F1 2025 Bahrain GP Review and Saudi Arabian GP Preview (Undercutters Ep16 transcript)
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the 16th Undercutters podcast. Today we’re looking back at the Bahrain Grand Prix and ahead to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the final race in this triple header.
If you want to get in touch you can leave a comment at morrisf1.blogspot.com, or say hello over on Twitter or Blue Sky, where I’m MorrisF1.
Qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix led to a highly unexpected grid.
In Q1 Stroll and Bearman were the slowest of all, with Bortoleto just ahead of them. Not too surprising, as Haas seem to be quite hit and miss. Lawson also went out at this stage but at least seems more in tune with his car now. The main reason for Lawson’s departure was his DRS, which was malfunctioning and closed early. Weirdest of all to go out was the fastest man eliminated: Alexander Albon. Except he should have gone through. In Q3, the stewards finally deleted Hulkenberg’s lap, the German having reached Q2, which put him down from 15th to 16th on the grid. Albon got promoted to Q2 but the session had long since ended so he had to make do with 15th and had no chance to improve or reach Q3. Quite the clown show, and really not good enough from the powers that be.
Q2 also featured a crash by Ocon and a red flag. He was fine, but this did put him down in 14th, ahead of Albon, just to rub salt in the Thai driver’s wounds. Doohan had a decent lap and was the fastest man eliminated, ahead of Hadjar and Alonso.
And so to Q3, which should have been a McLaren 1-2. They had the pace for it. It was Piastri who put himself on pole position for the second time this year, a whole one and a half-tenths over Russell. The Mercedes driver did a great job, and had Leclerc a tenth and a half behind him. Antonelli was half a tenth behind Leclerc. However, both Mercedes were hit by 1 place grid penalties because their team released them slightly too early when the red flag ended. Seems a bit harsh, as it was a matter of seconds, but there we are.
This means the front row was Piastri and Leclerc. Russell led row two ahead of Gasly, whose Alpine looked good and who put in a fantastic performance in qualifying.
Antonelli led row three, ahead of Norris. The Briton screwed up his second fast run in Q3 and was four-tenths off Piastri. The McLaren has been the fastest car overall this weekend and he should’ve been on the front row. A potential concern is that it was especially good in the corners and a little slower in the straights which could make passing slightly trickier. Time would tell whether this would hamper Norris in the race. However, the McLaren’s also been kind to its tyres this season and that should come in very handy on a track with a rougher surface, widely expected to be a two stop race.
Right behind Norris was Verstappen, whose Red Bull has not been looking good in Bahrain. Lining up alongside him was Carlos Sainz, whose 8th place on the grid is his best result for Williams. Hamilton, who took Sainz’s place at Ferrari, was behind him, and six-tenths off Leclerc’s qualifying time. However, we did see this pattern last year, with weak qualifying compensated by some strong race performances so perhaps Hamilton will move up the order. Last of the top 10 was Tsunoda, who did well to make Q3 given how ropey the Red Bull seemed.
Yes.
The top drivers almost all opted to start on the soft tyre, excepting Leclerc and Hamilton who both went for the medium.
Off the line Piastri kept the lead and Leclerc drifted back, first losing out to George Russell and then getting passed by Norris, who had leapt up from 6th to 3rd. Further back Sainz rose to 6th and was ahead of Antonelli, who lost ground.
Piastri immediately broke DRS to Russell and was looking good. Things were less rosy for Norris who, after his delightful start, received a 5s penalty for being too far forward in his grid box.
Antonelli made his way past Sainz to reclaim 6th, and soon after Verstappen likewise passed the Spanish driver. Norris and Verstappen were among the first to pit, and Verstappen had a slow stop because the traffic light system at Red Bull wasn’t working. This would cause him and Tsunoda to suffer multiple slow stops. Norris’ stop was also slow due to serving his 5s penalty.
Most drivers were swapping the soft for the medium, but Verstappen went from soft to hard, and seemed to dislike the tyre a lot. Over at Ferrari, this led to some radio conversation about potentially shifting their strategy. Both drivers had stayed out longer than the rest, with Leclerc leading Hamilton on the road but a pit stop behind everyone else. It looked like they were going for a one stop but Verstappen’s performance on the hard tyre was making them reconsider.
Behind the Ferraris was Piastri, on fresh medium tyres and still looking very good for the win. Eventually both Ferraris boxed, coming in on lap 18 for medium tyres. Because they’d started on those this tied them into needing another stop down the line. For Leclerc, this worked pretty well, and he came out 4th, behind Norris and ahead of Gasly. Hamilton came out in 10th, behind Doohan.
Speaking of Gasly and Doohan, the Alpine was looking like a very tasty car, a midfield pack leader. Given they were the only team without any points at the start of the weekend, the performance was very good.
At this stage, lap 19, Ocon was still in 6th, ahead of Verstappen and Antonelli. But this only lasted a lap as Antonelli got past the reigning champion. Tyre off-sets and differing compounds meant there was a lot of on-track action, and at this phase the Red Bull on hard tyres was not looking fantastic.
Further up the road, Piastri was cruising to victory while Russell was being caught by Norris, who was being caught by Leclerc. It was Leclerc who got there first, entering DRS range. Norris was forced to drive defensively which gave Russell some breathing space but soon the much fresher tyres of Leclerc enabled him to pass the McLaren. Hamilton was also making plenty of passes, getting ahead of Doohan and Verstappen in a few laps, and then Antonelli and Ocon by lap 26.
The next lap saw Verstappen make a second stop to ditch his hard tyres for mediums, but this was an even worse stop thanks to the front right being a bit sticky. When he came out of the pits he was last.
The race was looking easy for Piastri with a good battle for the next few places. Until lap 32, when a tussle between Sainz and Tsunoda littered the track with debris and brought out a safety car. This was very nicely timed for most of the top chaps, who immediately boxed, but was rough luck for Antonelli who had pitted just five laps earlier. Nevertheless, the young Italian did box again, and tumbled down the order.
Interestingly, the top four went for a mix of tyres. Piastri went for medium, Russell slapped on some soft tyres, Leclerc went hard, and Norris had medium tyres. Behind this top four we had Hamilton, Gasly, Ocon, Verstappen, Doohan, and Sainz completing the top 10. For those wondering, Gasly, Ocon, and Verstappen all stayed out, which is how Verstappen rose through the field so rapidly from 20th.
Outside the points during the safety car were Tsunoda, Bearman, Albon, Antonelli, Alonso, Hadjar, Hulkenberg, Lawson, Stroll, and Bortoleto.
