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McLaren has officially announced its departure from Formula E at the conclusion of the current season, which concludes in London this July.

It was reported on Thursday that the Woking-based team had opted to quit the all-electric series, with it having now been confirmed.

The decision comes following a strategic review of its motorsport portfolio, with the McLaren brand to depart at the end of this year. However, FE has revealed that the possibility remains for it to continue until the end of next season.

McLaren’s announcement falls just a couple of weeks after it revealed that it would be entering the World Endurance Championship Hypercar class from 2027, alongside its F1 and IndyCar programmes.

It entered FE at the start of 2023 after replacing Mercedes EQ, with the team itself to continue but under new ownership.

“We are immensely proud of what we have achieved in Formula E and the series plays an integral part in the overall motorsport landscape, but the time is right to explore other opportunities that more closely align with McLaren Racing’s overall strategic direction – including our 2027 entry into the FIA World Endurance Championship,” said McLaren CEO, Zak Brown.

“For now, we are focused on setting this great team up for future success by working towards securing a new owner. The team has delivered a strong start to the year and we intend to finish the season on a high.

“I’d like to thank the team, Formula E, our partners, and our fans for their continued support.”

McLaren is currently in its third FE season and has found itself in the fight for both championships, following an impressive start to the season by rookie Taylor Barnard.

The young Briton has claimed three podiums from the first five races, putting him joint-third in the drivers’ title; McLaren boast the same position in the teams’ championship.

As mentioned, the team itself will continue after McLaren’s exit, with team principal Ian James searching for a new partner for the outfit.

“We have been on an incredible journey so far as a team and are rightly proud of our achievements. Since the start of Season 9 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, we have been extremely fortunate to have been an integral part of the McLaren Racing family,” said James.

“My heartfelt thanks goes out to the company, our partners and all of our fans, for their trust and support throughout, which will continue as we fight to the end of this year’s Championship. This team is second-to-none in terms of the talent within – talent which has delivered huge success in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

“Although our McLaren Racing chapter comes to an end, we recognise the value and power of Formula E as a World Championship and platform for positive change as the sport goes from strength to strength.

“Work is well underway to explore the best opportunities for the team to continue competing beyond Season 11. In the meantime, we will be giving our all to make sure that we finish the current chapter of our Formula E adventure in style.”

For FE, McLaren’s exit represents the loss of a major brand; however, it has a track record of bouncing back after unfortunate exits.

The championship itself is booming, with James having already held several positive talks with possible partners and investors.

A Formula E spokesperson said: “In response to recent reports, Formula E can confirm that, following changes to its sponsorship portfolio, McLaren has informed us of its intention to withdraw its brand from the customer team it currently operates in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. While this may take effect at the end of the current season, there remains the possibility that the partnership could continue through the end of Gen3 in 2026.

“We recognise that the commercial landscape in motorsport is dynamic and often subject to change. Despite this development, the team, under the leadership of Ian James, is already engaged in positive discussions with potential partners and investors. We are confident the team will remain a strong presence in the championship, operating under a new identity if required.

“Since entering the series in 2019, the team has earned multiple Teams’ and Drivers’ World Championships, and stands as a proven platform for brands seeking to compete at the highest level of electric motorsport.

“Formula E continues to grow at pace, with our global fan base increasing by 23% last season to nearly 400 million, and TV viewership rising by 35% to almost 500 million. We remain one of the most innovative and compelling motorsport platforms in the world.

F1 venue leaks vital contract extension

Mexico City’s mayor Clara Brugada has leaked that a contract extension to continue hosting Formula 1 will be signed on April 30.

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit returned to the F1 calendar in 2015 following a 23-year hiatus, and has remained a regular fixture ever since.

Mexico City’s current contract was set to expire following this year’s race, the first since it returned to the calendar without home hero Sergio Perez on the grid.

However, according to ESPN, the mayor has confirmed during a press conference that a new contract will be signed next week.

“On April 30th, we’ll be signing the agreement with Formula 1 next week , so that’s good news,” said Brugada.

F1 is yet to officially announce the new contract, although an announcement is likely to fall soon following the comments from Mexico City’s mayor.

Christian Horner details worrying impact of Red Bull ‘limitation’

Christian Horner has explained the worrying impact Red Bull’s “Cold War relic” wind-tunnel is having on the F1 team as it struggles to find performance.

Red Bull’s wind-tunnel is located in Bedford, and is 70 years old. It was used in the design of the iconic Concorde supersonic aircraft in the 1960s and 1970s, and during the period of tensions between the United States and Soviet Union after the Second World War – the Cold War.

