Biggest points ahead the 2025 season Part 1

It was only last month Max Verstappen was celebrating his fourth drivers championship and McLaren their first constructors championship in 26 years but we are only six weeks away from embarking on Albert Park in Melbourne for the opening race of the season. Here we look at the biggest talking points ahead of what will be a fascinating season.

Can Hamilton return to his brilliant best at Ferrari? Hamilton will go down as one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time. With Michael Schumacher, Hamilton has the equal most championship titles with seven. Yet the 2024 season was mixed to say the least. Two brilliant wins at Spa in Belgium and at his home grand prix at Silverstone but he failed to get out of Q1 in qualifying on numerous occasions. Apart from his two wins he only finished on the podium on three other occasions. Hamilton finished the season in seventh, 22 points behind his teammate George Russell at Mercedes. Hamilton finished the 2023 season in 2023.

Hamilton has joined the most famous brand in motorsport Ferrari for at least the next two seasons. Will the new environment at Ferrari’s base in Maranello Italy be what Hamilton needs to fight for the championship in 2025?

Can McLaren do the double in 2025 and win both the drivers and constructors championship? After years of disappointment and struggle McLaren finally returned to be one of the powerhouses of Formula 1. McLaren’s driver Lando Norris won his first race of his career at Miami and would be on top of the podium another three times at Abu Dhabi, Singapore and the Netherlands. He would be on the podium another nine times. Norris finished the drivers championship in second. Had it not been for Verstappen’s dominant start to the season Norris would had been in the battle to win the drivers championship.

His teammate at McLaren Oscar Piastri would win two races this season at Hungary and Azerbaijan and would be on the podium another six times. He finished the drivers championship in fourth place.

McLaren won the constructors championship by 14 points points over second Ferrari for the first time since 1998. Will we see this continued dominance in 2025 and can Piastri or Norris be the first driver to win the championship since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

Will the new era at Mercedes bring immediate success?

The new era at McLaren has officially begun in 2025. After 12 season Hamilton has left for Ferrari and George Russell has become the lead driver at the team. Russell continued to improve throughout the 2024 season. Russell won races at Austria and Las Vegas and finished first over the line at Belgium but was disqualified after his car was underweight after the race. He would finish above Hamilton in the drivers championship.

Russell’s new teammate at Mercedes will be 18 year old Italian sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Antonelli has continued to impress since his racing debut at the age of 15. He won the Italian Formula 4 championship in 2022 and in 2023 he won the Formula Regional European Championship and the Formula Regional Middle East Championship. In 2024 he bypassed F3 to race in F2. In F2 Antonelli won the sprint race in Silverstone and the feature race in Hungary. He finished sixth in the F2 championship.

Now the big test comes for both these drivers. Can Antonelli brin this impressive form to F1 and can Russell continue his ascension up the ranks in 2025?

What will we see from Aston Martin in 2025? 2024 was a year to forget for the Aston Martin delivering well below expectations. In 2023 Aston Martin finished fifth in constructors championship with 280 points but 2024 they could only record a measly 94 points. Aston Martin would again finish in fifth but a whopping 374 points behind fourth place Mercedes.

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso started the season with real promise with finishing in the points in the first six races of the season but for the rest of the season top 10 points were less frequent. Alonso only finished in the points eight times for the rest of the season. He finished with 70 points compared to 206 in 2023.

It was a nightmare season for Alonso’s teammate Lance stroll. He only scored points in five races this season and he was outscored by Alonso 19-5 and 17-7 in races. In the wet at Sao Paulo Stroll spun out on the formation lap and then got the car stuck in the gravel. He finished the season in 13th in the drivers championship.

There was one big positive that came out of the season was Adrian Newey joining Aston Martin as their Managing Technical Partner. He starts his role on the 1 March this year. Newey was at Red Bull for 18 years where he played a key roll in the success of their drivers Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen who have both won four championships.

Biggest talking points for the F1 2024 season: Red Bull

The gap between Verstappen and the rest of the field is closing.

In 2023 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won every race of the Formula 1 season. Verstappen continued that dominance in the first half of the 2024 season, winning seven of the first ten 10 races. Yet the tide began to turn, Ferrari, Mercedes and in particular McLaren were catching the Red Bull outfit, Verstappen was no longer invincible.

After Verstappen’s win in Spain at the 10th race of the season he wouldn’t win another race until the Brazilian Grand Prix, the 21st race of the season. It was one of Verstappen’s greatest wins, coming from the back of the grid to win the race at Sao Paulo. He would win again at the Qatar.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Mercedes George Russell and Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri would all win multiple races during the 2024 season.

