Carlos Sainz receives a message from Mercedes; Red Bull called ‘toxic environment’

Wednesday’s F1 news is here, and if you missed any of the headlines, here’s your place to catch up on the day’s action.

From Zak Brown’s assessment of Red Bull to Toto Wolff pointing out which direction Mercedes is heading next, let’s dive straight into the headlines.

F1 news: Zak Brown calls Red Bull a “pretty toxic environment”

Given Red Bull’s off-track start to the season, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has given a frank assessment of his rivals – and doesn’t think their problems are resolved.

“Red Bull is a pretty toxic environment with everything that’s going on,” Brown said on Bloomberg’s Hot Pursuit podcast. “There is more to come.

“Adrian Newey leaving is a big deal because I think a lot of people are probably there because they wanted to work alongside Adrian Newey.

“I have already pointed out that there were CVs flying around. And there are still CVs circulating, but you can see a higher level of discomfort there.

Read next: Zak Brown takes shots at Red Bull with claim of ‘pretty toxic environment’ and ‘Verstappen drama’

Carlos Sainz receives a message from Mercedes with Toto Wolff’s plans

Although PlanetF1.com understands that Carlos Sainz is not in the running for a seat at Mercedes, at least for now, team principal Toto Wolff praised him for his speed and explained the change in course they could take to decide on the replacement of Lewis Hamilton. next year.

“I think first of all, Carlos deserves a first place. I mean, he did a fantastic job,” Wolff told Sky F1.

“But for us, we’ve committed to a process of saying, ‘You know what, we want to reinvent ourselves a little bit in the future.’ And Kimi Antonelli definitely plays a role in it.

“We haven’t made a decision for next year yet, but we didn’t want Carlos to wait too, because he has to make the decisions himself and that’s just right. But he’s doing a great job.

Read next: Carlos Sainz receives another message from Mercedes with ‘reinvention’ plans underway

An exclusive conversation with McLaren’s new junior talents

McLaren signed two new junior drivers earlier this season, and we caught up with one of their new young drivers, Alex Dunne, who currently competes in Formula 3, to learn more about his story as he looks to climb the ranks of the sports car.

From being inspired by Ayrton Senna to looking to make his way into Formula 1 one day, we had a long chat with the young Irishman about his goals for the future as he made a big step forward by being signed by McLaren earlier this year.

Read next: McLaren’s next F1 star? Alex Dunne sets his sights on ‘dream’ of following in Ayrton Senna’s footsteps

Mercedes makes upgrade statement after new improvements in Canada

Staying on the Mercedes theme for a moment, technical director James Allison said that the improvements made to the W15 had a positive impact on the car, so much so that they made the car “the driver’s friend » instead of being otherwise.

He said: “We expected him to deliver a little more in Canada than in Monaco, because the Canadian circuit, although unusual, is more of a normal circuit than Monaco was. It offered more performance, it made the car easy to drive and well balanced, and it made the car the driver’s friend rather than the thing they were fighting against, which was what was problematic in the first part of the season for us. .”

Read next: Mercedes W15 declared ‘driver-friendly’ as full impact of improvements revealed

Lando Norris’s worrying prediction for F1 2026 after Canada close

Lando Norris has expressed concerns that, after close qualifying in Canada this weekend, the arrival of F1 2026 regulations will see the cars spread out again.

With that, he doesn’t think such close qualifying sessions for Canada will happen again after the regulation change until at least 2028, if not 2029.

That said, this is often the case with Formula 1 regulation changes, with one or two teams making significant gains over their rivals early on and others looking to catch up.

Read next: Lando Norris sounds alarm with worrying predictions after Canadian GP close