OK, FP2,. big crash, dude can barely walk and they want him to get into a crappy 4 door sedan... Really should be something a bit more boxey, something a bit more conventional like an ambulance.. but a crappy 5 door 5 seat low coupe!!!
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2025 Formula One Season Thread
- Thread starter The-Real-Deal82
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DRS stuck open on Jack's Alpine, big shunt by the looks.
What is he Doohan?
Not his fault I know.
What is he Doohan?
Not his fault I know.
Evidently it was his fault. Turn One at Suzuka requires DRS to be manually disabled by the driver and Doohan failed to do so. I wonder if he will be in the car in Bahrain...
Tsunoda over all looks pretty good in the Red Bull. He was a tenth back of Max at the end of FP1. He was 2 seconds back in FP2, but with most of the session Red-Flagged he was never able to do a Qualifying simulation run.
Hadjar looking good in both sessions and Lawson picking up his game a fair bit in FP2.
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It was his first fast lap after sitting out FP1 on the first circuit where DRS doesn’t close automatically because of the flat out first corner. Probably his fault, and a costly one, but I hope it doesn’t cost him his seat.
Lawson was only a few tenths behind Max in Shanghai which put him in P20 with how tight the field is this year. It will be interesting to see where Yuki ends up.
Yuki looked better in FP1, but FP2 was not a good indicator with all the stoppages. Interesting to listen to Max during FP. Allot of commentary as to "The Car Twisting." I wonder if they have reintroduced the disconnect between the F and R axels that was a big issue after the Imola Upgrade in 2024?
FP3 has barely started and the grass is on fire already. 
The race looks like it might be a one-stop, but with all these Red Flags in FP2 and perhaps now in FP3, will the teams be able to do realistic race simulation runs to get an idea of tire deg since they still need to do Quali Sim in the final 15 mins or so.
The race looks like it might be a one-stop, but with all these Red Flags in FP2 and perhaps now in FP3, will the teams be able to do realistic race simulation runs to get an idea of tire deg since they still need to do Quali Sim in the final 15 mins or so.
And so FP3 starts and ends with a fire...
Norris on top with Piastri two hundredths back and Russel a tenth.
Yuki again looking real good. Three-tenths back from Max at the end. Both Ferraris, both McLarens and Russell all chasing pole times.
Norris on top with Piastri two hundredths back and Russel a tenth.
Yuki again looking real good. Three-tenths back from Max at the end. Both Ferraris, both McLarens and Russell all chasing pole times.
Quite amusing to see Lawson out qualifying Tsunoda while Max gets pole. Christian’s face must have been a picture and no doubt even more questions about how difficult that car is to drive for new drivers, while be asked over the weekend.
The real story is, how in the hell is a rookie destroying Lawson, because that rookie doesn't have that much more experience with the car. So the difference shouldn't be that big.
But this is also the entire problem of Red Bull. Red Bull never puts top-tier drivers in the Red Bull. Guys of the calibre like Senna and Schumacher could jump into any car and beat their teammates no problem. And Senna and Schumacher were driving much more difficult cars than 2025 cars.
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Surprised to see Max take pole. I thought it would be a McLaren lock out for sure.
Those fires will be interesting during the race. Will make for an interesting pit stop strategy tomorrow.
Lawson out qualifying Yuki is kind of funny. If he finishes in front of him in the race it will be an interesting boardroom on Monday morning!
George quietly doing a good job as race leader at Mercedes. Ferrari just not in contention for pole at any point. Maybe they need to reduce the weight on Charles car and drop Lewis down a mm or two on the ride height? 😀
Those fires will be interesting during the race. Will make for an interesting pit stop strategy tomorrow.
Lawson out qualifying Yuki is kind of funny. If he finishes in front of him in the race it will be an interesting boardroom on Monday morning!
George quietly doing a good job as race leader at Mercedes. Ferrari just not in contention for pole at any point. Maybe they need to reduce the weight on Charles car and drop Lewis down a mm or two on the ride height? 😀
Max Verstappen. Nobody else even comes close. The level of skill required to put the RB21 on Pole is on another level.
