The DRS Zone

Tag: Williams

  • Spanish Grand Prix

    Image obtained from mclaren.com

    Max’s Meltdown

    In what was a reasonably dull Spanish Grand Prix, the final few laps were brought to life by the safety car. For Max Verstappen it brought about a rare meltdown from the champion. Such has been the dominance of Verstappen the last couple of years we have not seen the darker side of his personality. I will cover this talking point in a separate post, but the incident cost Max and Red Bull significant points, the loss of points is probably more significant to Red Bull as they still can’t get that second car regularly scoring points and they run the risk of being usurped by Mercedes and Ferrari.

    F1 Says Goodbye to Barcelona

    2025 will be the last year Barcelona hosts the Spanish Grand Prix, for 2026 the race will be switching to the streets of Madrid. For me, Barcelona has always been a bit of a dud race, made worse in recent years by the change to the last couple of corners. Last year they returned the F1 layout to the original format in a bit to increase overtaking down the main straight.

    Despite this reconfiguration, overtaking has been difficult. I really worry that with the loss of DRS next season, overtaking will be even harder. Barcelona has always had the added difficulty because the teams have so much data on the circuit and its layout from years of testing, I think it ends up nullifying most races.

    Technical Directive Introduction

    This race also saw the introduction of a new technical directive from the FIA on front wings and the amount they are allowed to flex. The directive comes after months of complaints from other teams that the front wing of the McLaren in particular flexes more than what is allowed, despite it regularly passing the FIA load tests.

    As a result, most teams brought new front wings to the race, there were a couple of exceptions, McLaren being one. Instead of a whole new wing, they modified their existing wing. There was speculation around the grid that the directive would impact McLaren the most. Judging by the times from practice, qualifying and the relatively untroubled race, it seems that is not the case.

    Stroll Out

    Other news came post qualifying. Aston Martin announced Lance Stroll would miss the race due to needing surgery on the hand he injured several years ago. Rumours are that he may not make his home race in Canada with Valteri Bottas waiting to take his place. One amusing fact is, if Bottas does replace him, he will have a 5-place grid drop following a penalty that was handed to him after the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

    Results

    1stOscar Piastri11thLiam Lawson
    2ndLando Norris12thGabriel Bortoleto
    3rfCharles Leclerc13thYuki Tsunoda
    4thGeorge Russell14thCarlos Sainz
    5thNico Hulkenberg15thFranco Colapinto
    6thLewis Hamilton16thEstaban Ocon
    7thIsack Hadjar17thOliver Bearman
    8thPierre GaslyDNFKimi Antonelli
    9thFernando AlonsoDNFAlex Albon
    10thMax VerstappenDNSLance Stroll

    Race Rating: 4/10

    What’s next?

    Canada is up next, I always look forward to the Canadian Grand Prix. Its a traditional circuit that is fast and unforgiving. Throw in the changeable weather and it always makes for a great race.

    Let me know what you think below:

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  • Monaco Grand Prix

    Image obtained from F1.com

    Boring!

    To try and get away from the race in Monaco being a precession, the FIA introduced a mandatory two stop race. The hype was there before the race; the TV pundits were pondering when people would stop and what strategies the teams might employ. What was to come, I don’t think anyone except the teams considered.

    Instead of throwing some intrigue and strategy into the race, what we got was a grid of drivers driving as slowly as they could. At one point Norris in the lead was lapping almost 10 seconds a lap slower than his qualifying lap and some drivers were going even slower. It seemed the race strategy was to sacrifice the lower placed driver to get them to hold as many people up as possible, to generate a large enough gap for the lead driver to pit comfortably. It was an absolute shower of sh!t.

    Has F1 Outgrown Monaco?

    In short yes. The current era of F1 cars are too long, too heavy and too wide and with 2026 regulation changes coming, it is only going to get worse. The streets of Monaco are simply not wide enough to get past, all the lead driver needs to do is sit in the middle of the road and its game over. With the drivers lapping so slowly, it also takes out any jeopardy of mistakes and accidents happening after the opening laps.

    What really grinds my gears is the fact you have other historic tracks that produce some great racing, that are constantly fighting to keep their place on the grid. In my opinion, it is criminal that circuits like Silverstone and Spa are always at risk of being dropped off the calendar and yet this circuit, that has not produced a decent race in years, seemingly is impervious. We all know the reason for this, it’s because of the people the event attracts. The rich and famous, most of whom don’t pay to attend and don’t care about the sport.

