Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
Lando Norris’s days as McLaren’s de facto team leader are over, reckons Edvaldo:
Norris got priority for no reason other than seniority in the past. Now not only is Piastri leading the championship, he has shown the capacity to win a large number of races, something Norris has yet to do.
These five races are a reason good enough to consider Norris’s days as team leader as gone. It’s over. He should be thankful that Piastri lost those points in Australia because had that not happened, he would be even further behind in just five races. Edvaldo
'Two months ago, September 6, 2026, was being discussed as the chosen date. It's the date Madrid authorities were considering and Marca first reported at the end of February... and it remains feasible. Three weeks ago, September 13 was mentioned, the second weekend of the month when everything points to the race being held, but F1 and the FIA haven't been able to release the official 2026 calendar, which last year at this time was already finalized for 2025.'
Bruno Senna: 'In Portuguese you have so many specific expressions that don't mean anything in other languages, but he had so much respect for Alain, even at the height of their rivalry.'
'He only passed his driving test in January, but the 18-year-old (Andrea Kimi Antonelli) has made a solid start to his F1 career with Mercedes. Replacing the most successful F1 driver of all time in Lewis Hamilton, Antonelli became the third-youngest driver to start a grand prix in Australia, finishing fourth after having started 16th.'
'Under a new allowance from IndyCar, teams were given the option to continue using the full-power deployment solution they’re familiar with or, in a new twist for the Speedway, to select a smaller but sustained hit of power. A short burst of maximum hybrid boost or a longer contribution of a lesser helping of horsepower... which one was better Teams who tried both aren’t telling, but it’s bound to be an area of greater exploration next month.'
'Venturing over to Europe for a two-round appearance in the GB4 Championship the following year, 2025 has seen Dobson return for a full campaign, with her scoring points across the first two rounds in Donington Park and Silverstone.'
MY DREAM CAR!!! 🔥🔥🔥@MercedesAMG ONE!! So honoured to own this car and it’s been a dream of mine ever since I joined Mercedes F1 back in 2017!!
Crazy that the engine is a modified version from our 2015 F1 car – the first ever Mercedes F1 car I drove ⚡️
Yes, Piastri would be even further ahead in points without his costly error in Melbourne, & for that matter, Norris made a costly error in Jeddah qualifying without which he would’ve started & finished at least third, & therefore, the gap would still be about the same without either of these errors happening.
The What-IF game always works in more than just one way.
Both September 6 & 13 have indeed been mentioned, meaning the inaugural Madrid GP will almost certainly form a triple-header with the Dutch & Italian GPs, either as the middle or last leg of that triple.
This season’s GP calendar was released shortly after the Japanese GP weekend last year, so I’m surprised the 2026 GP calendar still hasn’t been released.
My understanding is that the Madrid GP has at least partly been a cause of this delay compared to last year’s release timing.
Btw, the top image is a decent Caption Competition candidate.
That’s a nice-looking car & I was unaware that the W06 was the first F1 car he ever drove, but using the 2015-spec PU for the AMG ONE is something.
Ocon’s 2025 Miami GP-specific helmet design is pretty basic & simple, which I like.
I mean, without mistakes both McLarens would have qualified at the front in Jeddah, but also in China (maybe not in the sprint, but certainly for the race) etc. As you mention talking about ifs and buts can be fun but it’s not what happened.
Last year it was quite clear why Norris was seen as the de facto no. 1 – he clearly beat Piastri in qualifying and more often than not was the better driver in the races too. Piastri, especially the first half of the season still showed the same lack of tyre management we saw from him during 2023 too during races as well.
Now, it’s clear he’s stepped up. And Norris is struggling to make it count when it matters. With them in first and second in the championship there really is no good reason to put their eggs in either basked for McLaren, apart from just going with “whomever is first” in a given race.
I see that Keith has chosen his CoTD to provoke discussion.
I do think that the sort of rhetoric that is in that post sounds similar to the considerable hype that was being built up around Piastri at points last season, and yet his final results by the end of the season were not as impressive as we were told they would be.
