Tag Archives: F1

August 30, 2025 · 6:18 pm

Why a modest P7 grid spot still suggests that Hamilton is getting his mojo back

Lewis Hamilton is in a much happier place than he was before the summer break

P7 and a spot behind his Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc might not sound much, but for Lewis Hamilton the outcome of Zandvoort Formula 1 qualifying was much more encouraging than the numbers might suggest.

Consider that including the Spa sprint he was 18th, 16th and 12th in the three previous sessions and it does represent a clear improvement in terms of overall performance.

However more importantly Lewis felt that he’d made progress in coming to terms with the tricky SF-25 and how to get the most out of it.

The man who dismissed himself as “useless” just a few weeks ago appears to be on the way to getting his mojo back.

“I tried to have a slightly different approach into the weekend,” he said when I asked him about his progress. “I’m not going to go into details of what that is, but some tweaks before I even got here, and then through the weekend, and it’s been a lot smoother.

“Yesterday, the car was a bit unpredictable, and we made some changes. I think maybe the wind makes it a little bit difficult as well, but I think we were looking for progress, and feel like I have had that this weekend. And I’ve not been in Q3 for some time, so I’m grateful for that.”

The fact that things are going in the right direction is a welcome boost for Hamilton after his recent struggles.

“Definitely encouraging at least on my side of the garage to have a better result,” he said. “Because the boys in the garage deserve it, and the team deserves it, so I’m happy I could be there or thereabouts.

“But of course, we’re not where we want to be. To be seven-tenths off, six and a half tenths off at a track like this, that’s a huge amount. So we’ve got to try and understand what that is, because Charles was P1 in the last race. But we naturally do still have that deficit, we’ve had it all year long.”

Indeed the gap to McLaren in Zandvoort provides plenty of food for thought.

“I think ultimately we need more load to go through the corners as fast as McLaren here. Now is that load, or is that coming from the tyres? Difficult to know. Maybe they are getting the tyres in a different operating window to us, potentially, or it’s a combination of both.

“Ultimately, I think McLaren definitely have more downforce than everybody, but they’re not very draggy. If we were to try and match them, we have to go up a couple levels of wing, but have the efficiency of a lower wing.

“Then it’s just combination of getting the car to be more stable through corner. I think the wind makes it really tricky, so you’ve got tail winds into Turn 1, and cross winds in lots of different places. And I think this car is just quite sensitive to wind.”

Hamilton was coy about saying too much about what he’s adjusted in terms of the car or his approach.

“As I said, there’s some things I changed on the way in which enabled me to start on the right foot, on the better foot. You saw my first lap yesterday. It was quickest at the time and then the next lap was a spin!

“The car, as I said, was quite unpredictable, but I think the setup changes, I think we really worked well together with the engineers this weekend, and it’s not been up and down changes.

“It’s been quite stable. Just made small tweaks, really, really small tweaks, and therefore just been trying to gain more and more confidence in the car. And I think that’s what’s happened the past couple days.”

He also made an interesting observation about the amount of setup tinkering he’s done, making it clear that he’s reining it in in pursuit of some stability. For example he didn’t join Leclerc in a major change for FP3.

“We started the same, he went a different way this morning, and I didn’t. I just stayed steady and just stayed with where I was, which I think was the right decision for me. I tried where he went many times through the year, and it’s never been positive for me. I’m definitely learning how to track the best from this car and realise that.

“I’m the type that’s always searching for more, like everywhere. It’s a little bit in the tyre pressure, a little bit in the blanket temperatures, a little bit in ride height, front, rear. I’m looking at everything.

“And I think what’s clear, the difference from where I was before, I think here you can’t be looking for those. You have to kind of stay put most often. And I think that’s also the case with this general generation of cars.”

So is this the best he’s felt in the car this year, given that there have been previous false dawns in places like China and Imola?

“I’ve got a bad memory, so I don’t really remember before, it’s all a bit of a blur. But it definitely feels like it’s been one of the most solid couple days so far of the year. So as I said, that’s to do with some of the improvements in the process, my approach, and then it’s just a little calmer overall.

“The team did a great job through qualifying. We just need more performance at this track from somewhere. But tomorrow maybe race pace will be a bit better, I hope. And I hope we can apply some pressure and try and move forwards.”

Indeed what he needs to do now is convert P7 into a decent result on Sunday and give himself and the team a boost ahead of Monza.

“Definitely important to have a solid weekend in general. So the last couple have been nightmare-ish. Get to bed early tonight and come back from tomorrow, and hopefully have a solid day.”

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , ,

August 29, 2025 · 7:00 am

Piastri focussing on what he can control as F1 title battle ramps up

Piastri could have a bigger lead over Norris – but he’s not looking backwards

Oscar Piastri heads into the final 10 races of the 2025 Formula 1 season with a nine point advantage over McLaren team mate Lando Norris.

Had things gone his way at certain races, or perhaps more accurately not gone the way of Norris, he could have been sitting on a much more substantial lead.

The most recent example was in Budapest, where as the chasing car Norris had the option of an alternative strategy – one that allowed him to secure victory, a result that created a 14-point swing in his favour.

Having done the difficult bit and been in front in the early stages Piastri could be forgiven for feeling a little bit miffed.

Hungary wasn’t the only time that events that were essentially out of his control conspired against Piastri and favoured his team mate. However, he denies that he feels hard done by in any way.

