Race 9 - 2025 Spanish GP [Circuit de Catalunya - Barcelona]

[Nitrodaze]

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We head to the last race of the European triple header in Barcelona, Spain, at the Circuit de Catalunya. This weekend, the weather for the race is hazy sunshine with temperatures of 30 to 32 degrees Celsius. Home race for Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz. Being a formal test track for preseason testing, any car that performs well here is likely to perform very well at most tracks on the calendar.

The Flexiwing regulation comes into effect at this race, and we shall see if it will have any impact on the current pecking order. Toto Woolf is quoted as saying that he thinks Ferrari may benefit the most from the regulation. McLaren is confident that it would be unaffected by the regulation.

General talk in the fanzone is of the publication of the Bild magazine stating that Ferrari is chatting with Christian Horner for a move to Ferrari. Bild as a source is not very trustworthy, hence many are taking these rumours with a pinch of salt. Horner and Hamilton working together would be very interesting, considering the Abu Dhabi scenario.

Lando Norris bounced back with a win at Monaco. But the main headline of the Monaco weekend was his qualifying lap to snatch pole from LeClerc. After the failed two-stop race of Monaco, Barcelona offers a normal race weekend with a fast-flowing track with lots of places for overtakes.

The inter-teammate battle of the McLaren drivers intensifies as Norris closes up to Piastri with merely three points separating them. Piastri leads the driver's championship with 161 points to Norris at 158. Verstappen is 22 points behind Norris but very much still in contention. Russell is 59 points behind Norris and increasingly falling out of contention for the driver's title.

In the constructors' championship, McLaren has more than double the points of its nearest rival, Mercedes, with 319 to 147 points. Redbull is merely four points behind Mercedes. With Ferrari only one sole point behind Redbull. The fight for second place in the constructors intensifies. Ferrari is notably the biggest mover as they recovered considerable lost ground in the last three races.

The question on everyone's mind is whether McLaren has done enough to absorb any setback if they suffer from the Flexiwing regulations. The driver's championship would immediately be under threat. But it would take some doing for the competition to claw back the considerable points of McLaren in the constructor's championship.

At the end of the Spanish GP, we shall have an inkling of what the rest of the season will look like. An unscathed McLaren would imply that the driver's title would be fought between both McLaren drivers and Verstappen. The constructor would most likely be insurmountable by mid-season or soon after. An affected McLaren may imply that the driver's championship is wide open and extends contention to as far into the drivers' standings, as Hamilton in sixth.

This could be a pivotal weekend of racing. With such high temperatures this weekend, Mercedes may suffer as a result. With fewer very slow corners, it may play to the strengths of Ferrari. Verstappen may spring another surprise win to really open up the championship.

[Nitrodaze]

After free practice one and two, it seems no team is affeccted by the change in regulation. That said, we have to see what happens in quali and the race.

[F1nKS]

I wonder when Tsunoda seat gets "hot". He is only getting worse and worse as the season progresses—20th in Qualifying.

[Nitrodaze]

I wonder when Tsunoda seat gets "hot". He is only getting worse and worse as the season progresses—20th in Qualifying.

No one in their right mind would be interested in that seat. Yuki is there for the rest of the season, at least. The only other driver they would be considering would be Hadjah, and l think that would be a very bad idea as they would be burning out a very promising talent in a useless second seat next to Verstappen.

[Nitrodaze]

The McLarens are in another league from the rest of the field.

[Nitrodaze]

PIASTRIIIIIII
What a lap???

[F1nKS]

Piastri blows the field away in qualifying.

Hamilton with a good qualifying effort at P4. The change in regulation looks to have just been a bunch of media hype. If anything, McLaren came out better.

[F1nKS]

No one in their right mind would be interested in that seat. Yuki is there for the rest of the season, at least. The only other driver they would be considering would be Hadjah, and l think that would be a very bad idea as they would be burning out a very promising talent in a useless second seat next to Verstappen.

I don't think Red Bull will make any changes to the seat this year. Red Bull has no chance at the constructors' championship. However, I don't see how he will be racing for Red Bull after this year if these types of performances continue to occur.

Of course, if Max leaves Red Bull at the end of the year, then Red Bull may not have any option but to elevate him to their number 1 driver. :p

Hadjar looks promising. I hope they go slow with Hadjar and let him get a couple of seasons under his belt.

[Used to be Starter]

Piastri blows the field away in qualifying.

Hamilton with a good qualifying effort at P4. The change in regulation looks to have just been a bunch of media hype. If anything, McLaren came out better.

Yeah, Lewis was P3 for a short period of time with about a minute left. He's at Ferrari at the wrong point in history for sure.

