2025 F1 General Discussion Thread

dulpit

For anybody with an interest in f1 history, the race posted this on their YouTube. Interesting watch. Mario Andretti's comments at the start could have been said by any current driver. As much as things change, a lot remains the same...

https://youtu.be/UA-b_f9BgCA?si=okFwQIlw3PiaYEjn

dulpit

Did anybody watch the Hill documentary? Only got a chance to watch it today, it's excellent. Definitely find it if you haven't seen it.

AMKC

The local paper. You heard it hear first well maybe not,

steve_r

Double funding for the roads!

NinjaTruncs

Alex needs somewhere to practice!

PsychoPete

Looks like we could possibly see Portimao back on the calendar for 2027. The Portuguese government are working on a deal to get F1 back

Brief_Lives

https://racingnews365.com/cadillac-sign-first-f1-driver-for-2026-season

The Cadillac F1 team has made its first driver signing for its debut F1 season, RacingNews365 and Formula.hu understand.

Cadillac has reached a deal with F1 veteran Valtteri Bottas, who will make his return to the sport for the 2026 campaign.

The Finn will most likely be officially presented by Cadillac next week. Cadillac would like to conduct some TPC (testing of previous cars) outings, likely with an older Ferrari car, in the latter part of 2025 to prepare the team for its debut.

Therefore, it is logical that Bottas will make an early move to Cadillac in order to best prepare himself for the new adventure and gel with his new team.

Cadillac is currently being headed by team principal Graeme Lowdon, who is familiar with Bottas.

In recent years, Lowdon has worked as the manager of Zhou Guanyu, who spent three years racing alongside Bottas at Sauber before the duo departed the grid at the end of last year.

It remains unknown if Bottas will conclude his reserve role at Mercedes with immediate effect.

ELM327

Glad to see VB back on the grid. Sure he's not at the talent of Alonso, Max, peak kimi, seb etc but on his day he's above average at worst and his experience will be very helpful in a new team.

Brief_Lives

If Cadillac end up with Perez and Bottas, thats a strong pairing to start with…

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123738691#Comment_123738691

Ah delighted for Bottas if that is accurate. He deserves another shot and will be an excellent asset for the Cadillac team in getting their new processes ironed out. He'll also be gold for their social media game.

prawnsambo

Interesting that (assuming it's accurate) Bottas is the first signed and not Perez; who was supposedly nailed on.

Frank Bullitt

Makes sense for a new team to aim for some talent and experience over money.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123739647#Comment_123739647

I saw rumours on twitter or reddit or somewhere (would need to go digging) that Perez might not be as interested as originally suggested, which is why the likes of Mick Schumacher or Alex Dunne came into the picture.

It'd be that Checo likes retirement, not that Cadillac don't want him…

flazio

I'm curious as to why Daniel Riccardo isn't being bandied about. He's another driver who would be popular on the socials.

RoryMac

I was listening to David Coultard's interview on the High Performance podcast and he made a comment about Riccardo which hinted that his priorities had changed and he was no longer willing to make the sacrifices needed to drive in F1.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123739944#Comment_123739944

Daniel Riccardo is happy now and says he has no plans to come back to F1.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123739944#Comment_123739944

I wonder how much the driver's popularity with fans really matters. My instinct says it should matter. But I remember Robert Kubica returned to great excitement on Boards, and then nothing happened. He just raced the season without much fanfare.

I'd say they're better off picking drivers they think will either pay a lot of money (like Perez) or fill a senior driver role in the team, rather than a driver with great socials

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123739944#Comment_123739944

Didn't he say on the last season of DTS that he started to question himself in car? He's much happier now I'd say than he would be driving.

Still should have a place in f1, he'd be great on TV coverage...

mickdw

Graeme Lowdon when interviewed said they were potentially interested in Ricciardo but that he wasn't in the game of convincing a driver to get into a car. Ricciardo has continually said that he is done so with that attitude, he is never going to be the driver he was.

Bottas is quick but I can only imagine year 1 being a **** show for that team.

PsychoPete

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123739647#Comment_123739647

Checo to be announced at Monza apparently which would tie in with the Cadillac/Ferrari ties

Frank Bullitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123741555#Comment_123741555

I sometimes forget that Checo was part of the family group back in the day.

PsychoPete

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123742400#Comment_123742400

Himself and Kobayashi. You'd honestly forget how long Checo has been in F1

dulpit

The Race now reporting that it's a Bottas and Checo line up, as expected.

For me, it's the best line up they could have got as a brand new team.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123743925#Comment_123743925

Yeah it's a solid pairing. Safe hands. Of all the things that can go wrong for a new team, they have drivers who are solid and will likely bring the cars home.

With that said, they're both out of the sport for a year so might be somewhat rusty

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123743949#Comment_123743949

Bottas has been at least attached all year round and has done test driving/etc. I think Perez has been on the beach though.

They'll get up to speed pretty quickly, especially with there being more pre season testing for 2026 than there was for 2025.

PsychoPete

Bottas still has a 5 place grid penalty for his first race, he carrys it over from Abu Dhabi 2024

Paddy_Mag

Horner to cadillac as TP being rumouree

Brief_Lives

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123745469#Comment_123745469

quote of the day…

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123745736#Comment_123745736

Can't see why he would. He wouldn't have control, plus they already have Graeme Lowden in place.

A more likely event would be Horner buying into alpine

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123743949#Comment_123743949

I can see Cadillac favouring Sergio because he is Mexican. It will be interesting to see who does better in the team.