At the restart Piastri retained his advantage over Russell despite the British driver’s softer tyre. Further back, Norris lost out to Hamilton, reclaimed the place but did so off-track and was instructed to hand it back, which he did. Moments later, Norris passed Hamilton again and drove off in pursuit of Leclerc.
Piastri immediately broke DRS to Russell and spent the rest of the race being faster than those trying to catch him. Leclerc was chasing Russell and Norris was after Leclerc. Hamilton was in a sort of No Man’s Land in 5th, while Gasly was fending off Verstappen.
On lap 47 Sainz became the first, and last, retirement of the race due to damage on the car. A shame, especially as he’d looked more competitive this weekend, so that may be some consolation.
Interestingly, the Ferraris were doing fine on the hard tyre, which was annoying for Norris because Leclerc was defending incredibly well. The McLaren was clearly faster but the Monegasque driver was making it difficult for Norris, and kept the Briton behind for many laps before, finally, Norris climbed up into 3rd.
Because of Leclerc’s great driving it took Norris until lap 55 to get within DRS of Russell in 2nd. Russell was having some problems of his own, including a radio warning his dashboard might go blank. If anything, Norris seemed to have an even greater pace advantage over Russell than he had over Leclerc, but did he have time to pass?
No. Russell drove very well to keep Norris behind him and secure 2nd place for himself. However, at the race’s end there was an investigation into whether or not a DRS infringement had been committed by Russell. The Mercedes pit wall had warned him it wasn’t working and there was chatter about potentially activating it manually, but given Piastri was a day and a half ahead of him and Norris was behind it should never have been opened.
But, for Piastri, it was a perfect race. He claimed pole, becoming the first man to have multiple in 2025, and never looked like losing the lead. The only iffy moment was the restart, which was down to the safety car rather than an error on his part. Top stuff from the Aussie.
Russell and Norris were 2nd and 3rd at the flag and I was more impressed with Russell than Norris. The McLaren driver should’ve passed Leclerc more swiftly. If he had, I’m fairly confident he would’ve had the Mercedes. Instead, he had to settle for 3rd. Perhaps more concerningly, Piastri looked the quicker man from Q3 to the end of the race, just like China.
Leclerc’s 4th is the maximum that he could’ve achieved. The safety car timing wasn’t ideal for Ferrari due to their off-set approach, and I’m surprised he was able to keep Norris behind for quite that long. Hamilton’s 5th makes this a solid points haul for the Prancing Horse, and is a good result overall. All that being said, pre-season they were hoping for a title challenge but look behind both McLaren and Mercedes.
Verstappen ended up 6th, passing Gasly on the final lap. Obviously this is a weak result for one of the title contenders, but his Red Bull looked ropey all weekend long so it could’ve been a lot worse. While getting passed on the last lap isn’t great, Gasly had a fantastic qualifying and drove well all through the race to finish 7th and take both himself and his team into the points for the first time this season. Hopefully he and they can build on this, as the Frenchman’s been one of the stars of the midfield for a few seasons now.
Ocon finished in 8th, a very good result given he crashed out in Q2. This was backed up by Bearman, who went from last on the grid to 10th at the flag, for a double points result for Haas. Good performance from both drivers.
In 9th was Tsunoda, just two places behind Verstappen. Having reached Q3 in only his second race with Red Bull, getting his first points as a Red Bull driver is a nice little milestone for the Japanese driver. It’s also the first time this year that Verstappen hasn’t been responsible for 100% of his team’s points. Already it’s looking like the right call to replace Lawson, even though it was a bit rough to do it so soon. Tsunoda’s adapted quickly, and to score in a race where the Red Bull, even with Verstappen driving it, looked like the fourth fastest car is a good achievement.
Antonelli ended up 11th, half a second away from the points. This is not a reflection on his actual pace as the safety car was very unhelpful. It might’ve been wiser for the team to keep him out. Rough luck for the Italian. Albon was just eight-tenths down the road, with Bahrain being the first time he’s failed to score this year.
Norris was a mixed bag. His start was great, contrary to his 2024 approach of leaving the handbrake on, but he lost time by having to surrender a place to Hamilton and then struggling to make his way past Leclerc. To be fair, the Ferrari driver is very good but even so it was a slight disappointment and cost him getting 2nd in the race. However, Norris was also hampered by his 5s penalty from the start. These little errors cost him. I said even last year that Piastri was better wheel-to-wheel, and that certainly feels the case now.
Sixth for Verstappen is way lower than his usual high standard but was very much damage limitation. He did what he could, hampered by having the fourth fastest car and repeatedly slow pit stops.
Ferrari were clever strategically, changing their approach on the fly following their observation of Verstappen. Yes, the Prancing Horse seemed happier on the hard tyre than the Red Bull, but going for a longer initial stint then taking advantage of fresher rubber was looking to work very well until the safety car robbed them of that advantage.
It was also a day for midfield stars to shine, with Gasly in 7th taking Alpine to 6 points, and Ocon and Bearman both scoring for Haas, getting 5 points between them. This puts Alpine level on points with Sauber, and puts Haas 1 point ahead of Williams, who have 19.
One thing I wasn’t thrilled about was the lateness of the DRS investigation and any punishment for Russell being after the race. Leclerc finished in 4th but was within 5s of the Mercedes, so if Russell had been slapped with a 5s penalty this would have promoted both Norris and Leclerc.
In the end, Russell was confirmed in 2nd place, which initially surprised me a little. He had difficulties in the final stint on his soft tyres, including braking and steering problems, but it was the DRS that had prompted the investigation. It turns out, according to Russell, he clicked the radio button and on one occasion this led to the DRS opening and immediately closing, and to Russell backing off so he didn’t gain any time. The reason for the lack of a penalty was the absence of a sporting advantage due to Russell deliberately slowing down momentarily. In addition, while there was a technical failure this was not with a Mercedes part but a timing loop provided by a third party.
At the other end of the grid, Hulkenberg was disqualified for wearing down the skid block too much, the same thing that happened to Hamilton earlier in the season.
The 2nd place for Norris looked wrong at the flag, but given the DRS investigation into Russell it was possible this would turn green. This was not the case so the Norris prediction is also red.
Verstappen for 3rd was entirely and utterly wrong, he was nowhere near the podium.
I backed both Albon and Ocon for points. Ocon achieved this handily with a lovely 8th. While Albon was 12th he was only a couple of seconds off points so it wasn’t an awful prediction.
My extra prediction was for Tsunoda to reach Q3, which he did. I was a bit surprised by that after practice, but good for him.
Overall, that’s four correct predictions and three wrong, so the best result of the season so far.
