re: 2025 Formula 1 Season Thread

Should’ve promoted Yuki and not Lawson.

quote:

---

Great race. Although Sainz crashing under safety car was a big bummer. Glad Albon killed it. Going to be fun rooting for Williams this year, hopefully they can be consistently in the points.

---

I'm rooting for Williams as well in the mid-field. Great driver lineup this year and one of the storied teams in F1 history

quote:

---

Looks like everyone was a mile and a half behind Lando and Max. How competitive was Max to Lando? Would it have been within a second on a dry day?
Are those two just that much better than the rest? What happened to Piastri?

---

Lando and Piastri had left everyone else for dead and lapped the field until another rain shower almost ruined both their races into turn 11 or so.
Piastri had it worse and almost got stuck in the wet grass on slicks until he smartly reversed his way out of it and back onto the track. The entire crowd cheered him back onto the track.

Most of the race there was talk about it being McLaren’s 50th 1-2 finish in their history. They’ll get plenty of those this year it seems.

Happy for Williams and Albon.

Was super kind of Anthony Hamilton to find and console Hadjar?

Hope Bearman and Ferrari have a better weekend ahead.

I don’t want to see any team or driver really run away with the championships.

I thought the Ferrari pit wall was going to make Lewis snap when they kept telling him to try the K1 button out

At least those radio calls are good for a laugh

I was wondering why Lewis didn’t just hit the button. They were practically begging him to. Seemed like they thought it would make him faster.

does anyone know what the k1 button does?

quote:

---

t fills the cockpit with water.

---

Thanks. I see now that water filling the cockpit is the same as the push-to-pass/electrical energy discharge button.

THe return of V10s appears to be more than a pipe dream;

The Germans at Auto, Motor und Sport, written by the well-known journalist Michael Schmidt, have reported that the management of Formula 1 is looking with fear at the major regulatory reform of 2026. There is a widespread fear that a situation that is anything but balanced could be created on the track , given that there will be new cars, new power units, new tires and the introduction of sustainable fuels. And the teams are whispering about the fear of overly ambitious rules and of possible enormous disparities in energy recovery systems between one engine manufacturer and another.

The worst-case scenario is that a single team’s dominance could push manufacturers to leave Formula 1 en masse.
Michael Schmidt explained: “The idea has been floated of extending the current rules by 2 years, to switch directly to naturally aspirated engines in 2028. ” The proposal would have come from the FIA, accused however of wanting to help Cadillac, for which it would be ideal to use the current Ferrari power unit for two years, to switch to its own V10.
A plan that immediately seemed unfeasible, given the large investments already underway for the new regulatory cycle.

The FIA ??working group and the line-ups
The Federation has thus set up a working group to evaluate the return of V10s in Formula 1.
Auto, Motor und Sport has outlined which teams could be in favor and which against.
Both Red Bull – scared of the race to develop with the 2026 rules alone against major car manufacturers – and Ferrari would have welcomed the return of the V10.

Audi and Honda are totally against it , since the Germans entered F1 with the promise of a generation of hybrid and sustainable fuel-powered cars, and for the same reason the Japanese have confirmed their presence. Mercedes
is more cautious in the immediate future, but “ Toto Wolff could be enthusiastic about a more long-term solution”.

The compromise: a shortened regulatory cycle?
And so the compromise route could be taken, that is, reducing the regulatory cycle that will start in 2026 to just three seasons (as permitted by the FIA ??statutes), and then starting in 2029 with the return of the V10 to Formula 1.
The teams discussed it both in the Bahrain tests and at the first race in Melbourne, with the FIA ??and F1 listening to the discussions without intervening, for the moment.

This solution would allow teams and engine manufacturers to preserve the investments already made for the next regulatory revolution, we are talking about half a billion dollars invested in the last three years and with 2026 cars already in the wind tunnel since January. The German newspaper underlined how "we will not wait until the summer to make the decision" , but also that the main doubts derive from the fact that the compact turbo engine would be more relevant for the car manufacturers, compared to the aspirated engine. https://www.formulapassion.it/f1/f1-news/f1-si-punta-ritorno-v10-dal-2029-dalla-germania-ferrari-red-bull-e-mercedes-favorevoli-audi-e-honda-contrarie

My "predictions" are still just guesses. I only learned few things last week:

McLaren looks solid af
Max will still be fighting up front
Ferrari is still a disaster class on strategy, and Hamilton might intentionally drive himself into a wall at full speed.

Otherwise, we really got nothing else. Rain and rookies sort of ruined early season takes.

quote:

---

So since this is a sprint race weekend do we have the same lineup for the sprint and race? Really like the easy format.

---

Ah, good question. I think I mentioned it in the rules, but I'll check and update it if I didn't.

The predictions are only for the main grand prix races on Sundays. For the purposes of the TD F1 Championship, the sprint races are not counted. 24 grand prix races is enough.

A reminder to everyone to update their predictions for China by tomorrow evening when it will be locked out. Again, you don't have to update, your current prediction will carry over to all future races until you update it.