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The currently confirmed team line-ups for the F1 season 2025:

Red Bull: Max Verstappen (at least he has a contract for 2025) / TBA

Mercedes: George Russell / TBA

Ferrari: Charles Leclerc / Lewis Hamilton

McLaren: Oscar Piastri / Lando Norris

Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso / TBA (probably Lance Stroll)

Alpine: TBA / TBA

Williams: Alex Albon / TBA

Racing Bulls: TBA / TBA

Sauber: Nico Hülkenberg / TBA

Haas: TBA / TBA

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Nico Hülkenberg to Sauber/Audi!

Nico Hülkenberg will start for Sauber from the upcoming season. This was announced yesterday. Nico is said to have signed a multi-year contract, making him the first official Audi factory driver in Formula 1. Because Audi will take over the Sauber team in 2026.

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Adrian Newey resigns from Red Bull!

According to trustworthy information from the German-language motorsport website motorsport-total.com, Adrian Newey has submitted his resignation at Red Bull. Thus, the first stone in Red Bull's foundation appears to be breaking away. The reason for this, as one can imagine, is the Horner affair, including the fact that Newey no longer feels as appreciated as before. The most likely new teams are considered to be Ferrari and Aston Martin. (Note from me: I'm leaning towards Aston Martin, due to the extremely good offer that, according to rumors, Lawrence Stroll has made him, and due to the fact that Newey could stay in England).

[racing-is-passion]

F1: Danny Ric from WAAAAAY downtown! 🏀

[racing-is-passion]

SPRINT WEEKEND ALERT!

Just the usual reminder that this weekend (China) we have a sprint weekend, so the qualy for the sprint race is on friday and we have the sprint race on saturday morning, followed later on sautrday by the qualy for the main race on sunday.

[racing-is-passion]

New contract for Fernando Alonso!

The oldest driver on the grid (and also the oldest driver since at least three decades), will continue to race in F1. Today Aston Martin announced a new contract for Fernando Alonso, he will keep driving for the team until, at least, the end of 2026. That also means he will be driving a Honda engine in 2026. As he was driving for McLaren in 2015, he was so unhappy with the (back then) weak engine, that he called it a "GP2 engine" in one of his most iconic team radio messages ever. But Honda is okay with him driving their engines.

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[racing-is-passion]

Andretti opens his Europe base

Today the Andretti Team opened it's new Europe base. It's in Silverstone, near the racetrack and the Aston Martin factory. The team's application to start in the Formula 1 in 2025 or 2026 was rejected earlier this year, still the Andretti team is eager to make it to the F1 grid and continues to work towards it's goal. Michael Andretti now announced that they will again apply for a start in 2026.

[racing-is-passion]

Andrea Dovizioso had an accident on the motocross bike

On this Tuesday, the former MotoGP rider, who became three-time runner-up world champion with Ducati, had a serious accident while riding motocross. He was admitted to a hospital in Florence, and his condition is NOT life-threatening. Contrary to initial assumptions, a CT scan remained inconspicuous, and he appears not to have suffered severe head injuries. Diagnosed were a broken collarbone and injuries to the hand and ribs.

I wish Andrea a speedy recovery.

[racing-is-passion]

Japanese GP: Red Bull dominates - Ferrari follows behind

The Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka ended once again with a victory for Max Verstappen, who won the race ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz followed in third place.

The race started with a bang as Alex Albon positioned himself outside alongside Daniel Ricciardo before the third turn. Ricciardo had another car on his left, leaving insufficient space for Albon, who ended up on the grass, lost control, and collided with Ricciardo's Racing Bull, both ending up in the tire barrier. This led to a red flag and a roughly 30-minute interruption. Fortunately, both drivers remained uninjured.

When the race resumed, the strategic games began immediately, as all three tire compounds were actually used in the starting grid. However, especially the drivers on soft tires had to pit after three to five laps due to rapid degradation caused by the high temperatures. Drivers on medium tires couldn't last much longer either. The clear standout compound of the day were the Hards. For instance, Yuki Tsunoda showcased some excellent overtaking maneuvers in the Esses, simply because he had much better tires at his disposal. Overall, there were relatively many minor driving errors today. For example, Carlos Sainz, George Russell, and Lando Norris all overshot the final chicane before the start/finish line. A slightly larger but still not extremely serious mistake occurred when Charles Leclerc went slightly into the gravel at Degener 2 as Perez closed in from behind with fresher tires. Several laps later, Logan Sargeant triggered the only yellow flag of the race at the same spot when he also overshot and came to a halt just before the wall. He managed to reverse out of the gravel and continue the race but naturally lost a significant amount of time. Nico Hülkenberg also displayed impressive race pace. He had a very poor restart and fell to last place but managed to finish the race in 11th position.

