2025 F1 Thread

[elanshin]

Very interesting decisions all round on tyres question marks again with Ferrari going hards at the end when everyone else was trying to avoid them.

Oscar just had about as textbook of a weekend as you could get.

Lando had chances to make P2, but he made a bunch of errors behind Leclerc and didn't have enough laps chasing down Russel.

Will be interesting to see how McLaren deal with the championship going forward.

 

[moa999]

Dry two stop races do tend to limit the choices of those cars who have reached Q3 and only have scrubbed softs left, albeit like McLaren looks like Ferrari had two fresh mediums for the race.

Race strategy guide for the Bahrain Grand Prix

Matt Youson takes a look at the different pit stop and tyre options that are available to the teams on race day in Sakhir...

www.formula1.com

 

[DejaBrew]

Just finished watching the replay - cracking race. Imperious from Oscar.

Very interesting decisions all round on tyres question marks again with Ferrari going hards at the end when everyone else was trying to avoid them.

Oscar just had about as textbook of a weekend as you could get.

Lando had chances to make P2, but he made a bunch of errors behind Leclerc and didn't have enough laps chasing down Russel.

Will be interesting to see how McLaren deal with the championship going forward.

I think the safety car ruined Ferrari's chances to deploy the soft tyre. Apparently they both had new softs available, but I think the safety car would have meant running them longer than they would have been comfortable (as opposed to Mercedes with RUS).

NOR very much out of sorts all weekend. I think PIA has the mental edge on NOR at present, even if NOR is still arguably the faster of the two drivers at this point in the season.

Explanation as to why RUS wasn't penalised seems pretty fair. As written in one article I read...

The FIA has explained why Mercedes driver George Russell escaped punishment for incorrectly activating his DRS mechanism during the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Russell was running in second, well behind leader Oscar Piastri, when he began experiencing electronic issues with his Mercedes, losing brake-by-wire and encountering a variety of other distracting gremlins.

The British driver also experienced an issue with a third-party delivered transponder that briefly saw him move to the bottom of the leaderboard, which also confused his automatic DRS activation system which it operates on.

As per normal procedure the FIA authorised Mercedes to use a manual override mode, with Russell advised by the team to use a back-up radio button that also serves as a manual DRS activation button. Russell used the button to call his race engineer but accidentally opened the DRS mechanism despite not being within one second of McLaren's Piastri, which is not permitted.

But as he immediately backed off the throttle to close it, losing time in the process, the FIA decided that no penalty was warranted, with Russell keeping his second place on the podium.

"At the time the driver was experiencing a brake-by-wire issue and other electronic issues. He was at that time advised to use an auxiliary button in the coughpit which serves as a back-up radio button but also serves as a manual DRS activation button," the verdict from the FIA stewards read.

"On the straight between Turns 10 and 11 he tried to radio the team using this button but instead accidentally activated the DRS. The DRS was activated for a distance of 37 metres on a straight of approximately 700 metres. Whilst he gained 0.02 seconds, he gave up 0.28 seconds at the next corner to compensate. This was confirmed by telemetry.

"Accordingly, whilst technically a breach occurred the Stewards decide that as there was no sporting advantage gained, no penalty is imposed."

There was precedent for the FIA to clear Russell after similar issues at the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

 

[kelvedon]

H. Marco reported by the BBC reiterating that VER has a break contract clause if RB cannot provide a competitive car this season.
It’s no secret Toto Wolfe is keen to sign him, but who would loose their seat at Mercedes? RUS has been vey consistent this season, but ANT has great potential.

Max Verstappen: Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko has 'great concern' about world champion's future with team

Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko says he has "great concern" about Max Verstappen's future with the team.

www.bbc.com

 

[elanshin]

H. Marco reported by the BBC reiterating that VER has a break contract clause if RB cannot provide a competitive car this season.
It’s no secret Toto Wolfe is keen to sign him, but who would loose their seat at Mercedes? RUS has been vey consistent this season, but ANT has great potential.

Max Verstappen: Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko has 'great concern' about world champion's future with team

Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko says he has "great concern" about Max Verstappen's future with the team.

www.bbc.com

There's rumours everywhere - even for Aston Martin with Adrian Newey and Honda.

But we're still only at race 4. We've seen that in the right circumstances, hes still Max Verstappen. It could be that RB fixes things by mid season and Max wins a championship again.

 

[moa999]

contract clause if RB cannot provide a competitive car this season.

And given RBR is switching engine suppliers next season, and lost its aero maestro, Vettel may well think about it.

Though with new engine and car regulations you never know who is going to come out on top (eg. Brawn GP in 2009)

 

[DejaBrew]

It’s no secret Toto Wolfe is keen to sign him, but who would loose their seat at Mercedes? RUS has been vey consistent this season, but ANT has great potential.

Wolff has reportedly cooled on that idea with RUS delivering as he is and ANT settling in well (and showing plenty of potential). Expect RUS to be offered a contract extension soon (for more money) and an otherwise unchanged lineup at Merc. Much, much cheaper for Merc than luring VER and no reason to panic over their current driver lineup.

 

[serfty]

I nearly needed a pillow.

McLaren could have mixed up their startegy.

Just in case you missed it while falling asleep ...

 

[JessicaTam]

And given RBR is switching engine suppliers next season, and lost its aero maestro, Vettel Verstappen may well think about it.

Though with new engine and car regulations you never know who is going to come out on top (eg. Brawn GP in 2009)

Fixed that for you.

 

[DejaBrew]

Fixed that for you.

Although in saying that, there are always rumours about Vettel making a comeback a la Schumacher, so you never know