F1 2025 Australian GP Review and Chinese GP Preview (Undercutters Ep12 transcript)

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 looking pretty good but damage to his car dropped the floor and cost him around three-tenths on every straight. Lawson’s last lap was looking good but he ran wide late on, and he had been compromised by lack of running in practice. This also meant the Kiwi had no knowledge of the car on high fuel, which would make his race even trickier. Also out at this stage was Hulkenberg in 17th, Ocon in 19th and slowest on track, and Bearman, who did go out only to discover his gearbox wasn’t working. Because of this the British driver never set a lap time.

Into Q2 we went, and I was pretty surprised that Hadjar was the fastest man eliminated, but good for him. Alonso was 12th, a tiny margin ahead of Stroll, with Doohan in 14th. The Aussie was somewhat discombobulated by Hamilton spinning his Ferrari late in Q2 which meant that some, including Doohan, had to slow down for the yellow flag. Bortoleto was slowest in Q2 but given he beat Hulkenberg in his first ever qualifying that’s good stuff from the Brazilian.

Into Q3 we went and it seemed the McLarens were the chaps to beat. Both botched their initial runs, Piastri buggering the final corner and Norris running wide to earn himself a lap time deletion. This put Verstappen top of the time sheet. The Red Bull had looked slowest of the top teams at the start of the weekend but setup changes meant that, in Verstappen’s hands, it was once more looking like a contender. Russell was also quick and the Ferraris seemed to have taken a step backwards.

Come the second runs, Piastri was briefly quickest before Norris went less than a tenth faster to secure a McLaren front row and pole for the Briton. Verstappen qualified 3rd but four-tenths off Norris’ time, ahead of Russell. And if you guessed who’s on row three then you’re a smarter cookie than me because Tsunoda and Albon is the answer. Fantastic stuff from both drivers. Leclerc led Hamilton on the fourth row but Ferrari must feel a bit disappointed with that. Gasly and Sainz round out the top 10, making it a rather good result for Williams overall.

There were a few significant surprises in qualifying. Having both a Mercedes and a Red Bull go out in Q1 was not something I thought would happen, and Lawson’s fate probably provoked a tidal wave of Schadenfreude in Mexico. There were mitigating circumstances for both drivers, especially Antonelli losing a bundle of time with car damage. Lawson did lack practice time but qualifying was a poor start and if he doesn’t improve soon then people will return to the vexed question of the second seat at Red Bull and wondering if he’s the man for the job.

Tsunoda and Albon both really exceeded my expectations with their fantastic third row. Both men beat the Ferraris, and their performance was a highlight of qualifying. Bortoleto finishing ahead of Hulkenberg in his first ever qualifying was also an impressive moment. Speaking of Sauber, while they’re clearly towards the back they do at least seem able to fight to leave Q1, which is way better than most of the 2024 season. The Red Bull turn around, for Verstappen at least, means we might be in for another Norris-Verstappen battle for the title. Piastri’s up there too, and we know from Monza last year that the Aussie isn’t afraid to pass his team mate on lap one.

Australian Grand Prix Race Review 05m08s

There had been heavy rain at Albert Park before the planned start time but it wasn’t actually raining so the formation lap happened on schedule. Everyone was on intermediate tyres except Stroll, who had opted for the full wet tyre. Lawson and Bearman were both starting from the pit lane. However, Hadjar spun on the formation lap, broke his rear wing, and this led to an aborted start and 15 minute delay. During this time, Stroll swapped the wets for inters.

At the start, Verstappen was off like a rocket and was able to get past Piastri. Further back, Hulkenberg decided he wasn’t in the worst car on the grid and rapidly made up five places. On lap 1, Doohan lost control, crashed, and we had a safety car. There was no rain but the track was slippery, leading Sainz to crash out under the safety car, perhaps due to a problem with excessive torque delivery.

Eventually things got going again, with Leclerc having passed Tsunoda and Albon, with Hamilton behind the Williams. Still on inters, Verstappen ran wide and got passed by Piastri, who was soon in hot pursuit of Norris. Verstappen’s tyres were cooked and he fell off the McLarens rapidly, and was soon 16s behind them, but still comfortably ahead of Russell.

Further down the field, Lawson was bogged down and struggling to pass the Haas of Ocon, while Antonelli was making slow but steady progress. After a little while Antonelli passed Hulkenberg, then spun and lost the place, then passed the German again.

The difficulty of the conditions was once again proven when, on lap 34, Alonso spun and crashed out, bringing out another safety car. This was fantastic for Verstappen as it wiped out the sizeable gap to the McLarens, who were still leading with Norris ahead of Piastri. Shortly thereafter, Bortoleto and Lawson both crashed out too. I was wrong about a massive lap 1 pileup, but correct about the high attrition rate.

