Welcome to Friday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
Will the new rules for the 2026 F1 season create better racing? @Esmiz has doubts:
I normally like changes, and I always try to give new regulations a chance when they come out, but I think the FIA is still confusing things (in my opinion):
1. The fans doesn’t want “more overtaking”. We want a fight on the track. Today, on many tracks, there are hundreds of “motorway-style” overtaking manoeuvres that are exactly as boring as watching everyone else race in a row. They are indefensible overtaking manoeuvres, and they’re not fun at all.
2. When it comes to tyres, I think they’re also wrong. It’s not about making them “easier” or “difficult” or softer or harder; it should be about being able to push. If a driver knows that a failed overtaking attempt means they’ll have to slow down in the next five laps to get their tyres back to their “optimal performance,” what they’re going to do is not try to overtake. And if they don’t do it on their own, the engineers will force them to. It’s about having wheels that don’t have to operate within such restrictive parameters that anything out of the ordinary would damage them to such an extent.
3. I think it’s good that cars are more difficult to drive. But at the same time, I think it’s more important that the car feels agile and twitchy than outright difficult. Current cars look like trucks in slow corners, and from what Paffett says, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to be much better.
@Esmiz
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Rob A, Warner16, Lotus 49, Warner and Lotus49!
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Paul (@frankjaeger)
16th May 2025, 0:20
Couldn’t agree more with the COTD. DRS overtakes are boring and basically just a formality position swap sometimes. These tyres are way to tedious and sensitive, they should be able to simply push hard on them, then they fall of a cliff after a point, instead of all this black magic to get them operating in this very specific window. It’s sad the state of the racing sometimes, even though I am aware it hasn’t always been good in the past
Jere (@jerejj)
16th May 2025, 6:41
”DRS overtakes are boring and basically just a formality position swap sometimes.”
– Far from reality, especially on the least overtaking-friendly circuits.
S Arkazam
16th May 2025, 7:17
You are only right insofar as that on a motorway the overtaking car gets a temporary advantage which isn’t available to the one being overtaken.
SteveR (@stever)
16th May 2025, 2:04
This doesn’t pass the smell test and looks to be more manipulation towards re-election by MBS. I’m not suggesting Hamilton is incapable of such a role, but with the election coming up and the shenanigans going on with the FIA governing rules……
Jack (@jt1234)
16th May 2025, 2:48
100%, MBS guy is a weasel.
SteveP
16th May 2025, 7:02
That’s not a nice thing to say.
Weasels everywhere are feeling insulted.
Ferdi
17th May 2025, 10:26
:-)
Ferdi
17th May 2025, 10:27
Hahaha, good one.
Alan Dove
16th May 2025, 6:33
Anthony has been doing this kind of thing for years, it’s not some invention by MBS.
S Arkazam
16th May 2025, 7:20
The timing might be though.
But at least it seems there are no objections to the parents of current F1 drivers to join FIA.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
16th May 2025, 18:29
Honestly it wouldn’t be a bad idea if the dads of current F1 drivers had some sort of option/honor to do some traveling and speak to young kids and their families.
MichaelN
16th May 2025, 7:28
This guy just can’t win with some people. Either he’s bad, or he’s doing this just to get elected.
Fact is, the FIA has many people involved in all manner of projects. I suspect most people, even here among ardent fans, couldn’t name all the vice-presidents of the FIA, or the key members of the WMSC. All of whom have far more influence than Anthony Hamilton would have in this role.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
16th May 2025, 10:37
@stever There are two options:
1) Apply the new governance regulations strictly and disqualify Ben Sulayem from running for President
2) Disapply them and tell the Sainz family that they can still be manager-F1 driver after they are elected.
Setting a regulation and then disapplying it to one’s own team makes Sulayem a hypocrite and thus not qualified for the role for which he seeks re-election. Applying it would obviously disqualify him.
Anthony Hamilton is richly-qualified for the role to which he’s being appointed, which shows the absurdity of the regulations themselves. However, Sulayem made his bed and now has to lie in it.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
16th May 2025, 18:25
Lewis and MBS are not exactly friends you know. Probably has something to do with 2021.
