F1 LIVE | McLaren hits Trafalgar Square and why Verstappen is staying loyal to Red Bull
07:00, 02 Jul
Updated: 22:29, 02 Jul
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Thank you for visiting the live blog today, and don't forget to come back tomorrow for all the latest Formula 1 news. Here are today's top stories.
Welcome to GPlog's daily Formula 1 news liveblog! Check back periodically throughout the day to catch up on important news for July 2nd that you may have missed!
McLaren's event at Trafalgar Square
McLaren hosted a fan zone event at Trafalgar Square today and both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri attended.
This comes just days before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where they will do battle on track.
McLaren junior and Formula 2 championship contender Alex Dunne was also in attendance ahead of his race weekend at Silverstone.
Verstappen is keeping his options open
Max Verstappen is slowly falling behind two McLaren drivers in the race for the championship after his retirement in Austria.
Mercedes has yet to announce either George Russell or Andrea Kimi Antonelli for 2026, despite both driving well.
A move to the German team may not seem logical, however, as they are not a significant step ahead of Red Bull.
UK PM Sir Keir Starmer welcomes F1 personnel to No 10
The UK has a significant presence in Formula 1 with four drivers on the grid and 7 of the 10 teams based in the country.
Sir Keir Starmer welcomed Formula 1's CEO and President Stefano Domenicali, as well as 150 F1 personnel, as the sport celebrates 75 years of the world championship.
Domenicali said: "A special thank you to the Prime Minister for inviting us here today to this famous and historic setting.
'"We have an incredible week ahead at the British Grand Prix with nearly half a million fans coming to cheer on their heroes. This country is passionate about Formula 1 and motorsport, and we are very proud of this.
“75 years ago, Formula 1 started here in the UK at Silverstone in 1950. Since then, is has become a British institution with deep roots and a huge contribution to the country.'
Aston Martin continues to push for their first top five this year
Aston Martin are underdelivering despite the team wealth of resources and double world champion Fernando Alonso behind the wheel.
The Spaniard has scored points in the last three races, but 2025 has mainly been underwhelming for the Silverstone-based team.
They will bring updates to this weekend's British Grand Prix, building on a previous update introduced at Imola.
"We have a new floor and top bodywork. This builds on the Imola update, but whereas Imola focused more on the shape of the top bodywork, this one focuses more on the floor with a small modification to the top bodywork, aimed at improving the quality of airflow around the rear tyres.
"This is probably it in terms of 2025 updates. We've completed our final scheduled wind tunnel run on the AMR25 – though, as I've just suggested, that could change because of the speed with which we can now organise a test. There are not, however, any more planned tests."
Verstappen wary about overtaking at Silverstone
Max Verstappen is heading into the British Grand Prix looking to bounce back after failing to finish last time out in Austria.
The four time world champion is unsure about how easy it will be to overtaking at Silverstone in the Grand Prix.
He said: "Silverstone has lots of high-speed corners which are hard to overtake and it is a track with lots of history. It is always a busy one for us, with lots of events going on, but it is nice for the Team to be close to home this weekend.
"You never know what the weather might bring so we will see what happens."
Piastri defends pitstop choice
Oscar Piastri decided to stay out after Lando Norris pitted. While he felt that was the right call, in the end, he hit the finish line second.
He said, "Like I said before, I think I was always going to lose time by pitting second. I had past experience of being just stuck outside DRS, and that was a pretty painful place to be in the past. So, I didn't really want to be there again."
Piastri did lose out on time by making the decision to not go in a lap after Norris. It was a combination of a lock-up that caused a bald spot on his tyres and that, that left him at a bigger disadvantage.
"With hindsight, maybe you can say it wasn't the right call, but there are a lot of things you can say in hindsight."
Why Ferrari did not listen to Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton did not want to pit on Lap 51 during the Austrian Grand Prix. He said he felt as if his tyres and race pace were okay.
However, Jerome d'Ambrosio, the acting team principal for the weekend, admitted, "To be honest there was no incentive in doing anything different because McLaren's were clearly far ahead and George [Russell] quite far behind so we were in between them with both cars and we just did a standard optimal strategy and that was the most straightforward thing to do."
Charles Leclerc had pitted just before Hamilton. There is no guarantee that allowing Hamilton to stay out would have put him on the podium.
"In the end [I] just saw Lewis now and you look at the numbers and yeah, that's what made sense."
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