Ferrari, incidentally, split the strategies of its two drivers and managed to move Leclerc from 8th on the grid to fourth place.

Overall, the race was more suited for strategy enthusiasts than for fans of intense racing action, but nonetheless, it was a fairly decent race.

Source of the result screenshots: instagram/foxsportsaus

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Here it is! McLaren brings us the first special livery of the season. It's a design created by a japanese artist called "Miltz" and it's inspired by the japanese calligraphy from the Edo era and shows dragons and clowds.

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Not what I usually reblog on this blog, but this is a great piece of art!

[racing-is-passion]

My thoughts about Newey and Aston Martin

Currently, there's a rumor circulating that Lawrence Stroll wants to lure Adrian Newey to Aston Martin, should Newey be unhappy at Red Bull. I find this to be a very interesting possibility, as it could have some far-reaching implications. I presume it would definitely make Fernando think very carefully about whether he should switch to Mercedes or Red Bull (if Verstappen leaves), or rather stay at Aston Martin for two more years. I anticipate that Aston Martin would then become a serious contender for the championship from 2026 onwards, or at least a contender for victories, because 2026 will see major rule changes, and those are famously Newey's strength. Thus, there might actually be another World Championship title for Fernando Alonso in 2026. Additionally, it's questionable how long Red Bull could maintain their top position without Newey, as most of their advantage should be diminished by the new rules coming 2026. As a former huge fan of Jordan, I would also naturally be delighted if Aston Martin suddenly became a championship contender, considering Aston Martin is, after all, the old Jordan team. An interesting side note is that Newey has already been involved with the Aston Martin Valkyrie.

[racing-is-passion]

Cadillac disqualified from 1812 km of Qatar!

The Cadillac driven by Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, and Sebastien Bourdais was subsequently disqualified and thus removed from the standings of the 1812 kilometers of Qatar. Cadillac consequently loses fourth place to the independent Ferrari by AF Corse (Robert Kubica, Robert Schwartzman, Yifei Ye), and BMW secures its first point in the WEC.

The reason for the disqualification is an illegal diffuser on the Cadillac. In the official explanation, it states: "The results of the 3D scan and further investigations show that the rear diffuser struts attached on the left and right are higher (in the Z-axis) and misaligned (in the Y-axis) compared to the target value from the official body CAD, including the allowable tolerances."

Chassis manufacturer Dallara has taken responsibility and confirmed that the parts were delivered to the Ganassi-Cadillac team without final quality control.

[racing-is-passion]

Vettels Porsche test in Aragon

On Tuesday, Sebastian Vettel completed his first real test in the Porsche 963 LMDh car of the WEC in Aragon, completing 118 laps and seemed to make a good impression. Vettel, in any case, was in good spirits and said, "Driving the Porsche 963 here in Aragon on the track was definitely fun." He further explained, "I had to get used to everything and find my rhythm. The feeling of driving is different just because of the roof over my head, as well as dealing with the higher weight and the tires. The Porsche factory drivers were very helpful and explained to me what is special and what I need to get used to."

Jonathan Diuguid, the head of the Penske-Porsche racing program, also seemed very impressed with Vettel's test, but left open whether Vettel will be at the start in Le Mans. "Sebastian Vettel testing for us here is a unique opportunity for the team. As a four-time Formula 1 world champion, he has immense experience with hybrid systems and high-performance racing cars. His fresh and unique perspective on where we stand with our Porsche 963, and his feedback on our systems, are extremely valuable," said Diuguid. Regarding Vettel in Le Mans, he said, "He got out of the car with a smile on his face, which is a good sign."

I will definitely keep you updated on the topic of Vettel and Le Mans.

Source of Vettel and Diuguid statements: motorsport-total.com

[racing-is-passion]

Liberty Media new owner of the MotoGP

After the Formula 1 and Indycar, Liberty Media has now bought the MotoGP for about 4.000.000.000€. A official announcement will probably be made before the USA GP.