    Formula Time Trial

    Considering this is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport, this weekend’s race saw the drivers driving as slow as they possibly could. Don’t get me wrong this happens regularly at other races, but this race with the introduction of the mandatory pit stops has exasperated the formula time trial experience the fans get.

    There seems to have also been some confusion for the fans at the race, many of whom seemed to be unaware of the regulation change for the race, with many fans left puzzled as to why Verstappen pitted from the lead with 1 lap to go.

    Redemption for Norris

    Norris secured a stunning pole for the race with the fastest ever lap around the principality. He followed it up with what was really a comfortable win, Leclerc never really looked like he was able to keep up with the McLaren and the only real time for concern was when he was behind Verstappen, who left it as late as possible to make his final pit stop, hoping for a safety car which never came.

    Around the grid

    Everyone else pretty much finished where they started. Alonso suffered an engine failure after running strongly in the top 10 and Gasly retired after running into the back of Tsunoda on the 7th lap.

    A shout out to Hadjar who is proving me wrong by having another solid race, he was helped by his teammate holding everyone up but he made no mistakes and achieved the best result he could.

    Results

    1stLando Norris11thGeorge Russell
    2ndCharles Leclerc12thOliver Bearman
    3rfOscar Piastri13thFranco Colapinto
    4thMax Verstappen14thGabriel Bortoleto
    5thLewis Hamilton15thLance Stroll
    6thIsack Hadjar16thNico Hulkenberg
    7thEstaban Ocon17thYuki Tsunoda
    8thLiam Lawson18thKimi Antonelli
    9thAlex AlbonDNFFernando Alonso
    10thCarlos SainzDNFPierre Gasly

    Race Rating: 1/10

    What’s next?

    Barcelona is next up, it will be the last time the Spanish Grand Prix will be held in Barcelona for some time with the introduction of a boring street race in Madrid for 2026.

    Let me know what you think below:

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  • Miami Grand Prix

    Image obtained from BBC Sport

    Piastri Hatrick Hero!

    Oscar Pastri became the first McLaren driver since Mika Hakkinen (Jerez 97, Australia 98 & Brazil 98) to win 3 races in a row. A mind-blowing stat, which shows the torrid time McLaren have had in the years since. It was a win that was in some ways gifted to him, due to the shenanigans on the first lap. He made the most of the opportunity given to him and in the superior car, once he got past Max, he was never really going to be trouble.

    Norris and Verstappen Clash Again

    Verstappen out braked himself into turn one which allowed Norris through, it looked like Norris was ahead going into the slight right hand of turn two but was forced off by another aggressive defensive move, the stewards however saw nothing wrong with the move. The incident cost Norris a potential lead and a potential win, he dropped down to 6th and by the time he got back into second Piastri was to far ahead.

    “But it is the way it is with Max, it’s crash or don’t pass”

    Lando Norris on the incident with Verstappen

    Norris was understandably frustrated with Verstappen after the race, but he needs to reassess how he approaches these battles with him. In my opinion he should have had the foresight to know that he was going to be squeezed out, he had the far superior car. He should have taken a step back and waited to get him a few laps later, that’s easy to say sat on the sofa. After watching the battle had with Piastri and compare that to his battle with Norris, I do feel that he tries to push Norris further than he does others. I don’t know if it’s because they are friends or if he knows that he can get easily get into his head and bully him, but I would like to see Norris be a bit more aggressive towards him, but he needs to try and be smarter.

    Tea Break Time at Ferrari

    As the race weekends go by it seems to be getting worse for Hamilton and Ferrari. This weekend the traditional slowness of Ferrari’s decision making potentially cost them more points, they left the decision to allow Hamilton past Leclerc go for far too long. Hamilton cooked his tyres and could make no significant in-roads on Antonelli and eventually gave the place back to Leclerc.

    Hamilton on team radio asked if the team were having a tea break and it transpires that they told Hamilton they would be swapping positions but failed to relay that message to Leclerc. Towards the end of the race as Hamilton let Leclerc back past, he sarcastically asked if he was to allow Sainz past as well.

