ThePitcrewOnline

Jack Prentice

  • The F1 Driver Who Is Already Under Pressure In 2026

    The F1 Driver Who Is Already Under Pressure In 2026

    On the face of it, two races into a season is very early to be talking about a driver losing his place on the Formula One grid, Red Bull and Liam Lawson from last year excepted.

    But it is a position that Esteban Ocon could find himself in come season’s end if performances relative to young teammate Ollie Bearman do not improve, with Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu admitting at launch that the team “expect(s) more” from Ocon in 2026.

    Ocon joined the team as an Alpine refugee, giving up his seat one race early at the end of 2024 after a tumultuous two years as teammate to Pierre Gasly came to a head when Ocon ran into Gasly at the Monaco Grand Prix, with the former publicly admonished by then Team Principal Bruno Famin. That followed another acrimonious ending to a teammate partnership with Fernando Alonso two years prior.

    The one time Grand Prix winner was 15th in the Drivers’ Championship standings in 2025, three points off 20-year-old Bearman and Ocon is yet to score this season, while Bearman has two top 7 finishes in a Haas that looks a strong contender for points in the early races of F1’s new era in 2026, while comparisons from last season can be split almost exactly between the first and second halves.

    2025 Rounds 1-13

    In the first half of last season, Ocon seemed a good fit for an improving Haas team as a rapid but raw Bearman would often match the Frenchman for pace if not consistency. This showed in Ocon’s slender average Grand Prix qualifying pace advantage throughout the first half of 2025 of 0.013s, excluding sprints and the Australian Grand Prix where Bearman failed to set a lap time following a crash in practice.

    A disappointing start in Australia as the team briefly struggled with ride heights and balance around the high speed Albert Park circuit was followed up with an excellent fifth for the Frenchman in the Chinese Grand Prix, which coupled with eighth place for Bearman confirmed the team’s second highest ever points haul since their inception in 2016.

    Ocon would then follow that up with an opportunistic eighth place at the Bahrain Grand Prix two rounds later, before began a run of ten Grands Prix without a points finish, save for two points in the Belgian Sprint race.

    Ocon, who by now was in his eighth full season in F1 looked on paper to have the measure of the Brit on race day, having finished ahead seven times to three in the ten races where both drivers finished, and scored further points with seventh place in Monaco, ninth in Canada and a point for tenth in Austria alongside a Sprint fifth place in Belgium.

    At this point, he led Bearman 27 points to 8, with notable errors including crashing under red flags in practice at Silverstone seeing the Brit pick up four penalty points and a ten place grid penalty before both men collided in the Grand Prix as one example of the team leaving points on the table early on.

    2025 Rounds 14-24

    The summer break marked an upturn in form for Bearman, while Ocon grew less comfortable in the car following an undertray upgrade brought to the British Grand Prix.

    Bearman put in an excellent charge from the back of the grid in the Netherlands to finish sixth and followed that up with well executed races to ninth place in Singapore and Texas ahead of a more headline grabbing end of season.

    That paled in contrast with Ocon’s struggles, with a particular low point in Azerbaijan as braking struggles stymied his weekend on the way to 14th before an 18th placed finish in Singapore.

    After a major upgrade package was brought to the Circuit of the Americas, Bearman’s season peaked in Mexico with a fourth position finish as he briefly threatened a podium in amongst the chaos caused by Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton’s early battle, but he was able to keep behind title challenger Oscar Piastri and both Mercedes drivers, Kimi Antonelli and George Russell on pure race pace.

    He followed that up with sixth place in a chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix for another flawless drive to finish as best of the rest once again and move well clear of Ocon in the standings, with the Frenchman recovering to take seventh place in the Abu Dhabi finale.

    2026 – and what has Komatsu said?

    Bearman has continued the form that has led to calls for his promotion to the Ferrari team of which he is a member of their junior driver academy.

    For much of the Australian Grand Prix weekend the two were evenly matched and started Bearman 12th and Ocon 13th, but the race was a different story.

    Ocon renewed rivalries with former teammate Gasly to finish outside of the points in eleventh, while a strong start for the Brit saw Bearman take seventh ahead of RB’s Arvid Lindblad.

    While the Frenchman could count himself unfortunate at the timing of a Safety Car at the Chinese Grand Prix, it is inescapable that a chance for good points went begging solely because of a clumsy move to hit the Alpine of Franco Colapinto after he left the pits, with a top eight finish more than likely. That would have backed up a fifth place for Bearman and left Haas third in the early Constructors’ Standings.

    It is a trend that Team Principal Komatsu has been picking up on since the autumn of last year, telling The Race: “I’m not saying he’s (Ocon) slow, but when he’s not 100% comfortable with the car, he cannot go there. Whereas Ollie, Ollie will drive around anything.”

    At the launch of this season’s car in January, that feedback became more pointed.

    He told F1.com, “If you look purely at a sporting result, without going into details, for sure nobody is satisfied with Esteban’s sporting result last year.

    “He’s a team mate against a rookie – yes, an amazing rookie, but nonetheless he’s got 10 years of F1 under his belt. He’s a race winner, he’s a podium finisher, so we expected more from him. Obviously it’s not totally his fault. Sometimes as a team we couldn’t give him the car that he was comfortable [with].”

    The Frenchman’s contract is thought to expire at the end of this season, and having fallen out with Alpine and what was Force India prior to their Stroll-backed takeover, no realistic prospect of a drive at another midfield team and with no top drive likely, it’s difficult to see where else he’d fit in what could be a very busy silly season ahead of 2027 should he fail to convince Komatsu.

    Ocon’s start to the season has done little to ease his situation, and after losing out to a rookie in 2025, 2026 is threatening to become a Sophomore smashing at the hands of Ollie Bearman.

     

     

  • Kimi Antonelli Dominates Chinese Grand Prix For First Ever F1 Victory

    Kimi Antonelli Dominates Chinese Grand Prix For First Ever F1 Victory

    Kimi Antonelli took a lights to flag win at the Shanghai International Circuit to win the Chinese Grand Prix for his first ever victory.

