Yes. I felt it was official when Thomas Maher reported on it a week or so ago. He is very reliable. It’s unfortunate he is associated with Planet F1.com. I personally look at it as a tabloid. His work with Racing News is more readable.
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2025 Formula One Season Thread
- Thread starter The-Real-Deal82
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Yes. I felt it was official when Thomas Maher reported on it a week or so ago. He is very reliable. It’s unfortunate he is associated with Planet F1.com. I personally look at it as a tabloid. His work with Racing News is more readable.
Indeed. Jon Noble noted in the video that when a driver sits out a year (either by choice or situation), some decide they've had enough whereas others are recharged and have a strong motivation to come back and can do well. Jon believes the latter is the case for both Valtteri and Sergio and that is why they signed.
The story of how Towriss got involved in racing is amusing.
Despite being an Indiana native, he didn't grow up as a fan.
His connection came about after Zach Veach, who was looking for sponsors, was put in contact with Towriss via their church pastor.
G1001 became Veach's backer with Andretti for a few unsuccessful seasons, before being given the boot, but the company remained with the team, and expanded their reach with Penske and the series as a whole.
Towriss bought into the Andretti team, and after Michael made enemies of the F1 club, bought him out, paving the way for all the hollow "brings value" BS excuses to end, entry accepted, and the rest is history, with him now in charge of an F1 team. It all began with a cold call from a fellow parishioner he didn't know.
But Mark Walter, whose sports investments are broad, is the real money man behind the scenes.
Caddy's lineup isn't going to set the world alight, but it's what suits the team, at least in the early going.
I hope it also leads to Bottas giving the Indy 500 a try, with TWG's sister team, as one F1 driver, past or present, who isn't scared of oval racing.
Ya never know though, if the car comes out of the box hot they may make some noise.
Odds are it won't, and they won't, but only time will tell.
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That doesn't surprise me, we have a cold front coming in over the UK and Netherlands at the moment. We are also about to get the tail end of the hurricane that was over the Atlantic recently.
And in other news, the Victorian Government (Australian State) and the Melbourne Grand Prix, have announced that Oscar Piastri is to have a grandstand named after him from the 2026 Melbourne Grand Prix.
That news hasn't really sunk, and I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. He hasn't won a title yet, and he has only been in F1 two and a half, seasons.
That news hasn't really sunk, and I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. He hasn't won a title yet, and he has only been in F1 two and a half, seasons.
Yeah must be a bit weird having his name alongside Brabham and Jones when he's barely been in the sport 5 minutes. I have no doubt he'll be a champion though, so perhaps the FIA have given them a heads up? Just kidding...
If it puts paid butts in those seats...
As an aside, Friday sales for the Max Verstappen stands are said to be running a fair bit lower for this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix than at prior events, reflecting his (effective) elimination from a fifth WDC this year and the threat of losing his current 3rd place position to George Russell.
How does Mark Webber feel about it? I know he’s his manager, but he doesn’t (as far as I know) have a stand.
There is a Webber stand at turn 11, and a Ricciardo stand between turns 3/4, there was a suggestion that there would be a Doohan stand, but it was ‘dropped’!😂😂😂
And the absolutely horrendous weather, and by the sea there is no escaping it.
Yeah, the convergence is nothing new but it does feel like we see fewer outside the box attempts at finding gains than in the past.
We are getting to the end of this set of regulations, which feel like a blessing. The attempt to create more downforce, by altering the flow under the car, introducing the concept of 'ground effect', and literally levelling the cars out, with the rear the same height as the front, has left many teams scratching their heads, and now sighing in relief that this nonsense is drawing to an end.
I expect the next few years to be very exciting.
AM Vantage S making its Safety Car debut this weekend. Quite a bit quicker. Bi-Turbo V8. 685hp.
FP1 Times.
Antonelli beached it 10 minutes in, which is why he is last with six laps.
Antonelli beached it 10 minutes in, which is why he is last with six laps.
| POS. | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | TIME / GAP | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:10.278 | 35 |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +0.292s | 32 |
| 3 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +0.501s | 25 |
| 4 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +0.563s | 25 |
| 5 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | +0.893s | 33 |
| 6 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | +0.940s | 24 |
| 7 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | +1.108s | 29 |
| 8 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | +1.180s | 33 |
| 9 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber | +1.231s | 30 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +1.335s | 30 |
| 11 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | +1.475s | 29 |
| 12 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | +1.494s | 30 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber | +1.597s | 30 |
| 14 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +1.673s | 32 |
| 15 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +1.682s | 28 |
| 16 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull Racing | +1.848s | 24 |
| 17 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | +1.866s | 29 |
| 18 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | +1.998s | 27 |
| 19 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | +2.286s | 30 |
| 20 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +3.997s | 6 |
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FP2 Times
Session ended up dry as the initial rain shower did not last long enough to affect the track conditions and the heavy cell stayed offshore.
As with FP1, a fair bit of chaos with accidents, spins and off-track excursions. Stroll went into the wall and Albon beached his car in the gravel. With only F1 Academy and Porsche SuperCup as the support races, the track has been consistently low-grip due to sand blowing on it.
Hadjar suffered a failure of his electrical system and had to stop on track.
Session ended up dry as the initial rain shower did not last long enough to affect the track conditions and the heavy cell stayed offshore.
As with FP1, a fair bit of chaos with accidents, spins and off-track excursions. Stroll went into the wall and Albon beached his car in the gravel. With only F1 Academy and Porsche SuperCup as the support races, the track has been consistently low-grip due to sand blowing on it.
Hadjar suffered a failure of his electrical system and had to stop on track.
| POS. | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | TIME / GAP | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:09.890 | 28 |
| 2 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +0.087s | 20 |
| 3 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +0.089s | 29 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | +0.384s | 25 |
| 5 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | +0.588s | 23 |
| 6 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +0.848s | 22 |
| 7 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull Racing | +0.905s | 26 |
| 8 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.944s | 23 |
| 9 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | +1.067s | 26 |
| 10 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber | +1.190s | 25 |
| 11 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | +1.223s | 26 |
| 12 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +1.295s | 21 |
| 13 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber | +1.430s | 25 |
| 14 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | +1.449s | 25 |
| 15 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | +1.471s | 23 |
| 16 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | +1.792s | 30 |
| 17 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | +1.866s | 16 |
| 18 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +2.085s | 7 |
| 19 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +2.232s | 28 |
| 20 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 1 |
Really? Talk about given participation trophies just for showing up? He has done nothing, achieved nothing, and gets a reward? Truly a bad idea..
In the light of this being the 2nd last event at this farce of a track, having new cars/regs for 2026 at an obsolete track that will be home for pensioners in 2 yrs time, does it make any sense to race here in 2026?
To understand this better, one needs to understand the Australian psyche! When you become an elite sportsman in Australia, you become akin to the Royal Family, aka the chosen ones, the elite, you've made it, and you are the winner, the rest 'runners-up'.
We are in the lead up to the most famous of 'cricket series', here in Australia, and the past, and present adorned greats, are spouting the usual vitriolic diatribe, to fuel the flames of discord, to attempt to undermine the opposition. Instead of waiting to step onto the playing field, and letting their skills become relevant, they choose to mentally intimidate the opposition, which they call sledging, because they think it's funny.
They know that Piastri is a great, and if he doesn't win anything, it's not his fault, the world will be blamed, and any non Australian victimised, for always being against US.