We’re still talking about just the first 5 races of a 24 race season, and it feels like some are a bit too quick to make grand sweeping statements about how the rest of the season will play out based on just a couple of races (as it seems most are focussing on just the last two races). It feels like it’ll only take a couple of races of poorer form for Piastri and for Norris to have stronger form for attitudes to flip round again – I know there is the phrase that you’re only as good as your last race, but it sometimes feels as if some take that a little too literally.
Personally, I think that it’s still a bit premature to be making such claims, particularly given that we know there will be some major upgrades during the season that might change the picture once again (particularly around the Spanish GP, for a whole range of reasons).
The whole topic of the original post was to see how McLaren are intending to release upgrades in 2025 and which driver should get them first, given they appeared to give them all to Lando in 2024. My thought was they gave them to Lando because they believed they had a better chance for success, this year I think they should give them to whoever they think will benefit the most from the upgrade, given Oscar appears to have made another step forward.
As far as provoking discussion is driver 1 is better than driver 2, in reality they are both great drivers and I’d hate to see either fall too far behind the other. We know both can have great weekends, unless one of them scores all pole and wins to the mid point of the season I won’t be paying to much attention to who is leading until much closer to the end of the season.
The question is absurd though. Sure, Piastri HAS earned parity. But there is no good reason at all for McLaren to decide to throw their support behind either driver right now. And they did not “give them to lando becuase they believed he had better chance for success”. They mostly gave them to Lando because overall he was their lead driver in the championship and was soundly beating Piastri in qualifying.
I am pretty sure that IF they have to decide they will just do similarly this year – give upgrades first to the driver who is placed first in the championship.
S Arkazam, it was actually intended to be more of a sarcastic quip about the posters that usually come into the comments section with whining paranoid posts about the CoTD that has been picked – it would seem, however, to have gone over the head of quite a few though.
Indeed, and it’s great for us viewers that there are competitive drivers in the best car. Let’s just celebrate that instead of wanting to close the book on it. Some of the great rivalries lasted years, and that’s fun. It’s also a bit curious to dismiss the two previous seasons in which Norris had the clear measure of Piastri just because Norris has just had a messy weekend in which Piastri won.
Piastri might well come out ahead, but at least it’ll be many more months before the title is decided either way. After the years long inability of Red Bull to maintain two strong drivers, it’s great that McLaren is doing just that.
Wow, I’ve been watching F1 for 30 years – I’ve seen pretty much every race since San Marino 1995. I can remember some seasons with absolute clarity, others are a real struggle to recall!
Jere (@jerejj)
30th April 2025, 6:46
Yes, Piastri would be even further ahead in points without his costly error in Melbourne, & for that matter, Norris made a costly error in Jeddah qualifying without which he would’ve started & finished at least third, & therefore, the gap would still be about the same without either of these errors happening.
The What-IF game always works in more than just one way.
Both September 6 & 13 have indeed been mentioned, meaning the inaugural Madrid GP will almost certainly form a triple-header with the Dutch & Italian GPs, either as the middle or last leg of that triple.
This season’s GP calendar was released shortly after the Japanese GP weekend last year, so I’m surprised the 2026 GP calendar still hasn’t been released.
My understanding is that the Madrid GP has at least partly been a cause of this delay compared to last year’s release timing.
Btw, the top image is a decent Caption Competition candidate.
That’s a nice-looking car & I was unaware that the W06 was the first F1 car he ever drove, but using the 2015-spec PU for the AMG ONE is something.
Ocon’s 2025 Miami GP-specific helmet design is pretty basic & simple, which I like.
BasCB (@bascb)
30th April 2025, 19:48
I mean, without mistakes both McLarens would have qualified at the front in Jeddah, but also in China (maybe not in the sprint, but certainly for the race) etc. As you mention talking about ifs and buts can be fun but it’s not what happened.
