Welcome to Friday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
Valtteri Bottas’s last Formula 1 race didn’t go well but he showed he’s still quick, says Ben:
Although his race last race was coincidently a mess with Perez and Magnussen, his qualifying was amazing. he qualified P9 in pretty much the worst car on the grid, outqualifying Perez who was P10 and didn’t even look to make mistakes on his lap. Bottas was excellent in qualifying and made the least mistakes of anyone that was in F1 the same time periods as him. He just was a bit underwhelming in terms of race craft and also a bit inconsistent with his race pace too. Ben Rowe (@TheGiantHogweed)
Frederic Vasseur: 'Everybody will have a new front wing in Barcelona. By definition and by regulation. I think it will be perhaps a reset of the performance of everybody.'
'He handed in his resignation earlier this week. His whereabouts are currently unknown. He is understood to have flown to Dubai following Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.'
'Certainly in moments like on the weekend with Verstappen, trying to get past, it would have been pretty easy to be a bit overenthusiastic and get myself in a bit of trouble when I didn't need to.'
'The season started with a huge improvement for IndyCar when 1,417,000 viewers tuned in for St. Petersburg (+45.4 percent over 2024 on NBC), dipped at The Thermal Club with 704,000 (-10.7 percent), cratered at Long Beach with an average of (552,000) (but +79.6 percent from 2024, when it was on cable), and sprang back at Barber (+19.7 percent) heading into Saturday’s grand prix on the Indianapolis Road Course and the Indianapolis 500 on May 25.'
'The FIA F4 World Cup in Macau will offer the top drivers an incredible opportunity to race in a global field of F4 talent. There will be a rigorous driver selection process, with only the most talented young drivers given the opportunity to compete. Mintimes, the organiser of the F4 Chinese Championship, will be the Single Operator, together with FFSA, responsible for providing the technical support for the FIA F4 World Cup.'
Pato O'Ward, currently fourth in the IndyCar standings, will drive McLaren's Formula 1 car in the first practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix in October, as he did last year.
Born on this day in 1951: Formula 1 designer Gary Anderson, whose cars included the Jordan 191 Michael Schumacher made his debut in
10 years ago today Esteban Ocon won the first race of the new GP3 (now FIA Formula 3) season. He scored no more wins over the 18-race series, but with 13 further podiums including nine consecutive second places he clinched the title.
So for once Briatore was actually telling the truth when he said it wasn’t about him or the decision to promote Colapinto.
It really was some family-related – albeit quite bizarre – thing that happened at the same time as the Colapinto’s promotion.
On Norris…
“…Norris was the one who ruined his own race through not driving smartly.”
(He also recommends that he learns from Piastri in a number of ways, including his approach to overtaking).
Similar to F1TV on Verstappen:
“Again, we saw some stout defending from Verstappen, but I do not believe he crossed the line.”
The William Oakes case seems fairly serious. Statement from the Met:
“William Oakes, 31, of Rugby was charged with transferring criminal property on Friday, May 2 after he was stopped in the Silverstone Park area in Northamptonshire on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in possession of a large amount of cash. He appeared before Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, May 3, and remanded in custody.”
The article speculates that it is linked with the ownership of Hitech Grand Prix and the Mazepins. It states that Oliver Oakes’ location is currently unknown, and that he is thought to have gone to Dubai after the Miami weekend. Might be a bit early to construe anything from this as it’s only been a few days.
On the comment of the day, I’d suggest that Bottas summarised his career aptly in that last outing: great qualifying, shame about the race.
When I first saw the Oakes’ item I thought one is not responsible for the actions of others, but after reading the link I’m wondering what was actually going on. Devious things possibly. The link is worth a read. Questions remain.
@stever there have been questions about Oliver Oakes’s dealings with Dmitry Mazepin for several years, with one MP openly suggesting that Oliver was acting as a proxy for Dmitry during a debate on tightening the legislation around money laundering in 2022.
@tonymansell Well, I use laptop, yet every time I’ve clicked ‘quote’ I’ve struggled to achieve the same outcome as most seem to achieve, i.e., the quoted part in smaller font above the main post.