    There are bigger problems at Ferrari however, the car is not consistent, and the Miami weekend has been their weakest showing of the season so far. They are quickly losing ground to Mercedes and Red Bull.

    Antonelli Shines in Sprint Quali

    Antonelli produced a great showing in Sprint qualifying. He became the youngest driver to take a pole position in F1, although records in the sprint technically do not count towards the main overall statistics in F1 it is still a great accomplishment. Unfortunately, both races did not go his way, and he fell back down the order.

    Around the grid

    The crisis at Red Bull just a few races ago appears to have been a knee jerk reaction to a bad weekend. The car is clearly more suited to Verstappen’s style, and he clearly gets more out of it, but it is by no means a slow car. Take McLaren out of the equation and Verstappen would lead the championship.

    Mercedes had a strong weekend, although qualifying is clearly their strength. Russell benefited from the VSC around his pit window that pushed him into 3rd.

    Williams have had another strong weekend. Albon scored decent points and Sainz also finished in the points, they solidify their position as the top of the midfield teams. Hopefully they can carry this form on the rest of the season, but it just shows what is possible when you put two top drivers in the car and you don’t have to spend each weekend rebuilding it.

    Since the Miami race, Alpine have a new Team Principle and driver. I said before the season started that it wouldn’t be long before Colapinto was in the race seat and I wasn’t wrong. I will cover that in more detail in another post.

    Not much else to say for the other teams really, Hadjar had another strong showing. The race was a race of two halves. The second part of the race was a bit flatter, and the grandstands looked empty towards the end.

    Results

    1stOscar Piastri11thIsack Hadjar
    2ndLando Norris12thEstaban Ocon
    3rfGeorge Russell13thPierre Gasly
    4thMax Verstappen14thNico Hulkenberg
    5thAlex Albon15thFernando Alonso
    6thKimi Antonelli16thLance Stroll
    7thCharles LeclercDNFLiam Lawson
    8thLewis HamiltonDNFGabriel Bortoleto
    9thCarlos SainzDNFOliver Bearman
    10thYuki TsunodaDNFJack Doohan

    Race Rating: 6/10

    What’s next?

    A couple of weeks off again and we head back to Europe for a triple header of Imola, Barcelona and Monaco.

    Let me know what you think below:

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  • Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

    Image obtained from Autosport.com

    Is Piastri now the early title favourite?

    Piastri has now won three of the first five races and leads the championship heading to Miami. Ever since coming into F1 Piastri has impressed me with his cool head and typical Aussie laid back attitude. Nothing seems to break his stride and cause him to lose his cool. Ultimately this race was decided by the penalty Verstappen received for the turn 1 incident, Piastri did what was needed to make sure he took the lead when Verstappen pitted and then never really looked troubled, he even managed to pull of an amazing overtake on Lewis Hamilton. It’s this ability to keep calm that for me puts him at the front of the contenders for the title. He’s in the fastest car (for now) and for the moment he has the upper hand on his teammate, who looks to be having a mental crisis.

    Norris produces a great recovery drive amid mental turmoil.

    After a qualifying crash which meant he would start in 10th Norris produced a great drive that saw him only just miss out on a podium position. He had some great battles on track, although he probably lost too much time behind Hamilton, I personally think the thing that cost him a podium was Leclerc going longer on the medium tyres than anyone else meaning his tyre “offset” wasn’t as big vs the other drivers that pitted earlier.

    He drops to second in the championship and now needs to use the break until Miami to reset and try to figure out how he can prepare better mentally and become stronger. There is still a long way to go in this championship, but I am confident he can bounce back. He will hopefully be buoyed that Miami was where he got his first win last season, and the McLaren should be good. He has the speed and the pace, he just needs to iron out the small mistakes he has made the last couple of races. I do think however he still needs to look at who he is surrounding himself with and potentially make some changes there for people who are going to help him grow stronger mentally. I don’t think I have seen such a talented quick driver question their ability so often.

    Turmoil at Red Bull, What Turmoil?

    A week on from the reported crisis at Red Bull, Verstappen once again showed his class by sticking the RB on pole. Had he not had the first corner incident, he could well have won the race, although I do think Piastri had enough to keep him at bay. The Red Bull car is obviously a tricky beast to tame, but it clearly isn’t terrible. Tsunoda made it into Q3 which was the first time both Red Bulls made it into Q3 for some time and Bahrain aside, they have still been regular challengers to McLaren.