The facility was inherited by Red Bull when it took over Jaguar, but it has not been heavily upgraded, with teams such as McLaren and Aston Martin recently opening brand-new tunnels.

Red Bull has stated it aims to open its new facility by 2026, but for the moment is stuck with the old one – which is causing key problems when trying to correlate wind-tunnel data.

“With stable regulations like this, the benefit of them is that you get convergence, and all the teams are doing a very good job,” Horner told Sky Sports F1.

“There are no bad teams in F1, and we’ve got some vices in the car and with the margins being so close, if you listen to Max’s comments, if he is not confident in the car on turn-in, he is having that instability issue which is worth hundredths of a second, which on such a tight grid, is worth multiple places.

“We know when we tidy that up, performance will come, but when you are getting to the finer elements of a set of regulations like this, with the wind-tunnel that we have, which is a relic of the Cold War, it is its limitations.

“Which is why we’ve invested into a new wind-tunnel which is in the process of being constructed, but with a set of regulations like this, you have a scatter of three points per run, when you are looking for a point, a point-and-a-half [of downforce], that is in the scatter of the read which you get from the tunnel.

“It doesn’t help, but we’ve got some very bright engineers and aerodynamicists and mechanical designers, and I am sure we will figure it out.”

Note: Scatter refers to some of the inconsistencies which can be found in data collected by wind tunnels.

Frederic Vasseur weighs in on new Ferrari duo, admits they are pushing each other

Despite Hamilton’s current struggles, he has Ferrari’s team principal supporting him through this learning period. Vasseur has confirmed several times that Ferrari is being patient with Hamilton, waiting for him to adjust.

After being asked in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix press conference about how similar Charles Leclerc and Hamilton are, Vasseur responded, “Similar? You don’t have two drivers with the same approach. They’re competitors. They’re both champions.”

He continued, “They have their own DNA, their own approach, and they want to get the best. What is positive for us is that they’re pushing each other, and we need to get the best from them. But their approach is the approach of competitors.”

Vasseur added to that saying, “He’s coming with his own experience – 20 years in F1, different teams, almost ten years at McLaren, 12 years at Mercedes. It’s always good to have someone joining the team with that kind of experience, this kind of vision to help us improve.”

Ferrari ended the 2024 Formula 1 season in second place in the constructors’ standings. Unfortunately, the season did not start off the way the last one ended.

He continued, “We have four teams fighting for the win today – perhaps five or six tomorrow – but four teams with different structures, different people, different management. We’re all able to put four cars in one tenth.”

“That means it’s not that someone is right or wrong. It’s that we have to try to understand what others are doing and try to get the best from them.”

Sebastian Vettel weighs in on Max Verstappen’s rumoured move

While speaking to Sky Sports, Sebastian Vettel commented on the rumours of Max Verstappen’s possible move from Red Bull Racing.

Verstappen is currently third in the World Drivers’ Championship standings. He is 12 points behind the leader, Oscar Piastri. Verstappen’s team, Red Bull Racing is also third in the constructors’ championship standings. Despite not being as stable as they once were, Sebastian Vettel has urged verstappen to stick with Red Bull Racing.

When talking to Sky Sports, Vettel said, “I think it’s the time when you really bond. It’s the time, after so many years, you are so close to each other. Some people left and some people came, but whether you win championships or not is happening anyways, it’s the nature of F1. But now is the time where you stick together and you have the chance to bounce back.”

Vettel Praises Verstappen: ‘He’s the Strongest Driver on the Grid’

He continued, “Max is an incredible talent,”.

The former Red Bull Racing driver added, “He has matured tremendously over the past few years. I think the way he now builds his races is different from before. It’s become much smarter. The progress he has made is not so much in lap times. It’s about consistency, reliability – that he’s there every time.”

Vettel and Verstappen both earned four consecutive championships with Red Bull.

“The time he sometimes takes to make an overtaking move, waiting for the right moment. He oversees the race, sees the opportunities he gets. And if the opportunity isn’t there, then he shifts back to aggression.” Vettel added.

“He has very good control over himself, and that makes him currently the strongest on the grid. That combination of aggression and experience, together with his natural speed, is amazing to see.”

This article was written in collaboration with Mitchel van der Hoef.

Lando Norris points to surprise team to support ongoing McLaren claim

Lando Norris believes his failure to pass Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is proof that McLaren is not as dominant as is being suggested.