I use laptop, yet every time I’ve clicked ‘quote’ I’ve struggled to achieve the same outcome as most seem to achieve,
Two methods:
1. Click the quote button; paste in text after that; close the quote with a second quote button click
2. Copy paste some text; highlight/select the whole of that text; click on the quote button
If you’re familiar with HTML the blockquote start and end are standard HTML markers as per tutorial here
Every F1 fan is fully conversant with HTML markup of course… or not.
The way Oakes dealt with questions about Mazepin (we’re friends, no I’m not going to answer any questions) in Bahrain really made me suspect there was something more to that, and now this happened. He (allegedly) went to Dubai, I won’t pretend I know how extradition treaties work, but I know that Dubai is very popular with people who have (allegedly) committed international financial crimes.
@zakspeedf1team The UK has an extradition treaty with the UAE, and has done since December 2006. However, it is only usable if the action can be punished with a custodial sentence of at least 1 year in both the UK and UAE (or more severe, which includes but may not be restricted to “death penalty”). If there are aggravating factors (being an employee is considered an example aggravating factor in the UAE, but I do not know whether the UK also has this stance), UAE laws concerning embezzlement would in principle enable extradition, although there are a fair number of steps. Given the gridlock in the UK courts, I could well imagine the UK posting an extradition request in the hope that the UAE refuses.
This is because the UAE is authorised to refuse the request if the person to be extradited instead faces UAE courts (unless a guilty verdict is returned and the UK offers a retrial under UK law, or a guilty verdict is returned and the person to be extradited completes their UAE sentence before extradition).
(The UAE’s stance on embezzlement without aggravating factors is that it is usually handled by a few months’ imprisonment plus reimbursement and/or fines, which is below the threshold for extradition. This may go some way towards explaining why British people accused of embezzlement consider it a place to escape).
COTD: Bottas’ most recent outing may have gone how it went, but he performed better in a top team than Perez, which matters more, as does his overall better statistical record.
BBC: Fred ultimately can’t speak for other teams, so he should be careful not to definitively assume everyone would do the same as Ferrari for that round, because that mightn’t necessarily be the case, after all, despite the upcoming TD.
Telegraph: Until yesterday, I didn’t know he even had a brother, let alone that any criminal activity would’ve been ongoing & in Dubai out of all places.
This case is definitely at least one of those ‘personal reasons’ for his resignation.
The other Telegraph article: ‘Appeared’ accidental, but wasn’t because he let his car slide towards Norris instead of keeping his steering wheel straight or moving it marginally rightwards.
Pato O’Ward again doing one of his two practice outings that count towards the team’s seasonal minimum in Mexico is ultimately understandable, given his nationality.
It’s always hilarious when people maintain that the drivers have near superhuman abilities to control their cars, and then instantly trot out the ‘he was not in control’ excuses when they use said abilities to mess with other drivers. It’s the old ‘suddenly understeer’ that Hamilton used to have at convenient moments.
Verstappen knew what he was doing, and it worked out great for him because Norris is too easily intimidated. And thus it will keep happening again and again.
He either gets a snap of something and corrects when someone is alongside him… or he flicks the steering wheel to warn them off.
There is a question of hear no evil, see no evil with certain drivers, and this has been the case going back years. People give those they like the benefit of the doubt, while they see the worst in those they don’t like. Yes, it can be innocent enough and people may not even notice that they do it, but it’s very apparent when someone is more partisan.
I don’t think anyone is superhuman, including Max. Considering the track condition at the start, he was more likely to lock up if he pushed it to the limits, which he did. He left the minimum allowable space for Lando, which I’m sure was completely calculated, but within the rules. The rule isn’t that Max should let Lando past, you see. To see how to examine what Max does and engineer an overtaking manoeuvre, see Oscar Piastri. Hopefully there are plenty more encounters between the pair this season. That was entertaining racing.
Im a Max admirer rather than fan, i initially thought he was a jumped up charmless bully and perhaps that is all still true but i do rate him high enough that he may think about sliding the car just enough. All drivers, of any note, have used the whole track to run a driver out of room, what Max was getting away with was way over that. HOWEVER i am salivating at the thought of Max and Oscar going head to head. The Iceman and the Maverick but this isnt Hollywood and i can see Max losing it with Oscar before Oscar cracks.
He either gets a snap of something and corrects when someone is alongside him… or he flicks the steering wheel to warn them off.
In the most recent incident, the onboard seemed to show the latter. Lando could be said to have overreacted to that flick, which was probably what Max expected. Job done.
