F1 news in brief

Formula One heads to Baku this weekend for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Here, the PA news agency rounds up some of the stories from Thursday’s media day.

Verstappen sets sights on 24-hour race

Max Verstappen expressed his desire to take on the 24 Hours of Nurburgring.

The four-time world champion headed to the German circuit between Formula One races at Monza and Baku to secure the permit needed to race GT3 cars on the Nordschleife.

“My dream is eventually to do the 24-hour race,” Verstappen said. “I knew I needed the permit to come.

“How much I can do during an F1 season is a bit tricky. For me, impossible to say what will happen in five or 10 years on the F1 side or the GT side.”

Unwell Russell misses media day

George Russell was absent from the track on Thursday due to illness.

Mercedes said the 27-year-old, who was scheduled to appear at the drivers’ press conference, was “resting up” ahead of the track action on Friday.

Bearman on brink of ban

British driver Oliver Bearman admits he will have to change his approach after moving to within two penalty points of a race ban.

The Haas driver was handed two points for causing a collision with Carlos Sainz at Monza and now has 10 on his record. Kevin Magnussen reached 12 for Haas last season and was banned for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – where he was replaced by Bearman.

“It is a shame I have ended up at this point,” Bearman said. “I did a dangerous mistake at Silverstone and got four points which I deserved but it is a shame I ended up with this many. Now I am going to be making it until I lose two (points) at Brazil, basically.

“I will have to pull out (of similar situations), I don’t have a choice. I would like to be given space on the inside but I can’t take that risk.”

Antonelli motivated by Wolff’s comments

Kimi Antonelli is determined to come back stronger after team principal Toto Wolff described his performance at Monza as “underwhelming”.

The 19-year-old finished ninth after qualifying sixth.

“I think I pretty much understand his comment,” Antonelli said.

“I think it was mainly related to the race, which I agree wasn’t the best. But I took it positively – as fuel to do even better for this race weekend.”

Drivers split on increase in sprint races

The idea of expanding the number of sprint weekends from 2027 divided opinion among the drivers.

Six sprint weekends have been confirmed again for next season but F1 chiefs are discussing the idea of upping it to potentially as many as 12 for 2027. Reverse grids have also been mooted as an idea.

Lewis Hamilton enjoys the sprint format, saying: “I like sprint weekends, I was complaining before that we had the same structure every weekend. Those weekends are pretty intense.”

Haas’ Esteban Ocon said: “We are living in a consumer world where we want more show. When you watch Wednesday on Netflix, we don’t want to wait 10 days for the second part!

“We already race almost every weekend and to have a sprint on top, I believe it’s probably a bit too much. Reverse grids are artificial. Not really a good thing.”