“No, I don’t,” he says. “I think there’s always going to be things in racing that you don’t necessarily agree with or don’t go the way you want. And that’s just part of it. Sometimes it makes you wonder why you picked this damn sport! But no, I think certainly don’t feel hard done by

“I think we’ve done a lot of things well that we can control this year. There’s been some tough moments, some tough lessons.

“But I’m very confident with the position that I’m in. I feel like I’ve driven well this year, and again all the things I can control, I feel like I’ve controlled very well. There is an opposite universe where a lot of things look very different, but none of that matters.

“So I’m just trying to focus on these next 10 races, and how I can perform either the same or, if not even better, than I did at the start of the year.”

For both Norris and Piastri the intensity of being in the spotlight of a World Championship fight is a new experience, although both have been battling for and indeed winning titles from their karting days and into the junior single-seater categories.

It’s also important to have a good team around you, and thanks to manager Mark Webber Piastri can absorb advice from someone who went through it himself back in 2010.

“The intensity will kind of naturally increase as we get close to the end of the year,” says Piastri. “And I’m ready for that. I’ve been in that position before and in other championships, and that kind of feeling and that countdown to the end of the year, that is the same. So I’m ready for that.

“And yes, I can lean on Mark. Ultimately, it’s down to how I manage it, how I drive, how I cope with the things that are going to be coming. But having an important team around you and a good group of people around you is very important to be able to lean on. So Mark is certainly one of those people. And yeah, I’m excited to see how it goes.”

You don’t have to be a sports psychologist to appreciate that Piastri’s outwardly calm demeanour contrasts with the heart-on-the-sleeve approach of Norris.

However, it would probably be a bit simplistic to suggest that the former will pay dividends as we get closer to the end of the season, and the title battle reaches its climax.

Indeed Piastri concedes that it’s not that straightforward, and there’s more going on below the surface.

“I definitely do get nervous,” he says. “Yes, I think before every race, nerves are there. Firstly, I don’t believe anyone that says they don’t get nervous, because I don’t think that’s possible. And I think it would be a bit weird if you weren’t nervous. So they are definitely there.

“I think it’s just how you how you manage it, how you try and channel it in the right ways. Because I think ultimately, the nerves can be good or bad, and it’s how you manage it that decides that. I think for me, being calm is just part of who I am, but definitely I’ve learned through the years that that’s how I get the most out of myself as well, and that doesn’t look the same for everybody.

“So it’s not a magic thing, but that’s how I feel like I work best. It’s kind of partly natural and partly through experience and through learning. It’s just how I am in some ways, and how I try and get the best out of myself.”

Meanwhile what unfolded in Budapest, and the possibility of future similar scenarios, has been the subject of debate in Woking.

“Yeah, we’ve spoken about it since then,” says Piastri. “I think ultimately there are race situations where being the second car from the team on track, or you don’t even have to be the second car from your team, it’s just being the kind of last car in the train, or the last car in the group, you’ve got a lot less to lose.

“So that kind of aspect is always going to be there. And I think it would be unfair to neutralise that just because of wanting to be on the same strategy. There were discussions about whether there was anything we could have done differently for myself, which were very productive discussions.

“I think we’re still going to be free to pick alternative strategies if that’s what we want. But yes, there were definitely some discussions about how we can tackle that, because it’s obviously a difficult thing to try and cover different strategies, especially when you’re in the position we are in the championship.”

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , ,

August 28, 2025 · 3:46 pm

Why Hamilton is determined to “have some fun” and turn his F1 season around

The Ferrari driver wasn’t happy in Hungary – but he’s made the most of the summer break

Lewis Hamilton ended the first half of his maiden season with Scuderia Ferrari on a low with a frustrating weekend in Hungary that saw him publicly express doubts about his own ability.

The timing was unfortunate given that he then headed into the three-week break with his head clearly in a bad place. There was a long wait until the next race, and a chance to try and move things on.

On the plus side he used the summer shutdown part of the gap to in his words be “completely unplugged”. He returned to Maranello at the start of this week to dig through the data with his engineers and prepare for the second half of the season.

He is of course keen to have something of a reset and turn things around from this weekend onwards.

“I feel determined to and motivated to, yes,” he said in Zandvoort on Thursday. “We’re going to work hard, keep our heads down, try to change a few things in our approach and start to enjoy ourselves. It’s been so much pressure in this first half of the season.

“It’s not been the most enjoyable. So I think just remembering that we love what we do, we’re all in this together, and yeah, trying to have some fun.”

Pushed on that intriguing aspect of having fun and enjoying what he’s doing he made some interesting observations that can be applied to all of us.

“I think it’s probably the most important part,” he said. “Because that’s the reason I got into this sport, that it was fun for me.

“And I think for anyone who in whatever career you’re in, if you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, then why are you doing it? And there can often be so much noise, you can lose sight of what’s really, really important.

“So that’s what I’m saying, I just really want to focus on getting back to that enjoyment. I joined the team that I’ve always dreamed of driving for and there’s been so much noise around that it’s kind of clouded us from getting to enjoy it.

“So now it’s about kind of moving those things aside, and just getting back to focusing on the pure love of what we do.”

There has been plenty to distract him thus far. Asked about his earlier reference to pressure he mentioned the workload that he’s faced in his new job.

“I think ultimately, just to get on top of everything, the amount of work we have, all the new partners, the amount of shoots we’ve done, getting integrated into a new team.