Last year it was quite clear why Norris was seen as the de facto no. 1 – he clearly beat Piastri in qualifying and more often than not was the better driver in the races too. Piastri, especially the first half of the season still showed the same lack of tyre management we saw from him during 2023 too during races as well.
Now, it’s clear he’s stepped up. And Norris is struggling to make it count when it matters. With them in first and second in the championship there really is no good reason to put their eggs in either basked for McLaren, apart from just going with “whomever is first” in a given race.
anon
30th April 2025, 6:46
I see that Keith has chosen his CoTD to provoke discussion.
I do think that the sort of rhetoric that is in that post sounds similar to the considerable hype that was being built up around Piastri at points last season, and yet his final results by the end of the season were not as impressive as we were told they would be.
We’re still talking about just the first 5 races of a 24 race season, and it feels like some are a bit too quick to make grand sweeping statements about how the rest of the season will play out based on just a couple of races (as it seems most are focussing on just the last two races). It feels like it’ll only take a couple of races of poorer form for Piastri and for Norris to have stronger form for attitudes to flip round again – I know there is the phrase that you’re only as good as your last race, but it sometimes feels as if some take that a little too literally.
Personally, I think that it’s still a bit premature to be making such claims, particularly given that we know there will be some major upgrades during the season that might change the picture once again (particularly around the Spanish GP, for a whole range of reasons).
Mooa42
30th April 2025, 7:36
The whole topic of the original post was to see how McLaren are intending to release upgrades in 2025 and which driver should get them first, given they appeared to give them all to Lando in 2024. My thought was they gave them to Lando because they believed they had a better chance for success, this year I think they should give them to whoever they think will benefit the most from the upgrade, given Oscar appears to have made another step forward.
As far as provoking discussion is driver 1 is better than driver 2, in reality they are both great drivers and I’d hate to see either fall too far behind the other. We know both can have great weekends, unless one of them scores all pole and wins to the mid point of the season I won’t be paying to much attention to who is leading until much closer to the end of the season.
BasCB (@bascb)
30th April 2025, 19:52
The question is absurd though. Sure, Piastri HAS earned parity. But there is no good reason at all for McLaren to decide to throw their support behind either driver right now. And they did not “give them to lando becuase they believed he had better chance for success”. They mostly gave them to Lando because overall he was their lead driver in the championship and was soundly beating Piastri in qualifying.
I am pretty sure that IF they have to decide they will just do similarly this year – give upgrades first to the driver who is placed first in the championship.
S Arkazam
30th April 2025, 7:44
You must be new here. ;)
You might soon discover something about the editing of headlines as well.
Jay
30th April 2025, 8:54
And the deletion of comments!
Ferdi
30th April 2025, 10:08
Unfortunately, both of you are right. And it is not about strong language, but about narrative. Be careful out there.
anon
1st May 2025, 8:58
S Arkazam, it was actually intended to be more of a sarcastic quip about the posters that usually come into the comments section with whining paranoid posts about the CoTD that has been picked – it would seem, however, to have gone over the head of quite a few though.
MichaelN
30th April 2025, 9:17
Indeed, and it’s great for us viewers that there are competitive drivers in the best car. Let’s just celebrate that instead of wanting to close the book on it. Some of the great rivalries lasted years, and that’s fun. It’s also a bit curious to dismiss the two previous seasons in which Norris had the clear measure of Piastri just because Norris has just had a messy weekend in which Piastri won.
Piastri might well come out ahead, but at least it’ll be many more months before the title is decided either way. After the years long inability of Red Bull to maintain two strong drivers, it’s great that McLaren is doing just that.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
30th April 2025, 18:02
Totally unjustified i thought, I guess thats why im being pre-modded, because i didnt like the way he phrased his ‘objectivity’
frood19 (@frood19)
30th April 2025, 6:50
Wow, I’ve been watching F1 for 30 years – I’ve seen pretty much every race since San Marino 1995. I can remember some seasons with absolute clarity, others are a real struggle to recall!