I doubt he would try the same with Oscar though.
@jerejj BBC/Fred: I suppose a team might choose to break the regulation by bringing a wing that complies with the start-of-2025 regulations and not the rest-of-2025 regulations. Teams have been caught out by mid-season regulation changes and got themselves technical DSQs or other penalties in the past. However, it would be unsporting and complacent of Fred to assume that anyone will do something so self-defeating, so of course he won’t assume that.
The Hitech episode (phoenixing the company a few days before sanctions were applied to Mazepin) was always dubious, so it wouldn’t be terribly surprising if it came back to haunt Oakes now.
Innocent people always quit their jobs and go into hiding in countries that don’t extradite criminals. Maybe I’m wrong and he’ll show up on court and support his brother.
This does all seem like quite a coincidence and does give rise to some suspicions. Oliver’s brother is arrested. He resigns from Alpine and then it seems, goes directly to Dubai. Not via the U.K. Unless he just transferred at the airport.
Let’s see how quickly Oliver returns. It could all be completely innocent.
So Renault uphold their legacy of employing men with dubious moral standards.
On COTD:
He just was a bit underwhelming in terms of race craft and also a bit inconsistent with his race pace too.
Yeah, just a bit, nothing much. Certainly not to the extent that anyone important actually really noticed, and surely it shouldn’t really matter in the first place, if you’re near consistently incapable of delivering during the time where it actually matters, on race day.
But there were plenty of times he did deliver in the races in his most recent season. The results just didn’t show it. China as an example when he likely would have got points after qualifying well again and then retiring due to an engine problem. There were at least 3 other races where points looked likely but luck just didn’t go his way. In Qatar, he also performed a lot better than Zhou, but the luck went Zhou’s way. And when he last had a competitive car like at the start of 2022, he was finishing right up in the top 10, as high as 5th and 6th at a couple of races.
I would say he’s pretty much the best option available in terms of a solid and experienced driver out of drivers that are no longer on the grid. Perez has been poor for just too long now.
Sixty years ago today, May 9 was Mother’s Day here. And on lap 9 of the feature race, I lost a dear friend.
Nothing to do with this but I feel better saying I always remember.
I’m sure those who pay attention to the gaming world will have seen whats been happening with Codemasters with the recent scrapping of all future Rally titles.
Well unfortunately i’m hearing that Codemasters are now essentially dead and that the brand will almost certainly be shut down completely if EA opt not to renew the F1 licence once the current deal expires at the end of the year.
The rally team that was based in the main Codemasters studio at Southam in has been completely disbanded with a lot of the team made redundant and others having been shifted over to a support team working on the EA football game which is now the only game been worked on at the Southam site.
The team working on the F1 game at the Birmingham studio is essentially all that remains of Codemasters as it was but if they lose the F1 licence that studio will most likely be shut down with any remaining staff been moved to the Southam site to work as support on existing EA IP.
The Codemasters studio based in Malaysia is like Southam now working purely as support on EA IP as well as the F1 game.
As of now EA plans to do nothing with any of the existing Codemasters IP so the Dirt & Grid series are both completely dead along with Project Cars although that franchise will live on to some degree in the form of a spiritual successor ‘Project Motor Racing’ been developed by a chunk of the old Slight Mad Studio crew under the new studio name ‘Straight4 Studios’.
So yeah i’m afraid it’s looking very much like goodbye Codemasters.
Concern with iracing is could they make something that is accessible with a decent career mode because until now that isn’t something they have ever done to my knowledge.
I’m sure they could make something the online focused SIM crowd would love but that isn’t where a majority of people who play the F1 games are, they want something pick up and which they can play with a controller and go through a championship and/or story/career mode.
From my side the codies F1 games have issues but they are easy to pick up and play and fun to just dip in/out of and that’s what I mainly want from them. I just can’t really be bothered with the hardcore sim stuff now as I just don’t have the time to really learn and master them as I once did. That’s why for as much as I appreciated what the Dirt Rally games did I preferred the mainline Dirt series that was more pick up play in short bursts.
Unfortunately it was to be expected, EA did the same with other companies they bought. Codemasters was in financial troublesl and didn’t have much of a future as an independent company anyway. It’ll live in our memories.