[racing-is-passion]

The fact you think someone who's most recent DNFs were crashing in the last lap through driver error is better than Lewis is hilarous. Not to mention Mercedes are experimenting their tractor on Lewis, like they did in 2022 when everyone also thought Russell was better when he wasn't. Literally as soon as the announcement to Ferrari happened, everyone said knew that Lewis would suddenly be 'struggling' when he was best of the rest last year. Because think about it, it's in Mercedes' interest for Lewis to look washed. He dumped them in a humiliating way, they don't care about anymore.

Just say you don't like him? Or don't understand his value? Signing him is similar to the decision Williams made with switching Sargeant for Albon, harsh but a no-brainer. This is for any team in F1, including Red Bull. Because of one thing - hype. No other driver generates as much hype as him, and that's something that can't be replicated with any other driver. This isn't to say he isn't one of the top drivers talent wise, he is. But as we've seen with Bearman and Sainz, put any driver in a good car and they'll perform well. Ferrari's barrier to the championship is the car, not the drivers. If they have a championship winning car next year, they'd win it with both the current drivers and with next year's drivers. The only difference is that the story will be much bigger with Lewis instead of Carlos. And one more thing, this is the last opportunity for Ferrari to have Lewis in their car. I know there's lots of talk that the veterans should retire, but trust me, Fernando and Lewis are still at the top of the game, and when they're gone they will be greatly missed in F1. Instead of questioning why he's been given someone else's seat you should appreciate him while he's here, appreciate that the legendary names of Ferrari and Hamilton have in fact joined together when for so long most people thought it's impossible. Please do more research because you clearly don't understand F1.

One thing first: I never really made a secret about the fact that I'm not a big fan of Lewis Hamilton, I once wrote that in a post already, but I also always said that he is one of the best drivers ever in F1 history and I respect his accomplisments and performances.

I'm also a bit of a fan of Fernando, so it's not that I just don't speak for the drivers that are a bit older, I actually like the idea of Alonso becoming a champion again, 20 years after his last championship, if he should get a top car next year.

Oliver Bearman did a very good job at the Saudi Arabian GP, but he surely wasn't on the level of Charles and probably Carlos, that's for sure. So that wasn't really a good example. But no one was thinking that he would be as good as both of them, because of the circumstances that it was his first ever race and he has never driven the car before.

Lewis is surely still a good driver, but is he still the same that he was in the 2010 years? I really don't think so. And what reason would Mercedes have to let him be worse than he could be? It would only harm Mercedes, because they would get less points and bad publications in the media. Also it wouldn't make Ferrari or Lewis slower next year.

It's true that Ferrari hasn't the car to win the championship, no one except for Red Bull has it right n ow. But I think no one thinks that they'll drive for the championship this year. So it's still about the performances of the two drivers, which are pretty much very close to each other.

It's just my own opinion and how I see it, for me there are these minimal signs that (at least recently) Carlos would be the better decision. Maybe Charles can prove me wrong, then I'd be the last one not t say that I was wrong and Ferrari did the right thing (especially if Lewis will perform great next year.

The hype about Lewis is actually the only big reason for me to sign Lewis to Ferrari, but as Ferrari, a team that is the most famous, even without signing one of the biggest stars on the grid, that demands from itself to drive for the championship, I don't think it should just be the media hype that decides who will drive for them. And no, I'm still not saying Lewis is a bad driver, I'm just saying he isn't at the same level anymore that he had when he was winning one championship after another.

A thing iI want to let you all know, is that I will deactivate the anonymous questions, because i get many reactions that aren't very friendly or objective/impersonal, and I won't answer such stuff, because I want this to be a friendly discussion about the F1 amongst F1 fans who can also respect the opinions of others and don't feel personally attacked if someone does say something that they don't like to hear about a specific driver or team.

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Sainz did not do the better job in the 3 years together. Objectively.

Charles race pace is superior in the majority of races

He finished more races on front than carlos.

More quali in front than carlos

More podiums

More poles

More points in the total 3 years

3 - 3 wins

Despite carlos winning last year, charles still finished on front of him in the standings, despite having more misfortunes out of his control.

You speak about charles mistakes or crashes, but if you actually look at the data, carlos number of mistakes and crashes last year is pretty much equal. It's just never given attention for some reason. And when it comes to 2022, everyone talks about charles crash in France but carlos gravel moments are forgotten

Over the whole three years, that's correct. I still see a trend since 2023 that's more going into the direction of Carlos. Sure he also did make mistakes, but most of the times, they weren't in such important moments than it was with Charles (France 2022, Imola 2022 for example). Like I said, for me, both drivers are almost equal with the slight upper hand for Carlos. I simply would've kept both of them instead of hiring Lewis.