“And it’s a big, big team, and it’s also the biggest brand in our sport as well. So a combination of all those different things has been it’s been a lot.”

It’s a difficult process. How do you balance driver having to adapt to his new team versus the other way around? Hamilton admits that it’s not easy.

“I think it’s a very fine line,” he said. “I think my approach this year was really to adapt as much as I could to how they work, rather than arrive and say you have to change everything, and get a perspective of how they like to work.

“And then just try to then bring my experience to see how we can make those bits even better. But it’s a fine line, for sure.”

Asked if he’d experienced similar difficult times with an F1 car he made it clear that it was nothing new for him.

“I never just got in and just won,” he said. “There were always difficult times. I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to get complacent, and be comfortable.

“And that’s really kind of where I was with a long-term relationship I had before, and taking this step into a team that I truly believe in, and I still believe in the potential here and what we can achieve together, and I think everyone in the team does.

“But no one succeeds without going through those tough patches. So I do welcome it. Look forward to the sunnier days, for sure.”

Whatever happens this weekend in Zandvoort the real test will come at Monza next weekend, and his first Italian GP in red.

“I’ve not really thought about it, to be honest,” he said. “Trying to take it one day at a time. I don’t really know what to expect. Obviously, what I saw in Imola was incredible. And I have obviously been to Monza and seen how Ferrari has been received there, and I’m always excited to see the tifosi.

“The support this team has around the world from the tifosi is unmatched. I’m sure it’ll be a unique experience.”

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

August 4, 2025 · 8:30 am

Ferrari still looking for answers after last stint “disaster” for Leclerc in Hungary

Something went wrong on Leclerc’s car in Hungary but the team doesn’t know what

The Hungarian GP had a thrilling conclusion as Oscar Piastri failed to dislodge leader and McLaren team mate Lando Norris, but it could have been even more intriguing had Charles Leclerc still been in contention.

We’ll never know if one or both McLaren drivers would have passed him without a fight had he not been slowed by a still mysterious issue in the last stint of the race that ultimately saw him drop to fourth, behind George Russell.

The Ferrari driver’s frustration was clear on the radio as he appeared to blame the team for the car becoming undriveable, apparently because of what he thought was an “aggressive” wing adjustment at the stop that he didn’t request.

Between getting out of the car and meeting the media he learned that wasn’t the case, and that an unidentified issue had been the cause.

As we know F1 cars can be incredibly sensitive to aero damage – in Hungary Oliver Bearman was forced to stop after he experienced similar symptoms to Leclerc, and afterwards the Haas driver had no explanation as to how any such damage had occurred.

After retrieving Leclerc’s from parc ferme the Ferrari crew found nothing visibly obvious in terms of aero damage that could have been responsible, and still had no answers as of Monday morning.

By chance Ferrari is doing 2026 Pirelli testing in Hungary this week. The team has the option to run the Leclerc chassis and potentially find out if there is a problem with it (or the Hamilton chassis or the spare with race-used LEC parts), although no decision had been made on its plans at the time of writing.

In the immediate aftermath of the race Leclerc was keen to retract some of the radio chatter that hinted at an operational or set-up mistake.

“First of all, I need to take back the words I’ve said in the radio,” he said when I asked him about the radio traffic.

“Because I thought that it was coming from one thing. But then I got a lot more details since I got out the car, and it was actually an issue coming from the chassis, and nothing that we could have done differently.

“I started to feel the issue in lap 40, or something like that. And then it got worse, laps after laps after laps. And towards the end, we were two seconds off the pace, and the car was just undrivable.

“Again, as I repeat myself, but this was an issue, and it’s an outlier. It shouldn’t ever happen again. But, I mean, I’m still very disappointed. We had one opportunity this year to win a race, which I think was this weekend.

“The first stint was perfect. The first laps of the second stint were really good as well. And I think we were in pace to try and win that race. The last stint was a disaster, when I started to have that issue on the chassis.”

When I asked if a kerb or gravel could have triggered something he said: “I don’t know yet how it was caused, but we will look into it.”

He added: “I think it was quite tricky. Otherwise I probably will have known, and they will have told me. Apparently it wasn’t as obvious on data. However, now we can definitely confirm that that there was a problem.”

Leclerc confirmed that he thought a front wing adjustment at the stop was responsible for the change in the behaviour of the car, which was so bad that he knew straight away that victory was likely to slip away.

“When I started to feel the issues, I didn’t really know where that came from. I thought it was from a change we did on the front wing at the pit stop being too aggressive.

“But then, of course, it got a lot worse, and then it seemed a bit off to me, but when I first felt the very strange behaviour of the car, I was okay, if this is staying, it’s going to slip away from us.

“It wasn’t very consistent, but yeah, basically every corner, it was doing something different.”

After the race team boss Fred Vasseur had no theories about what had gone wrong.

“Honestly, the situation was quite strange,” said the Frenchman. “We were under control the first 40 laps of the race, we are very in control the first stint, a bit more difficult the second one, but it was still manageable. And last stint, was a disaster, very difficult to drive, the balance was not there.

“And honestly, we don’t know exactly what’s happened so far. It means that we have to investigate something broken on the chassis side, or whatever. But it was at one stage I thought that we will never finish the race, we can be lucky in this situation to score points of a P4.

“It’s really frustrating for us, because that I think we did the first pole position of the season. The first two stints went pretty well, and we lost completely the pace and the path of the weekend.

