F1 Season 2025

Abizzz said:
La Ferrari looked nice to me, but it's all in the eyes of the beholder. I like the Roma too.

The F40 is a legend, but as much for all the stuff it doesn't have as for the stuff it did have. I honestly don't buy into this "cars keep getting worse" story though. I remember cars being fast if they went to 100kmh in under 10seconds, remember what driving cars that get blown off the road from a bit of wind from the side was like, and headlights where you hardly saw anything beyond 75m or so. Cars are a lot better now than when I was a kid, which wasn't even that long ago. There's just more and more of the so called "special" cars, which makes stuff like the F80 less appealing.

However, if I had been Lewis, I'd have gone with the F40 too. But if I was in charge of Ferrari I would have wanted the current car in that.
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LaFerrari came out before the 458.

The modern car complaint isn’t so much a general “back in my day” type thing, I just think the poster cars these days are wholly impracticable and unusable, and not even in the sense of you can’t get near the limits on the road; non professionals aren’t getting anywhere close to extracting the potential of these things. Not that most of them will do more than a few hundred miles anyway.

Anyway my shouting at clouds is way off topic apologies :)
 
Rado_N said:
LaFerrari came out before the 458.

The modern car complaint isn’t so much a general “back in my day” type thing, I just think the poster cars these days are wholly impracticable and unusable, and not even in the sense of you can’t get near the limits on the road; non professionals aren’t getting anywhere close to extracting the potential of these things. Not that most of them will do more than a few hundred miles anyway.

Anyway my shouting at clouds is way off topic apologies :)
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Wasn't aware of that. There's been so many models over the years I get confused between some (and given that I'm not shopping in that bracket I don't pay too close attention either). Agree with your second part too.
 
There's no way on earth Hamilton is going there to play second fiddle. He's there to write the final chapter in his legacy and get Ferrari winning again, and Ferrari want a driver capable of developing the car properly. If his presence can coax some consistency out of LeClerc, that's a bonus, and LeClerc is definitely the one under more pressure now.
 
11101 said:
There's no way on earth Hamilton is going there to play second fiddle. He's there to write the final chapter in his legacy and get Ferrari winning again, and Ferrari want a driver capable of developing the car properly. If his presence can coax some consistency out of LeClerc, that's a bonus, and LeClerc is definitely the one under more pressure now.
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Leclerc lacking consistency is a huge myth in F1 right now. The guy was the top scorer in the second half of the season I think. Ever since Ferrari fixed the car in Hungary he has been ridiculously consistent

Anyone who beats a driver as good as Sainz is absolutely top tier for me.
 
hobbers said:
What happens 6 races in when Leclerc is 6-0 or 5-1 up in qualifying?
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Championships come from winning races. I don't think Hamilton will be particularly bothered about qualifying, he's still safely got that record. Races are what matters.

LeClerc's problem is race pace and I think Ferrari will be hoping having arguably the best ever in that department will help him convert a few more poles.
 
avgp_1 said:
Leclerc lacking consistency is a huge myth in F1 right now. The guy was the top scorer in the second half of the season I think. Ever since Ferrari fixed the car in Hungary he has been ridiculously consistent

Anyone who beats a driver as good as Sainz is absolutely top tier for me.
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He’s consistent once he’s out of the running for the championship.
 
Marko: Max will beat Lewis in a mediocre car
Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko believes that Max Verstappen will beat Lewis Hamilton in the upcoming season, even if the new Red Bull Racing car is inferior to the new Ferrari.
Helmut Marko: “Last season, the two teams had the best cars and they were able to perform well on most tracks. But neither of their drivers impressed me.
Charles Leclerc did well in qualifying, but made a lot of mistakes in the races. Lewis Hamilton still has the speed, but will he be able to maintain it throughout the season? I doubt it.
Even if Hamilton has a fast Ferrari at his disposal, and we at Red Bull build Max a mediocre car, I would still put money on Max coming out on top.
Max is not only the fastest, but also the best driver in Formula 1 overall. He can squeeze 0.1 to 0.2 seconds per lap more out of the car than any other driver. Our task now is to build a car that he can drive not just occasionally, but constantly to fight for victories. The working range of the car must become wider."
 
elmo said:
He’s consistent once he’s out of the running for the championship.
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He wasn't really in contention for the WDC last year. Along with Sainz, almost won them the Constructors over McLaren though. Especially in the last quarter of the season they were both special. First half of 22 he had a Championship capable car, but Ferrari struggled back then in race trim compared to Red Bull. Strategy issues, mechanical failures and of course he made a driver error or two (Le Castellet, Imola) but Red Bull and Verstappen were just mega that year.

