especially with Lawson never having driven to Australia or China before
Even for a kiwi driving to Australia is tricky
Even for a kiwi driving to Australia is tricky
Piece of cake, barely an inconvenience: https://maps.app.goo.gl/rfzFGviygsBEF6kBA
Ok, it’s not current F1, but I’m sure it’ll be appreciated.
Proper touring cars
Mansell.
Needel.
Soper.
And Chris Rea…… (don’t remember him being in it BITD)
Proper touring cars
Jesus, I stumbled across this on YouTube, back when men were men, etc.
I'm far from being a Red Bull fan but I'll admit that this looks good https://www.planetf1.com/news/red-bull-honda-white-livery-japanese-grand-prix-2025
Yes special liveries often underwhelm but that ones quite nice and retro without overdoing it. Not as good as the Gulf McLaren though.
I see what they were going for but that just looks a Haas to me. 🤷🏻♂️
Well flabber my gast - Yuki’s made a good showing in FP1
OTOH… Lawson not comparing well to Hadjar. Hopefully more to come from him soon or he’ll be ejected from that seat too
Well flabber my gast - Yuki’s made a good showing in FP1
Yep, I hope he can keep that up.
Well flabber my gast - Yuki’s made a good showing in FP1
I said he'd be alright.
FP2 not so well but a heavily disrupted session (4 red flags) so no one did their planned runnning.
...odds on Colapinto being in that Alpine by the next race!? 😬
****ing hell, 185mph. Are the commentators saying the DRS stuck open or he simply forgot to close it?
edit- according to reddit experts, drivers usually turn in before braking at that corner, so have to manually close DRS before turning in.
From other social media posts I've read I think they are saying he forgot to close it. Because it's a pretty much flat corner it won't close on it's own like it normally does under braking.
If he forgot it's a major balls-up as he would (should) have driven Suzuka in the SIM so missing FP1 is no excuse.
From other social media posts I've read I think they are saying he forgot to close it. Because it's a pretty much flat corner it won't close on it's own like it normally does under braking.
If he forgot it's a major balls-up as he would (should) have driven Suzuka in the SIM so missing FP1 is no excuse.
Yeah, sounds like it. 😔
Here's George's onboard, you can see him cover the button towards the end of the straight, then press it just before turn in.
Biiiig smash though, glad he's alright. amazing how much faster the cars look when you see them crashing out.
Also, lucky that escaped wheel didn't bounce up over the catch fencing
Go Yuki Go!
Well pleased to see him so close to Max in FP1.
I'm guessing he didn't get a proper run-out in FP2.
Fingers crossed he maintains this form.
The Doohan crash does look like he forgot to shut the DRS, which is not great! Looks like a real hard smash. I wonder if they'll get the car back together for FP3?
I wonder if they'll get the car back together for FP3?
Plenty of time for that. They'll just work into the night.
I see a rule change incoming. To have to remember to press a button in order to not have a crash on some of the highest speed parts of the track isn’t exactly ideal.
I see a rule change incoming. To have to remember to press a button in order to not have a crash on some of the highest speed parts of the track isn’t exactly ideal.
Speed Bump? 🤣
I see a rule change incoming. To have to remember to press a button in order to not have a crash on some of the highest speed parts of the track isn’t exactly ideal.
They are pressing buttons and changing settings constantly - this should be innate behaviour for an F1 driver.
They are pressing buttons and changing settings constantly - this should be innate behaviour for an F1 driver.
Confirmed that he didn't deactivate DRS
https://bsky.app/profile/chrismedlandf1.bsky.social/post/3llybbtclc22w
Even the best sometimes **** up button pushing, Hamilton's brake bias, Baku, 2021 springs to mind. Ultimately cost him the championship (as in if he hadn't done that Massi ignoring the rules would have been irrelavent)
Even the best sometimes **** up button pushing, Hamilton's brake bias, Baku, 2021 springs to mind. Ultimately cost him the championship (as in if he hadn't done that Massi ignoring the rules would have been irrelavent)
That was pissing around on the warm up that got him, not something you *have* to do every lap or you go off at 185mph.
Anyway, back to normal running. FFS *insert name of current RB no.2 driver here*. He really needs to give *insert current VCARB driver name here* a hiding tomorrow
Even back in Senna’s day they’d be constantly adjusting brake bias with left hand while changing gear with right hand! Drivers are constantly fiddling with their knobs.
Doohans crash was entirely down to him, he said he tried it in the SIM and it worked - so leaving DRS open was a deliberate action. Costing his team £1.5m in repairs!!
Is the sim thing now confirmed? I’d only seen one iffy source so far. again, none of those things Senna was doing guaranteed a massive crash like removing the bulk of rear downforce does.
OTOH the drivers have asked the FIA to look into it
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-drivers-propose-drs-change-after-jack-doohan-shunt/
Is the sim thing now confirmed?
So, the DRS is deactivated if the driver brakes or lifts off the throttle by a certain amount. Doesn't work for flat-out corners.
That was some lap by Max, he has put that car far above where it deserves to be. I don't really like him but I can also appreciate he is comfortably the fastest and most consistent driver on the grid.
That was some lap by Max, he has put that car far above where it deserves to be. I don't really like him but I can also appreciate he is comfortably the fastest and most consistent driver on the grid
Agree - no way that Red Bull should be ahead of the McLarens.
