Good that Lawson has a couple of points finishes under his belt at [whatever Red Bull's second team are called this year] or he'd be at serious risk of being considered the worst F1 driver in the modern era when he gets binned off.
F1 Season 2025
- Thread starter pauldyson1uk
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Was thinking about this too this morning, F1 can be brutal in that sense. How many races would you guys give him to come good in that car? I was thinking 4 weekends but there must be a line of capable pilots who'd love that seat.
There was naturally going to be a convergence of the top end of the grid as we come to the end of the regulations and everyone used the same design essentially.
There was no chance of producing a RedBull as dominate as it was 2 seasons ago. The problem as Lawson said after qually is that the operating window for the RedBull is so small. This is the same complaint about the RedBull from last year and in the off season it was the main focus of the work i.e. to increase the operating window of the car. It's still a quick car, it's just a diva of a car that max can dance with and Lawson clumsy stumbles around with.
Lawson has access to Max's outlap data and his push lap data. I would presume his engineer would look to get Lawson to try to replicate Max's out lap. As max can get the car in the right window.
It's the same old rule in F1, if you can't get the tyres into the right temp window, you do not get any grip, therefore no confidence to push and it all goes downhill from there.
Great performance from George to split the two Mclarens. Can he pip Oscar at turn 1? We'll have to see but I believe he can
George to take out the McLarens and Max vs the Ferraris for the win. /Subscribe - not that I give Max a chance tomorrow. If there s one thing you can't accuse the guy of is being dramatic about their performance and so far every time he says where he thinks he ll end up in the pecking order has basically become true.
This season still has a chance of becoming truly epic but clearly we need a bit more convergence even than we've seen so far. Hopefully it won't take all of half season once the TD hits to get there.
Pirelli reckon MEDIUM - HARD - HARD, 2 stop strategy will the way to go tomorrow. Also taking it very easy on the front left tyre for first few laps, otherwise it will blister.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/strategy-corner-2025-chinese-grand-prix/10706156/
Also just to make things more interesting, Ferrari made changes to both cars after the sprint, sacrificing single lap pace for better race pace. (I read that as we want to look after the fronts and go deep into the stint).
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/strategy-corner-2025-chinese-grand-prix/10706156/
Also just to make things more interesting, Ferrari made changes to both cars after the sprint, sacrificing single lap pace for better race pace. (I read that as we want to look after the fronts and go deep into the stint).
I figured as much re Ferrari. Curious to see if it works for them. Feels like that strategy is something we ve heard from Ferrari many times over the past few years but then doesnt really pan out.
Do wish we could go to a time again when tyres weren't such a decisive factor. At minimum Pirelli should have had competition again.
I would rather trust Hamilton on this, he said that after the sprint race everyone improved with their setup except them, there is not much they could have done better(comparing their lap times further proves this) so I think Mclarens are far ahead for tomorrows race, and probably Mercedes and Max too. They can be very happy if they reach podium tomorrow, IMO.
This was also my thinking, the sprint showed that went tyres go off they really go off and quickly, strategy will be vital.
Ferrari making changes after the sprint makes sense , sprint set up was perfect and we know that Lewis can manage his tyres over a full race distance, I think a podium finish could be on for him.
Agree the race I think is McLaren's to lose, but you cant rule out either Mercedes , Russell did well in qualifying , Antonelli a champion in the making.
I would like to offer my apologies , my earlier post was in no way meant to be racist , I am horrified it came over that way .
Hamilton after qually today:
"We started really optimistic but we made a couple of changes, small tweaks to the car, and it really put the car on a knife edge,” Hamilton explained.
"The wind picked up a bit as well, so the car was trickier to drive and harder to put laps together."
"You want a car that's balanced. At the moment from one corner to the next, the car has a different balance."
"We made the change then all of a sudden in the high-speed it was overbalanced, so you want a car you can rely on and when you attack the corners, you know it will stay with you rather than lock-up or go into oversteer."
Asked if he thinks he can still have the pace he demonstrated in the sprint race, Hamilton replied: "I mean, I hope so. I really do hope so. We made some changes to improve race performance, but it was definitely harder on a single lap, so it's gonna be interesting tomorrow."
(Headline is abit clickbait below but it's where the quote is from)
https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1065721/1/lewis-hamilton-left-no-hope-after-revealing-ferrari-changes
Bearman has done ok this weekend to be fair. That Haas looks like a go kart
Yeah, that's fair, but after the qualifying I red his comments how others have come closer to Ferrari. He did say he had some small problems with oversteer though.
I think it’s easy to overlook how tricky these cars seem to be to set up.
It’s no surprise at all that it’s incredibly difficult to judge raw performance because of that variability. Conceptually, if Ferrari had struck a perfect balance for the sprint, then it makes sense that other teams would have closed that gap. I’d say that has a greater probability of being true than Ferrari tweaking their set up to suit race performance and somehow expecting they’ll be better off for tomorrows race.
I think it’s clear that McLaren raw performance is best. Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari will yo-yo generally on who manages to find that perfect setup. I don’t think performance between these 3 teams is materially different.
It’s no surprise at all that it’s incredibly difficult to judge raw performance because of that variability. Conceptually, if Ferrari had struck a perfect balance for the sprint, then it makes sense that other teams would have closed that gap. I’d say that has a greater probability of being true than Ferrari tweaking their set up to suit race performance and somehow expecting they’ll be better off for tomorrows race.
I think it’s clear that McLaren raw performance is best. Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari will yo-yo generally on who manages to find that perfect setup. I don’t think performance between these 3 teams is materially different.
I feel like with Lewis if he downplays things without sounding entirely down it's often that he has some belief there is reason for optimism so that when he wins or does well it's more as if it's against the odds. Aka take it with a grain of salt.
A comparison of Lawson and Tsunoda's laps from Q1
Alonso said to the spanish press that this weekend they are doing some experimental testing they couldn't do in Bahrain because of the rain.
Feck I thought the race was in an hour. Not gonna stay up til 3am unfortunately. Hope it's a boring race!
Good start from Oscar, Norris and Hamilton.
Charles has broken front wing.
Charles has broken front wing.
Two Ferrari touching each other.
Well that didn't last long. After being very close in Australia, Charles and Lewis already hitting each other.
Alonso retiring. Poor start of season for him.
Lewis saying "someone" with a bit of disdain there 
Good for Charles he is able to keep up.
Hamilton's movement not really great there, if Leclerc brake he would lose the position to Verstappen.
Hamilton's movement not really great there, if Leclerc brake he would lose the position to Verstappen.
Those starting lights went out quick didnt they
That was on LeClerc.
We're more than a fifth of the way into the race. Can't remember an overtake since turn 3 on the first lap.
Tyre management ruining races...
Ferrari should’ve swapped earlier
The commentators aren’t watching the race
That's Noris race fecked then.
And yet again a damaged wing is showing F1 up for all the vodoo bs they talk about micro changes on wings etc.
Why are they not letting Lecerc go ffs? He obviously has the pace to catch Russel.
Yeah, funny how all the aerodynamics talk are going through the window with that Leclerc situation.
Lewis race pace doesn't seem to be there?
Dont forget the pace is way down so its likely not as large an impact
worst tv direction of all time
It’s fecking awful
Oops, can understand Hamilton there, but let's see what Charles can do now. Shame about the wing, looks like he had a pace to even win today in good condition.
Bearman and Stroll praying for a SC.
Mclaren are complicating a bit, no need for Oscar to slow down.