Verstappen would win the 2024 drivers championships by only 63 points over McLaren’s Lando Norris. This is compared to the 2023 championship, he won by 290 points.

Perez couldn’t rise to the occasion at Red Bull in 2024.

The second driver has become a poison chalice at Red Bull with drivers including Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon all struggling in the role. Sergio Perez had been at Red Bull since 2021 but there had been continued speculation with his spot at the team. He finished the 2023 season in second but 290 points behind his team-mate Verstappen.

Red Bull sister team RB signed Daniel Ricciardo for the 2024 season. Continued speculation in the pitlane that Ricciardo would replace Perez at Red Bull if he exceled at RB but Ricciardo couldn’t live up to expectation in the early part of the season. Perez started the season in brilliant form finishing on the podium in four of the first five races and signed a two year extension in June.

After a confident start to the season, Perez’s form deteriorated quickly and the pressure began to rise for the Mexican driver. After the fifth race of the season Perez would only finish in the top 5 once for the rest of the season. He didn’t finish 5 races and be completely out of the points another three. Perez finished the drivers championship in 8th place with 152 points, 71 points behind Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton in seventh. Red Bull finished the constructors champions in a disappointing third place.

On the 18th of December Perez and Red Bull announced that they parted ways with immediate effect.

The next day Red Bull announced Liam Lawson as the second driver or the 2025 season. Lawson replaced Ricciardo at RB for the last five races for 2024 season finishing in the points on two occasions. He also raced for RB when Ricciardo was injured in 2023 for again five races finishing in the points once. Lawson is from New Zealand and is 22 years old.

Talking Points From Day 2 United States Grand Prix

Near perfect day for Verstappen The four week break between the Singapore Grand Prix and the race this weekend has done the Red Bull driver the world of good. Max Verstappen was in clear control of the sprint race from start to finish winning the sprint by almost four seconds, his first win since the sprint race at Austria. He qualified for tomorrow’s race in second and he was on a fast lap when qualifying finished prematurely due to Mercedes George Russell’s crashing in the final minute of qualifying. Verstappen still leads the driver championship by 46 points over Mclaren’s Lando Norris.

Perez continues to struggle As Verstappen thrived in the Texan sun the same cannot be said for his Red Bull teammate. Sergio Perez finished outside the points in the sprint with coming in ninth and will finish the start of the race in tenth. He was unable to record a time in Q3 due to the Russell crash. Perez sits in eighth in the driver championship, over 200 points behind his teammate. Even though he has a contract for the next two season there is immense pressure on Perez holding his spot in the team. Red Bull will be expecting a strong result from him in the race tomorrow.

Qualifying brilliance for Norris. McLaren’s Lando Norris will start the USA Grand Prix in pole position after a brilliant final qualifying lap in Q3. This might have been helped by the Russell crash but nothing can be taken away from Norris who said after qualifying to Sky Sports F1 that this was one of his best ever qualifying laps. He finished the sprint race in third after being overpassed by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz on the final lap. He will face competition from both the Ferrari’s as they looked quick in both the sprint and qualifying.

No highlights for Piastri after the first two days in Texas but there is still hope for the race on Sunday. On Friday afternoon it was a horror show who McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who was knocked out of Q1 in the sprint qualifying. On Saturday he would climb up six places in the sprint race but was given a five second penalty for forcing Alpine’s Pierre Gasly off the race track. He will start the race from fifth and is in reaching distance on his teammate who starts from pole.

The Ferrari’s are real contenders for the race win tomorrow. There would have been nervous faces in the Ferrari garage at the beginning of the sprint with their drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz battling back and forth for positions. It was enthralling viewing for the spectators around around the race track as Sainz who will join Williams next season came out on top. Both drivers passed Russell and Sainz passed Norris on the final lap with Sainz finishing second and Leclerc fourth. They will start Sunday’s race on the second row of the grid with Sainz third and Leclerc fourth.

Adrian Newey joins Aston Martin.

Adrian Newy one of the most sought after people in Formula 1 has signed a multi year deal with Aston Martin.

Newey is a Formula 1 Engineer who’s main role is designing the car. Newey first joined Formula 1 in 1979. His designs have been key factors in successful teams throughout this time.

He has been the chief technical officer at Red Bull for the last eighteen years. Since his appointment Red Bull drivers have won multiple championships with Sebastian Vettel winning four and Max Verstappen winning three. Last season Verstappen won all but one race and this season is again leading the championship. Red Bull has won 108 races and 101 pole positions.