He continued: “The first lap of the last stint, he lost something like one second at one stage and perhaps the message that also you interpret.

“He asked us if we didn’t do a mistake on the front wing, and adjust the front wing, but [we didn’t]. And we lost completely the pace, and then perhaps a bit snowball effect, but at the end of the day that I think from 38 to 43 we lost at least eight-tenths.”

For Leclerc it turned into one of those nightmare days, and in the course of his defence against George Russell he picked up a 5-second penalty for erratic driving.

It didn’t make any difference to his safe P4, but the penalty point was probably annoying.

“I knew I was on the limit,” he conceded. “I don’t have much opinion about it. I felt like I moved before braking and then I braked, obviously angling my car towards the apex, which is normally what I do, but I can imagine George being quite vocal on the radio. It’s normally the case.

“I don’t mind, especially on a race like this. If there was a safety car at the end of the race and I would have taken a five second penalty, I probably would have been a lot more frustrated. But it wasn’t the case.”

For Leclerc the real frustration was that this was the first opportunity in 2026 for Ferrari to win a full-length race, and while there are some tracks coming in the second half of the year that historically have been good for the Maranello outift, McLaren is going to be hard to beat everywhere.

“I think they are the strongest team out there,” he said. “And even today, they were very, very fast. I think on a track like this, what gave me hope of winning is that we were starting first, and with the dirty air, it’s a struggle to get past. I think Oscar had probably a bit more place than me, but couldn’t overtake.

“So I don’t think we are going into the second half of the season thinking that we can win anywhere.

“And that’s what makes the frustration even bigger, because we knew that this was one opportunity, probably over the season, and we had to take it. But unfortunately, with this issue, we couldn’t do much.”

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

August 3, 2025 · 7:43 am

How Hungary 2024 taught McLaren valuable lessons

12 months on the team is better equipped to deal with tricky situations

A year ago McLaren was just starting to emerge as the team to beat, which meant that race wins were sup for grabs for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

In Hungary the team faced its biggest challenge up to that point in terms of balancing the interests of its two drivers.

What looked like a smart strategy call intended to maximise the team’s overall result became a little complicated when it reversed the positions and put Norris ahead of Piastri.

When Norris was told to let his team mate back past he was reluctant to do so, and while he eventually did follow instructions the episode somewhat overshadowed the Australian’s first victory.

Twelve months on and the team has been through a few more difficult situations, and each one has been something of a learning exercise, and potentially added layers to the Papaya Rules.

And given that the title is at stake and each race becomes more important as the number of points available reduces, we can guess that there could be further awkward scenarios yet to come.

However the team is now much better equipped now to deal with such eventualities, as Andrea Stella confirmed when I asked him about the subject.

“It was one year ago,” said the Italian. “To me, it looks like it was 10 years ago in terms of how much has happened from a racing point of view, how much has happened in terms of the rate of development of the team, or growth of the team, in the way the results that we have been able to achieve since then.

“But as part of this journey, there’s also a journey that has to do with the improving our way of going racing, what we call the racing approach.

“We have reviewed extensively one year ago, the race here in Hungary, and then we kept this diligent, rigorous approach to reviewing and learning, and we have as much as possible, formalised everything that we learned into our racing approach.

“And the thing that makes me most proud is that Lando and Oscar have always contributed very genuinely, very honestly, very transparently, just bringing their values into the way we go racing. So we’ve gone a long way. I think we have established a pretty robust platform in terms of how we go racing.”

He knows that it could get stressful in the coming weeks: “We are going to be challenged, because racing in F1 is difficult, but so far, and for the remainder of the season, I’m really proud and happy with what, with the way we’ve been going racing, and with the way in which Lando and Oscar have sustained the journey of the team.”

The team may have missed pole in Hungary, but Stella remains confident that the team has a strong package for the remainder of the season.

He points out that in contrast to the recent past – when the team tended to bundle upgrades together and bring them in one hit – this season there’s been more of a drip feed of performance items.

“We have seen a very positive trend in terms of our competitiveness, especially, I would say over the last three events in which we have finished P1/P2.

“This is not only because we started with a competitive car, but actually we have upgraded the car since Canada with what was in the past a single instalment upgrade. So it would have been very noticeable – McLaren bring a new car and improves by a few tenths of a second.

“But in the recent races, we have upgraded the car with some parts at pretty much each race, so we have become faster. I think here, the Hungaroring, despite the result in Q3 has actually proven that the car is fast.

“I think every single session we were P1/P2 by a decent chunk compared to the next team. This makes us very positive about the reminder of the season.

“We look forward to starting racing again after the shutdown. I think we have some tracks that will be favourable to us again, like Zandvoort, and we have also done some specific work for some tracks like Monza or Vegas in which, not necessarily last year we were dominant, and we knew that we needed to do some work for the performance at low drag.

“So we definitely look forward to the second part of the season, and we expect to be competitive.”

As for this weekend, Stella says the tricky conditions contributed to a cautious approach by his drivers, neither of whom could afford to make a mistake that dropped them down the order. Charles Leclerc in contract had nothing to lose and took his chance in style.

“I think it’s an interesting qualifying in terms of understanding how things go for an F1 car, because definitely we had a significant change of conditions. You can see in the meteo data a change in terms of wind direction, wind intensity, temperature, humidity, everything changed.

“And everyone from Q2 up until when we were pretty competitive, we put together definitely strong laps, from Q2 to Q3, everyone went slower. We went slower by about half a second in average.

