F1 news: Lewis Hamilton blasts Mercedes as Max Verstappen warned by Lando Norris

Lando Norris has revealed that he is expecting McLaren to challenge Red Bull for next year's Constructors' Championship honours.

"Next year, 100 per cent," said the Miami Grand Prix winner.

"I’m saying that still with my feet on the ground. I want to believe we’ve got two great drivers like Zak [Brown] normally says.

"We’ve got an amazing team behind us and we’re closer than ever. So yeah, as much as I said at the beginning of this year that we can win races, I want to believe.

"I should have the confidence to say next year we can go for more. We can go to the next step."

Oliver Bearman will get his next taste of F1 action at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix later this month.

The young Brit, who raced for Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, is expected to take part in FP1 for Haas.

Bearman has also been placed on standby in case Kevin Magnussen accumulates enough penalty points to warrant a race ban, according to PlanetF1.

Christian Horner has revealed that Adrian Newey will not be attending Red Bull meetings or reviewing any data following his decision to leave the team next year.

"In Miami, Newey did not participate in any briefings over the weekend except for the one on strategy," said Horner.

"He does not have access to any data and is not designing any pieces. He is now focused on the RB17 until the end of his contract.

"Between now and the end of the year he will participate in some races, mainly those where we have RB17 customers."

Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur believes Red Bull are no longer in their 'comfort zone' following Lando Norris' victory at the Miami Grand Prix.

"I don’t want to draw conclusions on this, but they had a pole position and they still have a small advantage," said Vasseur.

"What is true is that, compared to one year ago, when we are able to do a good job and to put everything together, we are there.

"It means we are putting them a little bit under pressure [and] they have to be a bit more aggressive with the strategy.

"They are not anymore in the comfort zone of last year where it doesn’t matter what happened."

Ferrari have confirmed that Xavi Marcos is set to move into a different role, meaning Charles Leclerc will have a new race engineer for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Marcos has been Leclerc's race engineer since 2019 but will step down from that position to work on 'other important company programmes'.

Ferrari are yet to confirm who will replace Marcos, but his successor will be in the garage for next weekend's race at Imola.

Kimi Antonelli may find it difficult to cope with the pressure of Formula One if he is promoted by Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton next year.

That is the view of Formula Two chief Bruno Michel, who told RacingNews365: "It's good on one hand and it is additional pressure on the other one.

"I think it's part of his learning process as well. Sometimes he probably would hope that he can be forgotten a little bit, but he's not, so that's part of the game and he's got to deal with it.

"And if you can deal with it properly, for sure, it's a great asset for him in the future."

Ferrari have trialled a new solution to reduce the amount of water thrown up by tyres in wet weather.

Arthur Leclerc and Oliver Bearman drove Ferrari cars fitted with large spray guards, covering the majority of the front and rear wheels.

The FIA have been working on a solution over the last few years, with driver visibility having emerged as a concern in wet weather.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has outlined that more upgrades are necessary in order to consistently better Red Bull.

Lando Norris claimed his first-ever race win in Miami, getting the better of Max Verstappen after significant upgrades were made, and more can be expected.

“We do believe that we are on a strong trajectory, but at the same time, I think this wasn’t necessarily a strong weekend for Red Bull,” said Stella.

“We know that we did improve the car because we see that the data correlates well on track with the development tools, so we are encouraged and optimistic.

“But I think, looking at the numbers, looking at how much we actually improved the car, I would have said that we needed two steps of this size to be competitive regularly with Red Bull.

“We have delivered only one [so far]. We look forward to the next one, and this would make me much more optimistic that we can take the serious challenge to Red Bull.”

Carlos Sainz would be more likely to join Red Bull if the team's senior advisor Helmut Marko leaves with Adrian Newey.

The future of several key Red Bull figures such as Newey, Marko and Christian Horner have all been up for debate this season.

And Motorsport.com Italy claim that if Marko was not in the picture, Horner would want to sign Sainz as a replacement for either Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez.

Sainz is out of contract at the end of the season and will not be staying at Ferrari, following the team's acquisition of Lewis Hamilton.

Lando Norris explained how his relationship with close friend Max Verstappen is likely to change, now they are competing for race wins.

Norris took his first Grand Prix victory in Miami and although has a strong bond with the Red Bull man, he can envisage the mood shifting.

"I don’t want to say it in a bad way. We have respect for one another, we get along. We’re not best friends. We don’t text each other every day, that kind of thing," Norris said.

“But we just have a lot of respect from him to me and me back to him. So I look forward to it. I want to challenge him, I want to race against him."

Lewis Hamilton has bemoaned his current situation at Mercedes, frustrated that he is having to compete lower down the grid.

The Brit is going through his worst-ever start to a season, his last at the team before heading to Ferrari next year, and wants imminent changes.

