The Latest Breaking News from George Russell

Sergio Perez was fourth in the other Red Bull, nearly half a second slower than Verstappen, with the Ferrari drivers well down the field after eschewing running the soft tyres throughout FP1.

Sergio Perez was fourth in the other Red Bull, nearly half a second slower than Verstappen, with the Ferrari drivers well down the field after eschewing running the soft tyres throughout FP1.

Cars are currently locked into parc ferme after the first session on Friday, and thus they have to run both qualifying sessions and the sprint and main event with the same set-up unless teams opt to make changes that oblige the driver to start from the pitlane.

Over the past three races, Russell took a fifth and two sixth-place finishes, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton grabbed a podium and two fourth-place results, as Mercedes battled McLaren and Ferrari for the status of second-fastest team.

The start of the Saturday sprint event at Spa was delayed by rain, and when it eventually got underway the cars ran on full wet tyres behind the safety car – as mandated by the rules – before the field was released.

The centrepiece to those changes was made to its sidepods, and builds on the conceptual shift taken at the Monaco Grand Prix when it opted to abandon the 'zeropod' concept used since the start of the current ground effect era.

Jake Dennis has shared podiums with Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon, but he never got the chance to join them on the Formula 1 grid. He has, however, just become a world champion following the Formula E finale in London last weekend.

Between 2014-21 the Brackley team won the constructors’ title eight times and took seven drivers’ titles between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

The phenomenon that dominated the team’s 2022 season has largely disappeared with this year’s W14, helped by regulation tweaks over the winter.