“Actually, we simulated the change of conditions in our simulations, and it gives a little bit less than that, but about four-tenths of a second. But Ferrari and Leclerc managed to go actually faster. So the track was definitely slower.

“I think for Lando and Oscar, after they had seen in the first run that conditions had changed, that the grip wasn’t what they expected, that every corner was going to be a bit unpredictable, therefore, the lap time didn’t come.

“I think in the second set, they needed to be a bit cautious, because obviously, when you race for the championship, you want to make sure that you are there. I think this is a slightly different approach for Charles. I think it just went, went for it, like, I don’t think I have much to lose here.

“And it paid off. And this is a credit and merit to a very good execution by Ferrari and Charles.”

The conditions in Hungary were very specific, but Stella paints an interesting scenario.

What about the next time we get a rain-affected session, or places like Baku and Singapore, where there is very little margin for error? As their battle gets tighter will Norris and Piastri again leave a few vital hundredths on the table as they ensure that they don’t mess up that crucial last lap in Q3 – and potentially allow others to sneak ahead? It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

August 3, 2025 · 7:37 am

How a frustrated Verstappen was left “driving on ice” as Red Bull struggles in Hungary

Verstappen could manage only eighth on the Hungarian GP grid

For Max Verstappen the Hungarian GP weekend has been something of a nightmare this far, and his car was sliding so much that at one point in qualifying he said it was like driving on ice even on his out lap.

In the end he was almost relieved to have made it into Q3 and earned P8 – albeit with a couple of Aston Martins and a Sauber ahead.

Had Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli qualified where their cars should in reality have been, Verstappen would indeed have been edged out of the top 10.

In fact over the three practice sessions he was ninth, 14th and 12th – not where you would usually expect him to be.

“I mean, looking at the whole weekend, I think we are happy to be in Q3 because I’ve been more outside of the top 10 than,” he said when I asked him about qualifying.

“It’s been difficult. The whole weekend no grip, front and rear, and it was the same in qualifying. So for me, it was not really a shock. I just drove to what I already feel the whole weekend.”

He admitted that the team didn’t know what the issue was: “No, clearly not, otherwise, of course, we would have changed it already. But somehow, this weekend, nothing seems to work.”

Verstappen acknowledged that RBR also had a difficult Hungary last year, although not to quite the same degree.

“I think we still qualified very close to pole, like within a few hundredths, so I think we were a lot more competitive back then. But yeah, this weekend already, from lap one, it just fell off, and we threw the car around a lot, and nothing really gave a direction.

“And that of course is the biggest problem, because normally, when you use or you change a lot on the side of it will always give you positives or negatives, and now just nothing works.

“It’s like just going around in circles, and nothing gave you any kind of idea of what to do.”

He added: “There’s not been a single lap or a single corner that I felt good. So the whole weekend so far, it’s just been sliding.”

That sliding won’t help his tyres in race conditions. Normally you would expect an out-of-position Verstappen to make progress, but it could turn into a rear guard action.

“There may be a car a few cars in front of me that I can maybe battle with a little bit. But of course, also Lewis is still a bit further down the road, which I think he shouldn’t be there, right? So he will come through a bit.”

So is this the worst weekend he can recall over the past couple of seasons?

“I mean, we have had a few Singapore disasters. So yeah, I mean, it’s just not been a good one for sure…”

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

August 1, 2025 · 9:33 am

How Norris learned that sometimes 95% is “good enough” to get the job done

Norris accepts that at times this year he’s pushed too hard

Not for the first time in 2025 Lando Norris heads into a race weekend keen to make amends for disappointment at the previous event, and with an urgent need to claw back some points in his fight with Oscar Piastri.

The Belgian GP was even more frustrating in that he did the difficult bit and beat his McLaren team mate to pole, only to lose out on the first lap to a combination of driving and technical issues.

Despite his best efforts on an alternative strategy with hard tyres he had to settle for second, losing another seven points to his rival.

Once again there followed a few days of soul-searching and discussions with the team and what he could have done differently or better.

“There’s hindsight of certain things,” he said when I asked if any lessons had been learned. “Nothing which means I would have won the race. There’s also things he probably could have done better too.

“So even if I had a mega last corner or mega Turn 1, still a pretty good chance he would have passed me anyway. So sometimes you’ve just got to accept that. As much as I would like to win them all, you can’t. A tough one to take, because I did a bad job.”

Norris stressed it wasn’t just down to him not getting it right as the first guy in line on the wet track.

“I didn’t have the best run, but at the same time then we had some, not problems, some let’s say incorrect settings with the battery, which meant he had a slight advantage of battery comparing to me, which certainly didn’t help.

“But I also didn’t do the best two corners. Whether that would have made a difference or not, hard to say. With the issue he probably would have passed me, no matter what. So yeah, a tougher one to take from that perspective.

“From the strategy and pit stops, tough to say. I don’t think a double stack would have been any better. I just had a slow pit stop. It was more the slow pit stop, and it was one of my lock ups in Turn 1, which cost me over a second and a bit. You put those two things together, it’s like four seconds of race time.

“So there’s things I could have done better, and then we as team and team could have done better, and that’s what we will try and work on.”

Spa underlined just how tight the battle between the two team mates is. There’s no margin for either to put a foot wrong over the course of a race weekend.

