FIA fines and more rumours about.....

There’s no smoke without fire, or so they say. As expected, Red Bull have convinced us that there’s absolutely nothing wrong and no changes will be made within the team. But given the volume of rumours, question marks still linger in the air at the United States Grand Prix. In F1 Today, we round up the biggest news stories in the world of Formula 1 over the last 24 hours.

Verstappen shoots down the rumours

It was always going to be a topic of conversation during the FIA press conference and media day at the Circuit of the Americas. And despite Verstappen’s best attempt to label the rumours as “BS”, it will continue to be a topic of conversation for the rest of the weekend.

A year after the death of Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz, a real power struggle is said to be taking place within the Formula 1 team. Christian Horner reportedly wants to oust Helmut Marko in order to take the reins himself. Both Marko and Horner strongly denied the rumours, with the latter stressing his loyalty to the 80-year-old advisor.

In Austin, Verstappen was also confronted with the rumours, which he quickly gave short shrift to. “I saw that from the outside, people were trying to basically talk some BS because I think the mood in the team is very good,” Verstappen said. The Dutchman added more, which can be found here.

More rumours pop up

Now even the Dutch news outlet De Telegraaf reports that cracks have appeared within the Red Bull camp. De Telegraaf reports that it is known internally that Marko has doubts about Daniel Ricciardo. Marko is said to still be annoyed that Ricciardo left the team for Renault in 2018. On the other hand, Horner is said to be a fan of Ricciardo and would be only too happy to bring him to the team if they decide to say goodbye to Perez. There’s some mileage in this story yet.

One Red Bull rumour was firmly squashed, however. GPblog already knew the rumour that Sergio Perez’s retirement in Mexico was a hoax, but Sky Sports immediately made sure of it in Texas.

FIA Fines ramp up

The tension within the Red Bull camp isn’t the only thing ramping up this weekend in Austin. The FIA announced an increase in the maximum amount a driver can be fined. It moved from €250,000 to €1million. Eyewatering…! You can see how the drivers reacted to this news here, including Verstappen’s joke towards Hamilton.

And finally, Lance Stroll created more questions than answers with his attitude at the FIA Press Conference. Once again, the media received a “yes” and “no” answer to a legitimate question about the Canadian’s interest in Formula 1.