich Energy” have had enough, because the company’s apparently getting a new name and new leadership.

Industry site Formula Money broke the story earlier today that Rich Energy is now called “Lightning Volt Limited,” and that former boss William Storey is out as both director and “a person with significant control.”

Those details are corroborated by a listing on the UK’s Companies House, a registrar of British businesses. The changes happened today.

Exactly what’s happening here is, and has been, quite confounding.

In recent days Storey—who looks like a ZZ Top roadie and “fired” the Haas F1 Team his company sponsored for “poor performance” and a “PC culture” in racing—has alluded to a power struggle between himself and his company’s minority shareholders.

One can assume from this that those shareholders won out, or transferred assets from Rich Energy to this new company, without Storey aboard.

It’s been a surprising saga from start to finish, but what’s not surprising is the adults in the room would want to get rid of this guy, who loosed this gem of a Tweet over the weekend:

Storey has not yet responded to an email from Jalopnik seeking comment. It has been said that Storey retains control of Rich Energy’s Twitter account.

The big question now, at least for racing fans, is what happens with Haas F1's sponsorship agreement. Does it transfer over, and become the Lightning Volt Haas F1 Team? Or is the only U.S.-based F1 team in need of a new partner? That remains unclear, and so far Haas hasn’t said anything publicly.

Fans and industry watchers began turning their eyes to Rich Energy earlier this year, and a Jalopnik investigation found the company had confusing beginnings in Croatia, a minimal product presence and very little cash in the bank at one recent point, despite apparently being able to sponsor an F1 team. Rich Energy has since been sued by a company Whyte Bikes over allegations that it stole the latter’s stag-like logo; as of Friday, Rich Energy still owed that company a court-ordered $45,000.

And over the weekend a letter apparently from Haas F1's lawyers seemed to indicate it would be going after Rich Energy for breach of contract.

It’s all been a welcome break from the normally staid, ultra-controlled, brand-friendly nature of F1. But for Haas, and for any normal people who work at the energy drink company, it’s probably a story they want gone as much as Storey himself.

More on this as we get it.

Update 1:05 p.m.: A few minutes after this story was posted, Rich Energy posted this, claiming Storey “sold his majority stake” in the company:

He’ll be back, folks. Cool.

Tech analysis: F1’s 2021 changes by the numbers

Although the 2021 F1 rules have not yet been finalised, the ideas are advanced enough for Motorsport.com’s technical editor Giorgio Piola to imagine how the new generation of grand prix machinery will look.

Here, Giorgio offers more detail about the changes that will appear from 2021as F1 bids to deliver cars that can follow each other much more closely.



1) The idea is to have a very low nose. This version is attached to the main plane as it was in the 1990s.

2) The mainplane is slightly arched upwards to improve the airflow underneath the car to help feed the ‘ground effect’ tunnels.

3) The endplates are rounded to help minimise the risk of punctures in the event of contact between cars, which is more likely due to the wide front wing.

4) The low nose without turning vanes shows the simplified aerodynamics.

5) The wheel rims could feature covers to help better manage airflow and make it less disruptive.

6) The brake ducts are simplified and have less of an aerodynamic influence.


7) The front wheels are covered with two deflectors, which help direct the wash from the front wheel underneath the floor rather than being lifted upwards and outwards causing turbulence for the cars behind.

8) This is the start of a big Venturi channel, which begins where the current bargeboards are.

9) The halo has a better integration with the overall car design.

10) The stepped plane area is not totally flat because there is the chance to house Venturi channels in this area.

11) The taller diffuser is much more powerful than the current diffuser, meaning most of the downforce will be created from underneath the car.

12) The rear wing features a simple endplate to reduce the turbulence effect and helps divert airflow high up with a twin vortex.

Formula 1 is currently investigating the possibility of reducing certain driver aids as part of its overhaul of the sport's technical regulations for 2021.

F1's managers the FIA and the teams are in the process of finalizing the technical, sporting and financial regulation platform that shall lead Grand Prix racing into a new era, with the future rules to be set in stone by the end of October.

As discussions unfold, a few details emerged over the Silverstone weekend about various topics currently under consideration.

