Formula 1 2025 Season Discussion

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#3360689 4-Apr-2025 13:22

thermonuclear:

All the talking stops and we see what Tsunoda and Lawson have, really looking forward to it.

Yes - I am interested to see how the RB handles Yuki and how Yuki handles the radio! He's not exactly level headed nor listens to his team when it get frustrating!

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#3360866 4-Apr-2025 19:28

Rightio its 7-25pm and Im now watching FP1

Unashamedly, Im biased... :-) Max leads on softs. Yuki is 1.8 sec behind also on softs. Liam is 1.4 sec behind but on hards. Small sample size (Yes it was Liam! )

Back to it :-)

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#3360872 4-Apr-2025 19:53

They need to change the rules on FP2 to allow the clock to be stopped for Red Flags in that session. All the drivers want track time, especially Liam and Yuki in their new cars, and they spend half the session sitting in the garage.

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#3360874 4-Apr-2025 20:07

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

tdgeek

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#3360886 4-Apr-2025 21:43

thermonuclear:

They need to change the rules on FP2 to allow the clock to be stopped for Red Flags in that session. All the drivers want track time, especially Liam and Yuki in their new cars, and they spend half the session sitting in the garage.

en lol

Yep, a bit hopeless.

Liam generally behind Hadjar. Hard to know what run plans they had, or who is trying hard and who is bedding the setup in.

Yuki looked good, with the same caveat as above.

McLaren are great, setting the track on fire...

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#3360896 4-Apr-2025 23:29

With their attention to detail it is a little surprising that Honda haven't run irrigation lines around the circuit by now so they could have had the grass greened up by the time of the GP weekend. Would make those run-off areas look better on the telly and prevent so many fires.

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thermonuclear

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#3360921 5-Apr-2025 09:36

Tost: "You could give Lawson 100 years and he still wouldn’t be as fast as Tsunoda"

Geez Franz, why don't you tell us what you really think! Must have been a bit grumpy because they didn't bring the Horlicks round and tuck him in quick enough at the retirement home.

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#3360941 5-Apr-2025 11:13

thermonuclear:

Tost: "You could give Lawson 100 years and he still wouldn’t be as fast as Tsunoda"

Geez Franz, why don't you tell us what you really think! Must have been a bit grumpy because they didn't bring the Horlicks round and tuck him in quick enough at the retirement home.

Yeah geez, bit "O" bias there

2023

Liam 13th Yuki 15th

Liam 11th Yuki 20th

Liam 9th Yuki 19th

Liam 11th Yuki 12th

Yuki 15th Liam 17th

Factor in no notice, no F1 experience, little track experience. 4-1 to Liam

2024

Liam 9th Yuki 14th

Liam 16th Yuki 20th

Yuki 7th Liam 9th

Yuki 9th Liam 16th

Yuki 13th Liam 14th

Yuki 12th Liam 17th

Yuki pushing harder, did better 4-2 to Yuki

Overall 6-5 Liam, 0 races to 3 and 4 years of races.

Liam average 12.9th Yuki 14.18th

thermonuclear

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#3361049 5-Apr-2025 18:24

Appreciate Lawson is in a new car this weekend but I hope he can get on it and get into Q3 and/or above Hadjar. The Frenchman has looked rapid since he joined the team and Liam doesn't want a trend of being slightly slower to take hold. His stock hasn't been improved by Tsunoda taking to the Red Bull like a duck to water so he needs to make a statement in this qualifying session.

My picks for the top three in this session

1/. Piastri
2/. Norris
3/. Leclerc

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#3361077 5-Apr-2025 21:43

Wow Max.

Liam wasnt a good quali. Hadjar has the edge. Yuki looks good till he caved, oddly Liam ahead of Yuki "Red Bull is the faster car"

Race.

Max . He's running lower downforce (as they did when trying to keep up with Mercedes). Clean air is everything, so Max for the win.

Oscar. He is growing

Lando. Right there

George. He is driving great and Mercedes seems really solid now

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#3361166 6-Apr-2025 08:52

A lot going on, where to start?

Max

Running less wing, what they did when trying to close to Mercedes a few years back, seems they cannot fix the RB21 so are using artificial means to close the gap, it worked. More top end speed, and Max is mitigating the compromise in corners very well

Yuki

Runs more wing to make it more comfortable, but slower. Impressed by his interview after quali, not downbeat. Begs the question what Red Bull want. As Ted alluded to, giving up in WCC and focusing just on Max and the WDC, thats very doable it seems now. Babysit Yuki for the year?

McLaren

Lando posted the fasted 1st sector and Piastri the fastest 2nd and 3rd sectors, but they both couldn't unlock it in Q3. Given the difficulty to pass, Max's strength at race starts, only one DRS, hard to see them getting past on merit.