Add to it Ferrari have also tried at times to focus the car on Sainz's driving style, which definitely affected his results. When they have gone his way he has comfortably outscored Sainz (One of the reasons I feel Sainz would have caused a lot of trouble to Verstappen at Red Bull and why they decided against him. He wouldn't have beaten him for sure but definitely taken points off of him). Hamilton's style is closer and should not work against him

I think his driving has come a long way in the last couple of years. For instance, his tyre management last year I felt was quite impressive. His qualifying is still extremely strong, and in these current regulations having a great grid spot is mighty
 
As much as I rate Hamilton, he’s sadly at the back end of his career. It’s not impossible he wins it all with the top car, but it’ll be against the odds even in that scenario. He’s lost a step in qualifying it seems. He still has formidable race pace because of his consistency and experience, but ages catches up with everyone. As a Ferrari fan, I’d love for him t win it. Id be just as happy if Leclerc did too, to be fair.

As for who is no. 1, I don’t think either. Certainly initially they’ll both have the opportunity to race each other. Unless Ferrari are well abs truly in a title fight, say, 5-10 races in, then they may have a decision to make at times. Assuming Ferrari make competent decisions, then it’s really who is ahead then. They shouldn’t favour one or the other. They haven’t won in too long to have any bias from the outset.

Of course I don’t expect Ferrari to ever be competent. But I can hope.
 
hamilton’s 40, he shouldn’t be beating potential championship winning drivers 15 years younger than him. it would say more about leclerc than hamilton if hamilton outscores him. i think he’ll pick up the odd win if the car is good enough but he has nothing to prove either way. look at the teammates he’s had over the years. i can’t think of too many that have had that class of driver against them, in the same machinery, for such a period of time. especially when you compare it to who verstappen is happy to race against in the number 2 seat.

he’d have to grow up fast or he’d fall to bits against a genuinely world class driver in the other car. a hamilton, alonso, button, rosberg or russell wouldn’t stand for max’s bullshit with team orders or swapping positions when it suits them. red bull know that though, so they protect their little princess from it. hoping lawson grows a pair this year and even if he’s not good enough to beat max, at least stands up for himself, unlike the all the others.
 
rimaldo said:
he’d have to grow up fast or he’d fall to bits against a genuinely world class driver in the other car. a hamilton, alonso, button, rosberg or russell wouldn’t stand for max’s bullshit with team orders or swapping positions when it suits them. red bull know that though, so they protect their little princess from it. hoping lawson grows a pair this year and even if he’s not good enough to beat max, at least stands up for himself, unlike the all the others.
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The way you write this it's almost like you've completely forgotten, again, that Lewis tied on points with Alonso, lost a season vs Rosberg, lost a season vs Button and lost 2 out of 3 seasons vs Russell, and was dominated in qualifying.

And clearly none of Rosberg, Button and Russell are world class F1 drivers. The only driver Lewis has comprehensively beaten in equal machinery over several seasons is Bottas, who is pure fodder.
 
hobbers said:
The way you write this it's almost like you've completely forgotten, again, that Lewis tied on points with Alonso, lost a season vs Rosberg, lost a season vs Button and lost 2 out of 3 seasons vs Russell, and was dominated in qualifying.

And clearly none of Rosberg, Button and Russell are world class F1 drivers. The only driver Lewis has comprehensively beaten in equal machinery over several seasons is Bottas, who is pure fodder.
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2 world champions there, who won races in multiple seasons. other than russell, no one has destroyed him, and after racing for 20 seasons, you’re going to expect the odd up and down, especially if you’re driving a dog. verstappen:red bull are only allowing absolute no-hopers in the seat opposite him, and at the minute, other than the one he should have lost, his championships have taken as much skill as vettel’s. it’s just been consistency in a vastly superior machine, with drivers nowhere his class in the other seat.
 
hobbers said:
The way you write this it's almost like you've completely forgotten, again, that Lewis tied on points with Alonso, lost a season vs Rosberg, lost a season vs Button and lost 2 out of 3 seasons vs Russell, and was dominated in qualifying.

And clearly none of Rosberg, Button and Russell are world class F1 drivers. The only driver Lewis has comprehensively beaten in equal machinery over several seasons is Bottas, who is pure fodder.
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Two of those that aren’t world class….are world champions. Tied with Alonso…who was a double world champion as a rookie.

Seriously try harder to discredit him.
 
