Carlos Sainz gets fresh Mercedes message as Red Bull dubbed ‘toxic environment’ – F1 news round-up

Carlos Sainz and Zak Brown.

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

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

F1 news: Zak Brown dubs Red Bull ‘pretty toxic environment’

Given the start to the season Red Bull had off-track, McLaren CEO Zak Brown gave a frank assessment of his rivals – and does not think their issues have ended.

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

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

“I already made the comment that there are some CVs flying around. And there always are CVs flying around but you can see a higher level of discomfort there.”

Read next: Zak Brown fires on Red Bull with ‘pretty toxic environment’ claim and ‘Verstappen drama’

Carlos Sainz receives Mercedes message with Toto Wolff plans

While PlanetF1.com understands Carlos Sainz is out of the running for a seat at Mercedes, for the time being at least, team principal Toto Wolff praised him for his speed and explained the change of tack they might be taking when deciding upon Lewis Hamilton’s replacement next year.

“I think first of all, Carlos deserves a top seat. I mean, he’s done a fantastic job,” Wolff told Sky F1.

“But for us, we’ve embarked on a route now to say, ‘You know what, we want to reinvent ourselves a little bit going forward’. And Kimi Antonelli definitely plays a part in that.

“We haven’t taken the decision yet for next year, but we didn’t want to have Carlos wait as well, because he needs to take the decisions for himself and that’s just fair. But he’s doing a super job.”

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

An exclusive chat with McLaren’s newest junior talent

McLaren signed two new junior drivers earlier this season, and we sat down with one of their newest young drivers, Alex Dunne, currently making his way in Formula 3, to get to know his story better as he looks to climb the motorsport ladder.

From being inspired by Ayrton Senna to looking to make his way into Formula 1 one day, we had an extended chat with the young Irishman about his goals for the future as he took 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 make upgrade declaration after further Canada improvements

Sticking with the Mercedes theme for a moment, technical director James Allison said the upgrades made to the W15 have had a positive impact on the car, to a degree where it’s made the car the ‘driver’s friend’ instead of otherwise.

He said: “We expected it to deliver a bit more in Canada than it did in Monaco, because the Canada circuit, although unusual, is more of a normal circuit than Monaco was. It delivered more performance, it made the car feel easy to drive and well-balanced, and made the car the driver’s friend rather than the thing they had been fighting, which has been what has been problematic in the opening part of the season for us.”

Read next: Mercedes W15 declared ‘driver’s friend’ as full impact of upgrades revealed

Lando Norris’ worrying prediction for F1 2026 after Canada closeness

Lando Norris expressed his concerns that, after how close qualifying was in Canada over the weekend, the arrival of the F1 2026 regulations will see the cars spread right out again.

With that, he does not think sessions of the closeness of Canada qualifying will happen again after the regulation switch until at least 2028, or even 2029.

That said, that is often the case with Formula 1’s regulation changes, with one or two teams making significant gains compared to their rivals in the early stages and others looking to catch up.

Read next: Lando Norris sounds the alarm with worrying prediction after Canadian GP closeness