In this article we take you through the F1 news of Saturday 29 August 2026 so you are up to speed again. The big story is Lando Norris tying himself to McLaren for years to come even as his title defence quietly disintegrates, while behind him Cadillac’s boardroom cull, Hadjar’s recovery and Mazepin’s comeback all jostle for attention.
Norris signs until 2030, title hopes go the other way
Lando Norris has extended his McLaren contract to at least the end of 2030, replacing a deal that had been due to expire in 2027, as confirmed by Norris’s new McLaren deal. The timing is awkward given he’s currently fourth in the standings behind a dominant Mercedes, a point made bluntly in the piece on his fading title defence and echoed by the wider look at McLaren’s contract call versus Haas’s driver mess. He was handed his title-winning MCL39 as a keepsake, and broke the news himself to staff at McLaren’s open day in Woking.
Cadillac’s mid-season sacking
Graeme Lowdon is out as Cadillac team boss, replaced by Marcin Budkowski, in a switch dressed up as evolution but which, according to the reporting on Lowdon’s sacking and Budkowski’s arrival, followed a run of technical failures including brake problems and a fire on Valtteri Bottas’s car in Hungary. Lowdon’s communications chief left at the same time, and Towriss’s own PA had already gone shortly before that.
Hadjar’s wrist and the Marquez phone call
Isack Hadjar’s wrist injury, which kept him out of Zandvoort, is healing well enough that Red Bull are quietly hopeful he’ll be fit for Monza, per the update on Hadjar’s recovery and Monza prospects. A final decision is expected next Wednesday, and if he’s not passed fit, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda would simply swap seats again as they did at Zandvoort.
FIA lifts Russian neutrality rule as Mazepin returns
The FIA World Motor Sport Council has scrapped its neutrality requirement for Russian and Belarusian competitors, restoring flags, colours and anthems, just as Nikita Mazepin marked his return to racing with pole by over four seconds in GT3 at Spa, detailed in the report on Mazepin’s Spa comeback and the rule change. Mazepin was dropped by Haas in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; four years on, he’s back on top of a GT3 timesheet.
Verstappen on his own contract saga
Max Verstappen has described the talks that extended his Red Bull stay to 2030 as calm and unhurried, dismissing months of paddock speculation in comments covered in the piece on Verstappen’s take on his contract talks. He credited long-standing relationships with Oliver Mintzlaff and the shareholders for there being no need to rush.
Alonso separates engine gains from his future
Fernando Alonso says Honda’s new power unit performance won’t determine whether he stays at Aston Martin beyond 2026, as explained in the interview covered by Alonso’s comments on Honda and his future. He wants proof of understanding and direction from Honda and Aston Martin rather than raw numbers.
Grid contracts and a boss who skipped Zandvoort
More than half the grid is out of contract at the end of this year, setting up a busy driver market examined in the piece on the looming contract bomb. Separately, Zak Brown admitted he skipped Norris’s Zandvoort win to watch IndyCar in Washington instead, telling interviewers his teams run fine without him, as covered in the story on Brown’s IndyCar trip.
Hadjar’s fitness call next Wednesday and the fallout from Cadillac’s reshuffle will both carry straight into the Pirelli Gran Premio d’Italia next weekend.