Norris is on 77 points to Piastri’s 74, while Verstappen is next on 69 points. Russell has 63, and is over 30 points ahead of Leclerc, who has 32. At this point in the season it’s looking like a four horse race, with Verstappen and Russell benefiting from not having a team mate taking away any points, in stark contrast to both Norris and Piastri.
Behind Leclerc is Antonelli on 30, and Hamilton on 25 points. Best of the rest is Albon on 18 points, ahead of Ocon on 14 and Stroll on 10. Albon’s been gradually scoring fewer points each Grand Prix, with none in Bahrain, but he’s driving well and I expect him to score plenty more in coming races. Haas have been pretty hit and miss but got a double points finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Speaking of teams, McLaren’s advantage grows with 151 points over 93 for Mercedes. Red Bull have 71, and Ferrari just 57. It was a stronger showing for the Prancing Horse today but they still looked a step behind McLaren and Mercedes. However, they were clearly quicker than Red Bull, and both drivers scored well, with Hamilton repeating his 2024 approach of being poor in qualifying but making up for it with strong race pace.
The top midfield team is now Haas, who have 20 points to the 19 of Williams. I would not be too surprised if these two battle all season long, and may be joined by Alpine if the performance in Bahrain was any indication. Sainz had to retire and was out of the points anyway, but his pace was a lot better this time around and I think he’ll be scoring more soon which will help the team in their bid to finish 5th. Behind Williams is Aston Martin on 10 points, Racing Bulls with 7, Alpine on 6, and Sauber, who also have 6.
My suspicion is that Alpine will advance, and Sauber will languish at the back. Hulkenberg’s performance in Australia was great but it was down to excellent wet weather driving and correct strategy from the team while some others fumbled. Sadly, the car remains the slowest on the grid, although not by the same margin as last year. A few more points finishes are possible but I don’t expect them to be frequent.
Aston Martin could have a lot more points, but they were a bit slow in Bahrain and Alonso had rotten luck early on, with a couple of DNFs and 11th in Japan.
Returning to the sharp end, Piastri’s become the first man in 2025 to have multiple pole positions and wins. I think he’s looked to have the legs on Norris this season. The Japanese Grand Prix was very rough for passing but Piastri looked quicker than Norris. The Aussie was dominant in China and Bahrain, with the only really weak spot being Australia, when he was a little unlucky to get beached in wet grass.
Looking over at Norris, he was very strong in Australia despite difficult conditions. But since then he qualified 3rd and 6th when Piastri was on pole, and managed to be a single place ahead in Japan, which also led to beating his team mate in the race. Apart from Australia, Piastri’s been faster in the races and is doing better in qualifying too.
At the moment, I think Piastri’s the favourite for the title.
There are some potential pitfalls for the young Aussie, though. In 2024, Norris was consistent through the year. Piastri had some very fast patches, especially mid-season, but his early and late pace was not good enough. He needs to be good all year long. So far, so good, but we have 20 more races to go. Piastri seems to have sorted qualifying, which was a weakness last year, and I think he’s better in close racing than Norris.
There are also potential weak spots from the car. The McLaren’s the best car on the grid right now but not by a huge margin. Both Verstappen and Russell have shown it can be beaten in qualifying, and many tracks make overtaking difficult. In addition, we have a flexi-wing rule change from the Spanish Grand Prix on the 1st of June, effectively banning them. If this has a significant impact then McLaren are likely to be hardest hit as they made the best use of it in 2024 and it seems to be working well now too. Mercedes might suffer similarly, but the prime beneficiary could be Red Bull, who, like Ferrari, adopted it later than McLaren and Mercedes in 2024.
If all those ifs, buts, and maybes come true, then Verstappen could suddenly be in with a real shot of retaining his title. On the flipside, if they don’t but Mercedes develop well, Russell could also be a challenger for the McLarens.
After the procession of Suzuka and the entertainment of Bahrain we come to the last of our triple header races: Saudi Arabia.
Counter-intuitively the track also has more corners than any other on the calendar despite its high speed nature, with 27 turns for cars to make as they head anti-clockwise. However, lots of these are very minor. There are three DRS zones and these are clustered together at the end of the lap. Each comes with its own detection point. The first is between turns 19 and 22, with a second between corners 24 and 27. The last is on the straight between turn 27 and turn 1. Those two corners are also the best places for overtaking.
There’s a pretty short run from the grid to the first corner, a ninety degree left-hander, with just 168m from pole. With any luck, there’ll be a good amount of overtaking, as suggested by the last two races held at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
The 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was the second race that year, and happened in the part of the season that was dominated by Red Bull. Verstappen secured pole by three-tenths over Leclerc, with Perez and Alonso on row two, followed by Piastri and Norris. Russell, Hamilton, Tsunoda, and Stroll completed the top half of the grid.
Off the line Verstappen retained the lead while Leclerc and Perez squabbled over second, with the Ferrari coming out ahead initially only for the Mexican to pass him a few laps later. The second lap saw Gasly retire as his Alpine suffered a reliability failure, while Piastri got ahead of Alonso.
A safety car emerged on lap 7 after Stroll hit the barriers. As might be expected, there were a lot of opportunistic pit stops, with Norris, Hamilton, Zhou, and Hulkenberg staying out. This put Norris into the lead with Verstappen, who had pitted, right behind him, and Hamilton was in 3rd. When racing resumed it didn’t take long for Red Bull passing to happen, with Verstappen reclaiming the lead, and Perez overtaking Hamilton.
Unfortunately for Hamilton, he was soon passed by Leclerc as well. Likewise, Norris slid down the order when Perez overtook him to claim 2nd. Staying out was looking iffy for the two Britons, and Leclerc continued his march up the order, passing Norris for 3rd place.
On laps 37 and 38 Hamilton and Norris pitted, putting them down the order.
Overall it was a straightforward win for Verstappen, with Perez also driving well to secure a 1-2 for Red Bull. Leclerc joined them on the podium, and had a healthy gap over Piastri, who ended up 4th. Alonso, Russell, and Bearman followed, having driven well and followed a conventional strategy. Staying out didn’t work for Norris or Hamilton, who were 8th and 9th respectively. Hulkenberg got the final point, but was aided a lot by Magnussen holding up rivals for numerous laps.
After the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix, reading about plenty of on-track overtakes is making me hopeful for Saudi Arabia being rather more entertaining.