Mercedes

Still look good, Antonelli played it safe, not confident yet to unlock more pace, but he made solid progress. George changed front wing for Q3, didnt work, but still ok

Ferrari

Raised ride height, not so good now. Perhaps their ride height and subsequent plank wear has been very very marginal, till they got caught? Looking like 4th of the top 4 teams now

Hadjar

Excellent, cant say much more. He should be 3/10 behind Liam while he gets up to speed but he is 3/10 ahead. 7th, wow, excellent. Also a good interview

Liam

Hmmm. Only a sample size of one, but the pace and confidence he showed in 2023 seems a bit lost now. See how he goes in the race, his quali has never been that great, fingers crossed. If he doesnt go back to doing what he has showed, he may not last the season, they may bring in Lindblad to use last half of 2025 as his prep period for 2026? Easy to see that with Red Bull

The top 3 in Q3 should dominate the race, with Mercedes nipping at their heels. Not sure if the TAB has odds on Liam and Yuki hitting each other/expletives on lap 1! They are next to each other on the grid, so some emotion added to the mix there

Rain overnight, probably a dry race. As at now 5-48am Japan time, rain for the next few hours. It shows a few showers at 2pm, thereafter partly cloudy.

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thermonuclear

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#3361260 6-Apr-2025 11:40

tdgeek:

Liam

Hmmm. Only a sample size of one, but the pace and confidence he showed in 2023 seems a bit lost now. See how he goes in the race, his quali has never been that great, fingers crossed. If he doesnt go back to doing what he has showed, he may not last the season, they may bring in Lindblad to use last half of 2025 as his prep period for 2026? Easy to see that with Red Bull

Liam's demeanour hasn't looked 100% this weekend, his self-confidence has clearly taken a knock and that's completely understandable given the situation. He's wanted to be a Red Bull Racing driver for as long as he's had a career ambition in his life, and I'm sure he's struggling internally right now with the thought that his one shot with Red Bull has come and gone and that's his long held dream done.

Once he gets past that thought and fully focused on the task at hand I'm hoping he will rediscover the fire at Racing Bulls and get on parity (and hopefully beating) with Hadjar. Given Lindblad has been signaled as the next 'chosen one' for Red Bull, almost regardless of performance, Lawson has to ensure that he isn't the weakest antelope in the herd or he will get dropped. Red Bull have already applied for an exemption on Lindblad so he can do the FP1 sessions, Lawson needs to be performing well by the time the latter turns up to one of those sessions or it could be all over. I could easily see Red Bull making a swap by the summer break or towards the end of the year a la Ricciardo.

Early days yet I know, still learning the new side of the garage for him but he can't let things drift thinking he's got plenty of time, and he can't be seven grid places off his teammate each weekend. In spite of everything that has happened he hasn't had a great weekend so far and I am really hoping he can have a strong race this afternoon and get closer to Hadjar by the chequered flag. Isn't going to be easy with Tsunoda along side him, Sainz right there, and Alonso and Bearman ahead of him.

My prediction for the race result

P1. Norris
P2. Piastri
P3. Verstappen

Don't see how Max can hold the McLarens off unless it's a wet race. His pole lap was unreal though, you could hear how much it meant to him on the radio, like a guy who thinks he might have a chance at a 5th WDC afterall.

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#3361282 6-Apr-2025 12:26

thermonuclear:

Don't see how Max can hold the McLarens off unless it's a wet race. His pole lap was unreal though, you could hear how much it meant to him on the radio, like a guy who thinks he might have a chance at a 5th WDC afterall.

Agree with the rest of your post. I watched Ant's onboard with Max and Lando. Max draws away, Lando almost catches up, Max draws away, rinsing and repeating. Liam and Yuki might well be similar as Yuki as more wing so Liam will have a higher top end speed. Plus for both examples, clean air, especially for Max

I actually think Max does have a realistic chance of the WDC. Lower wing will be the order of the day at many tracks, and may well be higher wing then McLaren at tracks that demand that. If he can podium most races as the two McLarens can do, it's all on. No doubt will need the dice going his way more than McLaren though

Today, strategy will dominate, as will the start

Back to Yuki, perhaps they and he needs to suck it up and use Max's setup. It can win and it can podium, otherwise Yuki becomes Sergio 2.0. That the WCC is fully offline, they should get Yuki used to Max's car, better to try and fail than not to try

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#3361293 6-Apr-2025 12:48

tdgeek:

Agree with the rest of your post. I watched Ant's onboard with Max and Lando. Max draws away, Lando almost catches up, Max draws away, rinsing and repeating.

Whilst I admit I have not seen the comparison; it is just one lap. Tires come into play big time and if he's eating his too much he'll fall away over the race distance.

thermonuclear

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#3361379 6-Apr-2025 19:12

Fair play to Red Bull and Verstappen, didn't think they would be able to out-race the McLarens but some alien driving from Max and there we have it. Only three weekends in but keeps things close in the WDC, it's going to be an epic championship if Verstappen can do that consistently.

Lawson ... yeah. Turned P13 into P17, Tsunoda and Sainz got him on the track, and Hulkenberg and Doohan with better strategy. Meanwhile his teammate in P8, not good at all. His muted response on the radio after the race was "I don't know what that was." He's going to need to work it out and quickly or it's going to be the 'Devries Death Spiral' for him.

I really hope he can turn it around in the next two weekends, he needs to sort out the qualifying though. So many of the races are processional these days, he has to be starting higher to have any chance.

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