Thursday notebook: Perez back on the pace at Imola, Ferrari politics bubble, and Red Bull points to the moment the title got away
There’s a certain poetry in Cadillac’s new man turning laps in a blacked‑out Ferrari at Imola. Sergio Perez shook off nearly a year of rust on Thursday with a private run in an SF23, the previous‑gen Ferrari pressed into Testing of Previous Cars duty because Cadillac, quite simply, doesn’t have a TPC mule of its own yet.
Perez kept it light but honest about the task at hand. After so long out, the first battle is physical. “I’m curious to find out how many laps my neck will do before it gets destroyed,” he told Reuters with a grin. The bigger gain was procedural. “It’s a great way to finish the year before getting back in the car next year. Time for us to get together with the engineers and mechanics, start working all together, start talking the same language.”
Seeing Cadillac staff leaning over a Ferrari in pit lane was a bit of a culture clash, but entirely practical. The point wasn’t outright pace; it was to reset muscle memory and kick‑start the rhythms with a new crew before 2025 properly begins.
Marko points at debris — and a timely VSC — in Brazil
Over at Red Bull, Helmut Marko has been sifting through the Brazil Grand Prix what‑ifs. He reckons Max Verstappen’s early puncture came from carbon shards shed in one of two opening squabbles — either Lance Stroll versus Gabriel Bortoleto, or Franco Colapinto tangling with Lewis Hamilton.
“So the plan was to make up places when the drivers on soft or medium tyres all had to pit,” Marko told Speedweek. “We would have kept an eye on the wear to see if we could even get through with just one stop. But things turned out differently. Max got a puncture from a piece of carbon fibre… Fortunately, one of our data engineers noticed this and warned us immediately. We had a bit of luck with the Virtual Safety Car phase during the necessary tyre change.”
The rub: Verstappen’s now 49 points adrift with the season clock winding down, but at least the RB21 is back in the fight. Which brings us to the bigger picture.
‘Talk less’? Ferrari’s week of mixed messages
Ferrari’s president John Elkann lobbed a hand grenade earlier this week, telling Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to “talk less” and “focus on driving” after a bruising Sunday that ended in a double DNF. That might play well in a boardroom, less so in a garage trying to hold its nerve in a title run‑in.
Sky F1’s Bernie Collins didn’t miss. “Both drivers’ intention was not to DNF on Sunday,” she said, noting the team and drivers were aligned on maximising points. Then the zinger: “There used to be a saying when you were in the garage: ‘The beatings will continue until morale improves.’ And that’s a bit the situation, isn’t it? What has that gained Ferrari? Not a lot.”
It’s hard to argue. When the car’s quick and the margins are microscopic, clarity from the top helps. Pressure does too — but it’s a fine line between urgency and friendly fire.
Brundle on Piastri: a hot hand gone cold
Oscar Piastri’s title bid has cooled at precisely the wrong time, and Martin Brundle laid out the breadcrumbs. The Australian hasn’t stood on a Grand Prix podium since Monza, after a run that included 13 podiums in 15 and seven wins. Since then it’s been a messy streak: outpaced by Lando Norris at Monza, the double shunt and jump‑start nightmare in Baku, that lap‑one tangle with Norris in Singapore, costly damage in the Austin Sprint, and a general lack of zip since.
“Is it Oscar’s head, just a sporting run of bad luck, has there been a setup problem with the car, or has it been a series of tracks which don’t suit him so well?” Brundle asked in his Sky column, landing on the obvious conclusion: probably a bit of each, just as Norris found overdrive and confidence.
Where Max’s 2025 title may have slipped
Back to the Verstappen chase. Results have perked up lately — wins and podiums look like realistic targets again — but the math remains ugly. If he does fall short, Marko’s already circled the culprit: the stretch after Imola when Red Bull fought the RB21 and lost too much ground over half a dozen races. “If the title race is ultimately lost,” he said, “it is in this period after the Imola weekend, when little worked.”
That’s the title narrative in a nutshell: McLaren’s twin threat landing blows while Red Bull scrambled, and Ferrari’s flash fading under the weight of its own drama. Verstappen’s resurgence keeps the door cracked. The hinges, though, are creaking.
As for Thursday, Perez’s Imola laps won’t settle a championship or a debate, but they do signal a reset. New badge, familiar speed, and a very busy winter ahead. The sport’s moving parts are humming again — and not all of them are painted in their 2025 colours yet.