As we all know, 2023 was Red Bull’s year of domination. But there was a fly in the ointment for Verstappen in Saudi Arabia when his driveshaft broke in qualifying, putting him down in 15th. Instead it was Perez who got pole position, ahead of Fernando Alonso. Russell and Sainz formed row two, with Stroll and Ocon on the third row. Hamilton and Piastri lined up on row four, followed by Gasly and Hulkenberg.
Alonso had the better start, claiming the lead from Perez off the line. This did not last long, as the 2023 Red Bull was a mighty beast and once Perez got DRS he flew past Alonso.
McLaren had a pair of front wing changes to make after Piastri and Gasly had made contact and Norris’ car was damaged by the debris. Leclerc had started slightly out of position, down in 12th, but got past Hamilton into 7th, with Verstappen having climbed from 15th to 10th.
Gasly and Hamilton soon fell prey to Verstappen.
When the pit stops rolled around a few stayed out longer, including the leading pair of Perez and Alonso, and Russell and Sainz who were 3rd and 4th on the road. Leclerc also stayed out, despite starting on the soft tyre.
Ferrari got unlucky with strategy as this seemed to work initially only for them to be undone when a full safety car allowed the Mercedes and Red Bulls to benefit from some cheap stops. The top three of Perez, Alonso, and Russell was unchanged but Verstappen had risen all the way to 4th.
Shortly after the safety car came in Hamilton passed Sainz for 5th, while Russell was being overtaken by Verstappen. The Dutchman soon found his way past Alonso and had only Perez between himself and yet another victory.
Both Red Bulls seemed iffy, with Verstappen concerned about the driveshaft and Perez worried by a long brake pedal. However, both made it to the flag, and Perez was able to maintain a gap of a few seconds over his team mate to claim an impressive win. The pair were joined on the podium by Alonso.
Russell and Hamilton followed in 4th and 5th, while Ferrari had to settle for 6th and 7th, with Sainz leading Leclerc. Ocon led Gasly in Alpine’s 8th and 9th, and Magnussen got the final point.
As with 2024, the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix had plenty of passing. While qualifying is always important it is not the be all and end all at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which is a very good thing.
But in the race, I think Piastri will end up having the edge. He’s more aggressive in wheel-to-wheel racing, and I think the Aussie will finish ahead, with Norris in 2nd place. In 3rd, I’ve gone for Russell. If the Ferrari was faster then this would be Leclerc, but right now they’re back of the leading pack. Russell’s driving well and his Mercedes is consistently quick.
As for midfield points, I’m backing Sainz. In Bahrain the Spanish driver was finally getting to grips with the Williams and if that persists he has a good shot of scoring here. For my other midfield pick, I’ve gone for Hadjar to score. I was a bit unsure about this because the Frenchman’s pace is impressive but Racing Bulls usually screw up their strategy. However, on a track where passing is eminently possible, he may be able to undo a bad call if it comes in.
For the extra prediction, I’m backing Antonelli to be top 5. He’s had a very strong start to his racing career, clearly very quick, handled the wet conditions of Australia well, and I think he’ll continue this strong run of form.
More FIA drama, I’m afraid, with resignation news and also a ridiculous fine and potential fine for Carlos Sainz.
I’ll start with Sainz, who was very slightly late to the national anthem in Japan. For this, he got a fine of €10,000. Normally this would be fair enough, but he had just cause in that he had what might be politely described as a stomach issue and was attending to it in a bathroom. What was he supposed to do? It was a medical issue.
I made the decision at the podcast’s start to keep it clean so people can listen at work or around kids, so I’m going to slightly paraphrase what Sainz said when he was asked about this in Bahrain. The Spanish driver said he didn’t know if he’d get another fine for this, but ‘stuff’ happens.
Having sworn, it’s possible Sainz might be the first driver subjected to the Draconian censorship imposed by Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the FIA president. Also known as MBS, the president has not exactly been making friends, and his anti-swearing drive has annoyed most people, including drivers. Time will tell whether Sainz gets another fine.
Perhaps more significantly from Ben Sulayem’s perspective is the resignation of Robert Reid, previously deputy president for sport at the FIA. MBS was first elected in as president in 2021 and Reid had been a part of his leadership team. However, he has now resigned and stated that he was feeling “growing alarm over critical decisions being made without due process or proper consultation”. Reid went on to warn about the erosion of principles, and decisions being made behind closed doors.
Reid also cited the FIA’s decision to take in-house the promotion of the World Rallycross Championship. However, this occurred with the approval of neither the world council nor the FIA senate. Reid is concerned this could “carry legal risk” due to EU competition law. This move sums up a couple of problems with MBS and his way of doing things, underlining the anxiety people feel about decisions made privately without consultation with various bodies within the FIA and the arbitrary nature of such decisions.
Early April also saw comments from former FIA chief executive officer Natalie Robyn, who held the post for only 18 months and left it after disagreeing with MBS. Following Reid’s resignation, Robyn indicated her respect for him. Around the same time she left the FIA the head of the audit committee, Bertrand Badre, was fired, and a few months later compliance officer Paolo Basarri was fired. Basarri had looked at allegations that the president had interfered in racing operations at two events in 2023.
MBS’ first term ends in December, when he will stand for re-election. Normally, FIA presidents are returned unopposed but Ben Sulayem has annoyed a lot of people. It remains to be seen whether someone stands, and, if so, whether they can succeed.
By sheer coincidence Bahrain was the first race of the season that MBS attended.
All this is bad publicity for MBS, and for the FIA more broadly. But there’s no real risk of a split happening, with F1 leaving to run its own affairs. However, over the longer term that could become more credible if this continues. Don’t expect it this year or next, or even serious talk about it. But if MBS wins a second term this year and follows the same path as he has then we might see some discussions about how feasible F1 leaving the FIA would be.
Thank you all for listening. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is next, and marks the end of this triple header.
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If you want to get in touch you can leave a comment at morrisf1.blogspot.com, or say hello over on Twitter or Blue Sky, where I’m MorrisF1.
Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying 00m23s
For those wondering about updates to the cars, these were mostly minor. The only significant one was a new floor for Ferrari, which appears to have added a little relative pace but not enough to be a game-changer. Also worth noting the track is a bit rough so a two stop was thought to be the order of the day.Qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix led to a highly unexpected grid.
In Q1 Stroll and Bearman were the slowest of all, with Bortoleto just ahead of them. Not too surprising, as Haas seem to be quite hit and miss. Lawson also went out at this stage but at least seems more in tune with his car now. The main reason for Lawson’s departure was his DRS, which was malfunctioning and closed early. Weirdest of all to go out was the fastest man eliminated: Alexander Albon. Except he should have gone through. In Q3, the stewards finally deleted Hulkenberg’s lap, the German having reached Q2, which put him down from 15th to 16th on the grid. Albon got promoted to Q2 but the session had long since ended so he had to make do with 15th and had no chance to improve or reach Q3. Quite the clown show, and really not good enough from the powers that be.