Biggsy
9th May 2025, 2:42
So for once Briatore was actually telling the truth when he said it wasn’t about him or the decision to promote Colapinto.
It really was some family-related – albeit quite bizarre – thing that happened at the same time as the Colapinto’s promotion.
PacificPR (@streydt)
9th May 2025, 6:43
In hindsight it seems to make perfect sense if Briatore and Oakes are friends..
An Sionnach
9th May 2025, 4:38
Gary Anderson is right…
On Norris…
“…Norris was the one who ruined his own race through not driving smartly.”
(He also recommends that he learns from Piastri in a number of ways, including his approach to overtaking).
Similar to F1TV on Verstappen:
“Again, we saw some stout defending from Verstappen, but I do not believe he crossed the line.”
The William Oakes case seems fairly serious. Statement from the Met:
“William Oakes, 31, of Rugby was charged with transferring criminal property on Friday, May 2 after he was stopped in the Silverstone Park area in Northamptonshire on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in possession of a large amount of cash. He appeared before Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, May 3, and remanded in custody.”
The article speculates that it is linked with the ownership of Hitech Grand Prix and the Mazepins. It states that Oliver Oakes’ location is currently unknown, and that he is thought to have gone to Dubai after the Miami weekend. Might be a bit early to construe anything from this as it’s only been a few days.
On the comment of the day, I’d suggest that Bottas summarised his career aptly in that last outing: great qualifying, shame about the race.
Unicron (@unicron2002)
9th May 2025, 6:43
It’s nice to see a fellow Rugbeian hit the headlines… Oh dear oh dear.
SteveR (@stever)
9th May 2025, 4:39
When I first saw the Oakes’ item I thought one is not responsible for the actions of others, but after reading the link I’m wondering what was actually going on. Devious things possibly. The link is worth a read. Questions remain.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
9th May 2025, 5:43
Mazepin paid a “personal” visit to Oliver Oakes during Bahrain testing ahead of the F1 2025 season
anon
9th May 2025, 7:22
@stever there have been questions about Oliver Oakes’s dealings with Dmitry Mazepin for several years, with one MP openly suggesting that Oliver was acting as a proxy for Dmitry during a debate on tightening the legislation around money laundering in 2022.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
9th May 2025, 5:45
I need to figure out how to do quotes. To quote myself is just embarrassing.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2025, 6:00
I’ve tried a few times over the years, but never managed to get the quotation option work.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
9th May 2025, 9:40
Works on a laptop, doesnt on a phone,
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
9th May 2025, 10:08
Yep – works fine on my PC.
Coventry Climax
9th May 2025, 13:15
Guess what..
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
9th May 2025, 10:44
Ha! Show off
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2025, 14:47
@tonymansell Well, I use laptop, yet every time I’ve clicked ‘quote’ I’ve struggled to achieve the same outcome as most seem to achieve, i.e., the quoted part in smaller font above the main post.
osnola
9th May 2025, 15:50
Then try to manual type:
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2025, 17:16
osnola I’ll do my best.
SteveP
9th May 2025, 18:59
Two methods:
1. Click the quote button; paste in text after that; close the quote with a second quote button click
2. Copy paste some text; highlight/select the whole of that text; click on the quote button
If you’re familiar with HTML the blockquote start and end are standard HTML markers as per tutorial here
Every F1 fan is fully conversant with HTML markup of course… or not.
Zach (@zakspeedf1team)
9th May 2025, 5:59
The way Oakes dealt with questions about Mazepin (we’re friends, no I’m not going to answer any questions) in Bahrain really made me suspect there was something more to that, and now this happened. He (allegedly) went to Dubai, I won’t pretend I know how extradition treaties work, but I know that Dubai is very popular with people who have (allegedly) committed international financial crimes.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
9th May 2025, 19:50
@zakspeedf1team The UK has an extradition treaty with the UAE, and has done since December 2006. However, it is only usable if the action can be punished with a custodial sentence of at least 1 year in both the UK and UAE (or more severe, which includes but may not be restricted to “death penalty”). If there are aggravating factors (being an employee is considered an example aggravating factor in the UAE, but I do not know whether the UK also has this stance), UAE laws concerning embezzlement would in principle enable extradition, although there are a fair number of steps. Given the gridlock in the UK courts, I could well imagine the UK posting an extradition request in the hope that the UAE refuses.