Starting 10th in Jeddah, Norris quickly cleared the likes of Carlos Sainz and Kimi Antonelli.

However, he had trouble passing Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari, more down to race-craft than underlying speed of the two cars, with Hamilton using the DRS into Turn 1 to re-pass Norris twice.

Eventually clearing Hamilton, on his counter-strategy, Norris was placed on the medium tyres for the final charge, easily dispatching George Russell’s Mercedes, but he could not reel in third-placed Leclerc for a podium spot.

In the end, Norris was 1.092s behind Leclerc at the flag, with the Briton believing that it was evidence of Ferrari being closer to McLaren in terms of pace than is currently accepted, with the MCL39 regarded as the class of the field.

“I don’t know why people are so surprised, they are just as quick in qualifying and in most sessions,” Norris told Sky Sports F1 when asked if he was surprised by Ferrari’s pace in Jeddah.

“Just because we are quick in practice, people keep coming up with all this crap, and they can keep saying what they want, but we don’t believe we’re much ahead, as it shows.

“Max was probably quickest [in the Saudi Arabian GP], so we have work to do. People keep saying we are the best, we are the quickest blah blah blah, but that is because we show a bit more pace in practice, and then don’t have anything left in qualifying.

“But that is our way of doing things, that is how we feel we optimise things, and if we didn’t do it that way, we’d be even further back.

“I am happy with the work we are doing, people just need to recalibrate that we’re not, that we have a great car, and probably the quickest on average, but clearly not enough.”

Formula 1’s Frederic Vasseur, Peter Bayer, and Andy Cowell talk about the new Qiddiyah track

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is set to be moved to Qiddiya after the track and development are finished. While the Jeddah Corniche Circuit was always an interim track, many drivers and team principals grew to love it.

After being asked how the team principals felt about moving away from Jeddah, Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell said, “Racing here is amazing. I think we all love coming here. We love going to all the circuits. We all love to compete against each other – we’re being friendly here, but then we go and compete against each other on track. It’s a remarkable circuit, night race, super-fast, challenging for drivers. Fast, high speed and barriers close to the car. It’s an exciting event.”

Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer jumped in, saying, “The result here is of someone with a huge passion for the sport. What’s been built here in a short amount of time is fantastic. It’s a spectacular circuit.”

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur said that he didn’t have too much to add, but he mentioned, “I like the race in Jeddah. We’ve always had exciting races in the past. It’s also the right process to include the drivers from the beginning and to listen to them. We’ll see in the future – but I like coming to Jeddah. We’ve had a couple of very exciting races here, and it was always good.”

Team Principals on new Qiddiya circuit

Cowell mentioned, “However, I’m sure the new circuit will be even more exciting. So we look forward to that.”

Bayer also added, “We certainly won’t be disappointed in Qiddiya – from the initial pictures and designs we’ve seen, it looks amazing. It’s great to be here, great to have this passion for motorsport, and for all the support we get.”

The move is rumoured to happen around/after 2027.

Max Verstappen penalty argument compared to ‘lifelong sentence’

Former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has remarkably compared the stewards’ decision not to issue Max Verstappen a 10-second time penalty to a judge delivering a “lifelong sentence”.

Verstappen was furious in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after receiving a five-second time penalty for leaving the circuit and gaining an advantage whilst battling Oscar Piastri on the first lap.

Piastri was judged as ahead at the apex, before Verstappen darted across the chicane before rejoining in the lead.

The penalty cost him victory, although it was not the usual punishment for breaching Article 33.3 of F1’s sporting regulations.

Leaving the circuit and gaining an advantage usually warrants a 10-second time penalty; however, the stewards halved Verstappen’s punishment due to believing that the incident happening on the first lap was a mitigating circumstance.

Steiner did not agree with the four-time world champion being punished, although would rather see the FIA issue a full penalty rather than being “polite” and giving half.

“[The stewards] are always trying to be polite, don’t upset anybody,” Steiner told the Red Flags podcast.

“I mean, a judge, if he’s sitting there, obviously, if he gives someone a lifelong sentence without parole, he knows that the guy is not going to be happy with him, but that’s his job.

“I’m sorry, he’s just doing his job. Sometimes, if you feel like [a driver] did something wrong, give him [Verstappen] 10 seconds and justify it and explain it, end of story.

“If you’re this, ‘yeah, because it was the first [lap]’, so now we have, again, a different tool for the first lap. It’s again, wishy washy, again.”

“It is not a carryover,” claims Vasseur as he opens up about Ferrari’s current struggles with consistency