FIA president Jean Todt revealed that a return to refueling from 2021 is being investigated, while Nikolas Tombazis, the governing body's head of single-seater technical matters, says a reduction of driver aids is also on the table.

"Items under investigation that we are still looking at over the next few months, we’re looking to reduce certain electronics on the car and certain driver aids," Tombazis said, quoted by RACER's Chris Medland.

"That is quite a sensitive subject of course and we are working on it to make sure we avoid any unwanted consequences.

“We are discussing reducing car-to-pit telemetry and thus we would like to leave the drivers alone during the race to handle all the technical aspects of the car.

"There would still be radio communication with any strategy or safety information, but there wouldn’t be the, ‘Your temperatures are too high, do that and this,’ that would be something we would prefer the on-board system of the car and the driver to have full responsibility for and not have that continuous assistance by an engineer and the pit wall."

Tombazis also disclosed a few other issues for which the FIA is doing its due diligence with the teams, like standard parts and tweaks to the race weekend schedule.

"We are looking at some further standard components and whether there could be cost benefits for further such components," added the former Ferrari chief designer.

"We are simplifying the lower part of the chassis. We want to make sure we have structures under the chassis that protect the chassis from curbs and damage.

"It’s also an area which is quite difficult to regulate for the permitted deflection, so we are working on that.

"We are considering perhaps having some further personnel reduction during race weekends, and last but not least - and that could be another book on its own - we are looking at race weekend formats and that is a discussion that is heating up and getting quite interesting."

Max Verstappen’s rapid application of the throttle on his Red Bull Formula 1 car is the suspected cause of his ‘turbo lag’ issue during the British Grand Prix weekend.

Two-time FIA Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne says he would consider a return to Formula 1, but only with a team that could fight for wins and titles.

DS Techeetah’s Vergne secured his second FE drivers’ title at last weekend’s 2018/19 season finale in New York to become the series’ first-ever repeat champion, having successfully defended his crown from the previous campaign.

Last year, Vergne revealed to Crash.net that he had received an approach from an F1 teamregarding a race seat for the 2019 season, having last raced in the championship in 2014.

“I remember last year what I said, but I think if there is an opportunity in a team that has a good car, I think with everything I’ve learnt in the last years and how much I’ve improved, I think it would be fair to say that I could have a good chance in F1,” Vergne told Crash.net.

“Or at least I would give it a good try. But the opportunity does not exist yet. We never know what the future is made of - maybe it will happen, maybe it will never happen. But it could be an option, it could be a possibility.

“Realistically, I have no offer so it’s not on the table, it’s not even a possibility right now. But things can change quickly in motorsport and it’s always important to be on top of your form at every given moment.

“There is a lot of ifs and maybes, but I don’t know what is going to happen in the Formula 1 world but I know what is happening in my world in Formula E and I think it’s great at the moment.

“I have a good deal with my team for a few years, I have a fantastic team. I know that they are always going to give me one of the best cars on the grid and as a driver that is what you want.”

Asked if it would take a top-three F1 team for him to consider leaving FE, Vergne replied: “Probably yes.

“I have been in a midfield team when I was a young driver and I understand this is where you have to go and prove yourself, but when you are at my age, we don’t have time anymore to prove yourself in a midfield F1 team.

“It doesn’t really interest me in fighting for eighth or ninth, or sometimes the points, sometimes not the points. I wouldn’t like to go back and join the situation I was in F1.

“I’m a lot happier in Formula E fighting for the titles, for wins, being in a top team in a championship that is growing massively.

“Who knows where Formula E is going to be in three years but I’m not in the worst situation that’s for sure.

“If I had - and it’s a massive if - an offer from one of the top F1 teams then I would definitely consider it, but as I said, I don’t receive anything.”

Vergne, who previously raced for Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso between 2012 and 2014, added he is “aware of the situation” at the Milton Keynes squad amid a difficult start to the season for Pierre Gasly, but backed his fellow countryman to turn around his form.

“I hope that Pierre, who is a very fast driver - and I don’t know what is going wrong for him at the moment - but I sure hope for him that he will be able to turn his season around and start giving a hard time to Max [Verstappen]," Vergne said.