    Antonelli led home Mercedes teammate George Russell to become the first Italian since Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix to win a Formula One Grand Prix and the result puts the Italian four points behind Russell at top of the fledgling 2026 Drivers’ Championship standings.

    The podium was completed by Lewis Hamilton, who took his first podium in a Grand Prix for Ferrari following a race long battle with teammate Charles Leclerc, with Ollie Bearman continuing his strong start to the season in fifth for Haas.

    Pierre Gasly’s sixth place represented a return to form for Alpine ahead of a resurgent Liam Lawson in the RB, with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar recovering to eighth following a spin on lap one ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz in ninth and Franco Colapinto, who scored his first points since the US GP of 2024 in tenth for Alpine.

    Max Verstappen retired on lap 47 with a Power Unit failure from sixth, having recovered from a poor start in an underwhelming Red Bull.

    Of 22 cars, only 18 took to the start as Alex Albon for Williams, Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi and both McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were unable to start due to technical problems, with Piastri still having not completed a Grand Prix lap this season following a crash on his reconnaissance lap last week.

    As has become a theme in 2026, the fast starting Ferraris leapt towards the front as polesitter Antonelli moved to cover off teammate Russell, allowing Hamilton to swoop for the lead as Leclerc attacked Antonelli for second – the Italian holding out and re-taking the lead from Hamilton soon after.

    Russell was able to deal with the Ferraris by the end of lap 4 to take second place as the race settled down, before Lance Stroll’s retirement with another Honda engine issue in his Aston Martin sparked a Safety Car on lap 11.

    Antonelli was able to retain his lead having pitted for hard tyres as Russell dropped behind Esteban Ocon and Colapinto, who had stayed out, and a tough race was compounded when the Brit lost out to former teammate Hamilton and Leclerc in short order following the restart, to drop to sixth.

    The three frontrunners were able to pass Ocon and a particularly stubborn Colapinto, who proved a roadblock to the two Haas’, teammate Gasly and Verstappen before Bearman opened the floodgates on lap 22 with a move into the hairpin at Turn 15, Gasly and Verstappen following shortly after as the tyre advantage told.

    That gave way to a mid race scrap between Leclerc and Hamilton that saw a Scuderia battle see-saw until a lockup for Leclerc on lap 38, with the Ferraris side by side through turns one and two on numerous occasions as a frustrated Russell watched on behind in fourth.

    Russell would be past them by lap 30 but could do nothing about teammate Antonelli ahead as he was forced to settle for second.

    Further back it was another mature drive from Ollie Bearman as the Brit, in his second season, was fifth having had to avoid a spinning Hadjar on lap one, which saw him drop back to 12th.

    Bearman recovered in part due to the Safety Car allowing him to pit, but the pace was strong and prior to Verstappen’s retirement he had kept the Dutchman at arm’s length.

    This was in stark contrast to experienced teammate Esteban Ocon, who was compromised due to that very Safety Car as he started on the Hard tyres compared to Bearman’s mediums, but the Frenchman wasted a chance to score strong points by needlessly running into the back of Colapinto as the Argentine exited the pits.

    Ocon was already placed on notice by Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu prior to the start of the season, and a torrid start to 2026 will not have helped the former Alpine driver.

    His former team this week delivered on the promise shown in testing, as Gasly followed up his seventh place qualifying with sixth in the race, notwithstanding the McLarens failing to start he kept pace with Verstappen’s Red Bull and were it not for a delay in the pits, he had the pace for fifth place.

    The previously maligned Colapinto put in a similarly mature performance in holding off drivers on fresher tyres for 10 laps prior to Bearman’s pass on lap 22, and would have been likely to finish inside the top eight were it not for Ocon’s brain fade on lap 33.

    While Cadillac were able to get both cars to the finish, both Aston Martins were forced to retire as Stroll stopped with an engine issue on lap 11, while Alonso could only last 32 laps before the now infamous vibrations left his hands numb.

  • Honda’s future in F1 at stake if they cannot fix latest problems

    Honda’s future in F1 at stake if they cannot fix latest problems

    The 2026 Formula One season is now underway, and while Mercedes confirmed themselves to have the best chassis and engine, it was another engine supplier whose performance was the biggest talking point in Melbourne.

    Honda sounded warning signs about the performance of its engine from pretty early on in pre-season, but nothing could have prepared both it and F1 team partner Aston Martin for the pain that it would endure during the two official test sessions and the Australian Grand Prix.

    Lance Stroll failed to run at all on Saturday and both he and Fernando Alonso were unclassified on Sunday due to the need to save engine components as Honda tries to work out what’s causing all of its reliability problems.

    Regulations mandate this season that the power is split almost 50/50 from the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and the electrical element from the battery, with 350kw (469 bhp) supplied from the retained MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit – Kinetic) – which harvests energy from  braking, coasting and on throttle.

    Expectations set very low on Thursday

    The writing was on the wall as early as the Thursday media day when Design Technical Partner and Team Principal Adrian Newey and Honda Racing Company’s F1 boss Koji Watanabe called a press conference, after being unable to run on the final day of testing two weeks prior in Bahrain due to battery issues and a lack of stock.

    That session drew enough headlines to last an entire weekend, where Newey revealed that excessive vibrations from the ICE was causing the battery to fail (this would eventually leave the team with two working batteries going into Saturday) but more strikingly was a possible risk to the drivers’ long term health.

    “That vibration into the chassis is causing a few reliability problems. Mirrors falling off, tail lights falling off – all that sort of thing, which we are having to address. But the much more significant problem is that the vibration is transmitted ultimately into the driver’s fingers,” Newey began.

    “So Fernando is of the feeling that he can’t do more than 25 laps consecutively before he will risk permanent nerve damage to his hands. Lance is of the opinion that he can’t do more than 15 laps before that threshold.”

    Honda introduced countermeasures aimed at reducing the effects of those vibrations but even after two weeks of testing on the dyno at their factory in Japan, they still have not been able to identify the root cause of those vibrations. While that remains the case, Honda will not be able to solve that problem and extract any more performance from an engine widely thought to be the weakest in terms of power output, behind newcomers Audi and Red Bull/Ford.

    And when they got to the track?

    Friday and Saturday went broadly as Newey warned it would.

