Welcome to Monday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
Are Red Bull seriously about to cut Liam Lawson loose after just two grands prix?
I think if you sign a driver for a full season, or for multiple seasons, it’s not the second weekend the parties should evaluate the situation and decide if they should continue together or split, regardless of how problematic the situation looks.
Only because of the recent influx of talented youngsters made rookies look like an obvious choice for any team, Red Bull just couldn’t have expected Lawson with his 11 GPs scattered across two seasons to be up to Verstappen’s speed at once (but I guess they didn’t expect him to run on the tail end either.)
Anyway, Lawson is the same driver Red Bull committed to and trusted only a couple of months ago, and if Perez was allowed to overstay his welcome for at least a year, Lawson should be granted much more time than this and deserves every mean the team could offer to support him. A split would would be unfair towards him, and unfair towards anyone replacing him without the (not so long) winter test to familiarise with the team and the car.
@AndrewT
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Gman, Sam and Harvey Pizey!
On this day in motorsport
- 35 years ago today Ayrton Senna took pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix after the race was moved back to his home city of Sao Paolo
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CryptidBadger (@ninjabadger)
24th March 2025, 1:07
New [new] engine regs for 2028-2029?
Is the FIA they really that desperate?
Would that also mean another change in chassis/aero regs as well, given the changes in packaging and car characteristics?
At least see how the 2026 regs perform, before running to the next shiny object.
Elvira
24th March 2025, 3:01
When you hand your series to the Oiligarchs…
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
24th March 2025, 11:17
@ninjabadger The FIA is planning for the future. The date of the change might alter depending on future events, but three years is about right for figuring out the next iteration of the regulations.
CryptidBadger (@ninjabadger)
24th March 2025, 12:18
I’m sure there’s constant discussions regarding future visions/concepts of regulations of various series. But he could just say that. Why even give a year.
Ferdi
24th March 2025, 11:26
I got the impression this will be instead of the 2026 regulations change. So no change but more years of the field being as close as it is now and then in 2029 switch to V10
CryptidBadger (@ninjabadger)
24th March 2025, 12:10
I’m sure Audi and Red Bull would love the idea to a change of plans and having to develop a power unit with a MGU-H in less than a year.
Jay
24th March 2025, 6:32
No sympathy for Lawson. They brought him in to be better than Perez and he’s failed at that so far. If he can’t get out of Q1 in Japan, I’d demote him and promote Tsunoda. Harsh? Maybe but being too soft is why RedBull are in this situation to begin with! All he has to do is beat 5 backmarker cars, these are very low standards.
Would any other top team be OK with their number 2 never getting out of Q1? Absolutely not! If Antonelli missed all 3 Q1’s I’d be questioning him too. At least Perez brought bags of cash with him!
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
24th March 2025, 11:18
Because they are too harsh on drivers and promoting Tsunoda without addressing the faults in the team will do nothing except burn Yuki’s career and destabilise Racing Bulls.
Jay
24th March 2025, 13:25
Keep Lawson and have a one car team, great. Wonder if McLaren or Ferrari would do the same.
Radoye
24th March 2025, 16:28
They could rotate Lawson and Tsunoda but what if Tsunoda shows no better than Lawson? The RBR car appears to be quite handful to drive, Max is able to extract performance out of it but not sure anybody else would be able to do so at a short notice. I would even say that the RB junior car looks better overall than RBR at the moment, quite fast if not exactly as fast as RBR at the peak of performance but with a much wider operating window. So it wouldn’t surprise me if they promote Tsunoda and demote Lawson only to see Lawson suddenly getting those Q3s and scoring points while Tsunoda is bringing up the rear. And then what, promote Hadjar?
RBR finds themselves in this situation because they recently burned through too many young drivers. Getting Perez and bringing Ricciardo back to the junior team were forced moves since there was nobody else left after they chased away Sainz, Albon, Kvyat, Buemi, Vergne etc etc. What they need is stability. Give their young talent some time to grow. Not everyone can immediately ‘click’ like Verstappen.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
24th March 2025, 7:11
– Absolutely ridiculous to consider going back to V10s in 2028 or 2029. How many hundreds of millions would be wasted on the upcoming PU set that would just be used for a few years? I’d understand if the time frame was 2035 or something.