“I think it’s probably down to the least mistakes, I would say, more than anything,” he noted. “Not necessarily who is outright the quickest, or who can simply race better or make the best overtakes.

“I have some of my strengths, he has some of his, and it’s more down to the least mistakes. Especially because of the position we’re in as a team, we have a car that is you can say one of the best cars made in F1, and we’re first or we’re second more often than more not.

“And therefore it’s just kind of more between us, more than who qualifies first and sixth. We qualify first and second more often, and you can kind of just hold on in Turn 1, and then go from there.

“There’s not been many races where positions have swapped through a race, so therefore it’s more who can then make the least mistakes from that point next onwards.”

Asked if he had to drive at 100 percent to win the World Championship, or had learned that 99.8 might be enough, he made an interesting comment.

“I try and perform at 101 percent,” he said. “Sometimes that’s amazing. Sometimes that’s, I think, as good as you can get. And that’s what I feel is the optimum of what I and what I think a driver can achieve at times, and I do believe that.

“But also times I should drive at 95 or even 90 percent and that’s still enough to be on pole or P2 sometimes. I do regret trying to be so good at beginning part of the season, and now already I sometimes just settle for a 95 percent lap. And that’s that’s still good enough.”

Norris made huge strides last season as he experienced a winning car for the first time and found himself battling with the likes of Max Verstappen, as well as Piastri.

That process has continued this year, although his struggles to come to terms with the MCL39 have had an impact.

“There’s just always different situations, different moments along the way,” he said. “I think as a driver, I still feel better than I was. Doesn’t mean I always do a better job, because the car is quite different this year.

“I’ve had my tricky moments with the car and understanding how to drive it, just because, yes, it’s a McLaren, it’s got papaya on it, but it handles pretty differently to how it’s done in previous years. So I’ve had to just adapt to that, and it’s not suited me as well.

“But it’s just tough, and I’ve got to do what I’ve had to do, and I’ve needed to do a better job to get back to being as quick as I need to be, which I feel like I’ve done, and I’ve improved on.

“So I think [I’ve shown] my ability to improve on worst moments as a proof, or ability to improve on certain struggles that you might achieve during a weekend, or over a session or practice, whatever it is.

“Other than that, I think there’s just always going to be for everyone little things along the way that’s a new experience, or you didn’t expect, that you wish you could be better on. But I think that’s just life.”

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

July 31, 2025 · 4:47 pm

Mercedes hopes dumping W16 upgrade will get Antonelli and Russell back on track

The rear suspension package that won in Montreal has been cast aside for Hungary

Kimi Antonelli’s honesty continues to be refreshing, and not just when the Mercedes Formula 1 rookie tells the media about mistakes he’s made, or admits to underperforming in some way.

After main qualifying in Spa last weekend he told us that he would be making setup changes and starting from the pitlane, a strategy that teams usually like to keep quiet until the last minute as they don’t want to give rivals information that might be useful.

On Thursday in Hungary he was happy to reveal that Mercedes is returning to the older rear suspension spec this weekend in attempt not just to find overall performance, but more specifically to help him get back his confidence in the car.

When I asked George Russell about the impact of the change he replied, “That was supposed to be a secret!”.

The Brit may well have been joking, but anyway it was another welcome sign that Antonelli remains an open book.

Mercedes introduced a rear suspension upgrade in Imola that went off the car for Barcelona, but returned for Montreal.

A Russell win and third place for Antonelli appeared to validate it as an improvement, but the Italian’s subsequent struggles and Russell’s own drop in form eventually led the team to query it. Hence the return to the older spec this weekend.

“It’s been on the cards for a little while,” said Russell in answer to my question. “It’s part of development. We’ve seen it in other teams as well.

“This season, they bring things to the car, and you’re looking for that last sort of tenth of a second, and you often see the gains. Before you put it on the car you don’t know what the limitations are going to be. So there’s no guarantee.

“That’s the reason why we’ve taken a step back. It could be a factor. We’ll use this weekend to assess. But you know, if you just look at the results as a whole, we clearly have gone backwards, and we need to go back to a baseline that we know.”

It’s clear that Antonelli has a lot riding on the change as he tries to get out of the confidence black hole that he’s been in of late.

“This weekend we are going back on the old suspension,” he said. “And that hopefully will bring the feeling back, because since we moved to that suspension, apart from Canada, I’ve been struggling to drive the car and getting the confidence.

“And probably also my side I didn’t adapt the best, because I was always trying to keep my style, and to drive the car the way I wanted, but it didn’t really work out. And George, on the other hand, has been adapting better.

“Also, he has a different driving style, but he’s been able to adapt a bit better. And I think that’s what’s been hurting me in this European season. So hopefully, by going back to the old suspension, it will bring back a bit the feeling I had prior to the start of the European season.”

Expanding on the theme Antonelli gave some intriguing details.

“Well the thing is with my aggressive style, with the way I was driving it, I was making the car even more unpredictable. So when I was really trying to push it, it’s like was hard to feel if it was going to stick or not.

“So when you’re on that fine line, it can really make the difference. If you have the confidence and you know it’s going to stick, it can really make the difference.

“But in my case, especially with the style I was driving the car, I was just making it more unpredictable, and I was just having no confidence, because every time I was even trying to push more the car was struggling to take it, or was just giving me signals that made me feel like it was not going to stick.

“So that’s why I’ve been also trying to change a bit the way I was driving to go towards the car, but I think I didn’t do a really good job on that. And, yeah, I just hope that with old suspension it’s going to bring the good feeling back.”