Q2 also featured a crash by Ocon and a red flag. He was fine, but this did put him down in 14th, ahead of Albon, just to rub salt in the Thai driver’s wounds. Doohan had a decent lap and was the fastest man eliminated, ahead of Hadjar and Alonso.
And so to Q3, which should have been a McLaren 1-2. They had the pace for it. It was Piastri who put himself on pole position for the second time this year, a whole one and a half-tenths over Russell. The Mercedes driver did a great job, and had Leclerc a tenth and a half behind him. Antonelli was half a tenth behind Leclerc. However, both Mercedes were hit by 1 place grid penalties because their team released them slightly too early when the red flag ended. Seems a bit harsh, as it was a matter of seconds, but there we are.
This means the front row was Piastri and Leclerc. Russell led row two ahead of Gasly, whose Alpine looked good and who put in a fantastic performance in qualifying.
Antonelli led row three, ahead of Norris. The Briton screwed up his second fast run in Q3 and was four-tenths off Piastri. The McLaren has been the fastest car overall this weekend and he should’ve been on the front row. A potential concern is that it was especially good in the corners and a little slower in the straights which could make passing slightly trickier. Time would tell whether this would hamper Norris in the race. However, the McLaren’s also been kind to its tyres this season and that should come in very handy on a track with a rougher surface, widely expected to be a two stop race.
Right behind Norris was Verstappen, whose Red Bull has not been looking good in Bahrain. Lining up alongside him was Carlos Sainz, whose 8th place on the grid is his best result for Williams. Hamilton, who took Sainz’s place at Ferrari, was behind him, and six-tenths off Leclerc’s qualifying time. However, we did see this pattern last year, with weak qualifying compensated by some strong race performances so perhaps Hamilton will move up the order. Last of the top 10 was Tsunoda, who did well to make Q3 given how ropey the Red Bull seemed.
Bahrain Grand Prix Race Review 4m22s
And so to the race, with the Bahrain Grand Prix promising to be rather better than Japan. But would that promise be kept?Yes.
The top drivers almost all opted to start on the soft tyre, excepting Leclerc and Hamilton who both went for the medium.
Off the line Piastri kept the lead and Leclerc drifted back, first losing out to George Russell and then getting passed by Norris, who had leapt up from 6th to 3rd. Further back Sainz rose to 6th and was ahead of Antonelli, who lost ground.
Piastri immediately broke DRS to Russell and was looking good. Things were less rosy for Norris who, after his delightful start, received a 5s penalty for being too far forward in his grid box.
Antonelli made his way past Sainz to reclaim 6th, and soon after Verstappen likewise passed the Spanish driver. Norris and Verstappen were among the first to pit, and Verstappen had a slow stop because the traffic light system at Red Bull wasn’t working. This would cause him and Tsunoda to suffer multiple slow stops. Norris’ stop was also slow due to serving his 5s penalty.
Most drivers were swapping the soft for the medium, but Verstappen went from soft to hard, and seemed to dislike the tyre a lot. Over at Ferrari, this led to some radio conversation about potentially shifting their strategy. Both drivers had stayed out longer than the rest, with Leclerc leading Hamilton on the road but a pit stop behind everyone else. It looked like they were going for a one stop but Verstappen’s performance on the hard tyre was making them reconsider.
Behind the Ferraris was Piastri, on fresh medium tyres and still looking very good for the win. Eventually both Ferraris boxed, coming in on lap 18 for medium tyres. Because they’d started on those this tied them into needing another stop down the line. For Leclerc, this worked pretty well, and he came out 4th, behind Norris and ahead of Gasly. Hamilton came out in 10th, behind Doohan.
Speaking of Gasly and Doohan, the Alpine was looking like a very tasty car, a midfield pack leader. Given they were the only team without any points at the start of the weekend, the performance was very good.
At this stage, lap 19, Ocon was still in 6th, ahead of Verstappen and Antonelli. But this only lasted a lap as Antonelli got past the reigning champion. Tyre off-sets and differing compounds meant there was a lot of on-track action, and at this phase the Red Bull on hard tyres was not looking fantastic.
Further up the road, Piastri was cruising to victory while Russell was being caught by Norris, who was being caught by Leclerc. It was Leclerc who got there first, entering DRS range. Norris was forced to drive defensively which gave Russell some breathing space but soon the much fresher tyres of Leclerc enabled him to pass the McLaren. Hamilton was also making plenty of passes, getting ahead of Doohan and Verstappen in a few laps, and then Antonelli and Ocon by lap 26.
The next lap saw Verstappen make a second stop to ditch his hard tyres for mediums, but this was an even worse stop thanks to the front right being a bit sticky. When he came out of the pits he was last.
The race was looking easy for Piastri with a good battle for the next few places. Until lap 32, when a tussle between Sainz and Tsunoda littered the track with debris and brought out a safety car. This was very nicely timed for most of the top chaps, who immediately boxed, but was rough luck for Antonelli who had pitted just five laps earlier. Nevertheless, the young Italian did box again, and tumbled down the order.
Interestingly, the top four went for a mix of tyres. Piastri went for medium, Russell slapped on some soft tyres, Leclerc went hard, and Norris had medium tyres. Behind this top four we had Hamilton, Gasly, Ocon, Verstappen, Doohan, and Sainz completing the top 10. For those wondering, Gasly, Ocon, and Verstappen all stayed out, which is how Verstappen rose through the field so rapidly from 20th.
Outside the points during the safety car were Tsunoda, Bearman, Albon, Antonelli, Alonso, Hadjar, Hulkenberg, Lawson, Stroll, and Bortoleto.
At the restart Piastri retained his advantage over Russell despite the British driver’s softer tyre. Further back, Norris lost out to Hamilton, reclaimed the place but did so off-track and was instructed to hand it back, which he did. Moments later, Norris passed Hamilton again and drove off in pursuit of Leclerc.
Piastri immediately broke DRS to Russell and spent the rest of the race being faster than those trying to catch him. Leclerc was chasing Russell and Norris was after Leclerc. Hamilton was in a sort of No Man’s Land in 5th, while Gasly was fending off Verstappen.
On lap 47 Sainz became the first, and last, retirement of the race due to damage on the car. A shame, especially as he’d looked more competitive this weekend, so that may be some consolation.