– COTD: Yep. It is really strange to see RBR keeping Checo way too long, and then perhaps dumping Lawson way too early. If they end up switching Tsunoda and Lawson for the next race, it seemingly shows a change in driver policy in the organisation (that they are willing to do quick changes instead of waiting till the end of the season).
BasCB (@bascb)
24th March 2025, 7:42
The best rationale (the only decent one IMO) for “demoting” Lawson is that he would be driving a somewhat more benign car where he can show his talent better and develop as a driver so that they don’t throw away that potential that they surely have recognized he has.
Promoting Tsunoda would then be little risk, since they either have already decided they would not employ him after this season at the smaller team anyway, or he proves himself and in that case they gain a solid driver to at least not look completely lost next to Max.
But I wholly agree that this shows the folly of how RB operates, these 2 races really wouldn’t have given any new information on Lawson to evaluate him. So it would mean admitting they made a mistake by promoting him when he was not ready for it (or when THEY weren’t ready for it really, given how the last 5 picks for that seat turned out).
JeroenJ
24th March 2025, 8:23
The folly of how Red Bull operates IF they indeed swap Lawson and Tsunoda. At the moment it is mostly a media repeating other media storm.
But RB really can’t win, eitjer they’re criticised for keepin a driver too long or for keeping a driver not long enough…
BasCB (@bascb)
24th March 2025, 15:33
I really don’t criticize them for keeping Perez (nor even for dropping Lawson right now, I can see how that would be the best for Lawson, if he ends up getting supported better at the daughter team). I criticize Red Bull for the shambles of their driver management, and really the way they operate with their second driver, openly throwing them to the wolves during the season and somehow expecting that to improve the situation for them, and doing that time and time again.
The last time a second driver did well was when Ricciardo was there, but then he started out more or less as the “new top talent” (putting Vettel in the unconveted role of being the afterthought) and only got relegated to “second thought” only when Max got his feet well under the table. Webber did not fair that much differently really. He was solidly building, and lasted a while but when they got Vettel in the car and team structure went completely to Sebs support.
Were they successfull because of it? Yes, they were. But each time they had Newey to come up with great cars and with an understanding of driving and Aero and handling that seems to have enabled them to get a car that a driver like Vettel, for a while Ricciardo and then Max was able to get extraordinary performance out of (and they built up the smoothest pit operations as well as more often than not nailing strategy). Now they do not have that team anymore.
BasCB (@bascb)
24th March 2025, 7:43
Oh, and yeah, I wholly agree with you on the V10 idea. What would Audi, and Honda, and heck even Toyota think about that right now (I heard Cadillac might be happy with it since it saves them some work and Red Bull is rumoured to be on board since they aren’t all that convinced about their “own” engine)?
aaa123
24th March 2025, 9:10
– Absolutely ridiculous to consider going back to V10s in 2028 or 2029. How many hundreds of millions would be wasted on the upcoming PU set that would just be used for a few years? I’d understand if the time frame was 2035 or something.
You’re not wrong in your financial analysis of course but why as fans should that really be the prime concern? The fan experience is surely priority #1 if you are in fact a fan, no? I could not care less if a capricious OEM loses money over a ruleset bait and switch, they don’t exist to make me personally happy and if anything many have disappointed time and again. Were the V10 switch to happen and in doing so make a bunch of said OEMs leave in a huff, then so be it. There are many smaller more passionate concerns out there capable of developing competitive olde worlde ICEs, zero loss to the fan at least on the sensory experience side of things. I simply do not understand fans who talk about these things as if they were shareholders in an OEM or god forbid, Liberty.
anon
24th March 2025, 9:28
@kaiie it’s also interesting to note that there are many who have questioned the relationships that the sport has formed with Saudi Arabia and Aramco, and yet ignore those ethical concerns when it comes to those same parties providing the fuel that those V10 engines would be running on (because it is Aramco that is pushing the idea of V10 engines running on Aramco branded “sustainable fuel” as part of a policy of promoting themselves and Saudi Arabia).
S Arkazam
24th March 2025, 9:44
Aramco’s sustainable fuel is like the vapes developed by Philip Morris and BAT.
What’s next? Trump launching a media channel and calling it Truth?
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
24th March 2025, 15:53
Straw man argument
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
24th March 2025, 11:19
Considering a return to V10s is part of the process of finding the regulations that will actually be used.