This is because the UAE is authorised to refuse the request if the person to be extradited instead faces UAE courts (unless a guilty verdict is returned and the UK offers a retrial under UK law, or a guilty verdict is returned and the person to be extradited completes their UAE sentence before extradition).
(The UAE’s stance on embezzlement without aggravating factors is that it is usually handled by a few months’ imprisonment plus reimbursement and/or fines, which is below the threshold for extradition. This may go some way towards explaining why British people accused of embezzlement consider it a place to escape).
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2025, 5:59
COTD: Bottas’ most recent outing may have gone how it went, but he performed better in a top team than Perez, which matters more, as does his overall better statistical record.
BBC: Fred ultimately can’t speak for other teams, so he should be careful not to definitively assume everyone would do the same as Ferrari for that round, because that mightn’t necessarily be the case, after all, despite the upcoming TD.
Telegraph: Until yesterday, I didn’t know he even had a brother, let alone that any criminal activity would’ve been ongoing & in Dubai out of all places.
This case is definitely at least one of those ‘personal reasons’ for his resignation.
The other Telegraph article: ‘Appeared’ accidental, but wasn’t because he let his car slide towards Norris instead of keeping his steering wheel straight or moving it marginally rightwards.
Pato O’Ward again doing one of his two practice outings that count towards the team’s seasonal minimum in Mexico is ultimately understandable, given his nationality.
MichaelN
9th May 2025, 7:22
It’s always hilarious when people maintain that the drivers have near superhuman abilities to control their cars, and then instantly trot out the ‘he was not in control’ excuses when they use said abilities to mess with other drivers. It’s the old ‘suddenly understeer’ that Hamilton used to have at convenient moments.
Verstappen knew what he was doing, and it worked out great for him because Norris is too easily intimidated. And thus it will keep happening again and again.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2025, 7:33
The unfortunate reality as long as FIA doesn’t take any action.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
9th May 2025, 9:42
I thought Max let the car slide also but id be interested to know the Lewis ‘sudden understeer’ examples?
An Sionnach
9th May 2025, 11:28
He either gets a snap of something and corrects when someone is alongside him… or he flicks the steering wheel to warn them off.
There is a question of hear no evil, see no evil with certain drivers, and this has been the case going back years. People give those they like the benefit of the doubt, while they see the worst in those they don’t like. Yes, it can be innocent enough and people may not even notice that they do it, but it’s very apparent when someone is more partisan.
I don’t think anyone is superhuman, including Max. Considering the track condition at the start, he was more likely to lock up if he pushed it to the limits, which he did. He left the minimum allowable space for Lando, which I’m sure was completely calculated, but within the rules. The rule isn’t that Max should let Lando past, you see. To see how to examine what Max does and engineer an overtaking manoeuvre, see Oscar Piastri. Hopefully there are plenty more encounters between the pair this season. That was entertaining racing.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
9th May 2025, 16:16
Im a Max admirer rather than fan, i initially thought he was a jumped up charmless bully and perhaps that is all still true but i do rate him high enough that he may think about sliding the car just enough. All drivers, of any note, have used the whole track to run a driver out of room, what Max was getting away with was way over that. HOWEVER i am salivating at the thought of Max and Oscar going head to head. The Iceman and the Maverick but this isnt Hollywood and i can see Max losing it with Oscar before Oscar cracks.
SteveP
9th May 2025, 19:07
In the most recent incident, the onboard seemed to show the latter. Lando could be said to have overreacted to that flick, which was probably what Max expected. Job done.
I doubt he would try the same with Oscar though.
Ferdi
11th May 2025, 6:56
Ask Albon
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
9th May 2025, 19:29
@jerejj BBC/Fred: I suppose a team might choose to break the regulation by bringing a wing that complies with the start-of-2025 regulations and not the rest-of-2025 regulations. Teams have been caught out by mid-season regulation changes and got themselves technical DSQs or other penalties in the past. However, it would be unsporting and complacent of Fred to assume that anyone will do something so self-defeating, so of course he won’t assume that.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
9th May 2025, 7:36
The Hitech episode (phoenixing the company a few days before sanctions were applied to Mazepin) was always dubious, so it wouldn’t be terribly surprising if it came back to haunt Oakes now.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
9th May 2025, 11:07
Innocent people always quit their jobs and go into hiding in countries that don’t extradite criminals. Maybe I’m wrong and he’ll show up on court and support his brother.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
9th May 2025, 18:02
This does all seem like quite a coincidence and does give rise to some suspicions. Oliver’s brother is arrested. He resigns from Alpine and then it seems, goes directly to Dubai. Not via the U.K. Unless he just transferred at the airport.
