2025 F1 General Discussion Thread

ricimaki

2 races and 1 sprint into the season, here's how things are looking:

I think Max and George will benefit from being the clear number ones in their teams this year, but can't see them staying ahead of any McLaren drivers for much longer.

I think Ferrari and Mercedes will be fighting it out for second place in the constructors, with Ferrari the more likely to get P2 due to their drivers. Kimi is impressing so far, but he needs some time. Ferrari doing Ferrari things might help him along.

Behind the top 4 teams will be very interesting this year. I'm surprised Albon is so much ahead of Sainz. If Sainz can match Albon, Williams could be getting quite close to the one-man-show that is Red-Bull, but I think they are fairly safe in 5th.

Haas, Aston, RB and Alpine seem to be close this year, with strategy really leaving RB down. I can see these teams having a very close battle throughout the year.

Hulkenberg is doing really well. Looking forward to Audi arriving next year with hopefully a competitive car.

Interesting to note that Alonso isn't officially classified in the 2025 points yet - he has yet to finish a (normal) race. The official points table only has 19 drivers so far!

The Red Bull second seat really must be cursed. I can already picture Yuki getting the seat in Japan, and Lawson beating him in the RB. We'll have to see what happens, but maybe Perez, or even Ricciardo might be the best option for that car.

mickdw

I believe Ricciardo can live with the verstappen style handling but he has said he is done with F1 so I don't see him making a comeback.

The redbull is clearly dogsh1t being hauled up the grid by verstappen doing what only he can.

Frank Bullitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123290040#Comment_123290040

Jesus Christ, Ocon is the highest placed Ferrari powered car right now…

niallm77

I see the tin foil hat brigade are out in force accusing the FIA of going after Hamilton.

Frank Bullitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123290677#Comment_123290677

If they want to point the finger at anyone, it’s Ferrari.

For Petes Sake

Dunno if I'm on my own in thinking this…

…but I think Piastri is more talented than Norris and I think the former will win the title this year.

mickdw

I think so too. Cooler head already that norris. Just as quick imo and is likely to develop further. Looks like a winning machine to me.

El_Duderino 09

I think I comes as a surprise to most fans when they find out the constructors championship is the most important one. Fans almost certainly consider the drivers championship to be the big and and constructors championship is nice to have. Most fans would consider red bull the winner last year because their driver won the championship and mclaren won the constructors.

Red bull seem to have switched their focus I'm line with fans and focused their car design on the drivers championship. The second seat is a near death sentence for drivers.

Other teams might have to catch up if max sneaks the championship as the mclaren drivers share equal stats and share points.

niallm77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123291698#Comment_123291698

We will know more when the tech directive is fully enforced about wings but unless Max is getting between the McLarens regularly they will both outscore him.

Russell and Max possibly Being their teams sole challenger gives McLaren a strategic edge (like Bottas did for Merc) and Ferrari, well they are gonna go all Ferrari from time to time and with both on the periphery of the podium they won't challenge either.

Both championships are McLarens to lose at this stage. It all comes down to how they manage their drivers if it gets physical

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123291472#Comment_123291472

He's definitely more talented (in my mind at least) and seems less at risk to mental lapses/issues. But Lando still has a few years more experience that will equalise them.

I reckon by end of season one of the 2 will have taken control of the team. I know who I want that to be, but I don't think we've seen enough yet to say who that will be.

El_Duderino 09

Ocon and Bearman and Hass are doing really well so far. Much better than expected. Bbc says they spend pre season focusing almost exclusively on race pace, so they might have a short lived advantage. But they were both in the points before the disqualifications yesterday. Credit where it's due.

thefa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123291816#Comment_123291816

I would be thinking along the same lines. Norris has the edge in quali though which could be a deciding factor.

I realize that 2026 reg changes are on the horizon but I’m still hopeful that the die is not fully cast in terms of car performance. It’s probably the Ferrari fan in me but we ended up with a constructors title fight last year after a roaring Red Bull start. Hopefully more to come.

muckwarrior

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123291472#Comment_123291472

People said this every time Piastri beat Norris last year too. In the end though Norris beat him 25-5 in qualifying and 19-11 in races. Maybe Piastri's extra experience will be enough for him to beat Lando this year, but it's far too early to tell IMO.

For Petes Sake

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123293449#Comment_123293449

Oh very much open for correction on it.

Busman Paddy Lasty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123293449#Comment_123293449

Said similar last year about Piastri potential. His is higher than Norris but not there yet. He needs to get quali 1:1 with Lando and learn to stop on his pit mark.

His lap 1 Lando overtake last year was savage. Australia this year his overtake for P9 at the end was mental as well.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123293664#Comment_123293664

I think they're both good but both less consistent than a tip-top driver. I missed all 3 race starts, has Lando sorted out his race launches? I haven't heard much commentary on it so I presumed he did normal/good starts. But that's an examle of inconsistency that limits Lando. Likewise, being out qualified is a limitation for Oscar.