[Nitrodaze]

Great race. Piastri extends the gap to Norris to 10 points as the gap yo-yos from race to race. Great for Ferrari to have a Ferrari on the podium. But the Hamilton side of the garage did a terrible job at this race. From fourth to sixth is not a good effort from the mechanics on the Hamilton side. He was not in the fight at all. Two races in a row, we have seen the quality of work put into the Hamilton car to be very poor. It was terrible at Monaco and now at Barcelona; what is going on at Ferrari? Are there favours going on? Because l don't get it? The car was poor enough for a Kick-Sauber to overtake it to take a place. Hamilton was driving a Haas at this race.

It went south for Verstappen, putting him 39 points behind Norris in second. Russell has closed the gap to Verstappen to 26 points. Both McLarens are now beginning to streak ahead in the driver's championship. How did Redbull get Verstappen's strategy so wrong? This has cost him dearly and is making the championship fight less interesting. Having Verstappen in the fight keeps the championship interesting. Vestappen needs to be there or thereabouts to keep the McLaren boys on their toes.

Not a good outcome to the race in my opinion. At this rate, it is going to be a McLaren procession to the end of the season. How boring is that???

[N. Jones]

Should have left Max on the softs.

[Nitrodaze]

I think the Ferrari-Hamilton honeymoon is over, and we are seeing the first signs of a crack in the relationship between Hamilton and his engineers begin to show. Drifting backwards from fourth to 7th is the worst performance we have ever seen from Hamilton. And this is not driver-related but purely car-related. It was not tyre-related either, as car instability started while he had good tyre life.

Based on what we have seen today, it is very clear that another multiple world champion is not going to bring Ferrari their coveted championship win. Mainly because Ferrari is doing everything it can to prevent it. Wittingly or unwittingly. Whatever the case, Hamilton is unlikely to win anything with the team of mechanics and engineers on his side of the Ferrari garage. Verseur is failing to handle the situation

[Nitrodaze]

Should have left Max on the softs.
With 8 laps to go, that is exactly what l thought. I thought they would leave him out to gain track position and go from there.

[airshifter]

Kind of a strange weekend all the way around. The only thing predictable was that the McLarens are still the class of the cars.

The TD turned out to be a nothingburger. It might have hindered some cars slightly, but no major shifts in the overall spreads of the field.

Qually was strange with the track temp drop, and some cars not really pushing to get out more laps as the track came alive. Leclerc had burned up tires early on and opted out of the car early, saving better tires for the race, which is turns out might have paid off.


Into turn one, Max once again showed how he never gives up. Sadly, towards race end he went from the hero at least keeping McLaren on their toes, to the zero having a red mist moment and getting a rightful penalty, when he should have finished at least fifth, and possibly fourth. I do think Red Bull made the wrong call, but what was done was done and he just made it worse.

Oscar had no issues controlling things up front, and Lando bounced back quick enough to keep both the cars up in the front. In all fairness, Red Bull was fantastic in changing up their strategy and hoping for that safety car.... but then blew it when the safety car came. I think we were possibly robbed of a shootout between Max and Charles had they just kept Max out when the safety car came. But I think McLaren had them covered either way, and with fresh tires both Lando and Oscar would have ended up back in front.

The midfield gaves us quite a bit of good racing actually, and that outside pass at turn 3 was fantastic when pulled off by several. Even cars out of the points kept it decent to watch, and it turns out Alonso would not be dened a points finish. Hadjar had a solid but mostly lonely race, and seeing Hulk fighting in those positions to the end was a bit of a shock, even getting Hamilton in the end. Yuki was.... par on course for the 2nd RB driver. The struggle bus has made most of them look like the best bet would have been to stay with Albon. As it is now that seat just eats drivers.

The Merc power failures have to be alarming for any team running the Merc power units, and once again Kimi is on the side of the road and Ferrari passed them in WCC points. If they can retain that lead is yet to be seen. Right now the bad luck of Merc seems to be giving them a chance, but with both teams having solid drivers it might be close throug the year. Though they are in second at the time, the hopium of those thinking Lewis going to Ferrari was going to reinvent Ferrari is fading quickly. Unless Lewis can regroup and at least compete with Charles more often then they will remain at risk.


As for the race up front, I'm starting to think Oscar is similar to Ferrari's last WDC, but maybe without as much alcohol involved. He stays solid, isn't emotional at all on the radio, and just does his thing. And to some extent I think his mental game is stronger than Lando's, and he might take away Lando's best shot at a WDC. But right now, it seems like the pressure from any other team being in the hunt has lessened quite a bit, so those two will be shooting it out race to race.