Interestingly, the Ferraris were doing fine on the hard tyre, which was annoying for Norris because Leclerc was defending incredibly well. The McLaren was clearly faster but the Monegasque driver was making it difficult for Norris, and kept the Briton behind for many laps before, finally, Norris climbed up into 3rd.
Because of Leclerc’s great driving it took Norris until lap 55 to get within DRS of Russell in 2nd. Russell was having some problems of his own, including a radio warning his dashboard might go blank. If anything, Norris seemed to have an even greater pace advantage over Russell than he had over Leclerc, but did he have time to pass?
No. Russell drove very well to keep Norris behind him and secure 2nd place for himself. However, at the race’s end there was an investigation into whether or not a DRS infringement had been committed by Russell. The Mercedes pit wall had warned him it wasn’t working and there was chatter about potentially activating it manually, but given Piastri was a day and a half ahead of him and Norris was behind it should never have been opened.
But, for Piastri, it was a perfect race. He claimed pole, becoming the first man to have multiple in 2025, and never looked like losing the lead. The only iffy moment was the restart, which was down to the safety car rather than an error on his part. Top stuff from the Aussie.
Russell and Norris were 2nd and 3rd at the flag and I was more impressed with Russell than Norris. The McLaren driver should’ve passed Leclerc more swiftly. If he had, I’m fairly confident he would’ve had the Mercedes. Instead, he had to settle for 3rd. Perhaps more concerningly, Piastri looked the quicker man from Q3 to the end of the race, just like China.
Leclerc’s 4th is the maximum that he could’ve achieved. The safety car timing wasn’t ideal for Ferrari due to their off-set approach, and I’m surprised he was able to keep Norris behind for quite that long. Hamilton’s 5th makes this a solid points haul for the Prancing Horse, and is a good result overall. All that being said, pre-season they were hoping for a title challenge but look behind both McLaren and Mercedes.
Verstappen ended up 6th, passing Gasly on the final lap. Obviously this is a weak result for one of the title contenders, but his Red Bull looked ropey all weekend long so it could’ve been a lot worse. While getting passed on the last lap isn’t great, Gasly had a fantastic qualifying and drove well all through the race to finish 7th and take both himself and his team into the points for the first time this season. Hopefully he and they can build on this, as the Frenchman’s been one of the stars of the midfield for a few seasons now.
Ocon finished in 8th, a very good result given he crashed out in Q2. This was backed up by Bearman, who went from last on the grid to 10th at the flag, for a double points result for Haas. Good performance from both drivers.
In 9th was Tsunoda, just two places behind Verstappen. Having reached Q3 in only his second race with Red Bull, getting his first points as a Red Bull driver is a nice little milestone for the Japanese driver. It’s also the first time this year that Verstappen hasn’t been responsible for 100% of his team’s points. Already it’s looking like the right call to replace Lawson, even though it was a bit rough to do it so soon. Tsunoda’s adapted quickly, and to score in a race where the Red Bull, even with Verstappen driving it, looked like the fourth fastest car is a good achievement.
Antonelli ended up 11th, half a second away from the points. This is not a reflection on his actual pace as the safety car was very unhelpful. It might’ve been wiser for the team to keep him out. Rough luck for the Italian. Albon was just eight-tenths down the road, with Bahrain being the first time he’s failed to score this year.
Highlights and Lowlights 14m30s
There’s a lot to talk about from Bahrain, as it was a highly entertaining race with differing strategies, a safety car, and plenty of passing. Piastri was impressive from start to finish, and never looked under serious threat with the possible exception of the safety car restart. Breaking DRS immediately when Russell had softer tyres was good stuff from the Aussie.Norris was a mixed bag. His start was great, contrary to his 2024 approach of leaving the handbrake on, but he lost time by having to surrender a place to Hamilton and then struggling to make his way past Leclerc. To be fair, the Ferrari driver is very good but even so it was a slight disappointment and cost him getting 2nd in the race. However, Norris was also hampered by his 5s penalty from the start. These little errors cost him. I said even last year that Piastri was better wheel-to-wheel, and that certainly feels the case now.
Sixth for Verstappen is way lower than his usual high standard but was very much damage limitation. He did what he could, hampered by having the fourth fastest car and repeatedly slow pit stops.
Ferrari were clever strategically, changing their approach on the fly following their observation of Verstappen. Yes, the Prancing Horse seemed happier on the hard tyre than the Red Bull, but going for a longer initial stint then taking advantage of fresher rubber was looking to work very well until the safety car robbed them of that advantage.
It was also a day for midfield stars to shine, with Gasly in 7th taking Alpine to 6 points, and Ocon and Bearman both scoring for Haas, getting 5 points between them. This puts Alpine level on points with Sauber, and puts Haas 1 point ahead of Williams, who have 19.
One thing I wasn’t thrilled about was the lateness of the DRS investigation and any punishment for Russell being after the race. Leclerc finished in 4th but was within 5s of the Mercedes, so if Russell had been slapped with a 5s penalty this would have promoted both Norris and Leclerc.
In the end, Russell was confirmed in 2nd place, which initially surprised me a little. He had difficulties in the final stint on his soft tyres, including braking and steering problems, but it was the DRS that had prompted the investigation. It turns out, according to Russell, he clicked the radio button and on one occasion this led to the DRS opening and immediately closing, and to Russell backing off so he didn’t gain any time. The reason for the lack of a penalty was the absence of a sporting advantage due to Russell deliberately slowing down momentarily. In addition, while there was a technical failure this was not with a Mercedes part but a timing loop provided by a third party.
At the other end of the grid, Hulkenberg was disqualified for wearing down the skid block too much, the same thing that happened to Hamilton earlier in the season.
Bahrain Grand Prix Predictions Assessment 17m30s
My predictions were slightly better this time around. I predicted Piastri would get pole, and he did. He also got the win, which was another prediction of mine.The 2nd place for Norris looked wrong at the flag, but given the DRS investigation into Russell it was possible this would turn green. This was not the case so the Norris prediction is also red.
Verstappen for 3rd was entirely and utterly wrong, he was nowhere near the podium.
I backed both Albon and Ocon for points. Ocon achieved this handily with a lovely 8th. While Albon was 12th he was only a couple of seconds off points so it wasn’t an awful prediction.
My extra prediction was for Tsunoda to reach Q3, which he did. I was a bit surprised by that after practice, but good for him.
Overall, that’s four correct predictions and three wrong, so the best result of the season so far.