MichaelN
24th March 2025, 17:22
Exactly, as the FIA said a few weeks ago, it is their responsibility to look forward past the 2026 rules to create a sustainable path for F1 that appeals to manufacturers and partners alike. A V10 engine run on sustainable synthetic fuel is a logical thing to consider, even if it is perhaps not the most obvious choice.
nunof
24th March 2025, 11:45
There’s a precedent with Nyck de Viers. Abusive organization will abuse, shocking!
Patrick (@anunaki)
24th March 2025, 7:43
I heared in a podcast that F1 is considering to cancel the 2026 regulation and keep the current one in place for a few more years. That would fit the V10 2028 / 2029 narrative.
Jere (@jerejj)
24th March 2025, 7:58
Even that’s unrealistic because Audi & RBPT don’t have any existing current V6 concept units.
Patrick (@anunaki)
24th March 2025, 8:43
Indeed that’s why some teams support the idea (Honda, Mercedes, Audi) and others do not (Ferrari, RedBull). The story comes from Michael Schmidt.
Patrick (@anunaki)
24th March 2025, 8:47
the teams are the other way around of course [face palm]
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
24th March 2025, 11:20
@anunaki That would be quite strange, unless it’s a ploy to try to reduce the FIA’s power. It would be less about actually continuing the regulations and more about putting conditions on following the current ones.
nunof
24th March 2025, 11:50
Whatever they do, any change from now on should be exclusively incremental. By only having small iterations instead of radical changes, we get better races and teams are more competitive. As is, in the current system, we have teams unapologetically giving up on a full season and just showing up to collect payment while opening the way to have a dominate team for several seasons for no reason other than they were lucky finding the right loopholes on newly introduced regs.
Steve Rogers (@yossarian)
24th March 2025, 8:08
Personally I agree with the sentiment in the COTD. But with one caveat, I don’t think it was courtesy that kept Perez in that seat rather his refusal to leave without being bought out his contract. Lawson, like all other drivers brought through the Red Bull program, doesn’t have the benefit of such a contract. As seen with Kyvat, Red Bull can send him back to RB at a moments notice.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th March 2025, 8:30
I agree with COTD. Now you made your choice, and a very weird one at that, go the distance.
This is a driver with 11 races under his belt across two seasons, who never really made any solid foundation towards a F1 career You promote him to one of the main teams, which is going through a restructuration having lost their star designer, on a car that is KNOWN to be tricky. What did you expect? he’s racing tracks he’s not familiar with, having only just known his fate 3 months ago.
This isn’t like Antonelli who spent months testing old Mercedes around the world: he’s also been thrown in the deep but Mercedes is willing to swallow that.
I’m no fan of Lawson, nor I understand why their turned their backs to Yuki, who’s been strong for years now. But if you’ve gone down this road AT YOUR OWN WILL, just go the distance. At least for a reasonable amount of time.
MichaelN
24th March 2025, 8:49
It seems Red Bull bought into the hype about Tsunoda skmehow mahicakly becoming kuch better once his yardstick disappeared. Lest we forget, Tsunoda was no match at all for Gasly, himself merely a competent F1 driver. That Tsunoda then beat, or was somewhat on level with, a rookie De Vries, a spent Ricciardo, and a part time substitute Lawson is in no way a glowing endorsement of anyone involved, same with Hadjar now, it’s just race two and it’s already close.
Marko just hasn’t delivered any top tier talent, while other teams have brought up the likes of Leclerc, Antonelli, Piastri, etc. It’s not Lawsons fault.
An Sionnach
24th March 2025, 10:17
Maybe there’s room for a less proscriptive formula? One in which the engine technology is open, but there’s a limit on fuel over the race or even race weekend. Or, they can link it to net carbon output. Manufacturers would have to balance power with efficiency and the engineers can be left to solve the problem. That would allow all manufacturers to take whatever approach they want.
MichaelN
24th March 2025, 12:51
That’s largely what the WEC has done. Open up the rules but limit other aspects that make sense for their type of racing.