But more drama was to come. The drivers were told there would be a lap or two of medium to heavy rain but everyone was on slicks. Whether to pit, and, if so, when, was not an easy call to make. The McLarens were leading comfortably as they had throughout the race when they lost control on hard tyres in the sudden rain. Norris was able to pit for inters, Piastri ended up stranded in grass for a long time before he could get going. Bad luck for the Aussie at his home race, but he did show he has the pace to compete with Norris and Verstappen.

It was a difficult strategy call for everyone, with McLaren pitting early and many others staying out. Ferrari got it almost exactly wrong, staying out on the hard tyres, which briefly had Hamilton leading the race, and then pitting very late. This put them down in the minor points. To rub salt in the wound for Hamilton, he was passed by Leclerc, who had fallen behind due to an earlier spin.

Piastri fought back to claw his way into the points but he should’ve been on the podium. Tough conditions but an opportunity missed for him. Late on, Verstappen was on an absolute charge but Norris kept his cool and was able to fend off the Dutchman. Impressive stuff, and it sees someone other than Verstappen lead the title race for the first time in quite a while.

All in all, a fantastic win for Norris. Yes, he clearly had the fastest car but he also had stiff competition from Piastri and Verstappen, multiple restarts, tricky conditions, and a very tough finish. Good stuff for McLaren. Verstappen may be disappointed he couldn’t pass Norris on the last couple of laps but given he was 16s adrift of both McLarens at one point, being less than a second off the win and finishing 2nd is far from a bad day.

Third was George Russell, who was pretty absent on the TV screen as he was neither threatening the McLarens nor Verstappen, and he faced little challenge from behind. Good solid race from him. Antonelli was 4th, with a 5s time penalty being reversed after the race enabling him to keep the position. He cut his way through the field well and had a strong debut. Looking forward to seeing how he can perform without a qualifying reliability failure and in more straightforward conditions. Albon ended up 5th, the Williams’ pace and his own skill aided by the right strategy call near the end of the race. Very good points for him and the car looks promising for the year ahead.

Stroll was 6th, which is the same place he finished last year. He was very close to Alonso in qualifying and kept his car on the road for a good points haul for Aston Martin. Let’s hope the Canadian can keep this form up throughout the year. Even more impressive was Hulkenberg, who ended up finishing in 7th, which is not what I expected. Six points for Sauber is more than they got in the whole F1 2024 season. From a flying start to assured speed, aided by Ferrari and Tsunoda getting their late strategy call entirely wrong, Hulkenberg had a great race.

Leclerc finished in 8th, in a damage limitation operation. Ferrari never had the pace of other top teams but should’ve been higher than this. Piastri was 9th, the meat in a Ferrari sandwich, due to his late spin, with Hamilton in 10th. All three of those chaps will be wondering what might have been. Piastri, at least, can console himself that he had the pace for the podium and should be in the title fight this year. Ferrari need to improve.

Spare a thought for Gasly and Tsunoda in 11th and 12th, again suffering from the late rain. Tsunoda in particular may feel hard done by as he had been running next to Albon for almost the whole race. The last classified finishers were Ocon and Bearman, with the Haas looking like the weakest car right now. But it’s only one race, and the season is very long.

Highlights and Lowlights 12m04s

Of the six rookies on the grid, only Antonelli and Bearman finished, in 4th and 14th respectively. Rain can be a steep learning curve for newcomers, as we saw in the Brazilian Grand Prix last year. Shanghai should be sunny so we might get a better picture of how they stand in more normal conditions in the second race. Lawson’s weak qualifying and race following similar poor performances from talented drivers like Gasly, Albon, and Perez does raise the question of just what happens to the second Red Bull driver. Perhaps Tsunoda was lucky not to be promoted. The second seat is looking more and more like a sacrificial altar.

Norris was very assured during the race, and I think will be more formidable than he was last year in the title battle. Verstappen was a little lucky that Piastri found himself stuck in the grass for so long, and the Dutchman almost snatched the win right at the end. He was also aided by the safety car wiping out a substantial gap, but luck tends to even out over the course of the season. Right now, the title battle would appear to be between the McLarens and Verstappen, but we need to see how next week goes. Further down the line, at Spain, the tougher rules effectively banning flexi-wings might also harm McLaren’s prospects, so they need to make the most of it while they can.

Williams are looking very tasty. It wasn’t perfect for them, with Sainz’s DNF, but the car clearly has good speed and their driver lineup is excellent. While I don’t think they’ll end up fighting for the podium on a regular basis, Williams are very much looking the team to beat in the midfield.