Newey has won a total of 12 driver and 13 constructor championships in his time in formula 1.

In May when it was announced that Newey would be leaving the Red Bull team Red Bull Racing Principal Christian Horner paid tribute to Newey.

“All of our greatest moments from the past twenty years have come with Adrian’s hand on the technical tiller. His vision and brilliance has helped us to win 13 titles in 20 season” Horner said to the Red Bull website.

Newey has joined Aston Martin on a multi year deal believed to be worth 30 million pounds a year.

Executive Chairman at Aston Martin Lawrence Stroll said Newey was their number one target.

“As soon as Adrian became available we knew we had to make it happen. Our initial conversations confirmed there was a shared desire to collaborate in a once in a lifetime opportunity” he said.

Newey spoke with the media after the announcement.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 team. I have been hugely inspired by the passion and commitment that Lawrence brings to everything that he is involved with.”

William’s half season review

2023 was a big season for the Williams Racing team. They signed Motorsport Strategy Director James Vowels as their team principal. This appointment brought much improvement on the track. Williams Racing finished with 28 points and seventh in the constructors championship. In 2022 they finished last and only recorded eight points.

This improvement was again expected in 2024 but halfway through the season Williams Racing hasn’t come close to the heights they reached in 2023.

Alex Albon was seen as one of the breakout stars of 2023. He scored 27 of their 28 points in 2023. He finished in the top 10 on seven occasions. After Lewis Hamilton signed a two year contract with Ferrari, Albon was seen as one of the drivers that could take the vacant Mercedes drive.

Yet 2024 hasn’t gone to plan for Albon or the Williams team. Williams have only recorded fours points and two top positions this season.

During the third race in Melbourne, Albon crashed out in the first practice on Friday. The team didn’t bring a spare chassis to the Albert Park track and were down to one car for the rest of the weekend. Williams Racing decided to put Albon into his teammate Logan Sargeant’s car. Sargeant had to sit out the rest of the weekend.

Sargeant has been with Williams Racing since the start of the 2023. He has spent most of the season at the back of the grid but did finish 10th at Austin.

Sargeant has continued to struggle in 2024. He finished 11th at Silverstone in the British Grand Prix but has finished 17th or lower eight time and failed to finish on two occasions.

In March Albon signed a multi year contract extension with Williams but Sargeant contract has not been extended.

On the 30th of July Williams Racing announced they had signed Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz for the next two seasons with an option to extend. Sainz contract wasn’t renewed for 2025 after Ferrari signed Hamilton. Sainz has won three grand prix’s including this years Australian Grand Prix and has been on the podium 23 times. This year Sainz sits in 5th in the constructors championship.

On the Williams website Vowels said he is excited to have Sainz for 2025 and beyond.

“Carlos joining Williams is a strong statement of intent for both parties. Carlos has demonstrated time and time again that he is one of the most talented drivers on the grid, with race winning pedigree.”

As of writing this Sargeant will remain with Williams for the next race at the Netherlands.

Change coming to Sauber in 2025.

It isn’t an understatement to say the 2024 season has been a disaster for the Sauber. Halfway through the season they haven’t recorded a point and sit last in the constructor’s championship. Sauber’s driver Valtteri Bottas highest finish this season has been 15th. He recorded this twice, at the Belgium and Great Britain Grand Prix’s. His teammate Zhou Guanyu highest finish this season is 13th at Spain. The only other who hasn’t record a point is William’s Logan Sargeant.

The Sauber team which will become Audi in 2026. This year Audi took over full ownership of the team.

In 2025 the team will have at least one new driver. It was announced in April Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg would be joining the Sauber team in 2025 and beyond. At the time he spoke to the F1 media about the excitement of joining the German team.

“The prospect of joining of competing for Audi is very special. When a German manufacturer enters Formula 1 with such determination, it is such a unique opportunity. “

This season Hulkenberg sits in 11th in the championship, 17 points and 5 positions above his teammate Kevin Magnussen on the driver’s championship.

Hulkenberg said CEO of Sauber Motorsport AG Andreas Seidl was the “driving factor” for his move to the team.

In July, the Audi team declared that Seidl and Audi executive Oliver Hoffman would be leaving the German manufacturer. They would be replaced by former Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto. Binotto was at Ferrari for 27 years including four years as their team principal. Binotto’s position at Audi will be as Chief Operating and Chief Technical Officer. He began in the role at the start of August.

Audi CEO Gernot Dollner said they were thrilled to have Binotto join Audi.