Rich Energy has shared alleged court documents which suggest that the company's former CEO William Storey is facing legal proceedings from Red Bull.



A truly bizarre story has twisted this way and that over the past week, with a Rich Energy tweet, seemingly posted by Storey, ahead of the British GP claiming the company had terminated its title sponsorship of Haas over poor performance.

After some public toing and froing between Storey and the company's shareholders, the former CEO walked away from Rich Energy this week and the company was renamed Lightning Volt.

It remains to be seen how all of this will impact Haas, although it seems apparent that their sponsorship deal with the company remains intact, having previously sought £35million in damages to terminate the agreement.

However, the road is not over for Storey, who faces a second claim of trademark infringement in recent weeks against Red Bull, the company he had tried to take on with Rich Energy.

Rich was previously found to have copied its stag logo from Whyte Bikes and now Storey's regular use of Red Bull's own advertising slogans against them has prompted a legal challenge, according to a letter leaked by the Rich Energy Twitter account, which appears to have transferred hands from Storey at some point in the past few days.

Haas have had a disastrous few weeks. First was the issue with their title sponsor, Rich Energy, and then came the poor result at the British Grand Prix where both drivers crashed into each other and failed to finish the race. Despite the disappointment, team boss, Guenther Steiner, is confident that the team will remain in the sport

Haas are confident they will remain in Formula 1.

"The people that want to take over would like to continue with us," Steiner told Ekstra Bladet."We will talk to them about this in the coming weeks. They must agree about what they are doing in the future.

"Gene has been in racing for a long time," Steiner answered. "He knows things don't always go better and better.

"I don't want to say he is happy about the current situation. Why should he be? You can't blame him for that.

"But he knows that as long as we make a comeback, everything will be fine."

Haas is still a very young team and will hope that this is just a small blip in their rise to the top.

The legal case between Russian chemical company Uralkali and the Force India Formula 1 administrators is set to go to trial in late 2020.

Last summer Uralkali, led by Dmitry Mazepin, was one of the failed bidders that attempted to buy the struggling Force India team from administrators FRP Advisory LLP.

It believes it made a substantially higher bid than the consortium led by Lawrence Stroll, which won the race to buy the team as a going concern - but then subsequently saved it by acquiring the assets and setting up a new company to run the renamed Racing Point operation.

Uralkali began action against Geoff Rowley and Jason Baker of FRP Advisory last September. The timing of a trial was agreed on Wednesday in a case management conference, an early procedural step.

A statement from Uralkali said: "During this hearing the court considered case management issues and settled the timetable for further steps up to trial, which was scheduled to take place between October and December 2020.

"Prior to trial, the parties to the proceedings will be required to disclose certain correspondence and other documents relating to the bidding process, and will exchange witness evidence in April 2020.

"Earlier in December 2018, two US district courts decided to compel members of the Racing Point consortium residing in [the] US to provide documents and testimony, which may assist in support of Uralkali's claim in the High Court in London."

FRP Advisory remains adamant that it did nothing incorrect. In a statement issued to Autosport it noted: "We fulfilled our statutory duties as administrators throughout this process and ultimately achieved a very successful outcome for all stakeholders.

"We remain fully confident that this baseless legal action will be dismissed."

Uralkali said its case is based upon three areas of concern, namely, "failure by the administrators to determine the highest bid in the process - from Uralkali - as successful", "misrepresentations and lack of transparency in the process run by the administrators", and a "flawed sales process which failed to achieve the maximisation of sale proceeds for creditors, shareholders and other stakeholders".

The company said it made "an extremely generous offer to acquire the company's business, assets and goodwill, which included a cash consideration of between £101.5m and £122m, depending on the specific structure of other bids".

It added: "Despite Uralkali's generous offer, which we believe was the best bid on the table, the administrators chose to enter into an exclusivity arrangement with a lower bidder and subsequently refused to re-engage with Uralkali or any other bidders.

"Due to Uralkali's concerns as to the bidding process, Uralkali had no option but to launch these proceedings and seek substantial damages. Uralkali intends to continue vigorous pursuit of its claims against the administrator in the High Court in London."