After he was outqualified by his rookie team mate, I never would’ve picked Hulkenberg to finish 10 places ahead of his 17th starting slot. Nice to see Sauber immediately exceed expectations. At the time of writing, they’re on 6 points to Ferrari’s 5. You would’ve got long odds betting on Sauber beating Ferrari before the race started. In more normal conditions I think Alpine and Racing Bulls will do rather better and Sauber will find it difficult to score so well again, but Hulkenberg had a very good Australian Grand Prix.

Predictions Assessment 14m32s

Before the Australian Grand Prix kicked off I made some early predictions. These went up on Tuesday, long before practice or qualifying. I backed Norris to get pole and the win, Hamilton to be 2nd, and Leclerc 3rd. For midfield points scorers, I went for Sainz and Gasly. In addition, the extra prediction was for a lap 1 crash that ended up taking out three or more drivers.

My Norris prediction for pole did come off, despite stiff competition from Piastri. I thought the gap between them would be a little larger. We’ll see if Piastri can maintain a better qualifying form this year, as this was a weak spot of his in 2024.

I also got Norris right for the win, though it was a close run thing at the end thanks to Verstappen. However, I seriously overestimated Ferrari. They were behind in hot, dry qualifying, and not competitive in the wet then drying conditions of the race. This is only a single event, of course, and they might be better elsewhere, but if it’s the same story at the Chinese Grand Prix then this season might be rough for the Prancing Horse.

I picked out Sainz and Gasly for points. With Sainz I think this was a little unlucky not to come off as he clearly had the potential speed to get in there. Gasly was, I feel, punching above his weight to keep his Alpine in the top 10 for so long and he just barely missed out in 11th.

Lastly, my prediction of a lap 1 pileup leading to three or more DNFs was entirely wrong. Given how many spins happened in the race and how many drivers crashed out, I’m a little surprised. Getting two out of seven right is not fantastic but could be worse, especially for the first race in a season.

Standings after Australia 16m31s

I’m going to cover the standings regularly at the end of each race review, but as this is the first Grand Prix of F1 2025 I thought it’d be useful to start by assessing the pace of various teams and drivers.

A caveat is necessary, because one swallow does not make a summer and while the Australian Grand Prix is a useful guide it’s worth remembering drivers and teams can be particularly good or bad at a specific circuit. For example, back in 2014 McLaren ended up with Button 2nd and Magnussen 3rd in the Australian Grand Prix. This made them the top scoring team and looked pretty good. However, they didn’t win a race in the entire 2014 season, and ended up finishing 5th in the Constructors’, with Button 8th and Magnussen 11th in the Drivers’ standings. A similarly misleading, but negative, result was in 2024 when Australia was a very weak race for Red Bull.

This year, the race started wet and was drying for most of it, with inters being the most used tyre. Dry running pace might be rather different.

With all that in mind, McLaren looked the fastest team, with Verstappen’s Red Bull close behind. While the Mercedes was next, the gap was more significant. To my surprise, as I thought they were sandbagging in testing, Ferrari are looking like the fourth fastest team right now. They do have an extremely good lineup but in both qualifying and the race Ferrari was disappointing.

I’ve already run down the top 10 drivers in the race review so I won’t repeat all that here. For those wondering, the Constructors’ are as follows:

McLaren and Mercedes are both on 27 points.

Red Bull have 18, while Williams have 10.

Aston Martin are on 8 points, with Sauber on 6.

Ferrari have 5 points.

Below them are Alpine, Racing Bulls, and Haas, all on zero.

Race 2 segue 18m47s

It’s only a couple of days ago that we had the first race of the season at Albert Park, and the second is less than a week away. The Chinese Grand Prix features a sprint race, although with a 3am start time many British viewers may prefer to wait for highlights. This means Friday has a single practice session then sprint qualifying, with the sprint on Saturday followed by qualifying for the Grand Prix. Both qualifying and the race are on at 7am, UK time.

Unlike Australia, Shanghai is expected to be dry, so we might see more than 14 drivers finish the race this time.

Quick Look at Shanghai International Circuit 19m25s

The Shanghai International Circuit hosts the Chinese Grand Prix, and has done so since the first race in 2004. There are 56 laps, each just under 5.5km. It’s another clockwise circuit and has a total of 16 corners. Interestingly, the lap record is still held by a certain Michael Schumacher, who set it back in 2004. The Shangai International Circuit has two long straights, one the starting straight and the second between turns 13 and 14. The second straight is 1.2km long, which is three-quarters of a mile, so this is very much a circuit where great straight line speed is an asset. In addition, each straight has a DRS zone.

The longer straight is the best opportunity for overtaking into the turn 14 hairpin, with turn 6 another chance for a pass. Because the first few corners following the starting straight take the shape of a Chinese symbol, rather than being designed for entertaining racing, there aren’t as many passes as might be expected going into turn 1.