“With his extensive experience of more than 25 years, he will undoubtedly be able to make a decisive contribution to Audi” he said to F1 media.

Red Bull’s sporting director Jonathon Wheatley will become Audi Team Principal in 2026. Wheatley has been at Red Bull for the last 18 years. Wheatley will finish at Red Bull at the end of the season.

“The opportunity to play an active part in Audi’s entry into Formula One as head of a factory team is a uniquely exciting prosect” Wheatley said to the Sauber website.

Belgium F1 Grand Prix

The McLaren is quick, really quick.

McLaren are having an impressive season. They sit second in the constructor’s championship, both their drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have won races this year and they continually finish on the podium.

It was another podium finish at the Belgium Grand Prix with Piastri finishing second after the disqualification of Russell.

After 32 laps Piastri sat in fourth spot and over three seconds behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. In three laps he was half a second behind the ferrari and the next lap he passed the Leclerc with ease.

With eight laps left Piastri was four and half seconds behind Mercedes Lewis Hamilton in second and by the end of the race it was less than a second.

Piastri was interviewed after the race about the result.

“I’m happy with the result. I think we managed the race very well and I don’t think we could have have done much more today. We did a lot of things right and gave ourselves the best opportunities. But in the end, it wasn’t quite enough” he said.

Norris’s race was ruined on the first corner going onto the gravel and losing three positions on the grid. He went from fourth to seventh. Norris did show genuine pace throughout the race and passed Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. He was within a second of Perez’s teammate Max Verstappen for the last eight laps of the race. Norris finished the race in fifth.

Lando spoke about his first lap mishap.

” A disappointing race today. I think we managed the race and it cost me a good position on the grid which was difficult to recover with the lack of overtaking opportunities.”

McLaren’s Team Principal Andrea Stella said it has been a positive start to the season.

“Overall a very strong part of the season for McLaren. We are even closer to the top of the constructor’s championship and we look forward to the second part of the season.”

The Belgium Grand Prix

The Disqualification of George Russell

As the 2024 Belgium Grand Prix concluded it appeared to be a magical day for the Mercedes team. Their drivers George Russell finished first and Lewis Hamilton in second. Their first 1,2 finish for the season. Russell started in the race in 6th but with assistance of a one pit stop strategy he was able to win the race. Most drivers had at least two pit stop race.

Only hours later the celebrations had become subdued when it was revealed that George Russell had been disqualified for his car being underweight.

Each Formula 1 car needs to weigh at least 798kg. Russell’s Mercedes weighed 798kg after the race but once the remaining fuel was emptied from the car, the car weighed 796.5kg.

The FIA F1 Technical delegate released a report regarding the matter.

“As this is 1.5kg below the minimum weight requested in TR Article 4.1 which also has to be respected at all times during the competition, I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration” it said.

The stewards then disqualified Russel from the race.

Russel spoke with the F1 media after the race.

“It is heartbreaking to be disqualified for today’s race. It had been an unbelievable Grand Prix for us to make the one-stop strategy work” he said.

Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin believed one of the reasons the car came in underweight was due to the one stop strategy.

“We don’t understand yet why the car was underweight following the race but will investigate thoroughly to find the explanation. We expect the loss of rubber from the one stop was a contributing factor and we’ll work to understand how it happened.”

It wasn’t all heartbreak for the Mercedes team with Hamilton winning his second race in three races.

“I feel for George and you don’t want to win through disqualification, but we have been in the fight for victories in the past few races. It is incredibly competitive now, so we will need to work hard to battle for wins consistently.

“Nevertheless, we can go into the summer break with momentum and positivity” he said to F1 media.

Hamilton has been in the top 10 for every race this season apart for Australia where he didn’t finish. He has finished in the top four for the last six races.

Review of the Belgium Grand Prix Qualifying Part 1

Q1 and the first five eliminated

Sauber’s Guanyu Zhou and William’s Logan Sargeant have both struggled throughout the 2024 season and both haven’t recorded a top ten finish. Their miserable seasons continued with both drivers finishing 20th and 19th respectively. They are both expected to not be not on the grid in 2025.

They both will move up a position on the grid for Sunday’s race as RB’s Yuki Tsunoda will start from the back of the grid due to being handed a 60 grid penalty due to different infringements with the car. Each driver is allowed four internal combustion engine changes a season, this was Tsunoda’s fifth. Other infringements included having his third third energy store and a new set of electronics.

The two Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg finished in the 16th and 17th respectively.