    Alonso failed to run in the first Friday Practice while Stroll completed three laps, while in FP2 Stroll ran 13 laps and Alonso 18.

    Stroll may as well have stayed at his hotel on Saturday as he failed to run in either the third practice or in qualifying. Alonso did complete 20 laps in FP3 but was unsurprisingly out of qualifying in the first session, outqualifying only the Cadillac duo of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez while Carlos Sainz of Williams, Stroll and Max Verstappen failed to set a time.

    A crash for the McLaren of Oscar Piastri on his way to the grid, and a DNS for Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg promoted both men up the grid by two spots. Alonso ended up 10th on the opening lap before a lack of power and reliability curtailed his afternoon as he completed 21 laps. Stroll, fresh from his enforced Saturday hiatus, saw the chequered flag – albeit 15 laps down.

    This was broadly in line with what was briefed, with Newey explaining that “we will need to be very restricted on how many laps we do in the race until we get on top of the source of the vibration and improve the vibration at source.”

    Hasn’t Honda been here before?

    Fernando Alonso was driving for McLaren when it disastrously linked up with Honda in 2015

    On the face of it, yes.

    Honda announced that they would return to Formula One in 2015 with McLaren towards the end of 2013, with the hope being that they could rekindle the glory days of the late 1980s and the early 1990s.

    To say that failed to materialise would be a catastrophic understatement as the three year partnership ended with McLaren breaking its contract at the end of 2017 to conclude a partnership that failed to even yield a podium and became synonymous with endless engine failures and a lack of performance.

    The reality is that there is more nuance to this, more reasons to be positive and more questions about how Honda found itself in this position yet again.

    In 2015 McLaren demanded that Honda fit its Power Unit within the team’s bold “size zero packaging” requirements that Honda simply couldn’t, and the upshot was that McLaren would almost relentlessly brief the media that the car and chassis was up to standard and being let down by the engine.

    McLaren did not compromise throughout those three years, and would ultimately find out the hard way that was not the case, only returning to true competitiveness in 2023.

    Honda and Red Bull linked up in 2019 and built a good working relationship with Newey in his previous role at the head of the Red Bull design department, and Newey referenced that with his comments on Thursday about Honda “having a track record” of recovering from a bad start to engine regulations.

    Honda announced it would leave Red Bull and F1 at the end of 2021 in early 2020, but gave Red Bull and sister team Alpha Tauri (Now Racing Bulls) technical support over the next two years.

    Honda will now be operating under an engine budget cap of $130m and so cannot just throw money and resource at the problem, and will be limited by upgrade windows to a maximum of two upgrades this season, in the name of reliability.

    Did Aston Martin know about these issues before the season started?

    Another telling quote from Newey revealed that Honda’s engine department had been gutted in that time away, and he estimates that 30% of the original engine department remain now.

    “Honda pulled out at the end of 2021. They then re-entered the sport kind of at the end of 2022, so roughly a year and a bit out of the competition. When they reformed a lot of the original group had, it now transpires, disbanded, gone to work on solar panels or whatever. So a lot of the group that reformed are actually fresh to Formula 1, they didn’t bring the experience that they had had previously.

    “Plus, when they came back in 2023 that was the first year of the budget cap introduction for engines so all their rivals had been developing away through ’21 and ’22 with continuity the existing team and free of budget cap.”

    He then went on to reveal Aston Martin were not aware of that when the deal was agreed to link up in 2024 ready for 2026, and that Aston Martin were not aware of any performance deficit until a meeting in Tokyo in November last year to discuss rumours of Honda missing its targets back in November.

    Those unusually candid comments point to a frustration felt by the higher ups at Aston Martin, alongside comments made on the chassis (sound familiar?!) that it was the fifth best with scope to be the most competitive.

    That is not to absolve the team of any blame for this, as while they were not in charge of the Honda engine department and didn’t oversee any of the reassignments, quitting and re-entering F1, the fact they did not know about all of this points to a lack of due diligence done ahead of signing off on the deal to leave a now all-conquering Mercedes to partner with Honda.

    Time will tell on whether Honda can recover again, should they not this crisis could end up costing them their future in Formula One.

     

    Image credit: Pirelli F1 Media

     

  • PitCrew Online F1 2025 Driver Rankings Revealed

    PitCrew Online F1 2025 Driver Rankings Revealed

    Ranking the 2025 grid is not an exact science, as there are a myriad of factors behind any driver’s performance across a season.

    Still, eight members of the Pit Crew Online have tried to do just that with each member placing emphasis on different factors.

    These rankings are taken from a mean average of where those eight members have ranked every driver, with lowest average to highest average.

    So, with that introduction done, let’s start with the lowest ranked driver.

    21: Jack Doohan
    It feels harsh to judge Doohan on the basis of six races, but Doohan was on a hiding to nothing given his position was subject to rumour even before the season started. Some high profile crashes in Australia, Japan and Miami made the probable inevitable, but the Australian did have some highs and deserved points in Bahrain but for a safety car. Needs to leave the Alpine stable.

    20: Franco Colapinto
    Colapinto arrived at Alpine with a big fee and a big reputation, but got off to a horrible start after a needless crash in qualifying at Imola. For a while, he was nowhere and not helped by rookie errors such as switching the car off in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix. He will benefit from stability going into 2026.

    19: Yuki Tsunoda
    A strong start at Racing Bulls ultimately proved his undoing as he became the latest victim of Red Bull’s second seat. A solid start to his Red Bull career at the Japanese Grand Prix foreshadowed what was to be the root of most of his problems, as his lack of qualifying pace in an albeit tricky car meant he was always out of position. Another to crash in qualifying at Imola, his spectacular accident spooked Red Bull and meant until Laurent Mekies took over from the sacked Christian Horner after the British Grand Prix, he was always a spec behind teammate Max Verstappen. 2025 reputational damage was complete when he dangerously weaved in front of Lando Norris in Abu Dhabi like a poor man’s Sergio Perez. Out of F1 for 2026.

    18: Lance Stroll
    It is abundantly clear that only family has kept Lance Stroll in Formula One for ten seasons. A fortunate but nevertheless impressive sixth in the season opening Australian Grand Prix soon gave way to a now familiar mix of frustration and a lack of pace. Was the only car lapped in Japan at the third round and thereafter failed to finish above 14th until an excellent 7th at the British Grand Prix in July. Save for two more 7th places in Hungary and the Netherlands, this wasn’t backed up and the Canadian admitted to being lost compared to teammate Fernando Alonso.

    17: Liam Lawson
    Lawson looked on a one-way ticket out of Formula One after demotion from Red Bull after two races. The New Zealander regrouped at Racing Bulls and after his first top 10 of the season at the Monaco Grand Prix, points were semi regular. In the final 8 races, he outpointed lauded teammate Isack Hadjar with brilliant drives in Baku and Brazil and after three years of upheaval for Lawson within the Red Bull stable, 2026 offers the first year of stability. He showed himself to be the right choice to be incoming rookie Arvid Lindblad’s benchmark next season, but his career at the top of F1 appears over before it’s begun.

    16: Esteban Ocon
    If this ranking was during the summer break, Ocon would likely have made the top 10. Showed real class in a drive to 5th in China (albeit assisted by a Ferrari double DSQ) and impressed with 8th in Bahrain, but was buried by rookie teammate Ollie Bearman in the second half of the season to finish behind the Brit in the standings, and qualified on average 1.2 places behind. As Haas’ base pace improved, Ocon was often lost on setup and the car got often got away from him. His reputation has taken significant damage this season.

    15: Lewis Hamilton
    If Hamilton had thought a fresh start for 2025 at Ferrari would rejuvenate his form after a sad end to a wonderful Mercedes partnership, he was sorely mistaken. A sprint win in China was as good as it got as the 7-time World Champion was soundly beaten by one of the current best in Charles Leclerc. The Brit was not helped by a Ferrari team who came up with a totally new concept in the final season a rules cycle and failing to understand their car, and it took both team and driver a long time to adjust to one another. His first year off a Grand Prix podium in 19 seasons in the sport says much about how the year went. He cut disconsolate figure at the end of the season, with the final four races seeing him out of Q1 and relying on recovery drives to score in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi. It feels like 2026 could be farewell for a legend of the sport.

    14: Gabriel Bortoleto
    Save for a comment by former Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko about being a B grade rookie, Bortoleto’s first half of the season went under the radar as an uncompetitive Sauber had him out of the limelight. Sauber got their act together and points followed in Austria, while he outraced none other than Max Verstappen with an excellent sixth in Hungary. He troubled esteemed teammate Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying throughout the season but will be disappointed that a few rookie errors crept in with two needless crashes in Brazil and another in Las Vegas. Part of a strong lineup for 2026 as Sauber becomes Audi.

    13: Pierre Gasly
    Gasly has proven difficult to rank in what was clearly the worst car. Some excellent drives include a seventh in Bahrain, eighth at the ultimately chaotic Spanish Grand Prix and a brilliant sixth at the wet British Grand Prix. Made Q3 10 times in a car that had absolutely no business being there, but with Alpine moving to customer Mercedes status for 2026 there should be scope for better things for the Frenchman.

    12: Nico Hulkenberg
    2025 will be remembered as the year the German finally broke his podium duck, with a perfectly judged third place at Silverstone. Outqualified 11 times by rookie teammate Bortoleto, it was his Sunday pace that impressed most in 2025 with nine points finishes and another top five in Spain. A strong end to the season for the German yielded an unexpected 11th in the standings as he showed himself to be a sensible choice as Audi embark on their first F1 adventure in 2026.

    11: Ollie Bearman
    Bearman’s potential was highlighted with his parachuted performances for Haas and Ferrari in 2024, and he backed that up in his first full season in F1 at Haas in 2025. Three points finishes in the first four races was a good start, and while rookie errors such as crashing under red flags at Silverstone and needless collisions have him close to a race ban, he can be pleased with his season. As Haas got quicker, so did he and he buried experienced teammate Ocon in the second half of the season, with a brilliant drive to fourth in Mexico threatening a first ever Haas podium the pick of the bunch. Looking like Ferrari’s long-term answer.

    10: Alex Albon
    While he outscored new teammate Carlos Sainz over 2025, his late season slump was alarming as the Spaniard eventually got the upper hand in the final third of the season and it is that momentum that has counted against him here. However, his excellent form before the summer break shouldn’t be ignored and he was for a long time battling Antonelli for 7th in the standings. Four top fives in a body of work containing 11 points finishes show that when the top four teams had an off day it was him more than most that picked up the spoils, and if he can regain that form for 2026 then Williams have a formidable driver pairing for F1’s new era.

    9: Kimi Antonelli
    Antonelli made a consistent start with three top 6 finishes in the first three races including a wonderful fourth on debut that showed his sky-high potential. He went missing in the European season when Mercedes brought in a suspension upgrade they would later drop. There were some rookie errors along the way, such as when he took Verstappen out on lap 1 in Austria and spun predecessor Hamilton in Holland. Showed good mental strength to bounce back in the final third of the season and almost take 6th overall. Two third places in Canada and Las Vegas were good if fortuitous, but his second place in Sao Paolo was another glimpse of his world class talent. Plenty to improve on but a very high ceiling.

    8: Isack Hadjar
    Hadjar suffered a nightmare debut in Australia by crashing out on the formation lap and attracting a needless comment from Helmut Marko. To bounce back as he did with strong pace in China and points in Suzuka was impressive, and the Frenchman carried on that improvement throughout the season. There was bad luck and bad RB strategy along the way notably in Qatar and China, while crashing in qualifying in Austin is a mark against him. Hadjar has shown enough about him to suggest he won’t be overawed by being Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate in 2026.

    7: Fernando Alonso
    That he took until Round 9 in Spain to score his first points was more down to luck than the Spaniard as reliability problems proved costly in China and Monaco, and the Aston Martin wasn’t strong enough to compete. That said, there were costly errors with a crash in Melbourne and a spin in Qatar to drop out of the top 6, but he comprehensively outperformed Stroll again. If Adrian Newey works his magic, 2026 could roll back the years for F1’s oldest driver.

    6: Carlos Sainz
    It is too simplistic to say that Sainz was poor in the first half and great in the second half of 2025. Sainz was on for points before crashing in Australia, and while he was outperformed early season by Albon there were good races in Saudi Arabia, Imola and Miami while Williams found his technical feedback and mentality invaluable. While he went missing in Spain and Japan and had a needless collision with Antonelli in Austin, Sainz got the upper hand on Albon in the second half of the season culminating in two podiums, on merit, in Baku and Qatar. If Williams master the 2026 regulations, he and Albon will make the most of it.

    5: Charles Leclerc
    Leclerc was a victim of Ferrari’s strange design path from the start of 2025, and took it to six front row starts that the car didn’t deserve. There were a couple of poor races including another horrible wet British Grand Prix outing but this season was another where the car was the issue and not the driver. 2025 being winless does not reflect how good this season was for the Monegasque as he firmly asserted himself over 7 time Champion Hamilton. He must wonder whether it will ever happen for him at Ferrari.

    4: Oscar Piastri
    If this was compiled after Monza, Piastri would top the standings. Unfortunately the Australian’s season completely unravelled after a disastrous weekend in Baku, and he revealed later in the season that being asked to swap positions with teammate Norris in Monza affected him. He was never able to wrestle back control of the season and by Mexico he had fallen behind his teammate in the Championship standings. Despite this, there was a lot of good as he dominated Norris in the first 15 races of the season and the run from China through to Holland was peerless as he was off the podium only once in Canada during that run. He will need to work on his mentality to become the complete driver in Formula One.

    3: George Russell
    Russell showed remarkable consistency and did not deserve to have questions over his future throughout most of 2025. Asserted himself over hotshot teammate Kimi Antonelli after beating Hamilton in two of three seasons at Mercedes. Two wins in Canada and Singapore were brilliant and his worse weekends were mostly car induced, with only the borderline farcical Monaco Grand Prix and a Sao Paolo Grand Prix in which he was outpaced by Antonelli really count against him. Has proven himself the complete driver in 2025.

    2: Lando Norris
    Norris threatened to blow a golden opportunity at the title with a lacklustre and error strewn first half of the season, with an unnecessary collision with Piastri in Canada the nadir of that spell. Victory at the Austrian Grand Prix kickstarted the Brit’s season and he came to form at the right time of the season to knock the stuffing out of teammate Piastri. Norris proved a lot of people wrong by showing enormous mental fortitude to come back and close out his first World Drivers’ Championship. A worthy champion.

     

    1: Max Verstappen
    This season eclipsed Fernando Alonso’s 2012 for the best forlorn World Championship challenge. That Verstappen only made two notable mistakes with the red mist on George Russell in Spain and the halfspin in Silverstone when a dry set up proved too hot to handle in the wet. Apart from those, and a horrible weekend in Hungary, the Dutchman extracted the maximum from his car. His ability to rally the team over a weekend and improve performance on such a consistent basis, and his mentality in chasing at the end of the season means no one can argue when he says that 2025 was the best performance of his career. The biggest asset on the current grid.

    Image credits: f1pressarea.pirelli.com

  • Spanish Grand Prix – Oscar Piastri Dominates Controversial Spanish Grand Prix

    Spanish Grand Prix – Oscar Piastri Dominates Controversial Spanish Grand Prix

    Oscar Piastri dominated to win a controversial Spanish Grand Prix for McLaren ahead of teammate Lando Norris.

    Charles Leclerc took an opportunistic third ahead of George Russell, who was seemingly deliberately hit by an angry Max Verstappen three laps from the end.

    Verstappen received a 10s penalty for that and is the subject of another investigation, which saw him drop from fifth to tenth.

    Nico Hulkenberg took a masterful fifth after overtaking an off-colour Lewis Hamilton in the dying stages, with Isack Hadjar seventh.

    Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso completed the top tenth ahead of Verstappen.

    Controversy came after the a Safety Car ten laps from the end was brought out after Kimi Antonelli suffered an engine failure in his Mercedes.

    Almost all of the drivers still left pitted for used or fresh softs, with the exception of Verstappen who stopped for new hards from third.

    The Dutchman made his frustrations with his Red Bull team clear, and on the restart nearly spun into the inside wall leading on to the main straight.

    That allowed Leclerc’s Ferrari alongside and ahead into third, via a touch on the straight, before the seeds of this race’s defining incident were sewn, as Russell made contact with a now mad Max at the first corner to force him off the track.

    An angry Verstappen was then told to let Russell through having retained fourth, and on lap 64 he appeared to comply with that instruction into Turn 5, before ramming the Brit’s Mercedes in what appeared to be retaliation similar to his incident with Hamilton at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

    Verstappen was given a ten second penalty for his act of retribution meaning he scored one point for tenth.

    Piastri made an excellent start to lead away from the grid, while teammate Norris dropped behind Verstappen after they went three wide with Russell, who was subsequently baulked and passed by the two Ferraris.

    Norris would eventually pass Verstappen after 12 laps and Red Bull switched to a three stop race.

    That looked like it may pay dividends as McLaren woke up to the possibility that they may be caught napping, and before the Safety Car Verstappen was only two seconds behind Norris having covered off a previously two-stopping Leclerc.

    More to follow…

     

  • Spanish Grand Prix – Oscar Piastri snatches pole position from McLaren teammate Lando Norris

    Spanish Grand Prix – Oscar Piastri snatches pole position from McLaren teammate Lando Norris

    Oscar Piastri will start tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix from pole position ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

    Norris had set the early Q3 pace before Piastri powered to pole over two tenths of a second ahead of the British driver for McLaren’s first Spanish Grand Prix front row lockout since 1998.

    Max Verstappen will start third for Red Bull after setting the exact same lap time as George Russell’s Mercedes, the Dutchman starting ahead as he set his time first.

    They’re ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari and the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, with Charles Leclerc a distant seventh.

    Pierre Gasly was top of F1’s “Class B” with eighth in his Alpine ahead of RB’s Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin in tenth

    The first qualifying session saw a two shocks, with eight tenths separating the grid from top to bottom.

    Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda continued his tough start to life at Red Bull with yet another Q1 exit. This time, the Japanese driver will start last on the grid.

    Carlos Sainz was equally displeased with his efforts as after outqualifying teammate Alex Albon for five straight race, he will line up tomorrow in 18th ahead of Franco Colapinto, who will rue a technical issue that left him stuck in the pit lane at the end of the session.

    Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon will start 16th and 17th for Sauber and Haas respectively.

    The second qualifying session provided fewer shocks as Albon, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson all fell by the wayside when it looked as if they might dislodge Gasly’s Alpine from tenth.

    For Lance Stroll and Ollie Bearman, things were a little more distant as they completed Q2s driver exits.

     

  • F1: Max Verstappen dominates to win again in Japan

    F1: Max Verstappen dominates to win again in Japan

    Max Verstappen held off the challenge of both McLaren drivers to win the Japanese Grand Prix.

    The result stretches his unbeaten record at Suzuka to 6 years and was both Red Bull and Honda’s fourth successive win at the circuit.

    He finished ahead Lando Norris in second and Oscar Piastri in third, with neither driver able to land a blow on Verstappen save for one challenge from Norris at pit exit which saw the Brit take to the grass.

    The Dutchman is now only one point behind Norris in second place in the Drivers’ Championship in a car some believe is only 4th fastest.

    Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari ahead of the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, with Lewis Hamilton seventh for Ferrari.

    Isack Hadjar took his first points of the season in eighth to become the second highest Red Bull-backed driver in the standings with four points, ahead of a frustrated Alexander Albon and Ollie Bearman in tenth for Haas.

    In what was a largely processional affair, Verstappen made the best of starting from pole position to lead away from the lights, and through the first stint was never troubled as Norris could rarely get close enough to stay within DRS.

    After some jockeying from McLaren in the pit lane, both lead drivers pitting on lap 22.

    A slow stop for Red Bull allowed Norris alongside, but with the pit lane narrowing Verstappen was never going to move aside and Norris went grass-tracking.

    Verstappen was never troubled from there on.

    At points it was Piastri who looked the quicker of the two drivers, the Australian getting to within one car length on lap 50 as the closest he could get to second place.

    Leclerc was best of the rest for Ferrari but ultimately never close to the cars ahead with Hamilton a distant seventh on a different strategy as Ferrari produced a steady weekend after the double-disqualification farce in China two weeks ago.

    George Russell could not re-produce his podium heroics of Shanghai, as yet another quiet race yielded fifth ahead of his charging young teammate Antonelli, whose overcut strategy ultimately yielded no gain from sixth on the grid.

    Further back it was more of the same with little action to excite the fans, the best action coming as Albon and Hadjar both passed slowing traffic including Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz as they came through the field on new tyres on their way to decent points finishes.

    Hadjar’s pace had been excellent all weekend, and starting seventh he and his Racing Bulls team will be pleased to finish in the top eight on a weekend where former teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who replaced Lawson at Red Bull for this race, could only manage 12th at his new team.

    Albon’s race was apparently blighted by upshift issues and some less than happy radio exchanges, the Thai driver taking aim at Williams’ strategy after earlier shift frustrations, while Bearman built on a superb Chinese Grand Prix to score another point for Haas in tenth.

    Image: Pirelli Media

  • Japanese Grand Prix – Verstappen takes a shock pole for Red Bull

    Japanese Grand Prix – Verstappen takes a shock pole for Red Bull

    Max Verstappen will start from pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix for the first time since last year’s Austrian Grand Prix.

    The Dutchman took a shock pole for Red Bull Racing by 0.012s ahead of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

    George Russell will start tomorrow’s race from fourth ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, while Russell’s Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli will start sixth.

    Isack Hadjar, who had to overcome seat issues earlier in the day, starts and excellent seventh for Racing Bulls ahead of Lewis Hamilton, while Williams’ Alex Albon and Haas’ Ollie Bearman complete the top ten.

    Eyes were on both Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, with Lawson having been moved to Racing Bulls from Red Bull after two poor weekends ahead of the Grand Prix this weekend to be replaced by Tsunoda.

    Lawson advanced through to the second session for what was already his best qualifying session of the season, knocking out Nico Hulkenberg in the process.

    The German joined teammate Gabriel Bortoleto, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Alpine’s Jack Doohan and the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll on the sidelines after the first session.

    That was to be as far as both men would get, with both departing in the second qualifying session.

    Lawson did manage to outqualify Tsunoda in 14th as the Japanese driver, who had looked quick throughout the weekend, made a mistake at Turn 2 to only manage 15th on the grid.

    They’ll start behind Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin in 13th, Carlos Sainz’s Williams in 12th and Pierre Gasly in 11th.

     

    Image – Pirelli Media

  • Red Bull swapping Lawson for Tsunoda is the worst of both worlds

    Red Bull swapping Lawson for Tsunoda is the worst of both worlds

    Confirmation of the news that no one in F1 has been waiting for came on Thursday morning, as Red Bull announced that Yuki Tsunoda will replace Liam Lawson in the senior team.

    Lawson will drive for Racing Bulls, the team he drove for in 11 races across two part season spells in 2023 and 2024, and returns after twice qualifying last at the Sprint weekend Chinese Grand Prix and 18th at the Australian Grand Prix, while crashing in the race in Australia and finishing 15th on the road in Shanghai.

    Tsunoda gets his chance after over four seasons and 89 starts with the Red Bull junior team in the guises of Alpha Tauri, VCARB and Racing Bulls.

    Red Bull are renowned for their ruthless handling of their young driver programme. Just ask Pierre Gasly, who in 2019 got half a season and despite obvious improvement in the junior team was never again considered for the senior team.

    Even for Red Bull though, two races is a new low.

    Not since Yuji Ide’s infamous four race spell for Super Aguri in 2006, where he lost his superlicense when three dreadful flyaway races were followed by the Japanese flipping Christijan Albers at the San Marino Grand Prix, has a stated permanent drive gone so wrong, so quickly.

    Lawson will get a chance to go again.

    What’s changed?

    Much has and will be made of the decision to replace Lawson, a driver Red Bull  believed had the mental fortitude to be teammate to four-time World Champion Max Verstappen with Tsunoda, who not three months ago was not believed to have the mentality to be able to cope with the same role he’s now been thrust into.

    Team Principal Christian Horner said of Tsunoda when announcing the switch: “Yuki’s experience will prove highly beneficial in helping to develop the current car.”

    When announcing Lawson’s move to Red Bull, Horner said:  “Liam’s performances over the course of his two stints with Racing Bulls have demonstrated that he’s not only capable of delivering strong results but that he’s also a real racer, not afraid to mix it with the best and come out on top.”

    Contrast that with this week:

    “We have a duty of care to protect and develop Liam and together we see that, after such a difficult start, it makes sense to act quickly so Liam can gain experience as he continues his F1 career with Racing Bulls, an environment and a team he knows very well.”

    How times  change.

    Red Bull’s muddled thinking

    On the face of it, Red Bull have, completely by themselves, got the worst of both worlds.

    The reality is worse than that.

    When all meaningful metrics – race finishes, points, qualifying points – pointed to Tsunoda being the right choice to replace the shredded Sergio Perez for 2025, Red Bull chose Lawson based on being a “real racer” and other intangibles.

    It then gave Lawson a full pre-season and two races in a car that, while tricky, is better than the New Zealander has been able to show at two tracks he’d not driven on before pulling the trigger.

    In taking Tsunoda out of the Racing Bulls frying pan and throwing into the Red Bull fire this early on, it is giving Tsunoda almost a full season in a car notorious for being difficult to adapt to, while wasting the chance to ease him in and help the Japanese prepare with pre-season testing.

    Tsunoda’s most recent meaningful time in a Red Bull was at the end of season test at Abu Dhabi last year.

    He has carried on what was an impressive end to last season in 2025, and would have scored points in both Grands Prix were it not for poor strategy calls from Racing Bulls, after a 6th in the Chinese Sprint.

    However, promotion to Red Bull this soon in the season with the media interest that will generate, plus the adaptation process that will inevitably come with joining a new team, in time for his home race will bring a pressure he hasn’t previously been under.

    His fiery personality and some expletive-laden radio exchanges are ultimately what led to doubts at Red Bull about his ability to cope with pressure.

    It is worth remembering that despite outshining every teammate since Gasly left for Alpine, Tsunoda was Red Bull’s third choice for this seat.

    The team brought Daniel Ricciardo back to what was then Alpha Tauri for a shootout to join the senior team in the second half of 2023 before injury hampered his comeback.

    A slow start to the 2024 season made Red Bull realise that the Australian – the first choice to replace Perez – was not the same driver as the daring, late-braking and often rabbit-out-of-hat driver that deposed Sebastian Vettel as team leader before leaving for Renault in 2019.

    Masking a fundamental issue

    The decision to drop Lawson and the circus around Red Bull’s second seat should not detract from the fact that since design genius Adrian Newey left Red Bull almost a year ago, they have gone backwards in competitiveness.

    Verstappen won the World Championship with two weekends to spare in 2024, but he won just two of the last 14 races and one of those was at the wet Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil.

    The Dutchman has hinted that Red Bull have the fourth fastest car, repeatedly criticised the car’s balance and even hinted that Racing Bulls may have a faster car.

    While the car is obviously better than Lawson has shown and should score points at every weekend, Verstappen has more than maximised the car’s potential and taken advantage of quicker rivals falling by the wayside.

    Verstappen, the last true success of Red Bull’s once fabled young driver programme, is believed to view the decision to drop Lawson as the wrong call, and the fundamental issue is with the RB21 and not the second driver.

    While in part that may be a Formula One driver talking up his own performance, the evidence backs up Verstappen’s view.

    If finally giving Tsunoda a chance backfires, it will once and for all expose a team in complete disarray.

     

  • Rumours of a Liam Lawson demotion are Groundhog Day for Red Bull Racing

    Rumours of a Liam Lawson demotion are Groundhog Day for Red Bull Racing

    It’s Groundhog Day at Red Bull Racing.

    The second, less heralded driver to partner Max Verstappen in the Prinha Club’s most ruthless team has come in and struggled to adapt.

    Reports of Liam Lawson facing demotion from Red Bull Racing after two races in 2025 have emerged after the Chinese Grand Prix, with Yuki Tsunoda tipped to replace the New Zealander from as early as the Japanese Grand Prix.

    Red Bull are considering dropping Liam Lawson after just two races

    Lawson has struggled early in this season having twice qualified last at the Sprint Weekend Chinese Grand Prix, having qualified 18th in Australia last week before crashing out.

    Lawson could only manage 15th on Sunday having climbed to 14th in the sprint race on Saturday.

    Post-race in China, Lawson alluded to not having time to improve for this season and a lack of testing in preparation for the season, while a typically curt Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s Motorsport Advisor, said in reply: “He is right.”

    “Yuki is a different Yuki from the years before. He is in the form of his life. Obviously he changed managed. He has a different approach. He’s more mature. It took a while, but now it looks like it’s working.”

    Such a move would raise serious questions about Red Bull’s driver management, with Lawson having been promoted with less than half a season’s F1 experience to the top team after previous failures with Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, while Sergio Perez was paid off two years early just months after being given a new contract to 2026.

    For over half a decade no driver has been able to convince that they can cope with the pressure of that now infamous seat across the garage from Max Verstappen since Daniel Ricciardo, sensing which way the wind was blowing within Red Bull, departed for Renault in 2019.

    Lawson’s career to date

    Lawson had a solid junior career including winning the New Zealand-based Toyota Racing Series in 2020, before fifth at the first attempt in F3.

    He moved up to F2 for the following season, doubling up with the DTM sportscar series with 2021 ending with ninth in F2 and second in DTM, before 3rd place in F2 the following season.

    He moved to Super Formula for 2023 and was in contention to win the series when got his chance in Formula One as a stand in for the injured Ricciardo.

    Lawson fared well compared to Tsunoda including points at Singapore, before another six race stint at the end of 2024 saw the New Zealander get the nod ahead of the Japanese driver to replace Perez.

    How did we get here?

    Red Bull first demoted one of their drivers to the support team in 2016 after Daniil Kvyat was demoted after twice hitting Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari at the Russian Grand Prix.

    Verstappen, who along with Carlos Sainz had caught the eye as a rookie in 2015, got the call and promptly won his first race in Spain.

    Ricciardo was then replaced by Pierre Gasly, who’d shown well for Toro Rosso after replacing Kvyat in 2017 while Sainz was released to go to McLaren.

    Gasly made a terrible start by crashing twice in 2019 pre-season testing and ultimately failed to recover his confidence, only once finishing ahead of Verstappen in fortuitous circumstances at the British Grand Prix.

    He only twice got within four tenths of a second in qualifying before being lapped by Verstappen in Hungary leading the Frenchman to be dumped in favour of Alexander Albon.

    Albon initially started well with a strong recovery drive at the Belgian Grand Prix to fifth, and was only out of the top six once for the remainder of the season when Lewis Hamilton spun him out of a podium position late on in Brazil.

    Albon was again spun from a promising position by Hamilton in Austria, but eventually took his first podium at the Tuscan Grand Prix at Mugello and took another at Bahrain. The damage was done a week later as Sergio Perez won from the back of the field while Albon crashed out.

    Perez seemed an obvious answer to Red Bull’s problems but in truth the four seasons spent in that hottest of hotseats by Perez was for the most part a marriage of convenience, brought about by no credible alternative to a burnt Albon within Red Bull’s junior ranks at the end of 2020.

    While Perez initially failed to match Verstappen in outright speed, he was an able back up to Verstappen and his contribution at the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was crucial as he cost Lewis Hamilton over six seconds with a feisty defence of the lead, meaning Hamilton couldn’t pit during that Safety Car period.

    Perez started 2022 well and earned a new contract ahead of winning the Monaco Grand Prix, with further success in Singapore. From there, performance dipped and he was fortunate to take second in the 2023 Championship despite Red Bull winning all but one race.

    Despite a new contract early in the season, reports and rumours surrounded Perez for over two years before he was finally put out of his misery at the end of a winless 2024 as Red Bull paid the Mexican off.

    Red Bull had previously recruited Dutchman Nyck De Vries for 2023 on a whim of one off points finish for Williams at the Italian Grand Prix of 2022, before he was sacked after 10 races and replaced by Ricciardo.

    What about those demoted drivers?

    Drivers who’ve been burned by the top team have had mixed results since their ill-fated moves.

    Kvyat’s F1 career was a strange one, being dropped completely in 2017 before coming back to race in 2019 and 2020 as Red Bull ran out of drivers.

    Pierre Gasly has thrived since leaving the Red Bull stable

    Gasly has gone on to shine as a team leader at the junior including a win at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix before moving to Alpine, where he has since seen off the challenge of Esteban Ocon.

    Albon disappeared for a year as third driver, notably being used to reconstruct a crash between Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen at the 2021 British Grand Prix, before ably leading Williams in their rise from the back of the grid to 2025 midfield leaders since 2022 while Perez may yet resurface with Cadillac in 2026.

    Albon has spoken in the past of being “underprepared” by Red Bull to the High Performance Podcast, while Gasly in particular was critical of the environment during his half season with the team.

    In an interview with PlanetF1.com, he referenced a lack of support after a tough start.

    “From the moment I made my first mistake in a car, I felt like people there slowly began to turn on me. I’d had a crash in winter testing and from that moment on the season never really got going.

    “Then I had a tough first two races with Red Bull and the media just ate me up. Anything I said in the press was twisted into an excuse for my form, and nobody really stuck up for me.

    “The car wasn’t perfect and I was doing my best to try to improve and learn each week. But here’s what I’ll say about it – it was a difficult time for me at Red Bull because I didn’t feel like I was really supported and treated the same way as others there have been. And for me, that’s something I just can’t accept.

    “I was working my ass off every day, trying to get results for the team, but I was not being given all the tools I needed to succeed. I would try to offer solutions but my voice wasn’t heard, or it would take weeks to see changes.

    The Red Bull signals and issues it needs to address

    It is important to state that nothing has been decided and Red Bull have been satisfied with Lawson’s approach and refusal to make excuses, but history suggests there’s no smoke without fire.

    After the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix, Team Principal Christian Horner said that the intention “was to keep Pierre in the car” before replacing him the next race with Albon, while late into 2020 the team were giving Albon “every chance” before he was demoted to third driver.

    The pressure could increase further with another junior in Arvid Lindblad mooted for a promotion as early as 2026 depending on his F2 progress this season.

    It was accepted within F1 circles that Tsunoda would have to leave Racing Bulls with no obvious team to go to at the end of this season, but were he to move to Red Bull and get closer to Verstappen, Lawson would have no time to readjust against an Isack Hadjar who, formation lap crash in Melbourne aside, has shown speed this season.

    Max Verstappen has proven impossible to live with as a Red Bull Racing teammate

    While it is true that Red Bull have a car that has been built around Verstappen’s unique driving style, that is something all drivers heading to a new team have to adapt to.

    The issue is that Red Bull have often been slow take on feedback from the second driver, with Perez’s performances improving slightly after upgrades on the car in the autumn of last year known to have been as a result of finally listening to the struggling Mexican’s feedback from the summer of 2023.

    Irrespective of when, or if, Lawson does move back to the junior team, seven seasons of struggle in Red Bull’s other car points not only to an issue with recruitment, but with the management of a driver programme that has produced Ricciardo, Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel to name three drivers.

    That young driver academy has been reduced to a topic of debate and ridicule, producing drivers who in recent years have come through the ranks only to end up as cannon fodder to a Max Verstappen juggernaut.

    Often drivers either been thrown in too early, lacked support during early struggles and have ended up destroyed by comparisons to Verstappen instead of nurtured and moulded to fit within the team.

    Recruitment has often been hap-hazard at best, with De Vries getting ten races before his sacking after a signing based purely on a one-off appearance where circumstances favoured him while Tsunoda, into his fifth season of Formula One, has not had a Red Bull look in before now and should he complete a mid-season switch to will go in with little Red Bull testing and next to no preparation from the main F1 team.

    Groundhog Day may come around again.

     

    Images from Pirelli F1 Media