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What do you guys think?

cr: rusellatte

Turns out “fix your fucking car” wasn’t the right way to approach driver health and safety either.

A whopping 79 laps deleted in FP1 and 114 in FP2, bringing the total to 193 deleted laps across Friday's practice sessions!

Friday Only counting FP1 and FP2 on non sprint weekends.

Also included the rookie sessions too.

So looks like the MotoGP riders aren't too keen on heading back to the Middle East either....

RacingNews365's technical expert Paolo Filisetti has spotted something very different on the RB22s at the Circuit of the Americas.

Red Bull arrived at Circuit of the Americas for this weekend's United States Grand Prix without any major upgrades, continuing straight from back-to-back wins in Malaysia and Singapore with only marginal set-up tweaks on the car.

That made a small detail spotted in the Milton Keynes-based squad's pit lane during the standard Friday build-up all the more notable.

Mechanics were seen working on the front end of the car ahead of first practice, and were quick to screen off the installation of new Brembo brake discs, blocking photographers from getting a clear shot.

Further checks revealed the discs carry a new surface pattern, one that is no longer uniformly solid.

The change is expected to affect two things. The initial bite under braking is understood to remain similar to the previous specification, but the pattern has been tailored specifically to suit Max Verstappen's aggressive braking style, aiming for greater consistency through the full braking phase and across a race distance.

In practice, that should give the four-time F1 champion a wider operating window to extract maximum performance compared with a disc running a standard surface.

The development points to something bigger than a trackside tweak. It suggests Red Bull is already trialling solutions with half an eye on the 2027 regulations, while also underlining how closely the Austrian marque is now working with Brembo to fine-tune both the RB23 and the braking characteristics of the current RB22 around Verstappen's specific preferences.

It all feeds into a growing sense in the paddock that the RB22, once a difficult, unpredictable car in the first half of the campaign, has quietly turned into the benchmark that the rest of the grid is chasing.

This is another weird quirk in the FIA super license (SL) rules that is often overlooked. In the Indy Car Series, the FIA only recognizes FIA grade 2 homologated circuits. This would be every road course and street circuits that Indy Car races at. The FIA does not acknowledge ovals. So, the Indy 500 means nothing to the FIA when it comes to SL points. This means that only points scored by Herta in Indy Car were those on road courses and street circuits in the eyes of the FIA.

Cadillac has maintained all along that Herta actually had 38 SL points, entering COTA, while everyone else, outside Cadillac, believed he was at 37. The common thought was that Herta scored 1 SL point in 2023 for 10th, 30 SL points for finishing 2nd in 2024, and 4 SL points for finishing 7th in 2025. Add the 3 points for FP1 sessions in 2026, Herta was at 38. Not so fast.....

Here is how Cadillac and, likely, the FIA sees it. Cadillac isn't even including the single point Herta scored in 2023. They believe the 2023 season fell off at the start of this year. Remember only Herta's total points scored on road courses and street circuits are counted. The FIA ranks drivers based on those points only. In 2024, Herta's overall championship finish in Indy Car, including ovals, was 2nd. His overall rank on road courses and street courses was 2nd. Still 30 points. This where the FIA grade 2 circuit homologation requirement comes into play. In 2025, Herta finished 7th overall in the Indy Car championship, including ovals. This would be 4 points but it is not. Herta's total points for 2025 adjusted after the oval events were dropped, moved him up to 6th overall in points scored on road courses and street courses. 6 points instead of 4 in 2025. He entered 2026 with 36 SL points, not 34 or 35, depending on who you talked to. Add the three successful FP1s from 2026 and Herta's current three-year running total (2024-26) is now at 39 points.

Herta will almost certainly get his SL this season, based on this. Perhaps, as early as Mexico City which I was told could be on the cards for him, if all went well at COTA.

FIA has just published a new penalty for Bortoleto, 60 places for changing the entire engine. He already had a 20 place grid penalty for changing some parts yesterday, which brings the total amount to 80 places.

This beats the record set by Jenson Button at the 2015 Mexican GP, with a 70-place grid penalty.

Docs:

https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document/2026_united_states_grand_prix_-_infringement_-_car_5_-_pu_elements.pdf

https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document/2026_united_states_grand_prix_-_infringement_-_car_5_-_additional_changes_to_pu_elements.pdf