Formula 1 live ticker: Will Dunne bring new momentum to the "Silly Season"?
Sometimes in Formula 1, a good performance is enough to get you talking. Formula 2 driver Alexander Dunne achieved just that yesterday in Spielberg with his performance in the first practice session.
Expert Karun Chandhok believes the McLaren junior deserves a place on the starting grid in 2026. "If I were McLaren now, I would try to negotiate a deal with Cadillac or someone like that to loan him out," he told Sky .
"He's leading the Formula 2 championship," the former Formula 1 driver recalls, explaining that Dunne has now shown his potential in a Formula 1 car. McLaren should therefore "give him a place so he can gain racing experience."He compares Dunne to George Russell , whom Mercedes loaned to Williams during his early years in Formula 1. And so, suddenly, a new name is being discussed in the "Silly Season," one that no one had really considered before.
Sounds like Formula 1 in the 1990s, but this duel actually took place in the Formula 3 sprint race in Spielberg. Charlie Wurz and Brando Badoer, the sons of former Formula 1 drivers Alexander and Luca, are competing there. It was a bitter blow for Wurz: He was running in third place in the race when Badoer took him out. For the Austrian, it would have been his first Formula 3 podium on his home weekend.
Badoer, who is a McLaren junior, is still completely pointless in the championship.
This is currently a hotly debated topic in the premier class – albeit not officially. But the issue has been simmering in the paddock since Max Verstappen is on the verge of a race ban. But is the world champion a driver who deserves a ban? Or have the penalty points simply been handed out too carelessly in the recent past? Verstappen himself is annoyed by this topic and doesn't want to answer any questions about it. But if you ask around further, hardly anyone is actually a fan of the current implementation. The main criticism: Drivers can be banned if they accumulate many minor offenses that wouldn't actually justify a ban.
I just checked our extensive database and saw that since Spielberg's comeback in 2014, no race there has ever been won from outside the first two rows of the grid. The last driver to achieve this was David Coulthard at the "old" A1-Ring in 2001. He only started the race from P7. Since then, with one exception, the winner has always finished in the top three. Only Max Verstappen won once from fourth place on the grid, in 2018.
Anyone who messes up qualifying afterwards will statistically be in a bad position tomorrow.
Yesterday, several drivers completed long runs on the soft tires. Pirelli's Simone Berra explained: "It was interesting to see all three compounds in action, even though we expect the hard and medium compounds to be the most popular options for the race." While the soft tires "worked well on Friday, even over long distances, and the drivers were able to achieve good times on the second and even third fast laps," Berra said, "we have to keep in mind that it will likely be significantly hotter on Sunday."
And then it will be much more difficult to manage the soft tires.
... Dan Gurney won the 1964 French Grand Prix. A historic victory, as it was the first triumph for the Brabham team, which would go on to win a total of six Formula 1 world titles in the following years.
The racing team's history, however, is also a tragic one, as the team was no longer in existence ten years after its last world championship title in 1983. Read more in this photo gallery:
Cadillac would obviously be an obvious option for a rookie. However, there are still many more seats available for 2026. Here's an overview of all the drivers already confirmed: Red Bull: Max Verstappen / Mercedes: ? / ?
Ferrari: Lewis Hamilton / Charles Leclerc
McLaren: Lando Norris / Oscar Piastri Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso / ?Alpine: Pierre Gasly / ?Williams: Alexander Albon / Carlos SainzRacing Bulls: ? / ?Audi: Nico Hülkenberg / Gabriel Bortoleto
Haas: Oliver Bearman / Esteban OconCadillac: ? / ?
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