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I think its clear he's lost an edge in qualifying.
There's also some luck thrown into it, Hamilton was arguably held up by Colapinto in corner 6/7 in Q1 and was [only] 0.2 behind Leclerc, who only just scrapped through Q1 himself. I don't think he'd have put it on pole, but for some-one who holds the record for pole (40 more than the nearest next driver) I guess anything less than Q3 is probs a bad day at the office. It's clear these cars don't suit his 'last of the late brakers' style, and it's clear that he's struggling to adapt (he always seems to want more rear tyre grip, the same way that Max always wants more front) and I don't think the 2026 cars are going to suddenly suit him more. Perhaps he'll retire? Who knows.
I wonder what the issue that Leclerc was complaining about was?
According to PlanetF1 (and Russell) it was plank wear cos the car was running so low....they increased tyre pressure fro the later stint To reduce wear, and it ruined the performance.
https://www.planetf1.com/features/uncovered-ferraris-ride-height-problems-cost-charles-leclerc-hungarian-gp-win
Fun little bit with Alex on Chris Moyles show
Colapinto has had another crash, at the Pirelli test at the Hungaroring this morning
The Race reporting that Cadillac have settled on Bottas and Perez, which is exactly what I would do if I was running the team.
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/cadillac-closing-in-on-race-winning-line-up-for-f1-debut/
And Bottas facing a grid penalty on his first race back.
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/valtteri-bottas-grid-penalty-f1-comeback-rule-change/
Just looked back at my prediction for the year on page 1. Got Ferrari badly wrong, did ok on the others.
I'm going with the constructors' title being a toss-up between McLaren and Ferrari and both teams having fierce intra-team battles. Red Bull have lost key technical staff and I expect them to struggle to catch up to the top two. I hope I'm wrong, but I think Lawson will struggle if the car is as difficult as this year's one so I expect Verstappen to easily beat him and maybe challenge for the drivers' title if the Ferrari and McLaren drivers take points off each other. Lawson to be demoted back to RB and replaced by Tsunoda mid-season. Same with Merc, Russell should easily beat a rookie but they will need a much more consistent car to challenge for titles. Newey won't have any input into next year's AM so they'll be treading water until 2026. Williams should improve greatly, having two top drivers should lift the team massively. My wild prediction is that they'll jump to the front of the midfield teams. Sauber, Haas, Renault, and RB will all have rookie drivers and that will be enough for Williams to jump ahead.
Perez and Bottas officially confirmed - and Horner politely told the sod-off!! 🙂
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/cadillac-firmly-rules-out-horner-f1-approach/
Solid lineup choice, tonnes of experience and whilst not the quickest on the grid, they both are race winners.
also:
No-one got anything to say about the Zandvoort quali?
I like the swoopy track with the height differences more that the modern, mostly flat ones. Maybe not a good for overtaking etc but looks more challenging to drive.
The McLarens owned quali with others racing for 3rd as far as I could see. nothing much between Piastri and Lando which should make for some interest in the actual race.
Anyone who knows what their talking about care to comment?
damn, not going to give spoilers, but damn
Certainly a result for RB.
In one way it was a great race, with a few incidents, but it was also a shit race and I suppose that's why they're getting rid of it. I'm gutted they're getting rid of it though as I wanted to go there...
The red bull is soooo much slower than the McLarens. In face everyone is sooo much slower than the McLarens.
Gutted for Lando, I fear if he doesnt win it this year, he never will. Decent race though IMO, Happy for Hadjar too!
Great to see Hadjar get a podium; another stellar weekend from comfortably the rookie of the year. Also good to see Leclerc getting all BTCC and then also managing to remain philosophical after getting Sopered himself.
Anyway… I’m setting off for the road trip to Monza tomorrow night, so the Ferraris had better pick things up. I’m still quietly confident that Monza will play to the strengths—relatively speaking—of their car (if it stays dry at least) but with Hamilton starting sixth at best I’m not sure it’ll be the party night that we might have hoped for before the season started 🫤 Certainly the dream drink-Monza-dry podium of Hamilton-Leclerc-Antonelli must have pretty long odds at the bookies 🙂
Ah well… maybe they’ll pull something out of the bag. Maybe Hadjar will… Alpha Toro Cashapp have generally fared pretty well there.
Andiamo!
Gutted for Lando. Fortunately the season is still far from over (unless you’re an Australian commenting on facebook), and next time it could be Piastri on the wrong end of some bad luck.
Was there any follow up on the incident between Russel and Leclerc? Given the Sainz penalty I would have expected something.
Was there any follow up on the incident between Russel and Leclerc?
No further action / racing incident. In my opinion the right decision.
Was there any follow up on the incident between Russel and Leclerc?
No further action / racing incident. In my opinion the right decision.
Agreed, that's a rarity (the righ decision being made, not me agreeing with you, tbc).