Let’s see how quickly Oliver returns. It could all be completely innocent.
Coventry Climax
9th May 2025, 13:26
So Renault uphold their legacy of employing men with dubious moral standards.
On COTD:
Yeah, just a bit, nothing much. Certainly not to the extent that anyone important actually really noticed, and surely it shouldn’t really matter in the first place, if you’re near consistently incapable of delivering during the time where it actually matters, on race day.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
9th May 2025, 18:03
But there were plenty of times he did deliver in the races in his most recent season. The results just didn’t show it. China as an example when he likely would have got points after qualifying well again and then retiring due to an engine problem. There were at least 3 other races where points looked likely but luck just didn’t go his way. In Qatar, he also performed a lot better than Zhou, but the luck went Zhou’s way. And when he last had a competitive car like at the start of 2022, he was finishing right up in the top 10, as high as 5th and 6th at a couple of races.
I would say he’s pretty much the best option available in terms of a solid and experienced driver out of drivers that are no longer on the grid. Perez has been poor for just too long now.
Short Circuit (@jjohn)
9th May 2025, 14:23
Sixty years ago today, May 9 was Mother’s Day here. And on lap 9 of the feature race, I lost a dear friend.
Nothing to do with this but I feel better saying I always remember.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
9th May 2025, 19:53
@jjohn Thank you for remembering.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
9th May 2025, 15:49
I’m sure those who pay attention to the gaming world will have seen whats been happening with Codemasters with the recent scrapping of all future Rally titles.
Well unfortunately i’m hearing that Codemasters are now essentially dead and that the brand will almost certainly be shut down completely if EA opt not to renew the F1 licence once the current deal expires at the end of the year.
The rally team that was based in the main Codemasters studio at Southam in has been completely disbanded with a lot of the team made redundant and others having been shifted over to a support team working on the EA football game which is now the only game been worked on at the Southam site.
The team working on the F1 game at the Birmingham studio is essentially all that remains of Codemasters as it was but if they lose the F1 licence that studio will most likely be shut down with any remaining staff been moved to the Southam site to work as support on existing EA IP.
The Codemasters studio based in Malaysia is like Southam now working purely as support on EA IP as well as the F1 game.
As of now EA plans to do nothing with any of the existing Codemasters IP so the Dirt & Grid series are both completely dead along with Project Cars although that franchise will live on to some degree in the form of a spiritual successor ‘Project Motor Racing’ been developed by a chunk of the old Slight Mad Studio crew under the new studio name ‘Straight4 Studios’.
So yeah i’m afraid it’s looking very much like goodbye Codemasters.
rpla
9th May 2025, 20:37
Would be interesting if iRacing would acquire the F1 license instead.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
9th May 2025, 21:22
Concern with iracing is could they make something that is accessible with a decent career mode because until now that isn’t something they have ever done to my knowledge.
I’m sure they could make something the online focused SIM crowd would love but that isn’t where a majority of people who play the F1 games are, they want something pick up and which they can play with a controller and go through a championship and/or story/career mode.
From my side the codies F1 games have issues but they are easy to pick up and play and fun to just dip in/out of and that’s what I mainly want from them. I just can’t really be bothered with the hardcore sim stuff now as I just don’t have the time to really learn and master them as I once did. That’s why for as much as I appreciated what the Dirt Rally games did I preferred the mainline Dirt series that was more pick up play in short bursts.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
10th May 2025, 2:18
Unfortunately it was to be expected, EA did the same with other companies they bought. Codemasters was in financial troublesl and didn’t have much of a future as an independent company anyway. It’ll live in our memories.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
11th May 2025, 11:45
Sad news indeed. I really enjoyed the tone of their games over the years.
rpla
9th May 2025, 20:36
Would be interesting if iRacing would acquire the F1 license instead.
Jere (@jerejj)
10th May 2025, 8:44
At least the official games would be sim rather than arcade type.