I think some of the commentary about Verstappen's speed and "dragging the car around the track" are overblown. But he's incredibly consistent and consistent at a high level. Very few mistakes like poor starts, missing braking and wearing out tyres. I don't think you can say the same about Lando or Oscar. Either one could beat the other by cutting out their mistakes and being as consistent as Max, even without performing at such a high level.

They're both good, but neither is brilliant (i'm reluctant to use the comparison but it's much like discussion on the Ireland rugby out-half options. If either one was top quality, they'd beat the other pretry handily, but they're not at the moment).

Frank Bullitt

A few news sources are reporting that Yuki is in for Japan with Red Bull.

McFly85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297801#Comment_123297801

Yeah I see canal+ has it alright.

Good for Yuki, deserves his shot - will be interesting to see if he can handle the car any better or if it really is a shítbox that Max is working miracles with.

Thought they made a good point about RBs junior driver strategy on Sky at the weekend, the sister team being used to give young drivers experience may actually be working against them a bit with the cars being fundamentally different - when you look at Mercedes preparing Antonelli with practice in the 23 car, he looks slightly more at home already.

Unmitigated disaster for Lawson, though. If he loses the seat he’s really unlikely to get near it again and it could be difficult to find a seat for him in F1 beyond this season.

Frank Bullitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297918#Comment_123297918

It was a massive mistake to put Lawson in over Yuki IMO. Yuki has progressed over the years, and while I know the Honda partnership was part of why RB were not too keen, it was a serious error of judgement to not put him in with the experience he has.

I do hope Lawson ends up back at Racing Bulls, but with the way that Red Bull operate, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is gone.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297947#Comment_123297947

If they don't move him back to racing bulls, who takes that seat? The logical choice would be a direct swap of Yuki and Lawson.

If Lawson gets beaten in racing bulls seat by Hadjar then his career is properly screwed. And similarly, if Yuki performs as poorly as Lawson or Perez did then he's goosed too.

The overall red bull f1 project seems pretty shambolic at the moment.

Frank Bullitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297978#Comment_123297978

There was shatter and a few photos of senior staff talking to Alpine, so Colapinto could be in with a shout.

McFly85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297947#Comment_123297947

100%, especially if the rumours are true about how much Honda were willing to pay to get him the RB seat this season(currently pay 10 mil but were prepared to up it to 20).

Would have made sense to give Yuki a 2 year contract in the RB seat while having VCARB with 2 actual junior drivers developing - but RBs driver management has been dreadful for years now so I’m not really surprised they’re in this situation.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297918#Comment_123297918

I think the red bull being shyte and Max doing miracles is overblown. Is anyone really suggesting the RB is as good or better than the works Red Bull?

The other likely possibility is the car is totally designed to suit Max. If it suits the other driver, grand, if it doesn't then he's an a$$hole so drop him.

Maybe the Red Bull will suit Yuki, maybe it won't. If Yuki is slower in the Red Bull than the RB, then we can assume it's probably thebcar being designed around max and not necessarily the drivers.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123297978#Comment_123297978

I assume they are running Iwasa in FP1 so giving him the whole weekend could be a simple option. Replace one Japanese racer with another for the Japanese Grand Prix.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123298018#Comment_123298018

With Doohans struggles I doubt Alpine would let Colapinto go anywhere, they'd be more likely to dump Doohan and promote Colapinto to their own seat rather than letting him join Racing Bulls.

McFly85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123298031#Comment_123298031

It probably is overblown and the reality is that Lawson has underperformed. Regardless of how difficult it is to drive it shouldn’t be continually at the back of the grid.

But if Yuki has similar struggles then it may well be that Maxs driving style is a driving force behind the design - and if that’s the case, then the question surely needs to be asked of Red Bull what good is a junior team for development if the car they’re preparing for is fundamentally different?

It might be better then for junior drivers considered for the seat prepare by putting hours into older RBs instead of going to VCARB.

PsychoPete

If the rumours are true and Yuki doesn't get to grips with that second RedBull then they are rightly screwed

PsychoPete

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123298089#Comment_123298089

If Doohan has another bad weekend at Suzuka then we'll probably see Colapinto in the Alpine at Bahrain

mickdw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123298202#Comment_123298202

Danny Ric for the comeback. He jumped in the 23 redbull and did a lap comparable to max at the time or so we were told. That was the test that put in back onto the grid.

TheRona

Ultimately Lawson was just too slow. He should still be able to get within a few tenths of Max, regardless of how hard the car is to drive

The real problem is that Yuki is no better. What happens if Lawson now outperforms Yuki in Japan (assuming he goes to VCARB). What a mess.

Trampas

Who’s making the decisions in red bull? Is it Horner or Mario? Hard to believe how much they’ve fallen over the last 12 months since the Horner incident. The wheels have fallen off the wagon