F1 2025 Standings after Bahrain Grand Prix 18m26s
Things stay very tight at the top, but Norris has slightly increased his lead over his closest contender. Instead of being 1 point ahead of Verstappen he’s now 3 points ahead of Piastri.Norris is on 77 points to Piastri’s 74, while Verstappen is next on 69 points. Russell has 63, and is over 30 points ahead of Leclerc, who has 32. At this point in the season it’s looking like a four horse race, with Verstappen and Russell benefiting from not having a team mate taking away any points, in stark contrast to both Norris and Piastri.
Behind Leclerc is Antonelli on 30, and Hamilton on 25 points. Best of the rest is Albon on 18 points, ahead of Ocon on 14 and Stroll on 10. Albon’s been gradually scoring fewer points each Grand Prix, with none in Bahrain, but he’s driving well and I expect him to score plenty more in coming races. Haas have been pretty hit and miss but got a double points finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Speaking of teams, McLaren’s advantage grows with 151 points over 93 for Mercedes. Red Bull have 71, and Ferrari just 57. It was a stronger showing for the Prancing Horse today but they still looked a step behind McLaren and Mercedes. However, they were clearly quicker than Red Bull, and both drivers scored well, with Hamilton repeating his 2024 approach of being poor in qualifying but making up for it with strong race pace.
The top midfield team is now Haas, who have 20 points to the 19 of Williams. I would not be too surprised if these two battle all season long, and may be joined by Alpine if the performance in Bahrain was any indication. Sainz had to retire and was out of the points anyway, but his pace was a lot better this time around and I think he’ll be scoring more soon which will help the team in their bid to finish 5th. Behind Williams is Aston Martin on 10 points, Racing Bulls with 7, Alpine on 6, and Sauber, who also have 6.
My suspicion is that Alpine will advance, and Sauber will languish at the back. Hulkenberg’s performance in Australia was great but it was down to excellent wet weather driving and correct strategy from the team while some others fumbled. Sadly, the car remains the slowest on the grid, although not by the same margin as last year. A few more points finishes are possible but I don’t expect them to be frequent.
Aston Martin could have a lot more points, but they were a bit slow in Bahrain and Alonso had rotten luck early on, with a couple of DNFs and 11th in Japan.
Returning to the sharp end, Piastri’s become the first man in 2025 to have multiple pole positions and wins. I think he’s looked to have the legs on Norris this season. The Japanese Grand Prix was very rough for passing but Piastri looked quicker than Norris. The Aussie was dominant in China and Bahrain, with the only really weak spot being Australia, when he was a little unlucky to get beached in wet grass.
Looking over at Norris, he was very strong in Australia despite difficult conditions. But since then he qualified 3rd and 6th when Piastri was on pole, and managed to be a single place ahead in Japan, which also led to beating his team mate in the race. Apart from Australia, Piastri’s been faster in the races and is doing better in qualifying too.
At the moment, I think Piastri’s the favourite for the title.
There are some potential pitfalls for the young Aussie, though. In 2024, Norris was consistent through the year. Piastri had some very fast patches, especially mid-season, but his early and late pace was not good enough. He needs to be good all year long. So far, so good, but we have 20 more races to go. Piastri seems to have sorted qualifying, which was a weakness last year, and I think he’s better in close racing than Norris.
There are also potential weak spots from the car. The McLaren’s the best car on the grid right now but not by a huge margin. Both Verstappen and Russell have shown it can be beaten in qualifying, and many tracks make overtaking difficult. In addition, we have a flexi-wing rule change from the Spanish Grand Prix on the 1st of June, effectively banning them. If this has a significant impact then McLaren are likely to be hardest hit as they made the best use of it in 2024 and it seems to be working well now too. Mercedes might suffer similarly, but the prime beneficiary could be Red Bull, who, like Ferrari, adopted it later than McLaren and Mercedes in 2024.
If all those ifs, buts, and maybes come true, then Verstappen could suddenly be in with a real shot of retaining his title. On the flipside, if they don’t but Mercedes develop well, Russell could also be a challenger for the McLarens.
After the procession of Suzuka and the entertainment of Bahrain we come to the last of our triple header races: Saudi Arabia.
Quick Look at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit 24m02s
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is hosted at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which at 6.1km is a bit longer than average. This means there’s 50 laps in the race. The hallmark of this track is high speed, in stark, and welcome, contrast to many new additions to the calendar which are often slower and more processional. Only Monza has a higher average top speed, with around 250km/h as the average at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.Counter-intuitively the track also has more corners than any other on the calendar despite its high speed nature, with 27 turns for cars to make as they head anti-clockwise. However, lots of these are very minor. There are three DRS zones and these are clustered together at the end of the lap. Each comes with its own detection point. The first is between turns 19 and 22, with a second between corners 24 and 27. The last is on the straight between turn 27 and turn 1. Those two corners are also the best places for overtaking.
There’s a pretty short run from the grid to the first corner, a ninety degree left-hander, with just 168m from pole. With any luck, there’ll be a good amount of overtaking, as suggested by the last two races held at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Recent Saudi Arabian Grands Prix 25m31s
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is one of the newest on the F1 calendar, making its debut in 2021. As with other Arabian races, including the race just gone in Bahrain, the Saudi event takes place under floodlights. Likewise, this means there’s a big temperature difference between FP1 and FP3, with FP2, qualifying, and the race all starting at the same time (6pm in the UK).The 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was the second race that year, and happened in the part of the season that was dominated by Red Bull. Verstappen secured pole by three-tenths over Leclerc, with Perez and Alonso on row two, followed by Piastri and Norris. Russell, Hamilton, Tsunoda, and Stroll completed the top half of the grid.
Off the line Verstappen retained the lead while Leclerc and Perez squabbled over second, with the Ferrari coming out ahead initially only for the Mexican to pass him a few laps later. The second lap saw Gasly retire as his Alpine suffered a reliability failure, while Piastri got ahead of Alonso.
A safety car emerged on lap 7 after Stroll hit the barriers. As might be expected, there were a lot of opportunistic pit stops, with Norris, Hamilton, Zhou, and Hulkenberg staying out. This put Norris into the lead with Verstappen, who had pitted, right behind him, and Hamilton was in 3rd. When racing resumed it didn’t take long for Red Bull passing to happen, with Verstappen reclaiming the lead, and Perez overtaking Hamilton.
Unfortunately for Hamilton, he was soon passed by Leclerc as well. Likewise, Norris slid down the order when Perez overtook him to claim 2nd. Staying out was looking iffy for the two Britons, and Leclerc continued his march up the order, passing Norris for 3rd place.
On laps 37 and 38 Hamilton and Norris pitted, putting them down the order.