No engine ruleset will ever please everyone, but F1 has really painted itself into a corner. The 2026 regulations are so highly prescriptive that it almost seems like a waste of time and money to have so many manufacturers making these highly similar engines.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
24th March 2025, 15:51
+1 for the painted corner bit. Waste of their time and money and our energy and money ‘marvelling’ at these apologetic wheezing techno marvels. 2026 is just a rehash of 2014 without the MGUK, whoop de whoo
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
24th March 2025, 10:41
I do question people/fans not wanting or saying its ridiculous to bring back V10s. F1 is a big kids sport, anyone who got into it as a kid partly did because of the noise, certainly trackside but even on telly at tracks like Spa. If you dont want them back, are you really a big kid enjoying motor racing or are you forgetting what its really about? Its a question not a critique but i cant believe any fan wouldn’t want that noise or at least some more noise back.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
24th March 2025, 11:21
@tonymansell The ridicule, as far as I can see, is with staying with an engine for only 3 years – not what it’s switching to. Switching to V4s in the same timeframe would have the same complaint for the same reason. The argument appears to be to at least try the 2026 regulations before deciding what to do after that.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
24th March 2025, 11:55
Id change it today and F1 is littered with quick about turns. It was the manufacturers who, rightly said, hey we just sunk all this money into these regs. But f1 is not run for the benefit of manufactures who want to see you buy an SUV. Its a sport that exists for its own sake. With all the money swishing around F1 do we even need them? They soon up sticks when it suits them and F1 is still here.
‘V10 or bust’. see me in the T shirt in Hungary :)
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
24th March 2025, 14:38
@tonymansell
And yet F1 has spent the past 15-ish years trying to lure in manufactures and the biggest reason the 2026 regulations are been changed is because they wanted to bring Audi (And they also wanted Porsche, Still do) into F1.
F1 & the sport in general has always looked to encourage manufactures to enter because it’s always viewed manufactures as bringing exposure and prestige to the series. And F1 has at various points over it’s history developed it’s regulations based almost solely on what the governing body of the time believes manufactures would be most interested in developing an engine for.
It’s always been a mutually beneficial relationship. F1 (And other series) want the manufactures for the prestige, exposure & financial backing they bring and the manufactures look to F1 because they see it as a way to help them develop & show off there engineering expertise and at times new technologies and also to sell cars.
MichaelN
24th March 2025, 17:30
This is an important consideration where both parties seek to benefit from each other.
We can like it or not, but F1 is able to have these insane budgets in large part because of the myth that surround the series. It brings in the money from broadcasters and hosts alike. A field of Vasseur Tech, Wolff Automotive and Racing Horners will never get the same money as Ferrari, Mercedes and a global sports outfit like Red Bull. It’d just be European Indycar, with matching budgets.
F1 needs to stay relevant to the manufacturers. Given currently insurmountable technological constraints with electric cars in racing, the V10 might not be as farfetched or unlikely as some think.
anon
24th March 2025, 13:26
@tonymansell and what gives you the right to talk down to others that they are “not proper racing fans” for not wanting exactly the same things as you?
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
24th March 2025, 14:15
My right as a commenter on here. Im mean i get why manufacturers employ bean counters and run businesses by them but i didnt know being a fan meant you needed to be one.
Im not looking down btw, just disappointed
anon
25th March 2025, 8:19
@tonymansell and other commentators here also have the right to not worship V10 engines in the same way as you do – so, how about you show a bit of respect towards others and lay off the whole “not a proper racing fan” elitist attitude that you have?
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
25th March 2025, 12:59
The only one out of line is you. You don’t tell people what to say or think either. You may want to try to alter your tone also.
anon
25th March 2025, 19:52
@tonymansell and now that you are getting treated in the same way that you behave towards others and find that you don’t like it, perhaps you might now want to think about what we have to put up with from you and consider altering your behaviour?
I somehow doubt it, as it seems you are rather more willing to act in a confrontational manner towards others than to confront your own behaviour, but perhaps you might finally start to reflect how much of a bore you can be towards others.
nunof
24th March 2025, 11:41
Just to show that F1 should have a similar policy to football, a team should only be able to replace drivers at limited windows for each season for reasons other than driver injuries, but mostly, by effectively owning two teams, Red Bull has an unfair advantage and too much power that leaves others teams in disadvantage and drivers being a target for employer abuse. GPDA should do more to protect drivers from abusive employers. Banning Marko from the paddock would also be welcomed, but no one has the courage to take a stand against this abuser.