F1 2025 - Watchalong Thread #2

[Brazilianadventure]

Thread two

We are over halfway through the season. It looks like the WDC will either be Lando or Oscar. Hoping for a grandstand finish in Abu Dhabi.

So interesting.

83 points maximum anyone can score.

Max 49 points behind Lando and Oscar 24 points behind Lando.

Another good performance from Ollie

Did I hear that Jenson has left the Sky F1 team?

Really pleased for Kimi , same i was willing him to stay ahead although credit to Max, he makes it look too easy!

I think he has retired from professional racing.

Not seen anything about Sky F1, we need him to balance out Danica 😂. As it’s Vegas next I expect she will be there.

It can’t be right that Max has such a terrible car in quali that he only qualifies 16th, then not only changes some parts of the car in Parc Fermé, but also changes the set up of the car, which makes such a difference to the performance that he finishes 3rd. He basically started the race in a completely different car to the one he qualified in - not cool.

The FIA really need to look at their rules. If a part needs changing due to failure, fine, but you shouldn’t be allowed to change the set up. That’s what practice etc is for - getting the set up right.

Yes, he had the “penalty” of starting from the pit lane but seeing as he was going to start 16th anyway, that’s not really much of a penalty.

@RockaLock It’s always been allowed. As is working on a car and changing tyres under a red flag.

I am not a Max fan but he also out drove his car and deserves the credit for that drive.

Max is great at getting the best out of a car & managing the tyres over a distance. Quali is a totally different skill, getting the fastest time over just one lap.

Teams are allowed to make “minor set up changes” under Parc Fermé rules.

”Major changes” are not permitted, hence Max having to start from the pit lane. It’s not the replacer of the PU etc that’s the problem, it’s the set up changes that I object to.

Max’s qualifying position was not down to driver error, it was down to the car not being up to scratch. Although Max is undoubtably a great driver, I think it is unlikely that he would have made up so many places had the team not made the set-up changes that they did. The pit lane start turned out not to be much of a penalty at all.

Red Bull broke the rules, and got a completely ineffective penalty as a result.

Vegas is on in the middle of the night. F1 is my passion but I think it will ruin my whole week as I will be exhausted!

Oscar is now only 4 points away from a race ban.

lots of teams choose the pit lane start if they need to make major changes. Max simply took advantage of a known rule.

DS said on Saturday that is exactly what RBR should do, basically rebuild the car, and take to pit lane start hit.
What puzzles me is why they didn't do it on Thursday or Friday?

Max qualified 6th for the sprint and finished 4th. It was the changed they made between the sprint and quali that took the car in the wrong direction.

Just the prospect of having Dainica back for Vegas ruins my week.

I might try to wake up for that, i assume DS will watch it. The last time I set my alarm early for a sports event was 2016 rio Olympics for Mo Farah, but his race was over a lot quicker than GP race, and I went back to bed afterwards!

Dd is thinking of going to a society watch party. She says she will be watching it anyway so it might as well bein a venue with others than in her halls room.

Oh yeah! Forgot that in my "discussion" with DS.

Vegas at 4am is shit, obviously it's fine for Australia and Japan to be early, cos it is, but that's 8pm start time in Vegas, is it because of the heat?

We have a uni open day on the Sunday, 3 hours drive away so DH and I won't be watching. DS likely will and then be a PITA all day.

It used to be 6am (10pm Vegas time) partly so Europe could watch on Sunday morning & partly to get Vegas nightlife atmosphere.

not sure why it’s 4am this year

It’s the same time as last year.

I think the first year there were issues because Carlos’s car “sucked up the drain cover”. By the time they fixed the track it was very late in Vegas and the security guards, event staff needed to go home. So FP2 was run with no one allowed to attend. This caused a real problem for the organisers.

Bringing it forward to 8pm local time means there is more leeway if there are postponements.

To be fair in the UK we do very well for the sessions being run at a reasonable time. For other countries they are often in the middle of the night.

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/13302542/f1-2025-race-start-times-las-vegas-gp-moved-two-hours-earlier-as-full-schedule-for-upcoming-season-revealed

I suspect part of the reason why the timings are usually reasonable for the UK is because the majority of the teams are UK based and obviously have their key staff ‘back at UK base’ available/working during race weekends.

Britain is generally considered to be the home of motorsport, and is where the very first F1 world championship was held.

This is an old article but explains some of the history behind the rise of motorsport/F1 in the UK.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/23048643

I agree F1 is predominantly British based. It’s always worked primarily on British/European times.

Its taken decades and DTS to break the USA.

Any thoughts on the Ferrari chairman blaming the drivers for their current lack of success?

I’m a bit gobsmacked to be frank.

It explains why they haven't won anything for almost 20 years, absolutely ridiculous

The drivers put their lives on the line every week in those cars. yes I know they are well paid but you can tell it means more to them all than the money. The constructors job should be to inspire them with confidence, to appreciate the skill. Ferrari are out of order.