    I must mention the first corner incident and resulting penalty. I do think Max was at fault and I think the penalty he received was quite lenient. I will say at this point I have never agreed with the 5 second penalty because if you have the car underneath you, you can negate that quite easily. There were a couple of examples of similar moves into turn one that didn’t result in a driver going straight on to keep the place. The problem with Max is he will not yield the position, now in this instance some drivers pull out of the move and let him stay ahead because they are worried at getting a penalty or worse, crashing. Piastri clearly isn’t one of those drivers and Max appears he may have met his match in that instance.

    For me with the first corner incident, the fact is, if there were grass or gravel in place instead of a tarmac run off, he wouldn’t be out there for risk of damaging the car. I am surprised they don’t do more to deter drivers from cutting the first corner by putting speed bumps or something down, like what they do at Monza. By having nothing there it encourages the driver that its ok to cut the corner. Max probably thought he would have the pace to pull away from Piastri in the clean air to negate the penalty, but on this occasion didn’t.

    A round up of elsewhere

    The largest talking point of the race was clearly the battle at the front. Elsewhere there was a bit of action but largely the top 10 finishers were the same top 10 as qualifying.

    Mercedes appears to be quick in qualifying but struggle during the race. A quick word on Antonelli, he seems to be going about his job at Mercedes quietly and solidly although he hasn’t set the world alight yet and is being consistently outperformed by Russell. It’s good for Mercedes though because he’s picking up points and not smashing the car to bits, which is what I was worried about after his crash at Monza last season.

    Hamilton continues to struggle to get the best out of his Ferrari. It’s always hard to be immediately quick in a new car and new team but I am surprised that he has struggled this much. I can see the relationship start to sour if he cannot get over this sooner rather than later. Hopefully some planned upgrades will help his cause.

    Hadjar had another solid race scoring a point. He has shown that he can be consistent and quick. The VCARB car is clearly quicker over one lap than in the race, but he should be happy with his start in F1

    Williams had a strong showing, scoring a double points finish with some great team work to keep Hadjar at bay. They already have more points this season than they scored for the entire of 2024 and it must be a small relief for them to not have to rebuild the car every week. They still look like the “best of the rest” and hopefully they can build on a solid start going forward.

    Aston Martin are playing down the impact Adrian Newey will have this year and are saying that he is focusing on 2026 instead. Alonso has been suspiciously calm and collected, we have seen before when he is in a subpar car, he is not afraid to air his opinions, and this Aston Martin is not a good car. I suspect he is probably also focusing on 2026 and hoping Newey can produce a winner.

    Alpine could have been on to score some decent points had Gasly not been taken out by Tsunoda. Doohan on the other hand is some way off his teammate. Rumour has it that he was going to be given 5 races before being evaluated, but that has changed slightly after his accident in Japan. I think time is starting to tick for him and if he doesn’t get closer to Gasly soon, he will be replaced before the summer break.

    Results

    1stOscar Piastri11thFernando Alonso
    2ndMax Verstappen12thLiam Lawson
    3rfCharles Leclerc13thOliver Bearman
    4thLando Norris14thEstaban Ocon
    5thGeorge Russell15thNico Hulkenberg
    6thKimi Antonelli16thLance Stroll
    7thLewis Hamilton17thJack Doohan
    8thCarlos Sainz18thGabriel Bortoleto
    9thAlex AlbonDNFYuki Tsunoda
    10thIsack HadjarDISPierre Gasly

    Race Rating: 5/10

    What’s next?

    A couple of weeks off which some of the drivers will need to refresh their mindset, but more importantly a couple of weeks off for the other team members that make it all happen. Miami is next.

    Let me know what you think below:

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  • Bahrain Grand Prix

    Image obtained from F1.com

    Bahrain Shows The Importance of DRS

    Whilst the Japanese Grand Prix was a snooze fest, the Bahrain Grand Prix proved slightly more entertaining with some decent amount of action up and down the field. What it does highlight however, is the reliance of DRS for any chance of meaningful overtaking. The track has 3 DRS zones compared to Japan that has 1, and highlights that the current generation of F1 cars are not very good at “racing”. The race was refreshed towards the end with a safety car that brought some closer racing for the closing stages. Piastri always looked in control and was never put under pressure. Could we have a new favourite for the title?

