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Brazilian Grand Prix 2025: pre-race

I tend not to comment, good or bad, on bet results but a Mercedes being top 2 but not the guy who finishes ahead 85% of the time and whom I’d backed was pretty galling. Ah, well. I had a lot of flukey results in previous seasons so 50/50s going against me this year is just the way it goes…and it was a crazy qualifying session. Quick sprint rundown: Piastri out. He spun and was immediately followed by Hulkenberg and Colapinto so it looked like bad luck rather than a serious error. With Norris winning this was another step backwards for the Aussie. Verstappen was 4th, and Gasly got the last point in 8th. Qualifying saw Red Bull make serious setup changes to try and make up for relatively weak pace in the sprint. This had the opposite effect, with Verstappen out in Q1 in 16th. He was ahead of Ocon (as he had been at the line in Brazil last year), then came Colapinto, Tsunoda, and Bortoleto, who was unable to set a time due to his car not being fixed in time. Rough home race for the Brazil...
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Brazilian Grand Prix 2025: pre-qualifying and sprint

Once again the magnificent Interlagos is contaminated by the American vomit chocolate of the sprint race. Alas. Bit of off-track news: Alpine has kept Colapinto for next year. Only practice had Norris and Piastri quickest, ahead of Hulkenberg and Alonso. Bortoleto was fifth quickest, followed by Russell, Gasly, Sainz, Hadjar, and Antonelli. It’s worth knowing the Ferraris and Verstappen didn’t use the medium tyre due to limited allocation and not wanting to use them up. Sprint qualifying was extremely close, as indicated by the five eliminated in SQ1 all coming from different teams. The drivers were: Colapinto, Lawson, Tsunoda, Ocon, and Sainz. The gaps were tiny in SQ2 and some were not helped by Leclerc spinning in sector 2 towards the end. This screwed over Hamilton, who was the fastest man out, ahead of Albon, Gasly, Bortoleto, and Bearman. As in SQ1, everyone eliminated was from a different team. Going into SQ3 it seemed Norris and Piastri were very close, with Verstappen in ...
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Mexican Grand Prix 2025: pre-race

Before qualifying (and, indeed, third practice) it looked like Verstappen remained likeliest to get pole but that it could be close, with Leclerc, Antonelli, and Norris all looking pretty good. The short lap made qualifying very close throughout, and in Q1 we waved goodbye to Bortoleto, Albon, Gasly, Stroll, and Colapinto. Given Sainz got through to Q3 bit of a weaker showing from Albon, though it might be fairer to say Sainz is very good around this track. In Q2 Tsunoda was the fastest man eliminated, followed by Ocon, Hulkenberg, Alonso, and Lawson. Going into Q3 I had thought it was Verstappen’s to lose but his car was sliding a bit which was not only bad for pace but also won’t help his tyre wear over the long runs. In a tight session, Norris’ pole margin of around three-tenths was very impressive and if he can retain the lead on the opening lap he’s very likely to win. But, and it’s a big but, there’s a very long run into the first corner and a great opportunity to screw up. ...
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Mexican Grand Prix 2025: pre-qualifying

And so we come to the annual tradition of me trying to remember what impact the higher altitude and thinner atmosphere of Mexico has on the race… (Less air, less slipstream effect, so overtaking’s harder). As before, this is up early due to the late FP3/qualifying times being inconvenient for me. Quick note for FP1: there were nine young (mostly) drivers taking regulars’ places and neither Verstappen nor Norris were driving. Anyway, Leclerc was quickest, ahead of Antonelli by a tenth. Two-tenths later came Hulkenberg, who was narrowly ahead of Piastri. Bortoleto followed, making this rather good for Sauber, with Lindblad (Red Bull), Ocon, Tsunoda, Colapinto, and Albon following. Verstappen topped second practice, a tenth and a half ahead of Leclerc, who was again followed closely by Antonelli. Norris was next, then came Hamilton, with Russell, Tsunoda, Alonso, Sainz, and Stroll completing the top 10. Piastri was 12th, six-tenths off Norris. I would be tempted by the 9 on Leclerc f...
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American Grand Prix 2025: pre-race

The sprint race was marked by two events. On lap 1, a collision had knock-on effects which caused both McLarens and Alonso to DNF, and shunted Hulkenberg way down the order, out of the points. After the safety car came out, and left again, things were fairly sedate, with passing proving tricky, although Hamilton did manage to get ahead of Leclerc. Later, Stroll clumsily smashed into Ocon with an ill-considered overtake attempt which took out both men, and brought out the safety car for the second time. Under this finish the race would finish. Verstappen had a lovely time, getting all 8 points while McLaren scored 0. Russell got 2nd place with Sainz in 3rd. Behind the Spaniard, Ferrari recovered from woeful qualifying to 4th and 5th, Hamilton leading Leclerc, with Albon, Tsunoda (who made up 11 places), and Antonelli finishing the points positions. Bearman had been in 8th but continued his one-man mission to disprove British bias by getting a 10s penalty for defending against Antonell...
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American Grand Prix 2025: pre-qualifying/sprint

Ah, sprints. The pre-digested food of a Formula 1 weekend. Not a fan of late start times either, but at least we’re at the best of the (ridiculous) three circuits in the USA. In first and only practice Norris was fastest, a quarter of a second of… Hulkenberg. Hmm. Piastri was two-hundredths behind the Sauber. Alonso was next, and only then came Verstappen, with Albon, Russell, Hamilton, Hadjar, and Bearman completing the top 10. In pretend qualifying for the pretend race Verstappen decided it would be better to go faster and thus got pole. Norris was a tenth off, one place and three-tenths quicker than Piastri. Hulkenberg starts 4th, and was just one-tenth behind the Aussie. Russell and Alonso start on row three, then we have Sainz ahead of Hamilton (ironically), and Albon ahead of Leclerc. NB several drivers failed to put in a final time, which meant Bortoleto had none on the board and was last. Would’ve been interesting to see where he would’ve come, given he was 12th and almost a...
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Singapore Grand Prix 2025: pre-race

I’d expected qualifying to be a five horse race but instead it ended up with rather bigger gaps than we’ve come to expect this year. Q1 featured a red flag from Gasly suffering what appears to be a hydraulic failure. Bortoleto, Stroll, Colapinto, Ocon and Gasly were eliminated at this stage. Not too unexpected, save for Bortoleto being outqualified by Hulkenberg for the first time in a long while. Q2 was a little delayed but when it was done we said goodbye to Hulkenberg, Albon, Sainz, Lawson, and Tsunoda. I think Hulkenberg did well to get so far up the grid, and the Williams was pushed to its potential but simply doesn’t gel with this circuit. Lawson and Tsunoda could’ve done better given how their team mates did. And so to Q3, which was feeling like it might be a Verstappen versus Mercedes battle. And so it was, with Russell putting in a cracking first lap to secure provisional pole. Verstappen could only get within a couple of tenths but had to settle for the runner-up spot. Pi...
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