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2025 Formula One Season Thread
- Thread starter The-Real-Deal82
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What have we learned? We've learned as we do every year that journalists focus a lot of lap times to make predictions without really knowing what the teams are looking for or running. The annual confusion that the pre-season testing is not about qualifying laps and teams showing their hands.
I give The Race credit for acknowledging that lap times are not the be-all, end-all as they note that different track and ambient temperatures and tire compounds and fuel loads all have a major impact on lap times. They do station their reporters at a few corners to watch the cars go through and kind of try and get a feel for how it looks in terms of corner entry and exit balance to try and see which setups/chassis appear to be "working better".
And the first swearing casualty goes to 🤣🤣🤣🤣 🥁🥁🥁
Yup George Russel was swearing. This is too funny. Now, will the FIA give they tell tale best boy a fine?
Yup George Russel was swearing. This is too funny. Now, will the FIA give they tell tale best boy a fine?
So after three days of testing, The Race puts McLaren in first and Sauber in worst. Mercedes and Ferrari look to be the other podium places with Red Bull struggling. Williams and Alpine reversed their 2024 positions, now looking to be best of the midfield with Aston falling back with Racing Bulls and Haas.
The Race has published their team rankings at the end of the Bahrain Test. This is not meant to be a predictor of how the teams will look in Melbourne, but it likely gives a bit of a hint on how that race might play out.
I believe McLaren will be strongest during the start of the season similar to how Red Bull came out of the gate and led early in 2024. As such, McLaren is going to need to decide before Melbourne if they want to just repeat as Constructor's Champion or if they also want to make a serious play for the WDC. If it is the latter, then IMO they need to back Lando to help him win as many of the first six races as he can to build up enough of a lead to protect his title chances as the other teams start closing the gap. I think McLaren will benefit most from the "flexi-wings" and "mini-DRS" the teams are allowed through Monaco, but will only be of real benefit through Miami.
- McLaren
- Mercedes
- Ferrari
- Red Bull
- Williams
- Alpine
- Racing Bulls
- Haas
- Aston Martin
- Sauber
I believe McLaren will be strongest during the start of the season similar to how Red Bull came out of the gate and led early in 2024. As such, McLaren is going to need to decide before Melbourne if they want to just repeat as Constructor's Champion or if they also want to make a serious play for the WDC. If it is the latter, then IMO they need to back Lando to help him win as many of the first six races as he can to build up enough of a lead to protect his title chances as the other teams start closing the gap. I think McLaren will benefit most from the "flexi-wings" and "mini-DRS" the teams are allowed through Monaco, but will only be of real benefit through Miami.
I'll do you one better.
They need to back whomever gets out to the best start.
I'd love to see Lando win the WDC but we already know Oscar would also like a chance.
If they're close to each other after the first 6 then maybe have a discussion and choose a direction, but if one is way out in front then I'd "dance with the one what brung ya"*...
Poor little Carlos...
* An old hillbilly adage.
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Huge pressure on Fred and Ferrari after the Ferrari sweep in WEC this weekend. Should be fun to watch.
Peter Windsor interviewed F1 tech journalist Craig Scarborough on his thoughts after the Bahrain test and he noted that McLaren have made a major change to the steering geometry of the MCL39 that improves the overall aerodynamic efficiency of the front suspension in a way that the other teams will not be able to adopt, as it would require a new chassis and the cost-cap and CFD and wind tunnel restrictions would preclude.
Craig also is of the opinion that the Williams FW47 is more a B-spec FW46 (so an "FW46B"), building off the late-season development done on the FW46 and feels it should be a solid performer. He also believes that the Mercedes W17 has significant development potential and will likely be a fairly stronger car in the latter half of the season.
Craig also is of the opinion that the Williams FW47 is more a B-spec FW46 (so an "FW46B"), building off the late-season development done on the FW46 and feels it should be a solid performer. He also believes that the Mercedes W17 has significant development potential and will likely be a fairly stronger car in the latter half of the season.
I've seen a lot of talk about McLaren looking good again and if that is the case, I hope Andrea Stella is prepared to manage 2 young and eager drivers where neither is going to want to concede. Last season the performance came in the second quarter of the season and they had a shorter window to review orders etc, but this season we could see competitivity from the off. It will be exciting to watch though and the likes of Ferrari also have 2 very competitive drivers on a similar challenge. Mercedes perhaps have a more experienced Russell leading 'for now' and Red Bull have a sole focus in Max and a driver looking to be a consistent number two in Lawson. Looking forward to the first race now.
Wherever Red Ball are in terms of pace I just hope Lawson is faster than Max. Really can’t see it, but you can hope!
Based on it sounding like Red Bull might not have exorcised all the handling demons from last year's car...
That being said, Lawson is said to like a similar car design setup to Max so maybe he will do well...
I think he’ll do better than Perez. Well the accountants might not agree.
It would be cool to see some competition finally within Red Bull, but I have a feeling if Lawson was outqualifying Max, I am not sure they could handle the pressure internally. I seem to recall when Perez outqualified Max, Jos was giving interviews accusing Red Bull of not prioritising his son and the Red Bull PR machine kicked in, along with the Helmet adding his criticism to Checo publicly like the supportive advisor that he is. That was the start of his decline. Then again F1 is a ruthless business and if Lawson turned out to be the next Vettel/Verstappen, Red Bull would show no loyalty, much like they did to Vettel and then Ricciardo and place themselves behind the new protégé. All hypothetcial at this point but I think we need a few heated inter-team battles this season for the viewers benefit lol.
What surprised me was that Red Bull accumulated the fewest laps during the testing (304 in total, compared to Mercedes that did the most with 458). That and the handling issues doesn't sound great for their season preparations.
Wouldn't it be funny if Lewis won the WDC with nothing more than grit and determination? I can kinda see him willing that car to a title.
Lawson prefers a car that is slightly loose as does Max. I haven't seen any evidence that he also prefers the extreme steering input like Max. To me anyway, it looks like McLaren are the only ones that seem comfortable after testing. I'm not one that puts allot of money down on Melbourne based on Pre Season Testing though.
Yes, you can hope.....
The issue was Lawson missing most of of practice on Day 2 from a failed hose on the coolant system. Definitely a lot of data missed from that. That was a mechanical issue more than handling.
An Italian court has ruled that former Ferrari Technical Director Enrico Cardile cannot start any work with Aston Martin before 18 July. Aston was hoping for him to start in January, but Ferrari sued Cardile, claiming he was still on "Gardening Leave" until July.
All standard stuff really, the non-compete clause in any engineers contract is legally binding and I am surprised Aston Martin announced he'd be starting in readiness for the 2025 season. Adrian Newey was excluded from F1 technical meetings at Red Bull the moment he gave in his notice which was last May I believe, so there might be room for him to start in some capacity, but it's usually 12 months. It'll be quite a team there but I don't think Newey will work beyond 2029 judging by what he says.Ferrari is concerned with Max going to AMR in 2026.
Agreed. I was just trying to elicit the laughter reflex.