    Does Lando lack the mental strength to become champion?

    After a poor qualifying, Norris was rather down beat afterwards, sure sixth on the grid isn’t great but in a car that in race trim at least is clearly quicker than everyone else, it shouldn’t be the end of the world. We have seen Max and Hamilton many a time come from much further back to finish a race on the podium.

    Norris during the interview suggested that his issues lay within his head, and he looked very depressed. It’s made me wonder whether he has the mental strength to succeed in a tight championship fight. If you look at other drivers like Max, Alonso, Schumacher, Raikkonen, Pastri and many more they never seem to be too fazed by anything, or at least that’s how they appear in front of the media. I don’t mention Hamilton because he does tend to wear his heart on his sleeve, however he rarely questions his own mental strength in front of the cameras.

    I don’t know who Norris surrounds himself with outside of F1, but if it were me I would be associating with people that can help nurture and improve my mental strength. The problem with being a star is finding the right people to associate with, there are a lot of snakes out there that will just want his money and won’t have his best interests at heart. My suggestion to him would be to take stock on who he associates with and make sure to weed out anyone just there for a free ride. If he can’t find a way to improve his mental strength, he needs to try and manage it better and not let it show to the world, else he may see this year’s title, slip through his fingers, despite McLaren protecting him.

    Turmoil at Red Bull

    It’s been a mixed start for RB, they have a couple of podiums including a win in Japan and they have swapped the second drivers around. Tsunoda should have been given the seat in the first place in my opinion, and it will be interesting to see how he compares to Max. The team however had a nightmare in Bahrain. Starting in practice they looked miles off the McLaren pace and they both qualified poorly and then in the race they both had issues in the pits with the traffic light (bring back the lollipop man) which caused them to lose places.

    Sky Sports reported after the race that there was a rather heated discussion between key personnel in RB and Max’s manager. The problem when you have so much continued success is it is hard to let that go. It’s the natural cycle in F1, one team dominates for a couple of seasons, other teams eventually catch up and surpass them and then the regulations change and so the cycle begins again. Max has had his was for so long, like Hamilton before him and Vettel before him, maybe it’s time he had a new challenge and move teams like Hamilton did. Red Bull have obviously been hit by the controversy last season and the loss of key personnel to other teams which has exasperated their decline. What Horner and Markko will be saying is “we need to get through this tough spell together, but we look strong for 2026”.

    Max is clearly not going to leave mid-season, but rumours are that he is already losing confidence as the upgrades that have come, so far have not worked. It will be interesting to see what happens for 2026, no doubt he will have a get out clause, however I can’t see which team would have him. Any team that has him will have to be prepared to upset the apple cart. Ferrari are likely to be happy with Leclerc and Hamilton, so far, they seem to get on and don’t attract much wrong attention towards the team. McLaren are happy with Nozza and Piastri and Max won’t go to Mercedes unless George is outed. The only viable place I could see him is Aston Martin, but they are having their own issues at the moment, and you would assume he’d replace Alonso.

    Ferrari strategy costs them again.

    Finally, a note on the Ferrari strategy calls this race. Initially rejecting Leclerc’s calls to go on the hard tyre looked like a strong shrewd strategy call. The hard tyre was clearly not a good tyre for anyone using it. Unfortunately, at the safety car they put both drivers on it and it cost Leclerc a podium, not long after pitting both drivers complained they had no grip. They couldn’t run another set of mediums, having started on them and then fitting another set at the first pitstops, but the soft tyre in the early stages lasted well and I can’t help but think in the latter stages on lower fuel, they would have been even better.

    A round up of elsewhere

    William had a race to forget, Sainz retired with damage and was then given a 10 place for the next race after failing to serve his time penalty for causing a collision.

    Nico Hulkenberg was disqualified after the race for having excessive wear on his plank under his car

    Results

    1stOscar Piastri11thKimi Antonelli
    2ndGeorge Russell12thAlex Albon
    3rfLando Norris13th Isack Hadjar
    4thCharles Leclerc14thJack Doohan
    5thLewis Hamilton15th Fernando Alonso
    6thMax Verstappen16thLiam Lawson
    7thPierre Gasley17thLance Stroll
    8thEstaban Ocon18thGabriel Bortoleto
    9thYuki TsunodaDNFCarlos Sainz
    10thOliver BearmanDISNico Hulkenberg

    Race Rating: 6/10

    What’s next?