"It's been tough," he told CBS in Miami. "Of course, we exist to win and when you’re not winning, your perspective has to shift. And it’s just been about chasing and it’s about improvement. It’s about coming together.

"How can we make improvements? How can we get back to where we want to be and rallying and everyone out? I actually really enjoyed that experience. But three years in now, we’re like, okay, I’ve had enough of this, let’s get back to where we belong."

Williams team principal James Vowles lifted a lid on his discussions with outgoing Red Bull design chief Adrian Newey.

Newey is free to join a competitor when he departs in the first quarter of 2025, but Vowles played down hopes of a possible return.

“It was a light conversation more than anything else, saying it can't have been an easy decision and fundamentally wanting just to have an additional chat about things,” Vowles said.

“But from a Williams perspective, obviously, that's where Adrian really cut his teeth for the first time. And I think we're a team without politics.”

Daniel Ricciardo is reportedly an executive producer on a new Hulu comedy series titled 'Downforce' set in the world of F1.

He has teamed up with writers Alec Berg and Adam Countee, of 'Silicon Valley' fame, to utilise his expertise in the sport.

Ricciardo is not the first current driver to venture into Hollywood, with Lewis Hamilton also serving the same role for an untitled film starring Brad Pitt.

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes that Adrian Newey's Red Bull exit is linked to “the stuff which happened at the beginning of the year”.

Red Bull have been clouded by controversy since Christian Horner was accused, and cleared in a team investigation, of inappropriate behaviour.

The focus has been on behind-the-scenes drama rather than race action, which Steiner believes could have been the straw that broke the camel's back for Newey.

“It is a little bit like the Lewis [Hamilton] thing, that did surprise me, but am I shocked? No,” Steiner told RacingNews365.

“Adrian was there a long time, and it is just one of the things with all the stuff which happened at the beginning of the year – I don’t know the details of it and maybe there is some friction there.

“He just decided that ‘I want to do something else before I retire’ because he is still good.”

Lando Norris has warned his rivals that he and McLaren are planning to be celebrating even more victories in the future.

The Brit claimed his maiden race victory in Miami and has clearly got the taste for success, taking to Instagram to warn of more days such as their celebrations Stateside.

“Genuinely had the most insane couple of days of my life,” Norris wrote on his Instagram story. “Still don’t know what to say but this was a dream since I was a kid.

“I literally haven’t stopped smiling since lap 33. So much hard work to achieve this and it all finally paid off.

“The support from all my team, the McLaren Papaya fans, other drivers and so so many more, I’ve appreciated every single little bit of it. Love you all.

“And after all of this... we’re just getting started.”

George Russell has twisted the knife into his own team, claiming that they can take inspiration from McLaren after their recent race win.

Mercedes have not won a Grand Prix over the past two seasons, but Russell thinks that Lando Norris' efforts can propel them further.

"McLaren qualified P17 and P18 12 months ago in Miami, and [on Sunday] they won. So it shows what's possible when they get things right," Russell said. "But right now we don't have things right."

However, it marks a fall from grace for the Silver Arrows after several years of competing at the very top.

Lando Norris has disagreed with McLaren team principal Andrea Stella over a potential further punishment for Kevin Magnussen.

Stella felt that the Haas driver picking up three separate 10-second penalties was "unacceptable" and the rules needed to be addressed.

But Norris was of the opinion that the current regulations were fair enough, noting that his rival was "smart" in his driving.

“It's kind of like Monaco if your teammate was ninth and you overtake and you do a Fernando (Alonso) a couple of years ago where you just blocked everyone,” Norris explained. “But you cut the course to overtake someone. You know you're going to get a penalty, but you save your teammate.

“They can box. You can do it. You know you're going to get the penalty, but you play a big team game. So, it depends on how far you just want to push against that. It's cruel and it's tough to take when you're the other driver. But, I think what he did was smart."

Mercedes head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin blamed a "gust of wind" for Lewis Hamilton's disappointing Q3 in Miami.

The Brit had been second quickest in Q2, but soon slumped to ninth to ensure a lowly start to the Grand Prix, though the reason has since been revealed.

“We were pretty pleased with the lap time he did in Q2 and hoping to repeat that in Q3,” Shovlin explained.

“It wasn’t really an issue with the grip initially, and the start of the lap was actually quite good. He was unlucky in that as he came around to turn 11, he got a gust of wind that was from behind.

“What that does is actually drops the amount of downforce on the car quite significantly. So as he went into that corner had quite a big oversteer. That then puts temperature [heat] in the tyres.

“Once that temperature’s in, that’s a very tight, twisty section, there’s no way for them to cool down and that’s what then causes the loss of grip. So had it not been for the gust of wind, it would have been a better lap for sure.”

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