Q2 and the next five eliminated

The weather can have a big impact on qualifying and an F1 race. It was drizzling at the start of Q2 but it got heavier half way through Q2 with all drivers going on the intermediates.

William’s Alex Albon missed out on the top ten by the tiniest of margins, only 0.003 seconds to Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who finished in 10th. Perez has been under immense pressure to hold his spot for the remainder of the 2024 season and beyond.

As it was getting wetter at the Spa track, RB believed their driver Daniel Ricciardo had done enough to make Q3 and decided he that he didn’t need come out of the garage to do a final lap. This decision backfired and Ricciardo finished in 13th. Ricciardo spoke with the F1 media after qualifying about his teams decisions.

“Of course we’re all a little disappointed but it wasn’t a call that we’re all kicking ourselves over, it’s just the one we made and wasn’t the [right] one” he said.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly has had many peaks and troughs in the 2024 season. Struggling in the first seven races, only managing to finish 13th or lower. But the next four races were such an improvement finished in the top 10 in all four but the last two he has failed to finish. He will start the race in 12th and will hope for another top ten finish.

Like his teammate at Sauber, Valtteri Bottas hasn’t recorded a point this season. He will start the race in 14th and it will be an uphill battle to make the top 10.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll will start the race in 15th.

The British Grand Prix Review Part 1

It is a great time to be an English sports fan. George Russell wins the Austrian Grand Prix, the England men’s football team are in the Euro’s semi final and now seven time world champion Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton wins his first race win in 945 days. Hamilton’s ninth win at his home grand prix.

Mercedes had gone 56 races without a win but now have won two in a row. There has been six individual winners in the first twelve race of the 2024 season. In 2023 there was only three winners for the entire season.

The last pip stop defined the British Grand Prix

After 38 laps of the race McLaren’s Lando Norris was in the lead, Hamilton in second and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third. All three were still in contention to win the race. All three drivers were on the intermediate due to the mid section of the race being contested in the rain. As the rain disappeared and the sun came out, the track dried the track the drivers came into the pits to put on slicks.

Both Hamilton and Verstappen came in on lap 39 with Hamilton going on the soft and Verstappen going on the hard tyre. Norris came into the pit the next lap. As Norris came into the pitlane his team said over the radio the medium would be able to defend Verstappen and the soft would cover Hamilton. Norris chose the soft.

Norris’s pit stop was slower than expected with Norris locking up contributing to it. He came out behind Hamilton and Hamilton would go on to win and historic ninth British Grand Prix.

Speaking after the race to the media, Hamilton spoke about the excitement of winning his first grand prix of the season.

“Today means so much. It is the most incredible honour to be standing on the top step of the podium at Silverstone. I think my heart is still racing” he said to F1.com

For Norris he was still over six seconds clear of Verstappen but with Verstappen on the hard tyre and Norris on the soft he was able to catch Norris and pass him with ease, finishing the race in second position. Norris finished the race in third. After the race Norris spoke with the F1 media about the race.

“At the same time I blame myself for not making the right decisions. I hate it, I hate ending up in this position and having excuses for not doing a good enough job” he said.

But Norris also spoke during his press conferences about the positives of his home grand prix.

“This is the place I would love everything to go perfectly and it just didn’t happen today. But it is still lovely to be on the podium at Silverstone. We will come stronger, next race and next year.”

Norris is in second place in the championship, 84 points behinds behind Verstappen.

It is clear that Verstappen is no longer a super power in F1.

For Verstappen he struggled for pace throughout the British Grand Prix. After 14 laps of the race he was in third behind the two Mercedes but within three laps he was passed by both McLaren’s.

The next 10 laps the two Mercedes and McLaren’s would fight in a exhilarating battle for the top 4 positions but Verstappen was unable to keep up and sat almost 10 seconds behind George Russell in fourth when he came in for his first pit stop on lap 27.

With George Russell having to retire, and McLaren’s strategic error on a pit stop with Oscar Piastri’s car, Verstappen moved up to third. As we spoke about earlier Norris picked the wrong type of tyre on his last pit stop and the Red Bull team making the right decisions on their pit stops Verstappen was able to finish the race in second.

In a press conference after the race Verstappen spoke about the difficulties he had throughout the race.

“It was difficult today to manage especially with the rain, but looking at pure performance we were too slow in the first stint and overall struggled with tyre degradation” he said to F1.com.

“Out of a tough situation we still finished second and extended our championship leads, and that of course is a very strong result for us. We’re halfway through the season now and we still have a bit of work to do still to finish the season where we want to be.”