The fact that Mercedes did so well in Canada with the now rejected upgrade is an obvious area of interest – and Antonelli had a good explanation as to why that circuit proved so favourable.

“Definitely Montreal is a very special track,” he said. “The grip is very high, the tarmac is quite closed. But at the end of the day in Montreal it’s all straight line braking, and then you have the chicanes, which is all about setting the car nicely on the first part, and then accelerating for the second part.

“So the new suspension was really good for straight line braking and combined traction, it was giving us a really good combined traction phase. So that was the best for Montreal, and that’s why we were so strong.

“So I think that’s that was the main thing. Montreal is such a special track, and it was really good for our suspension, mainly because we had no real combined entry corner at high speed.”

He added: “When we went back after Canada, obviously we faced really high-speed tracks, and that I think hurt even more the confidence, just because it was quite tricky. And as I said before, with my driving, I was making the car even more unpredictable.

“So especially if you have an unpredictable car in a high-speed circuit, it’s really hard to push it to the limit, because you never know if it’s going to stick or not.”

Hopefully this weekend will see the Italian find the answers that he’s looking for. If he doesn’t it could be a painful summer break until action resumes at Zandvoort, if his reference to the short gap between his difficult Belgian GP and Hungary is anything to go by.

“I think in this case I like to have back to backs,” he said. “Because obviously you’re in the rhythm, which is nice. At the same time [Spa was] a difficult weekend, and I really want to do well this weekend before going to the summer break.

“And I think if I would have had a big gap, would have been really hard, because I would have been busting my balls the whole time! So I’m happy that we have another race weekend straight after…”

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

July 31, 2025 · 7:25 am

How new Vasseur contract gives Ferrari and Hamilton breathing space

Any doubts over Vasseur’s future at Maranello have been ended by a new deal

Ferrari has created some crucial stability and put a stop to any suggestions that Christian Horner might end up at Maranello by giving team principal Fred Vasseur a new multi-year contract.

There had been speculation in recent months that Vasseur’s future was under threat after a disappointing start to 2025.

The team has not won a race this season, and failed to build on the momentum it had at the end of last year.

Meanwhile new recruit Lewis Hamilton has yet to log a podium as he struggles to come to terms with a very different car.

The gossip about Vasseur did not sit well with Lewis Hamilton, who stressed that he joined the Scuderia because of the presence of his former F3/GP2 boss.

In truth both men deserve to be judged on 2026, with Vasseur having spent the last few years putting the pieces in place and Hamilton currently working hard to ensure that he’s in a much happier place with the car.

It’s worth remembering that he underwent a similar process in his first year at Mercedes in 2013, ahead of the introduction of the new rules.

This would not be the right time to rock the boat with yet another change of team boss, something that Ferrari has ultimately recognised.

“I’m grateful for the trust Ferrari continues to place in me,” said the Frenchman. “This renewal is not just a confirmation — it’s a challenge to keep progressing, to stay focused, and to deliver.

“Over the past 30 months, we’ve laid strong foundations, and now we must build on them with consistency and determination. We know what’s expected, and we’re all fully committed to meeting those expectations and taking the next step forward together.”

Ferrari says that “renewing Fred’s contract reflects Ferrari’s determination to build on the foundations laid so far. His ability to lead under pressure, embrace innovation, and pursue performance aligns fully with Ferrari’s values and long-term ambitions.”

It adds that “under Fred’s leadership, Scuderia Ferrari HP is united, focused, and committed to continuous improvement. The trust placed in him reflects the team’s confidence in its strategic direction and reinforces a shared determination to deliver the results that Ferrari’s fans, drivers, and team members expect and deserve.”

Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna, the man who pushed to get Hamilton on board, made clear his support.

“Today we want to recognise what has been built and commit to what still needs to be achieved,” he said. “It reflects our trust in Fred’s leadership — a trust rooted in shared ambition, mutual expectations and clear responsibility.

“We move forward with determination and focus, united in our pursuit of the level of performance Ferrari has to aim for.”

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

July 30, 2025 · 6:31 am

Why Antonelli has to rebuild his confidence with tricky Mercedes W16

Antonelli had another tricky weekend at Spa – and he admits he’s lacking confidence

For Kimi Antonelli the Belgian GP turned into another weekend of frustration as the rookie failed to log any points.

Qualifying P20 and P18 for the two events and finishing them in P16 and P17 is not what either he or the Mercedes team expect.

Remarkably his only score in the last seven weekends was his solid third in Montreal on a day when team mate George Russell won.

To be fair that run includes a couple of mechanical retirements and a hit from Isack Hadjar at Silverstone (when he was well outside the top 10), but it’s also clear that Antonelli has been struggling to come to terms with the car.

Russell has also had a difficult run since Canada. Mercedes technical director James Allison acknowledges that the team has lost its way of late with the W16, and that hasn’t made life any easier for Antonelli.

“I think he’s, like the rest of us, massively fed up with a string of results that are well below what we were collectively achieving earlier in the year,” says Allison.

“I hope he takes some solace from the fact that we tell him, and it’s demonstrably a fact, that we have taken the wrong steps with the car, making our team less competitive, and that he is paying the price for that, as is George.

“If the car isn’t where it needs to be, then it will be a struggle getting through the qualifying stages in your rookie season in F1. And it’s utterly clear to all of us that the thing we need to do is make the car better, and then Kimi’s fortunes will reverse with that.