    Short week before the Saudi GP, not expecting this one to be a barn stormer but we will see.

    Let me know what you think below:

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  • Australian Grand Prix

    Image obtained from F1.com

    F1 is back baby!

    The 2025 season got under way this past weekend with Australia raising the curtain, something that they haven’t done for several years.

    With Albert Park being quite a niche circuit, it is still difficult really to get a real feel of the pecking order, I don’t think we will really find out the complete order for a couple of races. I think we can all agree that Haas seem to be struggling, both cars scored points last year, this year they finished last.

    The changeable conditions caught out several drivers both rookies and experienced alike, it added a bit of intrigue to the race however it also made it a bit slow and stuttery. An F1 car is never designed to run in the wet it is however clear that with the torque and power the cars have, once they go in the wet it’s very hard to keep it under control. This may well get worse next season with more electrical power being applied.

    A race of crashes and a tough weekend for the rookies

    In a weekend of crashes, it was the rookies that had the lion’s share of them. Albert Park is a tough street circuit and will punish you if you make a mistake. It’s not an easy circuit to master for a green driver and I am sure they would have much preferred Bahrain as the first race of the season.

    Bearman at least kept his crashes to practice, however come qualifying when his gear box failed, one must assume it was a knock on from the shunt in practice. Antonelli damaged the underside of his car during Q1 and compromised himself which meant he couldn’t progress any further.

    Hadjar crashed on the formation lap before Jack Doohan and Bortoletto crashed and Lawson almost with a carbon copy of Hadjar also crashed out. Hadjar was quite dismayed and embarrassed about what happened, however the fact that the conditions also caught out Sainz behind the safety car and Alonso as well as Lawson in a similar fashion, I think he will take some solace from.

    McLaren lead the way

    I know I said it’s hard to call the order after the first race, there were some hints that McLaren were possibly hiding some pace. Firstly, the gap in qualifying was larger than what I thought it would be. It was quite close in Q1 & Q2 then the run on the new softs in Q3 was almost half a second quicker than the Red Bull. The other tell tail sign that the car has significant performance was during the first stage of the race on the intermediate tyres. Verstappen seemed to be keeping up well, made a mistake and he was gone. His tyres seemed to be shot, whilst both McLarens scampered off into the distance. The biggest hint was when everyone had pitted for dry tyres, they both pitted and went onto the hard compound with Verstappen on the medium. Normally you would expect McLaren to be at a disadvantage here with the conditions at the time and the fact that the harder tyre is slower to warm up. I expected Verstappen to put them under pressure and potentially pass them, however the opposite happened, and both cars again started to pull away.

    Finally, Piastri managed to go from 13th to 9th, obviously he was helped by unlapping himself during the safety car, however he showed great pace and pulled off a couple of fantastic overtakes without really looking like he was throwing the car about.

    Williams best of the midfield?

    Williams showed well all weekend and although you shouldn’t read too much into practice it was no surprise to me when the qualified well. I think Williams are going to finally move forward this year with two drivers that can be competitive and know how to score points. Albon finished 4th thanks to a penalty for Antonelli, which would later be rescinded dropping Albon back to 5th. It meant that had he scored almost as many points in the first race as he managed all season last year. The only negative to come out the weekend was Sainz’s crash behind the safety car, a bit embarrassing but without that crash they were on for a good points haul. Hopefully the pace in the car isn’t a one off and they can carry on as they started.

    Out for a Stroll

    I Just wanted to add that Lance Stroll quietly went about his weekend and ended up getting a positive result for Aston Martin. He may have benefited from some of the accidents however, he kept his nose clean and scored some solid points.

    Results

    1stLando Norris11thPierre Gasly
    2ndMax Verstappen12thYuki Tsunoda
    3rfGeorge Russell13thEstaban Ocon
    4thKimi Antonelli14thOliver Bearman
    5thAlex AlbonDNFLiam Lawson
    6thLance StrollDNFGabriel Bortoleto
    7thNico HulkenbergDNFFernando Alonso
    8thCharles LeclercDNFCarlos Sainz
    9thOscar PiastriDNFJack Doohan
    10thLewis HamiltonDNSIsack Hadjar

    Race Rating: 6/10

    What’s next?