Leg-End said:
Two of those that aren’t world class….are world champions. Tied with Alonso…who was a double world champion as a rookie.

Seriously try harder to discredit him.
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I'm not discrediting him, I'm showing you why it looks stupid to compare Lewis and Max's team mates, when one has beaten all of his team mates in whatever circumstances, and the other has failed to beat 4 out of 6, across 5 of his 18 seasons in F1.
 
hobbers said:
I'm not discrediting him, I'm showing you why it looks stupid to compare Lewis and Max's team mates, when one has beaten all of his team mates in whatever circumstances, and the other has failed to beat 4 out of 6, across 5 of his 18 seasons in F1.
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i think the only stupid thing is to try and equate who lewis has raced against for 20 years and trying to talk about max as if it’s close. lewis would have won 20 out of 20 years whilst driving facing the other way against max’s teammates.
 
rimaldo said:
i think the only stupid thing is to try and equate who lewis has raced against for 20 years and trying to talk about max as if it’s close. lewis would have won 20 out of 20 years whilst driving facing the other way against max’s teammates.
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Peak stupidity is unironically trying to compare Button, Kovaleinen and Bottas to Sainz, Ricciardo, Albon, Gasly and Perez.

But if deluded hypotheticals help you feel better, have at it.
 
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I think Lewis has dropped off slightly, I know he had that awful car and probably checked out as he was leaving, but i think he's slightly dropped below his very high peak

Because he was very good, it's not like one of the "meh" drivers dropping, and if the car is good enough I can see him picking up some wins but is it enough to win titles? Im not quite sure.

Re Ferraris, no idea on handling etc, but im another who'd be buying one on winning the euro millions, loved the f458 Italia, and it would have to be in Ferrari red
 
FIA finally drop Herbert as a steward, because his shilling to betting companies for clickbait headlines is incompatible with officiating the pinnacle of motorsport.

About time that roach was flushed.
 
dinostar77 said:
Binned it. Hamilton crashes his ferrari

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/cm21e8pj24lo
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Nothing to do with the crash (seems likely to happen when he s trying to find the limits of a new car) and I dont wish the guy ill but given his frustration with Merc the past few years you just can't help but think this is a possible train wreck waiting to happen. At least on the organizational side it's still difficult to not rate Merc as more competent. Ferrari seems to be one of these teams where every piece needs to fall into place vs the likes of Merc, McLaren now, and Red Bull who seem to salvage more when not everything works as it should. Either way it should be an intriguing season. Don't know about the good or entertaining parts.
 
Redplane said:
Nothing to do with the crash (seems likely to happen when he s trying to find the limits of a new car) and I dont wish the guy ill but given his frustration with Merc the past few years you just can't help but think this is a possible train wreck waiting to happen. At least on the organizational side it's still difficult to not rate Merc as more competent. Ferrari seems to be one of these teams where every piece needs to fall into place vs the likes of Merc, McLaren now, and Red Bull who seem to salvage more when not everything works as it should. Either way it should be an intriguing season. Don't know about the good or entertaining parts.
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According to Martin Brundle on Sky, Ferrari have made gains over their rivals. How he would know this I have no idea.

It's no secret that the rear end suspension has been rebuilt so it's the same as McLaren and RedBull i.e. push rod. So the 70 odd points of downforce they had to give up last season, as the suspension couldn't cope with the downforce being generated by the floor, can be reclaimed. That will help.

McLaren will be the joker in the pack, seeing as they have gone for revolution rather than evolution from last year's car allegedly. It didn't pay off for RedBull last season with that approach so remains to be seen if McLaren screw it up as well.

On Hamilton, yes he's past his prime years, but one of his issues with the Mercedes under this ruleset was that he couldn't brake and turn in as aggressively as his driving style demands so he's been at "98% rather than 100%", as totto explained a few days ago. However Ferrari have explained that their braking system is different to Mercedes so Hamilton shouldn't have this issue in the Ferrari. Whether this makes a difference remains to be seen.

Regardless his got his work out against, in his prime years Leclerc as a teammate. Should be fascinating.
 
hobbers said:
FIA finally drop Herbert as a steward, because his shilling to betting companies for clickbait headlines is incompatible with officiating the pinnacle of motorsport.

About time that roach was flushed.
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He really didn't have any business being a steward, he doesn't have much business being a pundit either.
 
Leg-End said:
He really didn't have any business being a steward, he doesn't have much business being a pundit either.
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Sums up everything about him as a person, and how desperate he must be for money, that only a few days ago he was giving more inflammatory quotes to *checks notes* casinoutanspelpaus.io.
 
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