{"id":757803,"date":"2026-06-24T09:47:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T09:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/757803\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T09:47:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T09:47:31","slug":"f1-desperately-needs-a-drama-king-plus-peak-the-newest-raddest-corner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/757803\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 desperately needs a drama king. Plus: Peak the newest, raddest corner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s F1 newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive Prime Tire directly in your inbox twice a week during the season and weekly in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Welcome back to Prime Tire, where I\u2019m looking forward to this weekend\u2019s Austrian Grand Prix \u2014 a Formula 1 race where\u00a0something\u00a0always seems to happen.<\/p>\n

Austria\u2019s Red Bull Ring has been the scene of plenty of drama over the years \u2014 from teammate crashes, to\u00a0title contenders colliding<\/a>, fires, a deer that found its way\u00a0onto the track<\/a>\u00a0and plenty of\u00a0first-lap shunts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But today, drama is on my mind because of a little spat involving a former F1 driver at last weekend\u2019s NASCAR race in San Diego.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Alex, and Luke Smith will be along later.<\/p>\n

Magnussen vs. Gragson: An actual \u2018Talladega Nights\u2019 moment<\/p>\n

Kevin Magnussen, the veteran of 185 F1 starts (mainly for Haas), one podium for McLaren and the pole position winner at the 2022 Brazilian race, has been popping up quite a bit in this newsletter as of late.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s impressive, given he last raced in F1 back in 2024.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in mid-June, the Dane was in\u00a0good spirits<\/a>\u00a0when I interviewed him. Then things didn\u2019t go terribly well when Magnussen started the No. 15 BMW car on pole position for\u00a0the race<\/a>\u00a0the next day (he quickly lost a lot of places) and his car was eventually withdrawn after a crash, a puncture and a mechanical issue.<\/p>\n

But K-Mag was quickly back in racing action,\u00a0making a first NASCAR Cup career appearance at last weekend\u2019s race in San Diego for Trackhouse Racing\u2019s\u00a0all-star Project 91 team<\/a>\u00a0(pictured below).<\/p>\n

He ultimately finished 21st and set the race\u2019s fastest lap.\u00a0But this outing will mainly be remembered for the expletive-laden post-race exchange between Magnussen and Front Row Motorsports driver Noah Gragson.\u00a0They clashed several times on-track before Magnussen punted Gragson out around the race\u2019s halfway point.<\/p>\n

You can watch the video of the clashes\u00a0here<\/a>, but it\u2019s clear that Gragson didn\u2019t take too kindly to being wrecked, and Magnussen didn\u2019t appreciate the altercation afterward.<\/p>\n

It all got a bit \u201cTalladega Nights\u201d\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Ricky Bobby versus Jean Girard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Remove the swearing, and it\u2019s actually just a weirdly tense encounter between two fired-up sports people. At least in comparison to Gragson being punched by Ross Chastain at the Kansas Speedway three years ago.
\nThis was no\u00a0unbelievable sass<\/a>\u00a0from Magnussen, compared to his famous interaction with Nico H\u00fclkenberg at the 2017 Hungarian GP (that pair eventually got over themselves and\u00a0made up<\/a>\u00a0even before they became teammates at Haas for 2023-2024).<\/p>\n

Anyway, the reasons for recapping this in your inbox today are twofold:<\/p>\n

It shows how F1 lacks a character like Magnussen these days.\u00a0One always ready to deliver the unexpected on- and off-track.
\nThe 2026 season could really do with some sort of spice.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, there have been good stories this year so far.\u00a0There\u2019s Kimi Antonelli\u2019s sudden rise, which so far seems to be\u00a0one for the ages<\/a>, while George Russell\u2019s\u00a0run of misfortune<\/a>\u00a0is certainly captivating. Then there was Max Verstappen\u2019s early-year\u00a0complaints<\/a>\u00a0against the new rules, and Lewis Hamilton\u2019s\u00a0return to form<\/a>\u00a0has been engaging.<\/p>\n

But a little bit of behind-the-scenes work has played a huge part in some of F1\u2019s greatest stories, from the stunning mistrust between Enzo Ferrari and Juan Manuel Fangio in 1956, through the decades of warring McLaren teammates in 1988 and 1989 and the Mercedes duo crashing into each other at the 2016 Spanish GP.<\/p>\n