The wider significance of a higher bid is that in theory it could have made more funds available to pay interested parties such as the Indian banks that had a claim on the assets of former Force India owner Vijay Mallya.

Uralkali noted: "The company estimates that, after repayment of all valid claims of creditors and administrator's costs (based on information from the administrators) its proposal would have resulted in more than £40million being available to Force India's shareholders (ie Orange India Holdings Sarl) and, consequently, further used as a source of repayment of any stakeholder claims."

Mazepin's son Nikita was a Force India test driver from 2016-18, before joining Mercedes this season.

Williams have doused speculation that they will use Renault engines from 2021 onwards as Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams revealed that talks between the team and current suppliers Mercedes are ongoing for a renewed partnership.

Renault was the catalyst to Williams’ most successful eras in F1, the team taking 12 wins in 1996 – through Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve – and 64 with the French engine manufacturer overall. From 2000-2005, they used BMW power before a torrid season with Cosworth in 2006, two with Toyota from 2007-'09 and a return to Renault power from 2012-2013. Williams have been using Mercedes engines since the start of the hybrid era, in 2014.

“There’s a lot of speculation about Williams at the moment,” admitted Claire Williams as she responded to recently stoked rumours of a Renault partnership.

“We’re talking to Mercedes as you probably expect. Those conversations are going well, and we hope to be able to conclude a new partnership with them going into 2021. They’ve been a fantastic partner of ours, they’ve been very supportive, everyone knows that Toto [Wolff, Mercedes Team Principal] started his Formula 1 career at Williams. As such, we have a great relationship with him, and I would like that relationship to continue.

“I don’t know why people speculate around future or potential engine partners of ours, except to say maybe it’s a slow news week,” she continued. “But there is. I know now what you’re going to write if I say this, but we’ve always had a great history with Renault, but our future is with Mercedes.”

While there's no return to Renault in the works, however, there’s still a possibility of Williams sourcing more parts from other suppliers instead of producing them in-house.

“We went through a process of evaluation last year,” explained Williams. “We’re doing the same this year off the back of what happened to us at testing, to work out what we should make versus buy. It’s an important piece of work that we concluded. We will now make our decisions around what we will be doing ourselves versus outsourcing, whether that be with Mercedes or alternative suppliers.

“But it’s all just dependent on the capacity that we have at Williams and what we do best, versus what other people may do better. But obviously 2021 is going to bring a shift with what and how teams can collaborate anyway. Obviously we want to dial down those collaborations at Williams – we’re an independent constructor.


“I think everybody knows my position on collaborations, and I believe that teams should make and design and manufacture their race cars themselves, certainly design the race cars themselves, and I’d like to see those technical regulations coming out with a greater bias that supports independent constructors like how our business model is.”

Without any points, sitting last place in the championship going into the German Grand Prix, Williams are currently enduring their worst season yet. Winless with Mercedes power so far, who knows what lies in wait for the team post-2020?

Rumours circulating on Reddit are suggesting that Haas are set to fire one of their drivers following their disastrous British Grand Prix, which saw both drivers retire from the race

Haas are second from bottom in the Constructors' Championship and have really struggled this season. Romain Grosjean has scored a mere two points this season, coming in consecutive races in Spain and Monaco. Kevin Magnussenmeanwhile has failed to score points since finishing seventh in Spain.

Following Haas' terrible British Grand Prix, where the pair went came together on lap one and both retired by lap ten rumours are suggesting it could be the end of the road for one of them. A Reddit user by the name of F1ThrowawayF1 who is apparently close to people within the sport released this information on the platform.

"So, I'm close to someone who has been at a number of races with great access (The mods have seen evidence of this).

"What I'm hearing after the British GP, Steiner was furious at the drivers, blew up at them (for obvious reasons) and phoned Gene Haas for permission to fire a driver. Word in the paddock is that they are looking at Ocon to replace Grosjean.

"If possible, by the next Grand Prix. That's all I can say, for now, If this turns out to be correct, I'll be back with more."

Do you think Haas could be set to cut ties with one of their drivers?

Valtteri Bottas has said that he would be open to a switch toFerrari should his time at Mercedes come to an end

Bottas’ current contract at the Silver Arrows is up at the end of this season and the team are deciding whether or not to extend it to the end of the 2020 season.

