The key storylines to follow as F1 returns from summer break

Formula 1’s shutdown is over, with teams heading to Zandvoort for the first of 2024’s 10 remaining rounds. As F1 wakes up from its summertime siesta, here is a refresher of some key storylines you may have missed, and some lingering questions seeking an answer in the Dutch dunes and beyond.

Red Bull is backing Perez. Will it prove to be a costly mistake?

Shortly after the Belgian Grand Prix Red Bull decided to stick to its guns and keep the faith in Sergio Perez… for now. The Mexican has been struggling massively to be quick and consistent in the RB20 since May. Since then, he has dropped down to seventh in the championship standings, scoring less than half of the number of points of team-mate and championship leader Max Verstappen.

Red Bull felt none of the potential replacements within its ranks were a clear and immediate upgrade and instead decided to throw its weight behind Perez to turn things around. Speaking to Motorsport.com, technical director Pierre Wache vowed Red Bull would do everything it can through its remaining upgrades to make the car more comfortable for Perez to drive.

The reality is that Perez and Red Bull remain in a difficult position despite the public vote of confidence. For a company boasting two F1 teams and a large young driver programme, it is puzzling that it found none of its other drivers well-positioned to take over from Perez.

Meanwhile, McLaren has closed to 42 points in the constructors’ championship, so Red Bull still desperately needs its wingman to pick up the pace and start contending for regular podiums. It may have decided to keep backing Perez for now, but this key 2024 storyline is far from over.

Can McLaren actually win the title?

As Perez and Red Bull are stumbling, McLaren is sniffing blood, and as the rivalry between CEO Zak Brown and Horner has picked up in recent months, so too has the prospect of McLaren winning its first constructors’ title since 1998.

Under team boss Andrea Stella, McLaren has continued its impressive development curve and has now had the fastest car on certain circuits, but a spate of errors have prevented the Woking squad from fully capitalising on the potential it has. But despite those mistakes, it has still been the highest-scoring outfit over the past eight races, and if that trend continues it could catch Red Bull by Singapore or Austin.

Ferrari is only 21 points further behind McLaren in third, but problems with its latest car upgrade meant it has lost second to McLaren and has been the lowest-scoring team in the top four since June. The team is under a lot of scrutiny in Italy as it tries to find permanent solutions to its high-speed bouncing issues.

Mercedes has been much more impressive, going toe-to-toe with both Red Bull and McLaren thanks to a spate of iterative upgrades on its W15. With three wins for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell over the past four races, F1’s formerly dominant squad has finally picked up momentum under the current era of regulations. Given it is trailing Red Bull by 142 points and McLaren by 100, its resurgence is coming too late to be a factor this year, but as the top teams take points off each other it will indirectly influence its rivals’ fortunes.

Will Red Bull lose further pillars now Wheatley is set to join Audi?

A figure Red Bull will be losing is sporting director Jonathan Wheatley. The 57-year-old will leave Red Bull at the end of the current campaign to become the Audi F1 team principal. Rumours of Wheatley’s exit first started swirling around the Miami Grand Prix in May, with the long-time servant having not agreed to a new contract at that point. Wheatley had been known to harbour ambitions to become a team principal somewhere and given his 18-year stint at the outfit, Red Bull was understood not to stand in his way if such an opportunity did open up. 

That has now happened at Audi in what has been sold as a dual management role with former Ferrari F1 chief Mattia Binotto, who has taken the reins of the team on 1 August as it prepares to morph from Sauber into the Audi works team in 2026.

Red Bull is adamant it won’t be derailed by first design guru Adrian Newey and then Wheatley abandoning ship, saying it will replace its sporting director from within as it sees an opportunity to refresh its management structure. Nevertheless, Wheatley is another key pillar that made Red Bull tick, so his replacement will have big shoes to fill, while the team will also have to reassure the Verstappen camp that he is not another domino falling at the team.

Meanwhile, the case into potential misconduct by Christian Horner is deemed fully closed after an appeal by the female employee involved was dismissed. The matter, which burst into the public on the eve of the season start in Bahrain, had been hanging over the team for months. But the overarching power struggle at the squad remains unresolved for now, even if Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has pledged to see out his current contract until 2026, taking the sting out of a break clause in Verstappen’s contract.

Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

How will Oliver Oakes fare as Alpine boss?

Alpine also found a new team principal to replace interim boss Bruno Famin in Oliver Oakes. The ambitious Briton is well known for his role at the helm of junior series stalwart Hitech, which he started leading as a 27-year-old in 2015. Now 36, Oakes becomes one of the youngest team bosses of the modern F1 era.

Following the signing of technical leader David Sanchez from McLaren, Oakes is the latest piece of the puzzle Alpine is building to try and work its way out of its current plight. The team is widely tipped to take Mercedes customer engines as it abandons its own Renault engine programme in France.

Still, the Alpine gig will a tough test for Oakes as he navigates the choppy waters on a course set out by Renault CEO Luca de Meo and controversial former team principal Flavio Briatore, who returned in a hands-on role to get the Enstone-based team on the right track.

Silly season nears its conclusion for Audi and Alpine

A figure who won’t be joining Alpine is Carlos Sainz, who finally decided to move to Williams after one of the longest silly season sagas in years. With ‘blocker’ Sainz now off the table, it is expected some of the last remaining seats for 2025 will be filled shortly.

Alpine is understood to be leaning towards reserve driver Jack Doohan to replace Haas-bound Esteban Ocon as Pierre Gasly’s team-mate. Amid its performance woes on-track and rumblings off it, Sauber/Audi has failed to land its priority targets and is now likely to retain one of its current drivers, Valtteri Bottas or Zhou Guanyu, alongside new signing Nico Hulkenberg.

The two remaining empty seats on the 2025 grid might take longer to be filled, so don’t hold your breath on Mercedes or RB. Mercedes has all the time in the world to formally promote its junior protege Andrea Kimi Antonelli to replace Lewis Hamilton and could theoretically wait until the end of the campaign to do so.

But what will happen to Ricciardo and Lawson?

Red Bull can similarly wait and see how things develop over the second half of the campaign to decide on Perez’s long-term future and fill the final seat at its RB sister team. Horner and Marko decided to retain Daniel Ricciardo alongside Yuki Tsunoda for the rest of the year. But Red Bull still has reserve driver Liam Lawson waiting in the wings, who is free to go if it doesn’t hand him an F1 seat in 2025, so it will have to make a decision on its plans with the New Zealander sooner rather than later.

Liam Lawson, Reserve Driver, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team, with Helmut Marko, Consultant, Red Bull Racing, Peter Bayer, CEO, RB F1 Team

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Having impressed with his 2023 cameos for the injured Ricciardo, Lawson has been the perfect tool to put pressure on Red Bull’s current roster of drivers, but Red Bull now risks losing him altogether. Depending on how Perez and Ricciardo fare over the next few weeks, Lawson might yet get his full-time RB promotion in 2025. If that doesn’t happen, Red Bull could turn to F2 frontrunner Isack Hadjar as the next reserve driver in line.