    It’s been a long time since we had the first race of the season and then had to wait 6 weeks for the next race. The teams have a few days to turn round and get to China. Could be an interesting race, it’s a proper circuit and we may see some more “normal” running orders. Also, those that suffered crash damage could be short on spares with such a quick turnaround. One thing though is the Chinese Grand Prix can produce some entertaining races.

    Let me know what you think below:

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  • F1 Testing Day 1

    The 2025 F1 Season officially started yesterday with the first of three days of testing in Bahrain

    The first day saw all drivers take part and one of the key things to note, was reliability. None of the teams seemed to suffer any major reliability issues that caused them to lose any significant time, and most teams managed a good number of laps.

    HaaS160
    VCARB154
    Mercedes148
    Ferrari141
    Alpine140
    Red Bull132
    Williams131
    Mclaren118
    Kick114
    Aston Martin88

    McLaren will obviously take the headline for topping the session, but we all know that testing means nothing, and we won’t know the true order until we get to Australia. However, the car does look good. From the onboards there isn’t much wheel spin, and it seems very planted through the corners.

    McLaren, unlike some of the other teams have not made any radical changes, Zak Brown has said that whilst it looks the same as last year there are plenty of new innovations on the car that have not been seen, and rumour has it that they have gained 4 tenths on last year’s car. The other three teams at the front have all tried something different this year, Ferrari have changed their suspension layout, Red Bull have re-designed the front of the car to improve their understeer issues and Mercedes are trying something different, which they are trying to keep under wraps.

    The rest of the field look quite close again. Alpine are certainly having a better start to testing than they were this time last year which is positive. Aston Martin, although completing the lowest number of laps look solid and I would say so far, the car looks better than last season. The remaining teams all look like they have made improvements on this time last season but what the order will be is hard to guess

    Unusually there were no red flags brought out by cars stopped on track, however there was a lengthy stop after the power to the circuit was lost which was slightly embarrassing. As a result, the session was extended so the teams could recuperate the lost running time, and all the rookies got through the session without issues save for the odd spin and running wide at some corners.

    This is how the first day ended.

    1) Lando Norris, McLaren, 1:30.430, 52 laps

    2) George Russell, Mercedes, 1:30.587, 70 laps

    3) Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:30.674, 74 laps

    4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1:30.878, 71 laps

    5) Carlos Sainz, Williams, 1:30.955, 68 laps

    6) Pierre Gasly, Alpine, 1:31.353, 72 laps

    7) Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, 1:31.428, 78 laps

    8) Liam Lawson, Red Bull, 1:31.560, 58 laps

    9) Alex Albon, Williams 1:31.573, 63 laps

    10) Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls, 1:31.610, 78 laps

    11) Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls, 1:31.631, 76 laps

    12) Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber, 1:31.690, 59 laps

    13) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 1:31.834, 70 laps

    14) Jack Doohan, Alpine 1:31.841, 68 laps

    15) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 1:31.874, 46 laps

    16) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 1:31.949, 42 laps

    17) Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 1:32.084, 66 laps

    18) Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, 1:32.169, 55 laps

    19) Esteban Ocon, Haas, 1:33.600, 88 laps

    20) Oliver Bearman, Haas, 1:35.522, 72 laps

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  • F1 75 Live Event

    Jack Whitehall presented the F1 75 event at the O2 in London. During the event to celebrate 75 years of Formula 1, the teams were unveiling their liveries for the upcoming season.

    The event was opened by MGK, who is famous in the F1 world for snubbing Martin Brundle a couple of years ago on the grid for the Brazilian Grand Prix. That weekend it was also reported that MGK had left the race before it had even reached half distance. For me, it shows how far away from F1 is from fans and what they want. At an event celebrating F1, surely you want people that are fans of F1? MGK doesn’t really strike me as an F1 fan.

    What followed the opening performance was an evening of some cringey uncomfortable interviews and innuendos about Aston Martins Mike Krack. There we’re some lighter moments however when Jack Whitehall asked Gordon Ramsay about the ban on swearing on team radio.

    “These athletes push themselves to the extreme, so sometimes when it comes out, let them be real, let it go. Come on. They’re risking their life every time, traveling over 200 Miles per hour. So, if the s*** hits the fan..”