[airshifter]

Should have left Max on the softs.

That was a shocker to me. And for a split second it looked like Max's race might end in the first corner at the restart. It's a shame the red mist came into the picture. I think he should have just kept the position on George and hoped to make the gap, but he reverted to his rage of earlier years instead.

A rare screw up of the strategy for the team though.

[airshifter]

It's even worse now for Max. The stewards noted that he would not have had to give the position back to George.

So his lack of temper control took him from a podium to 10th place.

[N. Jones]

I also think my belief that Lewis is no longer a world-beater is coming true. His last three years have been nothing but complaints. Sure, he'll score points, maybe get a luck podium, but I don't think he is ever going to outscore Charles.

[Used to be Starter]

I also think my belief that Lewis is no longer a world-beater is coming true. His last three years have been nothing but complaints. Sure, he'll score points, maybe get a luck podium, but I don't think he is ever going to outscore Charles.

I disagree with that, but not too strongly. He just doesn't seem to be able to get comfortable in that car. Should the team be able to correct it, he may yet have a decent year. Given Ferrari though your observation may be safe.

[Nitrodaze]

I also think my belief that Lewis is no longer a world-beater is coming true. His last three years have been nothing but complaints. Sure, he'll score points, maybe get a luck podium, but I don't think he is ever going to outscore Charles.

His years post-Abu Dhabi have been well below what we were used to seeing from Hamilton. Since then, a lot of new, younger talent have moved into the limelight and have to some extent overshadowed his perceived performance capability. Much like it did for Vettel and Alonso. And even Schumacher in his post-Ferrari years. The question on everyone's mind is, has he still got that magic that propelled Mercedes to 8 constructors' titles? Unfortunately, since Abu Dhabi 2021, we have not seen Hamilton in a championship-winning car. Apart from Rosburg, he is yet to be beaten in a championship-winning car.

Based on his performance since 2021, most are inclined to say he is done. And the evidence would suggest that. But what the evidence do not have, is seeing Hamilton in a proper championship-winning car after 2021. And to see how he performs in such a car relative to his teammate and rivals in other cars.

I personally think he is a bit lost and needs to find his way back to being comfortable in his car. And he needs the help of his team to get him in sync with the car. When they do, we will see the true level that Hamilton is at. It may be the return of Hamilton of pre-2021, or he may fall short of LeClerc and everyone else. Until then, it is hard to rule him out completely.
I am hoping for a championship-winning Ferrari so that we may see him properly fight with Verstappen, Piastri, Norris, LeClerc and Russell. The last hurray if you like before he puts down his helmet and bows out of F1.

He is a phenomenal champion, and he is deserving of better than how Ferrari is treating him at the moment. I think it is very wasteful and disgraceful what is going on at Ferrari at the moment.

[airshifter]

I also think my belief that Lewis is no longer a world-beater is coming true. His last three years have been nothing but complaints. Sure, he'll score points, maybe get a luck podium, but I don't think he is ever going to outscore Charles.

None of them are world beaters without a world beater car. On occasion a driver might perform above expectation for a given car, but really not all that often. And at times, a driver just has a good year, or their teammate has a poor year. Hell, Sainz bested Leclerc his first year at Ferrari, had a couple of close years, but last year was beat by over 60 points. And for that matter is currently being beaten by Albon at Williams. The problem is we will never really know for sure who the absolute best are, since most often they aren't in the same cars.

Lewis has been on the same team with a couple of WDC drivers, and came out on top of them in the overall picture. Some by more, some by less. But with his years growing, his edge seems to be slipping. George beat him two years out of three in the same car, but on total points Lewis edged him out a few over that three years. And now at Ferrari he isn't challenging Leclerc on merit.... yet. But he might at some point. And if they spend several years in the same car, we will see the overall picture better. And it is Ferrari... people forget that their last WDC was Kimi, soon to be 20 years ago.


Currently, I think we all accept that at least 5 or 6 other drivers could compete for wins in the McLaren. Maybe even more. But we won't really know for sure how they would stack up against Oscar or Lando unless it actually happens. But I'm sure there are younger or new fans that will think "ZOMG, Lando (or Oscar) is the best driver EVER!" once the title is decided. And even some that know better will think that way. But personally, when a given car dominates the WCC it's a given that one of those drivers should be winning the WDC. But that is the only good comparison between drivers often.... which teammate can dominate within a team.

For the coming decades, Lando or Oscar might come to be known as a world beater. But if the entire field could compete with the McLaren I doubt that would be the case. Such is F1.

