Welcome to Friday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
Lando Norris was second in the championship and third in our ranking – but some people though he should have been placed even lower:
I’d say third is a little generous.
I think the main thing he needs to work on is his robustness in dealing with other drivers, both on and off the track. If he thinks there’s an issue he needs to say it and not water it down later or backtrack when nothing fundamental has changed. I’m still of the opinion McLaren need to work on the quali vs race balance, and improve their starts, as I put Lando’s quali vs race win record more down to that than his issues (though his mistakes definitely cost them points).
It’ll be interesting to see how different Lando might deal with pressure if McLaren get a great start and build an early lead in the championship, and Red Bull are having to chase. Max when under pressure (e.g. Hungary) is entirely possible to have his own issues, but others need to push that situation more. Same with Lewis, though I feel he’s far less likely than Max to be challenging for wins regularly anyway. There’s a lot about the new season to look forward to.
Carl Parker (@Mysticarl)
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to sharan!
On this day in motorsport
- Born today in 1954: Future Le Mans 24 Hours winner and Formula 1 driver Mauro Baldi
- Born today in 1966: Future two-times Le Mans 24 Hours winner and Formula 1 driver JJ Lehto
- 40 years ago today RAM launched their 03 chassis at the Intercontinental Hotel in London
- 15 years ago today Renault confirmed Vitaly Petrov would make his F1 debut for them, becoming Russia’s first grand prix driver
- 15 years ago today the Ferrari-powered BMW Sauber C29 (yes, that’s right) was launched
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El Pollo Loco
31st January 2025, 11:14
Genuinely impressed by how well Ferrari has utilized Hamilton’s singular profile to drive its brand value (its business is far more than just selling cars). Using that instantly iconic photo of Lewis posing in front of the F40 at the factory to generate roughly 400k new Instagram followers in 24 hours is pretty wild even in this day and age.