2025 Formula 1 Season Paddock

Niko or Jos?

 

Race Director getting plenty of flack over the delayed call to bring the Safety Car in. On his side;
- Spray into the blind corner Radullon, it appears all of the track was clearing except the most dangerous area.
- Fatalities in 2019 and 2023 with the family of Hebert sitting as guests in the Alpine garage.
- Drivers criticized the Race Director after Silverstone for not getting the Saftey Car or Red Flag out because of visibility in the rain.

A shame to once again have a race decided on weather based aero call made the day before instead of on track racing.

 

Great work from the entire MLaren org to keep a handle on this race. LEC did well to fend off Max as well. And yeah, HAM got lucky with the tire call but it was his overtaking 5 cars in the wet that put him into the points. EIGHT different teams in the points. Gotta love wet races. Gotta love Spa.

 

I think there are a lot of valid complaints about how this was handled yesterday, it's worth pointing out the reason there was a rolling start was not because of visibility or driver safety but instead due to "a competitive disadvantage" of one side of the starting grid being wetter than the other side. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining too much so I'll just leave it at that...

But I will pour one out for our old buddy full wets. RIP friend...we'll never see your blue stripes ever again but we'll always remember you as you transition to that giant Pirelli tire fire in the sky

 

Max Verstappen staying at Red Bull for 2026 - Helmut Marko
Well I guess that's "official": https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/45850750/max-verstappen-staying-red-bull-2026-helmut-marko

 

Thats interesting. So Max must think they are gonna be OK.

This is gonna be interesting.

 

Just my 2 cents, .....

Well, it's not really a huge revelation when you look at it. Red Bull completely built their team and their car around Max and the way that he drives. I really don't see any other team either (1) having the resources to do that even if they wanted to or (2) the ones having the resources to do that but not designing a car completely around one driver. Yes, every team makes upgrades and changes to their vehicles and gives the options for the upgrades to the drivers (hence Norris taking the new suspension upgrades and Piastri not wanting them) but I do truly think that the second seat of RB is always going to fail because RB designed their car for Max's way of driving. Yuki was doing leaps and bounds better in the Racing Bulls car before moving to the RB car. So is Lawson. Checo, when he was running with RB grew with the changes at a slower pace and was able to adapt with each change, unlike a driver needing to completely adapt to a car set up like it is for Max. Even if Max went to Mercedes......yes they have the money. They spend $1 Million a day....yes a day, in just research and development so they have the cash, but a huge corperation like that makes decisions for the betterment of the corporation and not for the driver. Case Look at the move with Hamilton over to Ferrari. Any change at Ferrari needs to go through so many different committees and if Hamilton got his way and they listened to Hamilton knowing that he more experience in F1 then most likely everyone at Ferrari that is making decisions about the car put together, They still want the in the decision making. I do believe that Hamilton would be doing a lot better at Ferrari if they just listened to him. I do believe that if another team, other than Red Bull, that is willing to completely listen to Max and build a car within the new 2026 regulations that is completely centered around him and his way of driving, he would leave Red Bull in a second.

 

Certainly all makes sense. Just hope they can get back to winning.

 

No one has a clue which power unit will edge the other when they are unleashed on the track. Merc, RB/Ford, Honda, Ferrari or Audi, who knows. Something to note is the Honda and Audi power units will only be in two cars limiting feedback.

Merc - Merc, McLaren, Williams, Alpine
RB/Ford - Red and Racing Bulls
Ferrari - Ferrari, Haas, Cadillac
Honda - Aston Martin
Audi - Audi (Sauber)

Drivers were already running out of battery power on the Camel Straight last weekend and the FIA has altered the regs so that the next gen engine tapers off it's loss of electrical energy rather than a more sudden drop off. It will mean cars begin slowing earlier, part way down a long straight. The fear is that battery management will be the dominant driving skill at tracks with long high speed sectors.

Combine that with active aero chassis design instead of DRS, and it is anyone's game.

They are still discussing wheel diameter as a possible weight saving measure.

Will one excel? Will another fall flat?

 

I have to ask this, knowing that you appear to be a Red Bull fan. When Max leaves Red Bull are you going to leave Red Bull and go with Max or stay with Red Bull?

I am asking that due to me having been a McLaren fan for a little over a decade now (no disrespect intended). In knowing that, yes we are doing well now but we weren't back then. I was sad to see Daniel Ricardo go but I didn't move with him I stayed with Mclaren. In saying that I know that you are hoping that they get back to winning but in all honesty I kind of don't see that happening anytime soon especially if Max leaves. What happened in the previous couple of years was something that will never happen again. One driver or one team completely dominating like it did.

 

This is so great and so Poignant on so many levels lol

 

I def don't see myself being a RB loyalist, more a fan of Max. I've been admittedly disappointed in some of his immature behavior this year and have called him out on it. I was sort of hoping he'd go to a German manufacturer like Mercedes.

If Porsche would have come into the F1 space, I would have been a manufacturer loyalist to them regardless of who the driver is.

 

But here is $64,000 question......What if, be it in the highly unlikely event that it would happen, but if it did, what if Max moves to Austin Martin and replaces Fernando? Because I think we both know with the one or two Austin Martin shirts that are in the grandstands, Both of them are because of Fernando and not Stroll and you know Stroll's not going anywhere no matter how bad he does.

 

I am firmly a Ferrari fan

I have been since 1974 ( I’m 67) and still enjoy criticizing them. But it’s been a good ride.

 

Same here, and same age
(Except when Mario was at Lotus)

 

I will be a Max fan til Porsche enters the space, which is probably never after their last comment on the idea. I do like Charles and wish he'd get some better results but Ferrari is sorta where they've been.

I don't think Lewis will win another title, no matter where he is driving. Not saying it's an age thing, but it just doesn't seem to be his time anymore.

 

A bit of a Ford advert but some interesting comments from Max.

The extra mental capacity to process things when the pressure is on.

Keeps going back to the training he received from Jos, both mental and driving.

Adapting to any car's strengths and weaknesses (in any race series, across platforms), not a car tailored to the driver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY8pQMt8eB4

 

Sure, I completely understand that from the aspect of an interview. Obviously he is not going to come out and pompously say that he demands a car be built around his way of driving. And I am not saying, in any way, shape or form that it is his fault that red bull tailored their car around his way of driving. But when you have had entire seasons, like you have had the previous couple of seasons, red bull is going to do whatever they can to listen to what Max wants ann taylor the car to him. All i'm saying is that it's going to be very hard to go back do something different.

Think of it this way. You can go ahead and adapt two going out to eat, do multiple different restaurants, and ordering things directly off of the menu. Some dishes you do, like but they don't really fit your nutritional needs, and some dishes You don't like, but do fit your nutritional needs. And then you get your own personal chef that specifically makes food that you know that you are going to like every single time as well as fit your nutritional requirements. Are you gonna go out and go back to the old restaurants that you used to go to again?