F1 Today | Silly season bursts into life with secret rumour

Speculation about the driver market usually keeps the Formula 1 fans occupied during the summer break. Various rumours about who might be going where, and sometimes some confirmation that a driver is making a move. The 2023 summer didn't bring that. It was very quiet. But patience has been rewarded for those who like this stuff because there's a big paddock rumour waiting to explode. Here are the biggest stories in the last 24 hours.

Big rumour

The influential journalist Albert Fabregas is on to something. That much is clear. Fabregas has posted a rather cryptic post on X. He writes: "I don't want to believe the rumour they have told me in the paddock now. No." Naturally, people respond by asking what is going on, but the Spaniard only posts an emoji with a zipped mouth. GPblog looked into the storylines that need answers soon, speculating whether or not the rumour was linked to one of them.

Reaction to Perez's crash

Not Max Verstappen's record. Not another impressive performance from Lewis Hamilton. Or even a quiet weekend for Fernando Alonso. The main story from the Mexican Grand Prix was Perez's crash. More or less everyone is having their say on the situation and whether or not it spells the end of his tenure at Red Bull Racing.

Jenson Button and Martin Brundle saw Perez 'roll the dice'. F1 analyst Peter Windsor highlighted Perez had thrown away a lot of points in the battle with Hamilton for P2 in the World Championship.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was lenient on Perez. "It was a great shame to lose Checo," Horner told Viaplay. "He got a great start and a good run down to Turn 1. I think you've got to call it a racing accident, three into one never goes and Checo was squeezing, Charles had nowhere to go and contact was unfortunately made and that was it, it was just too much damage. The boys did their best to get it turned around, but no chance, unfortunately." Horner also spoke about Verstappen's race in Mexico.

Hamilton's warning

After the free practice sessions, Hamilton was actually still highly critical of the Mercedes, which felt different from what it had felt a week earlier in America. What was been adjusted after qualifying? "Didn't change anything," Hamilton said. "I think the car is just quite peaky within qualifying on light fuel. But when you put a load of fuel on it, the car just handles nicer, it’s just nicer to drive, and I think we struck a really nice setup this weekend, and particularly today for the race."

"I generally enjoyed it. It's not the most physical of races, being that you can't push all the way, you're saving, you're doing 200, 300 metres of lifting close to save and keep the car cool and stop it from failing. But I was definitely hoping maybe there'll be an opportunity to get closer to Max, but maybe next week," Hamilton concluded.