And Lewis is clearly topping up his pension at Ferrari!
Well done to Kimi too - only a couple of tenths behind George.
And!… Albon putting that Williams in the top ten again! 👍
And!… Bearman too! 😀
Should be a good race, a nice mix in the top ten.
Lewis was only 3/10th behind LeClerc and made a small mistake. The top 15 are all within 1 second of pole on an 87-88 second lap. We’re taking ~1% difference.
George had a lockup as well so was faster than his Q3 position appears, should be a good race.
Gooooooooooooood Morning F1 fan(s)! 😀
How was that not an unsafe release?
(And max DID squeeze him on to the grass!)
Not the most exciting race, hopefully Lando will have a chance to overtake in the last few laps
Classic race is what you mean! Not one for DTS fans! 😀
They should have let Piastri through - throwing a win away now as the McLarens are racing each other.
If he didn’t have the pace to overtake Norri I can’t see how he would have done any better against Verstappen. It would have also handed over the lead in the drivers championship from Norris to Verstappen, so it would be hard to believe that McLaren would have done that
They could have said, swap places and see if you can get Verstappen, if not swap back on last lap. It looked like he had the pace to attack at least, getting past Max is another matter of course 😁
Lando has proven he can’t overtake Max - Max is just too smart for him.
I’ll admit I’m not a huge Lando fan, he just seems a bit lax in his approach.
If Lando can't pass Max and Oscar can't pass Lando, there's not much chance that Oscar can pass Max. Lando outqualified Oscar and led him all race, plus is ahead in the championship, why would McLaren impose team orders?
Well that was dull.
😴 😴 😴 😴 struggled to stay awake through out the race 😴 😴 😴 😴
Was Hamilton the only one in the top ten to overtake someone for a different position from where they qualified?
They were under no threat from behind - there was no risk to trying it.
Let Piastri go and have a go at Max.
if he can’t overtake flip the positions back (as many other teams have done in the past).
If he did overtake he could then try and back Max into Lando.
A safe strategy from McLaren, and history as shown you can’t gift Max wins. Red Bull are getting on top of this seasons car. McLaren can’t assume they’ll have a season long advantage.
Just watched the 1st two laps and then sped up to 6x for the rest. Normal speed for the pit incident which just looked like the McClaren was either unsafe release or just driving hoping that someone had added some new track. Weird.
After a race that promised much, I was disappointed. Did I miss anything, other than an evening watching something else?
Did I miss anything, other than an evening watching something else?
Nope! Probably the most processional "race" I've ever sat thru...
Probably the most processional "race" I've ever sat thru...
It was a pretty typical F1 race. There was tension because any of the top three could have won it up to the final lap if the guys in front made a mistake, but that didn't happen and they finished the way they started.
It was a pretty typical F1 race.
Apart from Hamilton and Hadjar swapping 7th and 8th (and that was almost entirely attributable to Hamiltons' different tyre strategy), the top ten qualifiers finished in exactly the same order as they started. I don't recall* any other on-track overtaking within the top 10 and even during the pit stops, there was little, if any, real changes in position.
Outside of Monaco, has that ever happened before??
Also, there seemed to be no tyre degradation or strategy jeopardy, no mechanical issues, no crashes or red flags. I don't even recall any yellow flags....
The two highlights/controversies were manufactured by McLaren but were non events:
The LN/MV pitlane exit race and the "will they/won't they" swap Norris and Patrasi positions.
So, not what I would call a typical race at all!
* I might have been asleep at various stages of the race
Ha: Patrasi meaning Piastri, obviously!
I thought it was an intriguing race. It had the potential to come alive towards the end but fizzled out.
Max basically controlled the entire field in his slower car, meaning the cars were so close there were no gaps to fall into so everyone stuck with their safe or sub-optimal pit stop strategies.
It's more boring when someone romps off into the distance and has a 20 second lead after 10 laps!
The lack of overtaking was partly due to Pirelli bringing tyres at least 1 step too hard to the race. That meant an easy one stop with no significant degradation of the hards so no opportunity for the cars/drivers that are kinder to their tyres to make a difference. The rain would've spiced things up a bit but that didn't happen and nobody really went off apart from skipping the chicane. I expect this is a blip (apart from Monaco) and Bahrain will serve up more action - though IIRC there was a Bahrain GP a few years back where pretty much nothing changed from lights to flag.
The lack of overtaking was partly due to Pirelli bringing tyres at least 1 step too hard to the race. That meant an easy one stop with no significant degradation of the hards so no opportunity for the cars/drivers that are kinder to their tyres to make a difference. The rain would've spiced things up a bit but that didn't happen and nobody really went off apart from skipping the chicane. I expect this is a blip (apart from Monaco) and Bahrain will serve up more action - though IIRC there was a Bahrain GP a few years back where pretty much nothing changed from lights to flag.
Yes I think you're right there. It's a tough track to overtake at in a recent F1 car anyway, and the chilly weather & too hard compound nullified the tyre differences. The next 3 races (Bahrain, Saudi & Miami) are much warmer so should be more normal in that regard.
I think the cars are also starting to get more sensitive to dirty air again (and/or they're chucking out more dirty air).