FORMULA 1 LENOVO JAPANESE GRAND PRIX 2025 - QUALIFYING
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 1:27.943 | 1:27.502 | 1:26.983 | 17 |
| 2 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | 1:27.845 | 1:27.146 | 1:26.995 | 15 |
| 3 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren Mercedes | 1:27.687 | 1:27.507 | 1:27.027 | 18 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:27.920 | 1:27.555 | 1:27.299 | 21 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:27.843 | 1:27.400 | 1:27.318 | 17 |
| 6 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:27.968 | 1:27.639 | 1:27.555 | 18 |
| 7 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls Honda RBPT | 1:28.278 | 1:27.775 | 1:27.569 | 18 |
| 8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1:27.942 | 1:27.610 | 1:27.610 | 23 |
| 9 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams Mercedes | 1:28.218 | 1:27.783 | 1:27.615 | 20 |
| 10 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas Ferrari | 1:28.228 | 1:27.711 | 1:27.867 | 21 |
| 11 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine Renault | 1:28.186 | 1:27.822 | 12 | |
| 12 | 55 | Carlos Sainz* | Williams Mercedes | 1:28.209 | 1:27.836 | 15 | |
| 13 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | 1:28.337 | 1:27.897 | 12 | |
| 14 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls Honda RBPT | 1:28.554 | 1:27.906 | 12 | |
| 15 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 1:27.967 | 1:28.000 | 12 | |
| 16 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber Ferrari | 1:28.570 | 9 | ||
| 17 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber Ferrari | 1:28.622 | 9 | ||
| 18 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas Ferrari | 1:28.696 | 9 | ||
| 19 | 7 | Jack Doohan | Alpine Renault | 1:28.877 | 9 | ||
| 20 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | 1:29.271 | 5 | ||
Personally, I think Yuki did fine. He was usually right on Max's bum in FP and Q1 which Lawson never was. He had a bad lap when it mattered in Q2, but then so did Norris and Piastri and Russell in Q3.
IMO, Max was fortunate everyone else stuffed their lap. Good for him for man-handling that car to P1, but I predict he is going to get swamped in the race by Oscar, Lando and George and will be off the podium at the end.
Possibly not. Talking about rain so that might play into Max’s hands.
At least it should stop the grass fires if it rains!
Not in the rain.......
If you watch the in car Max was not Man-Handling the car. He gains his advantage with corner entry speeds, braking, car placement, and no mistakes.
His pole lap looked very leisurely from his view.
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The grass fires are incredible. I would think they could find some type of ignition inhibitor to apply that would not be an issue for drainage into the body of water at Turn 1. Maybe not?
Yeah Max carried 20km/h more speed into Turn One than either McLaren.
And if the race is wet, that could help Max or it could hinder considering the understeer and that he took a fair bit of wing off the car to have that speed so he will be running a fair bit lower downforce.
And if the race is wet, that could help Max or it could hinder considering the understeer and that he took a fair bit of wing off the car to have that speed so he will be running a fair bit lower downforce.
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Well that was a race. Nothing much happened.
As Max said to Lando; that is one expensive lawnmower 🤣🤣 Just shows the skills of Max.
As Max said to Lando; that is one expensive lawnmower 🤣🤣 Just shows the skills of Max.
I love Suzuka, I love F1, but no to this bs early season snooze.. That was about the dullest of dull races.. Only 1 something that maybe might have become a talking point, but truly, the whole weekend was shambolic, the race about as interesting as a Ben n Jerry ice cream conference on all types of vanilla ice cream..
Move the race to the wet season, give us something.. We almost had it, but the race started too late.. Can Japan sue for boring???
Move the race to the wet season, give us something.. We almost had it, but the race started too late.. Can Japan sue for boring???
Max has skills? Nope, he is about as talented as Ralf Schumacher or Martin Brundle.. Max is too scared to leave the comfort of daddy Chris and his as I heard recently called "man friday".. Until Max actually matures and becomes race driver in another team, he is just a 1 trick pony..
Wow, the second dull race in a row. The only cool thing is we have 3 different winners in 3 races. McLaren dropped the ball and could have jumped Max in the pitstops but Max did the job well. Suzuka has produced some good racing over the years but this is one to forget.
Well I think this is a combination of a drivers, near perfect driving conditions, and the end of the development cycle.
It’s funny, it’s close now. And people still moan 🤷♂️🤣