Antonelli versus Russell<\/a>\u00a0in Canada came close, but this season would feel invigorated by a bit of proper beef.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see what Austria brings.<\/p>\n

Now, over to Luke for an early look at an upcoming new race.<\/p>\n

Inside the Paddock with Luke Smith: Is this F1\u2019s coolest corner?<\/p>\n

Last week, I got the chance to visit the new Madring circuit in Madrid, which will host its first\u00a0Spanish Grand Prix<\/a>\u00a0in September after taking over that race moniker from Barcelona.<\/p>\n

You can read a fuller feature in the coming days on\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0about my thoughts on the track and the final race preparations, but one thing that really stood out from my trip was the Madring\u2019s headline corner: La Monumental.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 547 meters long and has 24 degrees of banking \u2014 the steepest permitted under the FIA\u2019s track regulations. Standing on the corner, it was genuinely a challenge to stay upright and to walk all the way up to the barrier at the top.<\/p>\n

I dropped my bottle of water at one point and could only watch helplessly as it rolled down the steep slope.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Luke Smith \/ The Athletic<\/p>\n

We also had a brief scare on entry to the corner when the bus taking the assembled media on a tour of the track started to tip to the right as the camber began to increase, prompting the driver to slow down and drift to the flatter, lower line.<\/p>\n

I think on the steepness alone, La Monumental can stake a claim to already be one of F1\u2019s coolest corners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be a high-speed sweep just about wide enough for drivers to try different lines, similar to the Hugenholtzbocht at Zandvoort (Netherlands), in their battles. It should look spectacular when the cars are at full speed come September.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n

Back to you, Alex.<\/p>\n

Cadillac\u2019s Big Upgrade: American squad to bring new parts to Austria<\/p>\n

The Cadillac squad was certainly one of the stories of the 2026 preseason, ahead of its\u00a0debut campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Things have been quieter since then \u2014 other than\u00a0random rumors<\/a>\u00a0cropping up about Valtteri Bottas\u2019 seat and the bizarre story of the Finn\u2019s\u00a0hire car being stolen<\/a>\u00a0in Miami \u2014 as the team has settled into life in F1, at the back of the grid.<\/p>\n

Cadillac has, however, been introducing regular aerodynamic developments to its MAC-26 car, which included rear wing and cooling changes in Monaco and Barcelona.<\/p>\n

In Austria, it will have a \u201cmajor aerodynamic update\u201d to show off,\u00a0according to the team\u2019s official pre-event preview:<\/p>\n

\u201c(The update will feature) revised bodywork and a new floor. Alongside these performance developments, the team\u2019s livery also evolves this weekend, reflecting a natural refinement of its visual identity as the brand continues to take shape on track.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of this sounds intriguing to me \u2014 except the corporate speak babble at the very end.<\/p>\n

Aero developments should help lap time, and Cadillac should also gain speed when it gets Ferrari\u2019s upgraded engine around the\u00a0Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities<\/a>\u00a0allowances, as the Italian manufacturer supplies Cadillac with its F1 engines.
\nThese upgrades could see the team finally edge toward points, which it should\u2019ve done back in Monaco, if it wasn\u2019t for Sergio P\u00e9rez\u2019s\u00a0baffling inability<\/a>\u00a0to start in the right spot that day.
\nThe livery change has piqued my interest too, as Cadillac has one of the most interesting color schemes in 2026, with its novel\u00a0split of white and black<\/a>\u00a0across the two sides of the car.<\/p>\n

I guess we\u2019ll find out more on Friday, when the MAC-26 hits the track for the first time in FP1, which takes place at 7:20 a.m. ET.<\/p>\n

Outside the Points<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfce Luke looked at the\u00a0key factors<\/a>\u00a0in Hamilton\u2019s recent Ferrari revival, which include improved training, his new engineer and his new relationship.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udce3 And, to celebrate International Women in Engineering Day, the official F1 website has this\u00a0great interview with Laura M\u00fceller<\/a>, who has been Esteban Ocon\u2019s engineer at Haas since the start of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Prime Tire? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s F1 newsletter. Sign up here to receive Prime Tire directly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,576,634,82],"class_list":["post-757803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-formula-1","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}