Interesting move to F2 by Colton Herta - there aren't many who step back on the single seater ladder in the hope of switching formulas. Hope it works out for him...
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/seven-things-herta-and-cadillac-revealed-about-his-f2-f1-gamble/
Interesting move to F2 by Colton Herta
I think it's a smart way to go about it. Let's face it, this is his only shot at getting into F1, remote as the prospect is. This will give him a year or two to acclimatize - I think Indycars and F1 are so different that I doubt anyone could switch either way and be truly competitive without a year or so to adjust. I predict that he will just become another interesting footnote in the history books, but at least he's not going to spend the rest of his life regretting that he didn't give it a try when he had the chance.
So Ferrari have emptied the tanks and chucked out the ballast! Standard fair for Monza! 🤣
Tomorrow, Monza! The road trip so far has been fun (and rather wet on a couple of days). Fingers still crossed it’ll be Ferrari’s best weekend of the year.
Max on pole, how wide is the Red Bull going to get?🤔
My prediction will be Oscar 1st, Max 2nd and Lando 3rd by the second Lesmo
“Who says you can’t overtake at Monza?” Nobody, ever.
We take the piss out of Ferrari for their pit wall comms but WTF is going on at McLaren? What a joke. If I was Piastri I'd have parked the car just before the finish line.
Skinny wings always win there. I’m amazed that anyone runs anything more than the minimum
What a joke. If I was Piastri I'd have parked the car just before the finish line.
Why, because he was asked to let Lando through?
Entirely correct i think given that Lando gave the first pit stop to piastri to help protect him from leclerc.
Absolutely correct decision by McLaren. As usual Piastri’s fan club have absolutely lost it. They forget to take in the whole situation before criticising. It’d be hilarious to read if they weren’t so annoying.
It’s still anyone’s championship (unless you’re an Australian fan).
Would have been harsh for Norris to lose a position because of an error by the pit crew, entirely the correct call by McLaren.
Entirely correct i think given that Lando gave the first pit stop to piastri to help protect him from leclerc.
Doubly so because Lando was specifically told that there would be no undercut from the other car which is effectively what happened because of the team's error. If they'd said "we want to pit Oscar first and he'll be free to race you after his stop so you might lose the position" I expect Norris would've been less supportive of the strategy.
Stupid of Lando to give the option to Piastri of pitting first. There was never any real danger from LeClerc behind for Piastri & if there was, so what? Lando is trying to get his foot back in the door of the driver's championship, so shouldn't be helping out Piastri.
The constructors is virtually sown up. Why should Lando care if Piastri comes under pressure from LeClerc? It could have helped him further and in terms of the constructors, so what if Piastri takes a couple less points because LeClerc passes him?
Hell, Piastri & LeClerc might have had a collision; Lando takes 18 points, Piastri takes 0 points. Boo hoo. The constructors situation has barely changed, but Lando has just halved the points deficit.
Stupid. And not exactly what I want to watch from a race.
After you. No, I insist; you first. Ooooooh, sir; can I have my place back? There was an oopsie in the pitlane.
Albon did well.
Hamilton did pretty well.
Poor old Alonso with his suspension giving up. Whoops!
Tsunoda. Oh dear. Red Bull need to find someone who can drive that car. Or make a more benign one next year.
Albon did well.
Yes he's been the best driver in the midfield all year. He's probably top five for the season in terms of performance (with Verstappen, Piastri, Norris and Russell ahead). He's making Sainz, who a lot of people rate very highly, look pretty ordinary.
Tsunoda. Oh dear. Red Bull need to find someone who can drive that car. Or make a more benign one next year.
That's def part of it but also Tsunoda does not have the same car as Verstappen, it is a hodge-podge of bits from different specs.
That said, I've never thought Tsu was particularly special, give Hadjar a crack at it.
Tsunoda. Oh dear. Red Bull need to find someone who can drive that car. Or make a more benign one next year.
What they need is to stop chucking youngsters in at the deep end all the time and expecting them to perform at Max's level. Either stick with them for a couple of seasons or accept the second seat needs an experienced No. 2 driver - even Checo in his 'terrible' 2024 season contributed a chunk of points.
The like of Max and Lewis come along once in a generation. The next really big thing will be obvious before they enter F1.
Yuki was never the one, and without Honda would have struggled to get to F1 at all. His junior formula career was OK but nothing to shout about.
Ah yeah.
My comment on Tsunoda wasn't very clear. I like him & feel sorry for him being thrown to the lions at Red Bull. He was doing well at Torro Rosso/VisaCashApp Not Red Bulls/Racing Bulls and it was a shame he was shoved in the seat when Lawson was found to be lacking after a whole 2 races 🙄. I think Racing Bull would have been in a good position if it had stayed as Hadjar & Tsunoda all season.
