It was hard to imagine there being another twist or turn as significant as Lewis Hamilton’s pre-season decision to move to Ferrari in 2025, but this year’s silly season is shaping up to be wild.
Hamilton’s move is already at risk of being usurped by the possibility Max Verstappen could up stumps from Red Bull Racing in the wake of the chaos devouring his team.
Now the grid’s only other world champion, Fernando Alonso, is poised to make a call on his 2025 plans, and it’s hard to know which way he’ll go.
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Meanwhile, a project designed to shift the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix outside Jeddah is taking shape — though there remain major question marks about when and if it will be realised.
Driver wellbeing is also in the spotlight, with voiced growing for the FIA to intervene in a years-old problem that’s only getting worse.
ALONSO CONTRACT DECISION DUE WITHIN WEEKS
Fernando Alonso could enliven an already volatile driver market within a matter of weeks, with the veteran Spaniard teasing a decision on his future in a “few races”.
Two-time champion Alonso will be out of contract at the end of the season after two years with Aston Martin.
The 42-year-old is the most experienced driver in Formula 1 history, having made his 379th start at the weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Though still in excellent form, Alonso said he first decision will be whether he wants to continue in the sport, with the expanding calendar a particular concern for him in his 21st year of F1.
“I feel great now, but I know it’s a demanding calendar,” he said. “I think we are well over the limit. I started and we had 16 races … now we are up to 24. This is not sustainable for the future.”
But Alonso has also heavily hinted that he could roll the dice on the driver market one more time.
“There are only three world champions on the grid,” he said at the start of the year. “I’m probably the only one available for 2025, so I have a good position.”
Speaking at the weekend, Alonso said he could make a call before the sport return to Europe in May.
“I will make the decision to commit for the future in the next few weeks or few races,” he said, per Autosport.
“I need to make a decision if I personally want to commit for the future. Obviously I need to sacrifice everything else in life to be 100 per cent ready for F1. That will be the decision.”
Alonso has been linked to Lewis Hamilton’s vacated Mercedes seat, where a short-term contract could be an ideal stopgap for Silver Arrows young gun Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who is competing in his first F2 season this year.
However, the shock prospect of Max Verstappen throwing his hat into the ring has altered the equation, with rumours suggesting the Dutchman could end up at either Mercedes or Aston Martin if he were to leave Red Bull Racing.
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NEW SAUDI CIRCUIT PROPOSED IN 2034 WORLD CUP CITY
Authorities behind Saudi Arabia’s Qiddiya entertainment district have released the first digital renders of an ambitious purpose-built racetrack they intend to eventually have host the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The proposed circuit’s centrepiece is the so-called ‘Blade’, which organisers say will be the world’s first cantilevered section of track.
The Blade — comprising the first turn, what appears to be a left-hand hairpin — will rise 70 metres, or 20 storeys, above the ground. A live music venue will be built beneath it.
The circuit has been designed by long-time F1 track builder Hermann Tilke with input from former grand prix driver Alex Wurz.
Organisers say the track will feature no grandstands, with spectators instead taking their positions in surrounding buildings and entertainment venues, and they expect cars to reach top speeds beyond 325 kilometres per hour.
Several drivers immediately praised the circuit on social media. Formula 1’s biggest sponsor is Aramco, the state-owned Saudi Arabian oil company.
Fernando Alonso, who races for the Aramco-backed Aston Martin team, said the circuit will be “one of the most impressive facilities for motorsports worldwide”.
Only a handful of digital renders of the proposed circuit have been released.
No opening date for the circuit has been set. It’s unclear if construction on the track has begun.
Qiddiya is a master planned entertainment district central to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan designed diversify its economy. It’s expected to be a key host city of the 2034 FIFA World Cup, for which Saudi Arabia was the only bidder.
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix currently takes place on a semipermanent street track in Jeddah, but the event’s bumper 10-year deal signed in 2021 envisaged moving to the race to the new city, which is being built around 40 kilometres southwest of capital Riyadh.
The Saudi Arabia motorsport authority has since hinted that it could host two grands prix to enable both cities to retain their events.
The grand prix was supposed to have moved by 2023, but the Qiddiya district has been beset by delays, with some of the district’s flagship construction projects reportedly not due to be completed until the next decade.
Saudi Arabia’s ballooning investment into sports hosting and rights has been criticised by several human rights groups, who accuse the kingdom of sportwashing its poor human rights record.
DRIVERS SPEAK OUT OVER ‘UNSUSTAINABLE’ RIDE HEIGHT PROBLEMS
Reigning champion Max Verstappen and Grand Prix Drivers Association director George Russell are calling for the FIA to intervene to raise minim ride heights to protect driver wellbeing after a bruising opening to the 2024 campaign.
The ground effect regulatory era introduced in 2022 rewards cars that can race as low to the ground as possible.
As teams have mastered the new rules, cars have become increasingly low to the ground with stiffer suspension to maintain a stable ride height to produce consistent downforce.
But the low ride height has come at the expense of the drivers’ backs, which must now regularly absorb the aggressive impacts of their cars striking the road.
The issue is particularly severe at tracks that are both fast and rough, with cars hunkering closer to the road at higher speeds.
“End of the straight with full load, the impact is too high with the low ride heights,” Verstappen told the BBC.
The Dutchman said he was concerned the FIA wasn’t doing enough to ensure the new rules, which are due in 2026, would avoid the problem recurring.
“We still run very low, but I don’t think the 2026 car is going to be any different,” he said, adding that it was an issue concerning “our comfort, our spine”.
Whereas some cars were experiencing comparatively less bouncing early in the regulatory cycle, leading to a lack of consensus on required action, Russell said all drivers were now dealing with the same painful issue.
“It is a little bit unsustainable to keep running the cars like this,” he said.
“You get the most amount of performance running the car as close to the ground as possible and as stiff as possible, so you feel like your teeth are rattling out down the straight.
“The length of an AA battery is the distance we are from the ground at the beginning [of the straight], and at the end it is the size of a chickpea, so every single tiny bump, it goes all through your body.
“We hope for the next generation of cars they find a better solution.”