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Japanese Grand Prix 2025: pre-race

Qualifying was quite unexpected. The two Saubers were out in Q1, Hulkenberg 16th and Bortoleto 17th. That isn’t too surprising, although Ocon leaving was a little more unexpected. Doohan could only manage 19th which, after his big crash in FP2 due to leaving the DRS open into a corner, is making this a less than fantastic weekend. And slowest of them all was Stroll, who went on a rally excursion. The first session of qualifying also saw a couple of problems for the rookies. Antonelli was having difficulty getting heat into his tyres, leading to understeer and compromising his lap time, although he was able to escape the session. Hadjar had seatbelt problems, which is obviously bad for safety but also bad for comfort in a gentleman’s tender portions. Hopefully this can be mended for the race. Q2 saw Gasly and Sainz the fastest men eliminated, although the Williams driver may end up further down the grid. Unfortunately, Sainz clearly blocked Hamilton on a hot lap during qualifying. He...
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Japanese Grand Prix 2025: pre-qualifying

There was some tiny news since the last race, which I covered in the last podcast. For those who don’t read the transcripts and haven’t been paying any attention to F1: Lawson and Tsunoda have swapped seats. There’s been much sympathy for Lawson across the grid, including from an exasperated Verstappen. Comparing the two drivers will be one of the most interesting aspects of the year. Norris was fastest in first practice, a tenth and a half ahead of Russell, with Leclerc two and a half-tenths further back. The Monegasque was a tenth ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen, with Tsunoda another tenth slower. Alonso was just barely ahead of Hadjar, with Antonelli and Sainz rounding out the top 10. Piastri was down in 15th. The second session saw a big Doohan crash, and some grass on fire, which is quite unusual. The grass on fire brought out the red flag (twice), and reduced running means fewer drivers setting fast laps so the times are less representative than usual. This is especially the c...
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F1 2025 Japanese Grand Prix Preview and Predictions (Undercutters Ep14 transcript)

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Hello everyone, and welcome to the 14th Undercutters podcast. I’m your host, Morris. Today we’re going to look ahead to the Japanese Grand Prix, one of the classic tracks on the F1 calendar. If you want to get in touch you can find me on Twitter or Blue Sky at MorrisF1, or you can leave a comment on morrisf1.blogspot.com. We’ve had two races and one sprint so far, starting in soggy Australia and moving to dry China, where dirty air made passing difficult and reduced on-track action. Teams and drivers saw fortunes vary, although some, such as Tsunoda and Alonso, had bad luck at both. Quick Look at the Suzuka Circuit 00m 43s The Suzuka Circuit is the home of the Japanese Grand Prix, and is the only figure 8 circuit on the calendar, with sectors two and three having a crossover. At 5.8km long, the race will feature 53 laps. The Suzuka Circuit is not a forgiving place. There’s some run-off, but also a lot of gravel and close walls. Make a mistake and there’s a good chance a price will ...
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F1 2025 Chinese Grand Prix Review (Undercutters Ep13 transcript)

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Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 13 of the Undercutters Podcast: the Chinese Grand Prix review. This was the second race in 2025 and followed hot on the heels of the Australian Grand Prix, which was a very wet event that saw half a dozen drivers crash out. As ever, you can find me on Twitter or Blue Sky under the name MorrisF1, or at morrisf1.blogspot.com, which is where I post episode transcripts and graphics such as standings and suchlike. The Chinese Grand Prix weekend also saw our first sprint race of the year. Chinese Sprint 00m 44s Qualifying for the Chinese sprint was pretty interesting. In the first session Lawson was slowest, and Hulkenberg exited while Bortoleto reached the second session. Both Alpines were out in SQ1, with Doohan faster than Gasly, while Ocon also left at this stage, meaning Bearman outqualified him. In SQ2 we waved goodbye to Alonso, Bearman, Sainz, Bortoleto, and Hadjar, the latter two screwing up their laps. In addition, this means Stroll conti...
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Chinese Grand Prix 2025: pre-race

The F1 2025 season has certainly started off with a bang, making it entertaining but also hard to call. Here’s how the sprint and qualifying went, and bets I considered for the Chinese Grand Prix. Sprint It was used medium tyres throughout the field for the sprint, with Hulkenberg making a pit lane start due to a setup change. The sprint is just 19 laps, roughly a third of the 56 we’ll see for the race proper on Sunday. It was mostly formation flying at the start but Ocon tumbled down the order and Antonelli fell down to 8th. Norris made a mistake and went down to 9th. Even on the first lap, Hamilton and Verstappen were close and both pulled away from Piastri. This led to initial pressure by Leclerc on Piastri, but the Aussie retained his position. Not only that, Russell was able to snatch 4th from Leclerc at the end of the long straight on lap 1. This was handy for Piastri as there was now a much larger gap behind him, while Leclerc and Russell continued to squabble. On lap 2, Hami...
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Chinese Grand Prix 2025: pre-qualifying/sprint

This is up a day earlier than usual due to the timing of the sessions this weekend. First (and only) Practice In first and only practice Norris was fastest, almost half a second ahead of Leclerc. While Piastri was two-tenths further back this was down to an error and he should’ve been much closer. Hamilton was half a tenth off Piastri, and two-tenths ahead of his former team mate Russell. Just over a tenth behind Russell was Hulkenberg, bizarrely, with Albon, Alonso, Antonelli, and Tsunoda rounding out the top 10. Sprint Qualifying In the first part of sprint qualifying McLaren and Ferrari were looking the fastest. We also saw Bortoleto get through while Hulkenberg did not and Lawson was slowest. Those eliminated were Doohan, Gasly, Ocon, Hulk, and Lawson. Double elimination for Alpine, which isn’t great, with Doohan beating his highly regarded team mate. Bortoleto again beat Hulkenberg, which is no mean feat. Lawson being last continues his horrendous start to the season. This will ...
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F1 2025 Australian GP Review and Chinese GP Preview (Undercutters Ep12 transcript)

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Hello, everyone, and welcome to the 12th Undercutters episode. I’m your host, Morris. This time we’ve got a bumper podcast, combining a review of the Australian Grand Prix and a preview of the Chinese Grand Prix, which is this coming weekend. In addition, because we just had the first race of the season, I’ll be assessing how the pecking order looks for teams and drivers. As ever, if you want to find me online I’m MorrisF1 on both Twitter and Blue Sky, and you can leave comments at morrisf1.blogspot.com, which is also where I post episode transcripts and graphics. As the season goes on I plan to regularly post graphs about the title fights and suchlike. Australian Grand Prix Qualifying - 00m46s Everyone thought things would be tight in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix and the first session of the year proved very competitive, with surprises both good and bad. Q1 saw some top team drivers leave the stage, with Antonelli in 16th and Lawson 18th. To be fair, Antonelli was look...
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