It will be interesting to see what they do with the Red Bull seat next year. Probably promote Hadjar. But, really?! Is that sensible? Not IMO. I think they should keep him where he is for next year. But then what do you do at Red Bull? Keep Tsunoda there for another year? Might as well have just kept Lawson there & seen how he developed.
There was never any real danger from LeClerc behind for Piastri & if there was, so what?
Lando is a team player* - he's just said that he's no intention of going anywhere else
* Something Piastri understands but doesn't really like complying with. He will jump ship as soon as there's a better option.
Probably promote Hadjar. But, really?! Is that sensible? Not IMO.
The big change of course is Mekies as team boss. He's certainly not a shouty-bang-the-desk type that Horner was so would probably have a less hot-heated approach to driver management. If Horner was still in charge I don't think Yuki would have seen out the season and Hadjar would already have been pushed into promotion way too soon.
Lando is a team player* - he's just said that he's no intention of going anywhere else
At the expense of winning a driver's championship? Nah, I don't believe that.
The 'team' battle is done. Unless there is some divine intervention they are the constructor's champions. The only thing left for them to decide on is whether Piastri or Norris end up as drivers champions.
This could be their only chance - for both of them. No one knows what next season will be like with the new cars. Maybe Merc will have 5 years of dominance? Or Red Bull will be back on top?
To that end, I don't understand what he gained by giving the first pit stop to Piastri.
He was in the lead. He had the priority call on the pitstop. If he had taken first dibs, then he's just doing what every other driver would do.
The gap to LeClerc wasn't really a threat to Piastri, which is what they were trying to cover by pitting him first. I think LeClerc was around 4 seconds behind him after the pitstop. Hardly under-cut territory in any other situation.
It just seems like being 'nice' for the sake of it, when Norris should just be focussing on his race.
I bet next time he'll take the better option for his race; not his main title rival's.
“To that end, I don't understand what he gained by giving the first pit stop to Piastri.”
i think the idea is that bu being a team player the team (inc Piastri) can help him out when needed too, a bit like when Oscar gave him a tow during qualifying
i think the idea is that bu being a team player the team (inc Piastri) can help him out when needed too, a bit like when Oscar gave him a tow during qualifying
but the team championship is over. They are now at a point where they should be doing everything in their power to take points off each other, including qualifying (hence Piastri not being too impressed about that either) and the race
I think they gave Norris the optimum lap for the pitstop and pitted Piastri one lap early because there wasn't an undercut. In other words, it would have slightly benefitted Norris if they hadn't had a problem.
Honestly, I don't really see what all the fuss is about. I think it was a 50-50 call on whether to ask Piastri to give the place back. McLaren have been transparent about things - they are trying to treat both drivers equally, but sometimes it's just not easy. It's not like the Schumacher days when his teammates would be expected to let him win.
McLaren have been transparent about things - they are trying to treat both drivers equally
I feel Mr Max Verstappen (2025) summed it up best when he said "Ha!"
I used the find these hard work, but he seems to have made a decision to shorten them a bit for this year and I’m finding them genuinely funny
From listening to Zak Brown a lot I think he comes across well, he appears to love the racing and I believe genuinely wants to see a final race title decider between his two drivers, I don't think there's any favouritsm on that front.
Maybe they'll give preference to the one behind to engineer a final race decider? More plausible but I do genuinely think they are trying to be fair.
But what does 'fair' mean? Treat everyone the same? Or judge each decision on its own merits? Equality of opportunity or equality of outcome?
FFS, can somebody please complete a lap without hitting the wall?
So many red flags! Nice to see Sainz on the front row. Lots of fast cars out of position and looks like it might rain, so it should be chaos tomorrow. Good chance of another Verstappen win as he always seems to come out on top in these kinds of conditions
£80 million pay off for Horner and could be back whinging from a different garage next year
Horner was owed £100 million in salary for the rest of his contract but took a £20 million cut to be allowed to join another team early.
Flav and Whinger Spice together in 2026. The grease (metaphorical and literal) will be unbearable 😆
Was hoping for a real barnstormer of a race at Baku with so many cars out of their normal position.
But, nope. What a snooze-fest. And a missed opportunity for Norris to close the gap right up.
Was hoping for a real barnstormer of a race at Baku with so many cars out of their normal position.
But, nope. What a snooze-fest.
Yeah you get some bonkers races at Baku, but this one was pretty dull. I think the new cars have got such good drag efficiency now that DRS is much less effective. Combine that with the DRS activation point on the main straight being moved and you had a lack of overtaking compared to previous years.
Seen a few people saying it was dull, I enjoyed the hell out of it tbh...then again I am a Williams fan so I was on the edge of my seat rooting for Sainz to keep it together. Brilliant job by him and the team.
I thought Lawson, Max, George, Kimi and Sainz all did well. Mclaren had a weekend to forget, as did Ferrari.