While this is being figured out Esteban Ocon has been in the role of reserve driver for the team and a candidate for Bottas’ seat next year.

But Ocon has also been rumoured for a move to either Renaultor Haas while Max Verstappen has been linked to Mercedes.

The Finn though has said that he would want to be in another one of the top teams should his time come at Mercedes, rather than back in a midfield team.

Bottas said (quoted by PlanetF1): “I think I’ve shown the team that I deserve to stay at Mercedes, but we’ll have to wait a few more races.

“Nothing has been signed yet but I am trying to make progress so that everything goes well.

“Of course, if it hadn’t been for Lewis maybe I would have won more races but to be honest I wouldn’t change anything because the situation helps me progress.

“If I have to leave the Mercedes, I would like to be in the team that is in second place. At the moment that team is Ferrari.”

“Make or break”. That’s how Renault Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul described the prospect of Nico Hulkenberg’s 2019 season at the launch of the team’s new R.S.19 car back in February.

It was a year where Hulkenberg would line up alongside a proven race-winner, in the form of Daniel Ricciardo, for the first time since he was paired with Rubens Barrichello at Williams in 2010. A year where, at the end of the season, he’d find himself out of contract for the first time since he joined Renault for 2017. A year, in short, that would dictate what direction Hulkenberg’s F1 – or perhaps simply ‘motorsport’ – career would go in next.

I put the “make or break” line to Hulkenberg in Renault’s comfortable, sweetly old-school motorhome as the team’s yellow-and-black clad waiting staff bustle around us. He knits his brow, then toys with his bottle of water before offering up an answer. “It’s actually the first time I’ve heard this,” he says. “But I'm not surprised. We are a very performance-orientated sport and business, and that's normal. If you don't perform, you're quicker out the door than you know it.

“So I'm not worried or surprised at all. My own expectations to myself are very high, and of course the team's are as well. They hired me for a reason, so of course, you have to deliver as a driver.”

Taken out of context, Abiteboul’s comments jar against Hulkenberg’s achievements in his time with Renault. To say the team had languished in 2016 when they returned to the sport would be an understatement. Ninth that year with Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer behind the wheel, only Sauber and Manor scored lower.

Fast forward 12 months and the team were sixth, with Hulkenberg – after replacing Magnussen – scoring four sixth-place finishes and taking points a further four times. By the time Palmer was moved aside in favour of Carlos Sainz for the 2017 United States Grand Prix, Hulkenberg had scored 34 points. Palmer, just eight.

2018 was even better for Hulkenberg, as he held off the likes of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and his well-thought-of team mate Sainz to slot into the championship’s ‘best of the rest’ position of seventh while helping Renault to fourth in the constructors’, five times finishing in sixth place and with a season-best of fifth on home turf at Hockenheim.

In short, he’s hardly floundered at the team. Sure, he’s undoubtedly ridden the wave of Renault’s infrastructure coming on-song. But he’s still had to operate the surfboard, and he has consistently done that at a mighty fine level. Totted up, as of the 2019 British Grand Prix, Hulkenberg has scored 129 of the 226 points Renault have netted since their F1 return in 2016. So why, the team boss aggro at the start of the year?

“I think he’s got another extraordinary team mate now,” Abiteboul explained back in February. “He has an opportunity to show what he’s capable of against what is a proven quantity, an extremely well-rated driver. So he knows it’s an opportunity for him. It’s also a year where, collectively, him and us will have to decide what happens next.”

Which brings us up to now. We stand on the brink of a silly season in which Hulkenberg could potentially be a major factor. Ahead of the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard, Abiteboul brought his comments from the start of the year up-to-date: “Nico has delivered for the team, clearly – and if you look at where we were when Nico joined us and where we are today, it's crazy the change to the team.”

But the question remains: will Renault ultimately opt to stick with him? And, more crucially, will Hulkenberg opt to stick with Renault?

