F1 News & Discussions > General F1 Discussion
2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Heroes and Zeroes
Jericoke:
First up, I know that the majority of the world isn't Christian, and if F1 bowed to everyone's religious calendar, there'd never be any racing at all. But why was there a race on Easter weekend? It's hard to get into the event when I've got other things going on.
Heroes
Piastri. Solid race win. I'm not 100% convinced the incident with Max was anything but a racing incident, and really, with the safety car, Max should've given the spot back and then who knows what happens? Oscar ran the race he was given, and that's all you can do.
Max. Ran a great race, the FIA all but requires drivers to whine on the radio, so can't blame him for that, no matter how much I want to. on the Sky commentary Martin Brundle called Max out for purposefully making it look like Oscar ran him off the road. I don't see it, but I know that Brundle knows the drivers better than most, and if he says that Max could do that, I believe him.
LeClerc. Given that McLaren is the class of the field, everyone else feels like they're in damage limitation until they can get car upgrades that work. Damage limited for Charles. He drove the race he had and did it well.
Honestly, for the most part the top ten did well. Lewis Hamilton making Norris look like a rookie was fun. Alonso dicing with his protege was weird. I think F1 has a lot of 'conflict of interest' relationships with people in different capacities 'managing' drivers.
Zeroes
Tsunoda. I know that Lap 1 has a lot of 'racing incidents' that are hard to assign blame, but I feel like Tsunoda should be experienced enough to have avoided that crash.
Stroll. He jokes that he's the worst qualifier of all time because he's had the worst cars of all time. A lack of self awareness there.
Officiating. I feel like in F1 that the calls are coming late. I understand that getting the calls 'right' is important, but it's a fast sport, and getting a call in a timely manner matters. In baseball they have a concept of 'tie goes to the runner', that in a case where the umpire can't tell a close call, he'll give the call to the offence over the defence. Slo-mo replays might show he was wrong, but most of the time baseball just accepts the call and moves on. F1 needs to figure that out, if the call is very close, and taking a long time to weigh, make a call, get on with it. Decide if they're going to favour the leading or passing car, and let that determine 'close' calls. Heck, before each season or even each event, let the drivers vote on who gets the benefit of a close call. Just make sure everyone understands. The officials are human, and the fans want decisiveness more than accuracy (of course, accuracy is important). Sure, some drivers will game the system, but they'll be caught, and we'll have villains. Sponsors and fans will decide if that behaviour is rewarded or punished.
Dare:
Makes you think maybe RB should have retain Sergio
Carlos out qualified Lewis....not sure Lewis brought much to
Ferrari except upping their increase of merchandise sales
Andy B:
I've not had time to watch the race only read the reports.
Not racing on a weekend because its Easter Jeri would be crazy as where would we draw the line I would think the numbers celebrating Easter as a religious festival are on the decline.
YT has five years experience in F1 so should not get into those situations, who said "You cannot win a race in the first corner"?
I think Dare that RB would be no worse off if they had retained SP but everyone would then ask why they kept him.
I'm an LH fan and what he has achieved and how he achieved it is beyond compare but even I am wondering if his day is done but only time will tell although how much time Ferrari will give him is yet to be seen.
rmassart:
Max should have given up the place, that would have avoided the 5 second penalty. It was definitely Piastri's corner. He could have done so behind the safety car, giving him a chance of jumping Piastri at the restart. Max is great at restarts behind the safety car. He was a second up on Piastri by the first corner this time. Meanwhile Piastri was fending off Russell.
Norris had a good drive, but it's looking more like Piastri's season at the moment.
I think it's good that RB got rid of Perez. It shows two things: how great Max is and how much the car is tailored to his needs. They are effectively a one driver team at the moment.
--- Quote from: Andy B on April 21, 2025, 05:11:31 AM ---I'm an LH fan and what he has achieved and how he achieved it is beyond compare but even I am wondering if his day is done but only time will tell although how much time Ferrari will give him is yet to be seen.
--- End quote ---
I am also thinking that. I am not sure he has ever really gotten over that final race in 2021. Before that he was always dominating his team mates. He hasn't done so since.
I don't think he would ever be in any danger of being sacked, his experience must be very valuable to Ferrari, as must his marketing value. But I do think this is his swansong, with a nice pay package.
Andy B:
--- Quote from: rmassart on April 21, 2025, 06:58:48 AM ---
--- Quote from: Andy B on April 21, 2025, 05:11:31 AM ---I'm an LH fan and what he has achieved and how he achieved it is beyond compare but even I am wondering if his day is done but only time will tell although how much time Ferrari will give him is yet to be seen.
--- End quote ---
I am also thinking that. I am not sure he has ever really gotten over that final race in 2021. Before that he was always dominating his team mates. He hasn't done so since.
I don't think he would ever be in any danger of being sacked, his experience must be very valuable to Ferrari, as must his marketing value. But I do think this is his swansong, with a nice pay package.
--- End quote ---
I quite agree.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version