Ferdi
17th May 2025, 10:42
That I do not understand at all, it’s rather the other way around and they owe a lot to MBS. Over the course of 2021 Lewis benefited so many times from the FIA lending a hand and meddling with the outcomes of races:
– There was the unparalleled in-season tyre change hugely benefitting the rear end of the Mercedes.
– There was incredible leniency wrt Lewis’ penalty ice a red flag in Silverstone.
– Then there was the flexwing thing the FIA turned a blind eye to in favour of Mercedes.
– Another blind eye towards the misuse by Mercedes of the spirit of the engine regulation, allowing them to create free rocket ships whenever they wanted, enabling them to go from last on the grid to the podium.
– A couple of very very well timed red flags helped bringing Lewis back in contention as well.
– Then there was the FIA eagerly following the ridiculous idea to clip RedBulls pit stop advantage.
Seriously, a season is way more than a single race. Yes, that final race things did not exactly go according the book either as most of the season, but way more happened before that last race. It was by far the most rigged season I have ever witnessed in this sport. I guess we do agree on the latter, so that’s a positive.
Jere (@jerejj)
16th May 2025, 6:39
COTD: I know I’ve been pointing this out many times, but motorway-style passes are far from a regular thing or something that happens on ‘many’ tracks, as they’ve mostly been limited to Spa-Francorchamps’ Kemmel straight.
Elsewhere, they’ve mostly been a cause of either a big tyre or car delta, or both combined.
I get the point about tyres to some extent, but the difficult thing is that people complain regardless of what Pirelli does.
The next-generation cars will definitely be more agile through slow corners than the current-generation cars, although the provisional minimum car+driver weight choice is still higher than in all pre-2022 seasons.
S Arkazam
16th May 2025, 7:23
You seem to have missed Miami.
It was disheartening how often a driver just gave up defending a position on the long DRS straight.
Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
16th May 2025, 7:42
Happy birthday to all the people and their doubles
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
16th May 2025, 8:49
Second race in a row a leading driver misses the media day. For a different reason this time, presumably.
Leo B
16th May 2025, 9:47
Lewis’s dad is not especially qualified to advise the FIA on anything other than, maybe, VIP facilities offered at different circuits.
But I will not join in the pervasive hate on these pages directed at Sulayem. For me personally F1 drivers swearing in their public conversations is NOT something I would strongly encourage as per many friends here. That’s just one issue out of many.
isthatglock21
16th May 2025, 11:02
lol ah yes, you mean the guy with decades of experience around the F1/junior paddock, who knows everyone at every level with deep connections, knows all about junior karting, guided his son to the top of F1 & then continued to be an F1 manager (Paul Di Resta) & generally stayed active in the paddock isn’t qualified for such a role? lol. You realise these advisor roles always go to people like this, you can’t exactly go to uni & study/become an expert on this kind of role. These ad-hoc advisor roles are all about knowing the industry & having a deep contact book from junior to F1l level, which Hamilton Sr has.
Ferdi
17th May 2025, 10:44
I wouldn’t dismiss Anthony’s experience that simple. The good man has been around for quite some time and definitely knows what he is talking about.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
16th May 2025, 12:18
Further to the excellent COTD we want more dicing not more overtaking. The current DRS doesnt give us dicing like we saw Max deciding to have some fun with last weekend. Not only do the 1000 employees just want you to sail by with DRS on a straight they dont want you to dice. The rules, the engineers, the sponsors and lastly the nut behind the wheel dont want or are allowed to dice. Pretty depressing thought.
Ferdi
17th May 2025, 10:48
Whilst I agree, I more and more get the impression people don’t want dicing and fighting on track at all. Because as soon as it happens they scream and yell and start blame storming. I believe they want 2010-2020 processional racing in which the leader is led by the others (if needed at all since 90% of the time the leader would just drive off into the distance from pole) given they know it is futile to fight and are more concerned with their own finishing position from 3th on. As soon as there is action on track, people seem to loose it, especially when their man doesn’t come out on top.
Esmiz (@esmiz)
16th May 2025, 18:36
Oh! COTD? Thanks for the honor :)
Coventry Climax
17th May 2025, 1:13
On fake F1 merchanise:
Well, if you sell 2 dollar caps for 200 dollar, don’t be surprised if someone starts copying them.
They probably come from the same factory too.