Sergio Perez’s Loss to Become Daniel Ricciardo’s Gain, Lando Tops FP1 & FP2, Norris-Max Verstappen Sets Aside Differences

\This has been the most eventful F1 season since 2021. Compensating for the drought of the past two years, this season has already given us five different race winners and a Hollywoodesque silly season(which by the way is nowhere close to completion). As we enter the final weekend of the triple header, the grapevine and drama on and off the track haven’t died down. The Friday at Silverstone has set the pace for what is to come, including Sergio Perez‘s supposed firing. To add to that, Lando Norris, who topped the charts at practice sessions, has also set aside his anger from last week.

Alarm Bells ring for Sergio Perez as Daniel Ricciardo becomes the favored driver

A couple of weeks ago, Sergio Perez’s Red Bull contract was extended by Red Bull marking the longest-ever driver partnership in F1. His teammate Max Verstappen has been carrying the team to championship victory single-handedly as Perez, who played the ultimate wingman for Max and golden egg laying duck for RB, has seen a significant drop in his performance. Imagine being in the fastest car and being beaten left, right, and center by other teams, including Haas. He has even been out-qualified by Logan Sargeant who has hardly beaten his teammate in a car that’s 9th on the grid. This has now prompted Milton Keynes to rethink the matter.

As per reports, Sergio Perez is in danger of losing his seat at Red Bull. If Ricciardo can confirm the recent upward trend at Silverstone, Budapest, and Spa and Perez does not improve significantly, Daniel could replace the Mexican in 2025. Updating us about the situation, Helmut Marko said, “We’ll know more by the summer break.” But what we definitely know is that Lando has arrived on the scene and how!!

British GP: Lando Norris tops both practice sessions on Friday

With a timing of 1:26.549, Lando Norris topped the second free practice session. He bagged the entire Friday for McLaren’s kitty, as the morning free practice session also saw him ahead of everyone else. Oscar Piastri has been right behind his older teammate. The Woking-based team’s upgrades on their already dominant machine translated well on track. But Sky’s Karun Chandhok believes that Red Bull and Mercedes aren’t showing their true colors yet.

He suspected, “I think they are not showing their hand at Red Bull – and I expect Mercedes are the same. However, he later added, “I thought McLaren was a little too quick this morning and I think that’s the case again. The top three have shown their hand.”

But this isn’t all the reason why Lando is in the headlines. Lando’s tussle with his best mate Max Verstappen was the talk of the town before the former cooled down.

All is well between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen

The lap 64 showdown between Lando and Max resulted in both of them having to bid goodbye to the Austrian GP win. This left 1x GP winner Lando fuming as gave certain ultimatums to his bestie Max via the media. However, coming into this weekend, the duo has given various statements indicating all is well. Verstappen told the press that early morning on Monday morning when he wanted to call Lando, the latter had already texted him. Lando also gave an elaborate explanation during media day.

He said, “Honestly, I don’t think he needed to apologize. I think some of the things I said in the [media] pen after the race were just more because I was frustrated at the time.”

He added, “A lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotions. I probably said some things I didn’t necessarily believe, especially later on in the week. So he doesn’t need to. I don’t expect an apology from him. I don’t think he should apologize. I thought as a review it was good racing, at times close to the edge. But we’ve spoken about it and we are both happy to go racing again.”

Talk about an eventful F1 weekend or rather an eventful season. What are your predictions for the qualifying tomorrow?