Felix Rosenqvist secured his sixth IndyCar pole position, and Meyer Shank Racing’s first one, yesterday on the streets of Long Beach. Beating Will Power by 0.0039 seconds the one-time IndyCar race winner continues what is a great start of the season.
The Japanese Grand Prix proved to be a better race for Sauber as they didn’t suffer as much from their pitstop issues as in the earlier races, but the team remains pointless so far. Zhou Guanyu retired with gearbox issues, whereas Valtteri Bottas ended P14, partially because the pitstops are still significantly slower than the opposition. Before the race in Suzuka, the team expressed their hope to have a permanent fix before this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, but according to Bottas that unfortunately hasn’t been achieved.
The FIA and Formula 1 have revealed the calendar for the 2025 season today, and with again 24 races, six of which are the controversial sprints, it promises to be yet another jam-packed season. Even more so since the season-opener will be held two weeks later than this year, with the Abu Dhabi finale being held in the same weekend, meaning just 38 weeks span the entire season.
After an abysmal qualifying yesterday, which left him eighth on the grid, Charles Leclerc had a very well executed race which even brought him the driver of the day honours. Opting for just one stop after the restart, the Ferrari-driver managed to extend his medium tyres to jump both McLarens, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, promoting him to fourth at the finish. Which left him quite satisfied about the race.
Formula 1 is a simple sport, 20 man race for 305 kilometres, and in the end Verstappen wins. This paraphrase of Gary Lineker’s famous quote seems all too applicable on Formula 1 these days. Even when there is an interesting race because the high tyre wear, the Dutchman makes winning a Grand Prix look like a walk in the park.
Saturday’s qualifying resulted 27th front row for Red Bull Racing, so beforehand another walk in the park for Max Verstappen was anticipated. But with a 40°C track temperature, a lot warmer than during practice, tyre wear would be the big question mark for today’s race.
After botched pit stops in all three races thus far in 2024, there is some hope from Sauber to improve them before the Chinese Grand Prix. According to Alessandro Alunni Bravi the team in Hinwill has been working around the clock to try and find a resolution to the issues, which are rooted in the new pit equipment Sauber has produced for this season.
After a quick exit in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, in which he clipped the inside wall of turn 22 resulting in a firm impact with the outside wall, Lance Stroll bounced back with a solid sixth place in the Australian Grand Prix. Outqualifying and (eventually) finishing ahead of his two-time World Champion teammate Fernando Alonso, it was a pretty decent result for the Canadian. Or as he himself summarised: “Solid race and happy to pick up some points.”
The modern ground effect era of Formula 1 has proven a tricky battleground for Mercedes, who started the current regulation cycle with their infamous ‘zero pod’ concept, which soon proved to be a failed concept rather than the ground breaking innovation they hoped for. Plagued by porpoising issues and an insurmountable amount of drag, the concept was altered for the first few races of 2023, before it was binned altogether from the Monaco Grand Prix onwards.
After an eventful first heat, and a quite timid second heat the 12 qualified drivers lined up for the actual $1 million dollar challenge. Split into two parts of 10 laps each, the consensus beforehand was that the tyre degradation would be a huge factor, as it already proved difficult in the heat races, which were only 10 laps each.