It would be hard to argue that Hulkenberg wouldn’t deserve to stay at Renault on driving merit alone. In the opening half of their first year together, there’s been little to choose between Hulkenberg and the highly-regarded, seven-time race winner Ricciardo – although both drivers’ performances have been hindered by issues of getting the R.S.19 into its sweet spot. Post-Silverstone, Ricciardo has 22 points, Hulkenberg 17 – although they’d been level on 16 going into the weekend.

But it can’t be denied that there are some promising alternatives for Renault, chief among them being the currently Mercedes-backed Esteban Ocon, who was understood to have been destined for a seat at the team alongside Hulkenberg for 2019 until Ricciardo reared his head. Ocon – along with reigning GP3 champion, F2 race winner and Renault Sport Academy member Anthoine Hubert – also has one distinct advantage for a team that are effectively part-owned by the French state: he’s French…

For Hulkenberg’s part, meanwhile, if the option is there, staying with Renault looks to be a decent bet – assuming he plans to remain in F1, that is. Hulkenberg can’t deny the upward trajectory of the team since he came on board, even if 2019 has had its frustrations. Staying on the Renault ride and seeing where it ends up could be interesting – although the German admits that he’s in two minds about whether they can really take the fight to the top teams in the coming years.

“It’s not guaranteed – nothing is guaranteed,” he says, as the knuckles of the Renault PR sat next to us whiten perceptibly. “For sure, a lot's been invested, a lot of work has been done. The facilities are pretty different now, much more up to speed, all the infrastructure back in the factories, a lot more people working as well. So the whole team operation has grown.

“How confident can you be [of Renault becoming a top team]? That's really hard to say. But I see a lot of good things that have happened during the last 24 months. I feel we have a good foundation now. But we need to really prove it. We need to get the job done. So I'm confident we can go a long way. How far? Only time will tell.”

Does Hulkenberg have other options? There are currently spots still up for grabs at the top trio of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. Hulkenberg and Ferrari have previous, with the German having apparently been set to head to the team in 2014 until Kimi Raikkonen was handed the seat, while even in 2019, Hulkenberg’s name has come up a potential replacement for Pierre Gasly at Red Bull should his season remain off-kilter.

But there’s no denying that the German would be a slightly leftfield choice for any of those three slots. Meanwhile, with only McLaren having fully firmed up their 2020 roster, there could be other sideways-y moves available.

One rumour that had been doing the rounds in the paddock was that the debut of Porsche – the marque with which Hulkenberg won the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours – in the 2019/2020 Formula E championship had been turning his head. And while that avenue was shut down by Porsche’s recent confirmation of Andre Lotterer alongside Neel Jani for next season, with Renault’s 2019 season having failed, thus far, to kick on in the way that had been expected, perhaps a fresh start for Hulkenberg in a different championship – and the chance to leave behind an F1 series that at one time he’d looked poised to become one of the major frontrunners in – could be appealing.

Let's say, hypothetically, that he did decide to walk away from F1 at the end of the year. How would Hulkenberg himself reflect on a career that had initially suggested such great heights – this is the driver, after all, who as reigning GP2 champion shocked the sport when he claimed pole for Williams at Interlagos in his debut F1 season – but which has ultimately seen him comfortably top the ‘most Grand Prix starts without a podium’ list.

“When I started my first year in 2010, for sure my aim and intention was to make a good and a long career in Formula 1. That was what I was always chasing, being a Formula 1 driver”, he says.

“All in all, I feel in a good place, in a happy place. Of course, I would have liked it to be better, but there's no big regrets, or bitter thoughts about the past.

“Of course, I would have liked to have race victories to my name, championships etc. but obviously we know how it works in Formula 1 and you need to be in the right place at the right moment with the right car, team and unfortunately that timing for me in my career has never been perfect – I've never been in that sweet spot.

“But I've still made, I think, a good career out of it,” he adds. “I always feel I've done, really, the best, or often out-performed the material that I had – and if you don't have a race-winning car, that's the best thing you can pretty much do.”

So the next few weeks and months will certainly make for interesting viewing for Nico Hulkenberg’s fans around the world. But there’ll be many, both inside the paddock and out, who’d love to see his sizeable talent remain in Formula 1 for a few more years yet – and more than that, to see that talent finally rewarded with the podium appearance it so clearly deserves.