Most of the first and second sectors are a lot twistier, with the straights dominating sector 3 and the start of sector 1. From pole to the first corner is 315m, so we’ll see how the start is compared to the last race. Australia has a shorter distance but it was still enough for Verstappen to gain ground and effect a pass a little later on Piastri.

The Chinese Grand Prix could see quite a lot of overtaking, particularly when compared to some of the street circuits on the F1 calendar.

Recent Races 21m16s

Normally the recent races section will look at the last two races at a given circuit. However, China was off the calendar due to COVID from 2020 to 2023, so we only have one recent race to consider, the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.

The last race held here was the fifth of the 2024 F1 season and was the last of Red Bull’s dominant period in the early part of that year.

Heading into the Chinese Grand Prix, Verstappen had won the sprint race and secured pole position for himself. At this point in the season it seemed 2024 might be another simply lovely victory tour for the Dutchman.

Off the line, Verstappen retained the lead, Alonso snatched 2nd from Perez, the McLarens held onto 4th and 5th, and the Ferraris fell back to the advantage of Russell and Hulkenberg. However, Hulkenberg soon lost out to Leclerc, and Alonso got passed first by Perez and then Norris.

The ascension of Norris and the Ferraris was then aided by strategic cunning and a single pit stop, putting the Briton up into 2nd. Verstappen handled multiple restarts well and never seemed under real threat from anyone else.

The race also featured the comedic nonsense of Stroll running into the back of Ricciardo under the safety car. It was the kind of cock-up that would embarrass a newcomer, although not the silliest moment for Stroll in 2024. Unfortunately it led to Ricciardo having to retire. This incident also caused some damage to the rear of Piastri’s car. The Aussie would eventually finish behind Alonso.

The 2024 Chinese Grand Prix was convincingly won by Verstappen, who shared the podium with Norris and Perez. Leclerc and Sainz followed, with Russell, Alonso, Piastri, Hamilton, and Hulkenberg completing the top 10.

There was a fair amount of positions changing at the start and numerous safety car episodes in 2024. If that happens again this year then we could be in for quite the race.

Chinese Grand Prix Predictions 23m26s

The Chinese Grand Prix is the second race of the season and the first to host a sprint. I’m backing Piastri to win the sprint. He’s in the fastest car, and has won sprints before.

However, for both the pole position and race win I’ve picked Norris. The British driver showed last year he was more consistent than Piastri over a season, and has the edge when it comes to tyre management. Plus, the Aussie was a step behind on qualifying in 2024.

That being said, I still think Piastri will end up 2nd in the Chinese Grand Prix, as he’s a talented driver in a great car. Right behind the McLarens will be the defending champion, Max Verstappen. The Dutchman has shown himself to be tenacious, not just last year, but during the period of Mercedes’ dominance when he was the only man on the grid who provided any kind of challenge.

When it comes to midfield points, I think Alonso has a good chance. He scored here last year and had the speed to finish in the top 10 at Albert Park. Albon’s another man I think will end up in the top 10. The Williams is looking very quick and has traditionally been rather good in a straight line. Given the Shanghai International Circuit has two big straights this might well play to the car’s strength. On top of that, Albon was very good through both qualifying and the race last weekend.

My extra prediction is that the gap between 1st and 3rd will be over 25s. That’s quite a lot, but in 2024 it was 19s. If the McLaren is as dominant as everyone says, this could be possible.

F1 News 25m23s

F1 News.

It was announced just before the Australian Grand Prix that Oscar Piastri has signed a new contract with McLaren, committing him to the team for years. He already had a deal until 2026, so the term ‘multi-year’ is being interpreted to mean until at least 2028 but the actual specifics have not been made public.

It’s not a surprise the team want to hold onto Piastri. He had a strong debut season, and his 2024 campaign showed improvement, with a mid-season period when he was joint top scorer along with Hamilton. It was the Australian’s second year in the sport and he racked up two wins, and a points haul that helped McLaren secure their first Constructors’ title this century.

Piastri’s very good wheel-to-wheel, and has a calm, confident head on his shoulders. Qualifying and consistency both need to be a bit sharper if he wants to challenge Norris but his pace, especially mid-2024, was excellent. Because of his character and Norris’ personality I think it’s possible the two could actually get along even if competing for titles provided that McLaren treats them fairly.

Another new extension was announced before the Australian Grand Prix, this time for Stefano Domenicali, chief executive of Formula 1. This five year contract means he’ll be in place until the end of 2029 at least. Given the sport’s growth this isn’t a huge surprise.

I hope you enjoyed this double-sized podcast episode. If you did, please remember to leave a positive rating and review, it helps a lot and is much appreciated.

We’ve just enjoyed the first race of 24 in the F1 2025 season, and the second is less than a week away. Next Tuesday, I’ll review how the Chinese Grand Prix turned out.




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