Overall it was a straightforward win for Verstappen, with Perez also driving well to secure a 1-2 for Red Bull. Leclerc joined them on the podium, and had a healthy gap over Piastri, who ended up 4th. Alonso, Russell, and Bearman followed, having driven well and followed a conventional strategy. Staying out didn’t work for Norris or Hamilton, who were 8th and 9th respectively. Hulkenberg got the final point, but was aided a lot by Magnussen holding up rivals for numerous laps.
After the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix, reading about plenty of on-track overtakes is making me hopeful for Saudi Arabia being rather more entertaining.
As we all know, 2023 was Red Bull’s year of domination. But there was a fly in the ointment for Verstappen in Saudi Arabia when his driveshaft broke in qualifying, putting him down in 15th. Instead it was Perez who got pole position, ahead of Fernando Alonso. Russell and Sainz formed row two, with Stroll and Ocon on the third row. Hamilton and Piastri lined up on row four, followed by Gasly and Hulkenberg.
Alonso had the better start, claiming the lead from Perez off the line. This did not last long, as the 2023 Red Bull was a mighty beast and once Perez got DRS he flew past Alonso.
McLaren had a pair of front wing changes to make after Piastri and Gasly had made contact and Norris’ car was damaged by the debris. Leclerc had started slightly out of position, down in 12th, but got past Hamilton into 7th, with Verstappen having climbed from 15th to 10th.
Gasly and Hamilton soon fell prey to Verstappen.
When the pit stops rolled around a few stayed out longer, including the leading pair of Perez and Alonso, and Russell and Sainz who were 3rd and 4th on the road. Leclerc also stayed out, despite starting on the soft tyre.
Ferrari got unlucky with strategy as this seemed to work initially only for them to be undone when a full safety car allowed the Mercedes and Red Bulls to benefit from some cheap stops. The top three of Perez, Alonso, and Russell was unchanged but Verstappen had risen all the way to 4th.
Shortly after the safety car came in Hamilton passed Sainz for 5th, while Russell was being overtaken by Verstappen. The Dutchman soon found his way past Alonso and had only Perez between himself and yet another victory.
Both Red Bulls seemed iffy, with Verstappen concerned about the driveshaft and Perez worried by a long brake pedal. However, both made it to the flag, and Perez was able to maintain a gap of a few seconds over his team mate to claim an impressive win. The pair were joined on the podium by Alonso.
Russell and Hamilton followed in 4th and 5th, while Ferrari had to settle for 6th and 7th, with Sainz leading Leclerc. Ocon led Gasly in Alpine’s 8th and 9th, and Magnussen got the final point.
As with 2024, the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix had plenty of passing. While qualifying is always important it is not the be all and end all at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which is a very good thing.
Predictions for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 31m00s
Predicting the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, I’ve gone for Norris to get pole. All else being equal it should be a battle between him and Piastri, and it’s close enough it could go either way.But in the race, I think Piastri will end up having the edge. He’s more aggressive in wheel-to-wheel racing, and I think the Aussie will finish ahead, with Norris in 2nd place. In 3rd, I’ve gone for Russell. If the Ferrari was faster then this would be Leclerc, but right now they’re back of the leading pack. Russell’s driving well and his Mercedes is consistently quick.
As for midfield points, I’m backing Sainz. In Bahrain the Spanish driver was finally getting to grips with the Williams and if that persists he has a good shot of scoring here. For my other midfield pick, I’ve gone for Hadjar to score. I was a bit unsure about this because the Frenchman’s pace is impressive but Racing Bulls usually screw up their strategy. However, on a track where passing is eminently possible, he may be able to undo a bad call if it comes in.
For the extra prediction, I’m backing Antonelli to be top 5. He’s had a very strong start to his racing career, clearly very quick, handled the wet conditions of Australia well, and I think he’ll continue this strong run of form.
F1 News 32m18s
F1 news.More FIA drama, I’m afraid, with resignation news and also a ridiculous fine and potential fine for Carlos Sainz.
I’ll start with Sainz, who was very slightly late to the national anthem in Japan. For this, he got a fine of €10,000. Normally this would be fair enough, but he had just cause in that he had what might be politely described as a stomach issue and was attending to it in a bathroom. What was he supposed to do? It was a medical issue.
I made the decision at the podcast’s start to keep it clean so people can listen at work or around kids, so I’m going to slightly paraphrase what Sainz said when he was asked about this in Bahrain. The Spanish driver said he didn’t know if he’d get another fine for this, but ‘stuff’ happens.
Having sworn, it’s possible Sainz might be the first driver subjected to the Draconian censorship imposed by Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the FIA president. Also known as MBS, the president has not exactly been making friends, and his anti-swearing drive has annoyed most people, including drivers. Time will tell whether Sainz gets another fine.
Perhaps more significantly from Ben Sulayem’s perspective is the resignation of Robert Reid, previously deputy president for sport at the FIA. MBS was first elected in as president in 2021 and Reid had been a part of his leadership team. However, he has now resigned and stated that he was feeling “growing alarm over critical decisions being made without due process or proper consultation”. Reid went on to warn about the erosion of principles, and decisions being made behind closed doors.
Reid also cited the FIA’s decision to take in-house the promotion of the World Rallycross Championship. However, this occurred with the approval of neither the world council nor the FIA senate. Reid is concerned this could “carry legal risk” due to EU competition law. This move sums up a couple of problems with MBS and his way of doing things, underlining the anxiety people feel about decisions made privately without consultation with various bodies within the FIA and the arbitrary nature of such decisions.
Early April also saw comments from former FIA chief executive officer Natalie Robyn, who held the post for only 18 months and left it after disagreeing with MBS. Following Reid’s resignation, Robyn indicated her respect for him. Around the same time she left the FIA the head of the audit committee, Bertrand Badre, was fired, and a few months later compliance officer Paolo Basarri was fired. Basarri had looked at allegations that the president had interfered in racing operations at two events in 2023.
MBS’ first term ends in December, when he will stand for re-election. Normally, FIA presidents are returned unopposed but Ben Sulayem has annoyed a lot of people. It remains to be seen whether someone stands, and, if so, whether they can succeed.
By sheer coincidence Bahrain was the first race of the season that MBS attended.
All this is bad publicity for MBS, and for the FIA more broadly. But there’s no real risk of a split happening, with F1 leaving to run its own affairs. However, over the longer term that could become more credible if this continues. Don’t expect it this year or next, or even serious talk about it. But if MBS wins a second term this year and follows the same path as he has then we might see some discussions about how feasible F1 leaving the FIA would be.
Thank you all for listening. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is next, and marks the end of this triple header.
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