Yes great to see Carlos finally getting the most out of the Williams - and giving the pits strategy tips whilst driving.
Anyone know how many places Norris effectively lost by being asleep at the wheel when the re-start happened, and he got jumped by LeClerc?
Seems conceivable if you wasn't at the back of the DRS train, he may have been able to get a few places up the results....
Norris is the Tim Henman of F1 - obviously talented but can’t quite press home an advantage.
I still don't understand how you can be sacked and get a massive payout. Surely this says that if you are powerful enough you can do anything you want.
They ended his multi-year contract, and as long as he hadn’t done anything to breach it from his side then he’ll be entitled to compensation.
Norris is the Tim Henman of F1 - obviously talented but can’t quite press home an advantage.
I think someone else said it on here, he may be the best driver, but he's not the best racer - he always seems to back off at the crucial moments, whereas Verstappen or Piastri will risk more for the chance to win. Sadly I can't see him ever being WC unless Piastri really fluffs the rest of this season.
Yes, he reminds me a bit of Damon Hill - very fast but just not as good in the wheel-to-wheel stuff as Schumacher, Senna, Villeneuve, etc.
Flav and Whinger Spice together in 2026. The grease (metaphorical and literal) will be unbearable
Anyone else realising the dislike for Red Bull was against Horner and not Max. Since Horner was hoofed out I'm rooting for them to take the championship down to the wire.
Norris and Piastri just give me meh vibes. 🙂
If they made it spicy and started crashing into one another (keeping up a fine McLaren tradition!) then maybe I'd feel different. It's all a bit nice.
Anyone else realising the dislike for Red Bull was against Horner and not Max.
You're forgetting Jos.
And Helmut.
I've no real beef with Helmut - he does his job of keeping drivers on their toes very well. And of all those who were booted out none have proven to be stellar in their post Red Bull careers.
As for Jos - he's not a likeable chap but he's more background grumbling.
I've no real beef with Helmut - he does his job of keeping drivers on their toes very well. And of all those who were booted out none have proven to be stellar in their post Red Bull careers.
Albon?
I told the other half about Horner's payoff. Her response was "Can you not get a job in F1, you talk about it enough" 😀
Albon?
I'd stick him in the good category. If he was in the great category teams would be falling over themselves to sign him and I don't see McLaren, Ferrari or Mercedes making space for Albon.
Sainz, Gasly, Albon, and Perez all seem to be excellent drivers who were discarded by Red Bull. Tsunoda also seems decent, but the Red Bull car seems to be extremely difficult to drive. Verstappen is unquestionably one of the all-time greats so not matching him doesn't mean a driver is hopeless. Lawson was promoted much too soon, now that he's settled in again at RB, he's looking quite handy. Hadjar looks good but I suspect his career will go the way of Albon and Gasly if they promote him to the big team. Red Bull have had a lot of decent drivers over the years but have mismanaged them. That's down to Helmut.
RIP Roscoe - the F1 paddock won't be quite the same without him... 😢
Yeah, that's sad news.
As soon as I saw some info about it on FB, I thought there was probably only one way it was going to end, unfortunately.
I think of him like the No10 cat when you see him trotting about the pit lane. I bet he'll be missed.
Looking like social media gossip will be proved right on this - Lindblad and Dunne for Racing Bulls with Tsunoda and Lawson dropped and Hadjar promoted to Red Bull...
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alex-dunne-leaves-mclaren-as-he-teases-whats-next/10764047/
https://www.planetf1.com/news/alex-dunne-mclaren-split-red-bull-knocking
Might get an RB seat, but in 2027 rather than next year.
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-shock-split-with-top-f1-junior-alex-dunne-what-we-know/
If it's not for a guaranteed F1 seat in 2026 then leaving McLaren now doesn't make sense. There could easily be a vacant McLaren seat in 2027.
And Red Bull always have a free seat - possibly 4 in 2027 if Max jumps ship! 🙂
McLaren probably won't have any vacant seats in 2027. They have two top drivers, they aren't going to sack one of them for a rookie.
Red Bull have a junior team. Much more likely to have a seat in 2027 than McL. Hadjar to the big team next year makes sense. They'll keep Lawson in RB, he has been driving well in recent races, they might take one rookie next year but two rookies in a year with totally new cars makes no sense.
McLaren probably won't have any vacant seats in 2027. They have two top drivers, they aren't going to sack one of them for a rookie.
Nope - but one may try to jump ship if McLaren's 2026 spec car isn't as quick as they'd like, or if one thinks the other is getting preferential treatment.
I still reckon Dunne will be on the grid next season. And RB was built as a team for rookies! 🙂
Gizza a job - I can do that!... 🤣
Everyone in F1 is always ringing up everyone in F1. Of course Horner is talking to everyone. They're picking up the phone because they want to hear what he's offering.