“And hopefully, he’s listening to us as we say those reassuring words, because we absolutely know that he is putting in the effort on his side of that bargain.”

As a sprint weekend Spa was always going to be tough for Antonelli, notwithstanding the fact that he secured pole for the Miami sprint after just an hour of practice at a track he hadn’t been to before.

In Belgium a huge spin in SQ1 left him with damage and no chance to progress through, hence his P20 grid slot. With neither Alpine on the grid he gained two spots automatically and then in the race passed Nico Hulkenberg to secure 17th place.

Typically, he was very honest about his performance.

“Since the European season, I’ve been struggling to find confidence with the car, and I felt like I’ve done a backward step,” he said when I asked him about his form. “It’s a difficult moment for me, because I feel like I have no confidence on pushing. And yesterday I tried to push a bit too much, and then I spun.

“And then it kind of hurts the confidence even more. But it’s a difficult period. I think we know the limitation we have since quite a lot, but with the way I’m driving, I’m just increasing the problem. And that gave me even less confidence with the car.”

The team made some tweaks for Saturday afternoon’s main qualifying, which improved things. However he still managed only 17th, ahead of the struggling Aston Martin drivers.

“Definitely I think the car was in a better place for sure, compared to yesterday,” he said. “It’s just on my side, I still struggle to get up to speed quickly, just because the confidence has been missing. So I think there’s a lot of work to do on my side, and I try to find the light out of the tunnel as soon as possible.”

He also gave an interesting insight into what he needs from the car.

“Definitely a bit more stability, because with the way I drive, I’m a bit more aggressive with the inputs,” he said. “Also, compared to George, I’m a bit more aggressive overall. I tend to try and carry a lot of speed into the corner.

“And with the limitation I have, I’m just increasing the problem. So on my side, I’m trying to change a little bit the way I’m driving to also have the balance. Because, of course, it’s impossible to have the perfect balance. And I’m just trying to work on that side. But it’s not easy.”

He added: “The team has been trying to help me as much as possible, but on my side probably I’m trying to change the way I’m driving too much, and it feels like I’m not driving naturally. It’s very first forced the way I’m driving, and it’s just difficult.”

A lack of confidence in the car was not what he needed heading into a wet Sunday, and with little to lose from that grid position the team opted to drop him out of parc ferme and give him more downforce.

“We will change the car so we’ll start from the pitlane, and hopefully that will give us an advantage. And hopefully the confidence will be back.”

He wasn’t the only one to make that choice, so at the start he found himself third in the pitlane queue behind Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton, and ahead of Fernando Alonso.

For all of them and others on the grid who had already gone high on downforce for qualifying the lack of wet race running was to be frustrating.

“The car felt better with a bigger wing,” said Antonelli when I asked him about his race. “I felt much better in places where I was struggling a lot, and it was a shame, because obviously with the delayed start, it turns out it was a dry race pretty quickly, and we couldn’t really use the bigger wing…”

Before the change to slicks Antonelli passed Lance Stroll, and he gained three more spots in the stop sequence, before finding a way past Franco Colapinto. Stuck subsequently in the queue behind Pierre Gasly, he pulled a good move on Fernando Alonso.

Later like others with little to lose he estopped for new tyres, and after that had a little tussle with Esteban Ocon, nearly getting by the Haas driver only to lose out again.

During his chase he set the race’s fastest lap, which was some reward. However P16 wasn’t ideal, especially with Russell 52 seconds up the road in fifth place.

“Despite being much quicker in the corner than in the straights, it was really hard to keep up,” he said. “And it was a shame, because the only opportunity I had to pass Ocon, I went a little bit wide, and I took a wet patch, and then just had no grip, and he made the switchback.

“And then after that, the tyre was starting to suffer, and I just couldn’t get the run. But still, it’s learning difficult conditions. Also I tried to call quite early the switch [to slicks], but because of Silverstone as well, we probably were a bit too cautious on that, and we wanted to wait a bit more.

“And I think that’s where we lost some positions as well. But on the other hand, I think driving-wise, it was better this race, and I just need to keep working for qualifying.”

A clear track after his pit stop at least gave him a chance to show his pace’ albeit briefly.

“Those few laps where I was on free air, definitely had a lot more fun than being stuck.

“It’s quite frustrating, because you can’t really unleash the real pace you have. I mean, when I was in free air, I did that lap, and then once I was stuck, I was two seconds slower all of a sudden.

“It was tricky. But I think I shouldn’t be starting that far back. I think I need to work on my qualifying and work to get the confidence back with the car, in order to start more at the front, because when you start at the front it’s a completely different race.

“Still as I said, good learning, because having to have the right feel for the transition, then still fighting, trying to get by, especially in a DRS train. So definitely, good learning.

“And now we just need to, as I said before, do a better qualifying to start more at the front. Because in those races where I start more the front it is a completely different story.”

Life isn’t easy for Antonelli at the moment, and while the will he/won’t he jump Verstappen saga appears to be over, the prospect of the World Champion joining – and potentially pushing him and not Russell out – can’t have helped in recent weeks.

At Spa he did at least receive a welcome boost from his predecessor Lewis Hamilton.

“He came to say hi to the team, and definitely, we had a couple of words. He was telling me to keep my head up, and that is normal to have bad weekends and just to keep believing. It was really nice for me.”

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , ,