I thought I heard they won't be that much slower. We will see I guess. Yeah I expect a shake up in the orders.
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2025 Formula One Season Thread
- Thread starter The-Real-Deal82
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I thought I heard they won't be that much slower. We will see I guess. Yeah I expect a shake up in the orders.
It’s not limited to F1. Autosport and TheRace do a very good job with their forums.
yeah... It is a shame but after he/we was/were told at the end of last that he would be the 2025 champion and then when the season didn't start out that way... and seemed to be cajoled to fit that prediction...
Yeah I've been on Autosport for 25 years and rarely visit as it got very toxic during the Red Bull/Vettel era.
Thats not Lando's fault though, he did what he had to. The new regs will perhaps mix the order up next season and this may have been McLaren's last chance for a while to challenge for a title, but I hope I'm wrong.
Helmut Marko is retiring at the end of the year.
And it looks like Lando Norris will drive with the #1 on his car in 2026.
And it looks like Lando Norris will drive with the #1 on his car in 2026.
Actually, if you listen to McLaren, the issue was that they ran the car too high and the ground effects caused unexpected porpoising. If they had ran the car at normal height, they may actually have been fine.
Very interesting. I didn’t see this coming. I wonder if Mekies said enough of this?
This opens up allot of possibilities for Max in 2027. Or maybe not. He does seem quite happy with Mekies at the helm.
Moderation is quite a bit more than back then though. At least IMO anyway.
It's sad that Max didn't get the 5th. Of course it was it own fault by road-raging Russell, (also shame on Redbull to use the hard tires on that occasion). But, just based on the level of entertainment that he brings to the sport, it was a well deserved reward.
I don't have great hopes for the Ford power unit, and sadly I believe that RB would be a midfield team. Hopefully I'm completely wrong.
But with that prospect I don't think that Max will be driving much longer than 2026 and it's a shame since it was probably the only driver adding some fun action to the F1.
I don't have great hopes for the Ford power unit, and sadly I believe that RB would be a midfield team. Hopefully I'm completely wrong.
But with that prospect I don't think that Max will be driving much longer than 2026 and it's a shame since it was probably the only driver adding some fun action to the F1.
The PU is the unknown. I think the chassis will be competitive. From what I’ve read it seems Ford is offering technical support with combustion and electronic controls. We really don’t know how much is being adopted. I still feel Ford is mainly just a stamp on the valve covers. It’s still the same engineering team that developed the RBPTH001, 002, and 003. RBPT has allot of former AMG and Honda engineers that have stayed for the new PU. Loosing Honda was a tough one for me. I’ll probably be paying allot of attention to AMR in 2026 as well…
We will have a good idea by the summer break next year. If it’s mid pack then I agree he’s gone. The consensus is he has an exit clause in 2026 if he drops to P4 or below.
If the car can win he probably stays through his 2028. I’m still suspicious of the lousy contract Toto gave George. We just don’t know the performance clauses he has to meet for a 2027 ride.
I really think Max and Toto would like to work together. It’s an empty hole in Toto after 2014 that even Kimi can’t fill.
2026 is going to be all over the place.
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Reports this morning are now saying he has already left the company. Makes sense as they are about to go on the Christmas break. Plus he's about 100 years old isn't he?
The Helmet is gone and young drivers are 'safer' for now.
A very different Red Bull in 2026 as they've said good bye to Newey, Horner and Marko, not to mention the incoming Ford powertrain 😲
They should definitely get back to their roots. Drivers dressing up as superheroes! Imagine Max in a cape!
Looks to me like signing Dunne behind Mekies and Austria’s back was the final straw. Close to $500,0000 payout for the contract void. Could be a very different Red Bull under Mekies in 2026.
Edit: Typo
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They will be as corporate as McLaren or Mercedes-AMG, I imagine. I see these recent moves as Oliver Mintzlaff cleaning house of "the old guard" put in place by Mateschitz to make that happen.
I expect the Red Bull Junior Team will now be managed by a committee and will be much more conservative. So we'll never again see someone like Max plucked from F3 and slotted into the F1 program. I could see drivers needing to serve their time in F3 and F2 and then perhaps an F1 reserve position before finally getting a race seat.
On the positive side, however, those drivers who do make it through will know they will at least serve out the season.
Completely disagree with this, but for positive reasons.
Max was not the first driver to be taken direct from F3, and this was a practice that existed long before the Red Bull Junior program. The biggest hurdle to this at the moment is super license points, which is not something Red Bull could work around anyway.
The Red Bull program should be more conservative, because frankly it does not work. They have achieved success purely by scatter gunning the entire grid with drivers. If you have 4 cars and cycle through drivers quicker than every other team, of course you end up with some success. However, the drivers who have achieved success were not even Red Bull Juniors. Max was only picked up by the Red Bull Junior team 1 year prior to his F1 debut - his entire pre-F1 development came without Red Bull. Vettel was similar - his career was largely funded by BMW, becoming a Red Bull driver the same year as he tested for BMW. The next most successful Red Bull drivers have been Sergio Perez and Mark Webber - neither of whom were Red Bull juniors.
Red Bulls best drivers have been picked up in the traditional ways - pick up a driver from F3 or above, or hire an existing driver. Which is also how McLaren did it with Lando. The actual Red Bull Juniors, who they supported since karting days, have been considerably less successful than two which they picked up later on. The drivers who came through that programme and went onto success actually went on after leaving the program - Carlos Sainz at Ferrari for example.
The last (and perhaps only) drivers to come through a young driver development program to WDC are Hamilton (McLaren) and Rosberg (Mercedes).
And also not have Marko mocking them in interviews like he did with Hadjar after the Australian GP this season. He was out of touch in the modern era and from certain accounts, a nasty piece of work behind the scenes. He had far too much power in that team.
I thought Seb entered the Red Bull driver program in 1998 when he was karting? I read a book on his career a few years ago and remember him having a similar relationship with Red Bull as Lewis did with Mercedes.
Hey, I grew up with NASCAR where you hated a driver (for me it was Earnhardt) more than you liked a driver (Rusty, Mark Martin) and you also hated entire car brands (Chevy). Sure in F1 people hate constructors, but most people can't buy the cars the constructors produce (Ok, maybe a Mercedes, Audi or Cadillac), where in NASCAR people drove the car of their driver.
But in NASCAR's case, at least back in the 80's and 90's, it was still all good fun and you could have a drink with an Earnhardt fan and all was good. Today, I'm not so sure. My daughter was at an F1 race party in LA and she was wearing her Leclerc shirt and some drunk guy called her about every name in the book.
So yeah, getting toxic.
When will we get a 2026 thread where we can discuss the new car and how it is going to be great/suck?
In all walks of life, opinions are more polarised than ever. There is no grey.
I don’t support LeClerk or not support him. Wouldn’t bother me if the person next to me did or didn’t. I’d probably just be happy I found someone I could talk to about F1!
Generally I support the British drivers.
McLaren and Williams would probably be the teams I mostly like to see do well.
But mostly I like to see good (close) racing.
That's just the modern world. It's not acceptable to be nice to people now, you have to stomp all over them otherwise you'll get called the dreaded four letter "w" word.
Count me out of that trend.
Some time, probably late January 2026, as the first of the public testing commences, and the launching of the cars, in early February. There will be, as defined in F1's regulations, a mandatory period of 'down tools', where no work is to be done, or asked to be done. It is in effect for 9 days from 24/12, but most teams will extend time, before and after. Probably something like 19/12 -> 05/01, so there won't be any real news until they get to testing time.
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Law also noted that AMG Powertrains have noted that for the next engine regulation cycle, they plan to provide only two customers, down from the current three.
McLaren is a given to continue and with Alpine/Renault having gone all-in on AMG PUs, they will pay whatever is asked.
So that leaves Williams as the "odd man out", though with James Vowels wanting Williams to be a "fully independent" team and no longer the "Mercedes junior team", he might very well want to move away from AMG if another viable option becomes available.
Can you say the return of Williams-Honda? I sure can!
McLaren is a given to continue and with Alpine/Renault having gone all-in on AMG PUs, they will pay whatever is asked.
So that leaves Williams as the "odd man out", though with James Vowels wanting Williams to be a "fully independent" team and no longer the "Mercedes junior team", he might very well want to move away from AMG if another viable option becomes available.
Can you say the return of Williams-Honda? I sure can!