    Gordon Ramsay

    The latter part of the comment caused Whitehall’s microphone to mysteriously go off and we didn’t hear what else was said.

    The other thing I didn’t like was the booing. With its pandering to drama, F1 has attracted a whole new fan base to the sport and some of them like to boo. Having been a fan of F1 since 98, watching through the Schumacher dominance and controversies, I never heard regular booing until the last 10 years. Obviously, the booing was mainly reserved for Verstappen and Christian Horner, for me real F1 fans have a respect for all drivers for what they do and what some of them have achieved. If you want to boo, go back to the football terraces because it does not belong in F1. Whilst F1 drivers may not be as gladiatorial as some of their predecessors, they still should be respected. I will add to this that the FIA also got booed which did make me laugh, but it serves them right for trying to control everything.

    One thing I did find interesting was a quick shot of Christian and Gerri Horner at the table, with someone sat in-between them.

    Looking at the liveries, they were revealed in championship order starting from 10th onwards. VCARB won the evening for me and Red Bull was the worst. Although I do like the Red Bull livery, it is absolutely the same as it always is. I was expecting more teams to have more unpainted black carbon fibre so they can save a couple of grams in weight, but most cars seemed to be well covered in paint. Here is my rank of best to worst livery of the evening.

    1. VCARB
    2. McLaren
    3. Williams
    4. Ferrari
    5. Mercedes
    6. Aston Martin
    7. Haas
    8. Stake
    9. Alpine
    10. Red Bull

    It was good to see Hamilton in Ferrari red and I am really looking forward to seeing how he does. I hope F1 doesn’t make this an annual event, it’s a bit much really for a livery reveal. We have seen a couple of the new cars showcased from the teams on their preseason filming days, but the majority of the new cars won’t be shown until we get to testing next week.

    Please let me know what you think in the comments.

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  • Should F1 Revise its Point Scoring Positions?

    I was talking to a friend the other day about the point system that is in F1 currently. In this post, we will discuss points for the main race and will ignore the sprint and the point awarded for fastest lap.

    The Current State of Play

    If you don’t know this is the breakdown of the current points scoring positions:

    1st – 256th – 8
    2nd – 187th – 6
    3rd – 158th – 4
    4th – 129th – 2
    5th – 1010th – 1

    Is Anything Changing for 2025?

    In short, no. There was a discussion earlier on in 2024, to increase the points scoring positions from 1st-10th to 1st-12th. However, when it was put to a vote, it was unanimously decided by the F1 Commission to not make any changes.

    What Is My Opinion?

    For 2025 it means that the midfield teams will continue to struggle to make any headway in the championship. Whilst its right to reward success, it’s also right to not reward failure. It’s a hard line to take but let me explain my why I think that way.

    Firstly, I remember watching a Practice Session on Sky and hearing David Croft say he thinks all cars that finish should score points. I don’t agree with this because if all cars finish the race, I do not believe you should reward a driver/ team for finishing dead last. The whole aim of the game in F1 is to push the boundary and try to make your way up that grid. In my opinion if you have point’s all the way down the finishing positions, for me it gives teams less of an incentive to improve and it gives them less of a target to work towards.

    On the flip side however, the reliability of the cars in F1 now, particularly from the top 4 teams is almost bullet proof. I had a quick look through last season’s results and for a large part of the season (save for the odd occasion) the top 8 scoring positions were taken by drivers from Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes. That means 60% of the F1 grid are fighting for 2-point scoring positions. The reliability in F1 now is the highest it has been for as long as I can remember, and this might partially be down to the way the cars are driven these days. It feels that 90% of races these days are more of a time trial than a race, the drivers are more focused on saving tyres and fuel than they are racing. Obviously, technology has also come a long way since I started watching F1 in 1998 when you’d regularly see engines or gearboxes let go, but I also feel this generation of cars are not pushed to the limit of tolerances as often as they used to be.

    The midfield is so tightly packed that I personally think the points positions should be extended out to 12th or 13th, it would give the teams more fruits for their labour without rewarding someone for finishing last 30seconds behind the car in front and it could also lead to some more interesting battles in the middle of the pack. It’s an interesting topic of conversation and I would love to be able to see what others think. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

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