[Nitrodaze]

None of them are world beaters without a world beater car. On occasion a driver might perform above expectation for a given car, but really not all that often. And at times, a driver just has a good year, or their teammate has a poor year. Hell, Sainz bested Leclerc his first year at Ferrari, had a couple of close years, but last year was beat by over 60 points. And for that matter is currently being beaten by Albon at Williams. The problem is we will never really know for sure who the absolute best are, since most often they aren't in the same cars.

Lewis has been on the same team with a couple of WDC drivers, and came out on top of them in the overall picture. Some by more, some by less. But with his years growing, his edge seems to be slipping. George beat him two years out of three in the same car, but on total points Lewis edged him out a few over that three years. And now at Ferrari he isn't challenging Leclerc on merit.... yet. But he might at some point. And if they spend several years in the same car, we will see the overall picture better. And it is Ferrari... people forget that their last WDC was Kimi, soon to be 20 years ago.


Currently, I think we all accept that at least 5 or 6 other drivers could compete for wins in the McLaren. Maybe even more. But we won't really know for sure how they would stack up against Oscar or Lando unless it actually happens. But I'm sure there are younger or new fans that will think "ZOMG, Lando (or Oscar) is the best driver EVER!" once the title is decided. And even some that know better will think that way. But personally, when a given car dominates the WCC it's a given that one of those drivers should be winning the WDC. But that is the only good comparison between drivers often.... which teammate can dominate within a team.

For the coming decades, Lando or Oscar might come to be known as a world beater. But if the entire field could compete with the McLaren I doubt that would be the case. Such is F1.

I can't argue with this reasoning as it is a very valid one. But l would add that it is not simply a matter of who is in a faster car. It is about who can get the most performance out of the car. This point of view only matters if both drivers are comfortable in the car to produce their absolute best individual performances. Which is what is going on at McLaren between Oscar and Lando. It is similar to the Hamilton-Rosberg rivalry. But it is definitely not applicable to the Verstappen-Perez or Verstappen-Tsunoda scenario. We could say with certainty that this is not the scenario at Ferrari, as the 2025 Ferrari was developed around LeClerc, and Hamilton is essentially driving a Ferrari dialled to LeClerc's driving style. Hence, we cannot properly make a comparison between those two based on the SF-25. We would need to wait till 2026 if Hamilton does not get fed up with Ferrari and call it a day before the 2025 season is over.

I have to add quickly that the SF-25 is not a championship-winning car. But it is quick enough to pick up the pieces when faster teams do not have a good weekend, which has propelled them into 2nd in the constructors' championship table. The LeClerc-developed SF-25 has fallen short of competing with McLaren in a title battle for this 2025 season. Logic would suggest that they need the experienced head of Hamilton to get their 2026 car in the window for competing for the 2026 championship titles.

Winning championships is not down to the driver only, it is a complex combination of things that have to align in an optimal way. This includes having a compliant and fast car that performs well at a majority of circuits on the racing calendar. Coupled with a driver or xdrivers that are in perfect synergy with the car to extract the absolute maximum performance possible from the car. And finally, excellent and flawless team operation at race weekends. The current SF-25 and the Ferrari team fall well short on all fronts, as mentioned here.

When talking of great drivers, they stand out because of their consistency of winning titles. Winning one title is incredibly hard enough. To win more than one is exceptional, not to talk of those who win it four times and more so the great drivers who win it more than five times. These sorts of numbers are not something to talk of lightly, by saying any driver can win four championships if given the same car. It is not as simple as that. You cheapen what it takes to win multiple championships by suggesting it is easy to win multiple championships; all that is needed is to have a championship-winning car. If it were so easy, Norris would have won the 2024 driver's championship. Vettel would have won in 2018 or 2019 in his Ferrari, which was the faster car in those seasons.

It is not simply down to having the fastest car, it is about the fastest car-driver combination, the ultimate man-machine synergy that underlines the benchmark of performance for a particular season. It was Hamilton and Mercedes from 2014 to 2020, and Verstappen and Redbull from 2021 to 2024. That is what F1 is all about. We can argue that this is a flaw in F1 for one team to dominate over a number of seasons. I don't believe that, really is the case. It comes down to which team can produce a winning formula for the current regulations to attain the premium status of being the benchmark of the season. Not every team can do that. If it were easy to do that, Mercedes would still be at the bleeding edge for fights for the championship from 2021 to date. Instead, they are on average between 0.200 to 0.500 seconds behind the pure pace of McLaren. Hence, the real reason we have domination spurs is because usually one team always manages to find this sweet spot, which eludes all the other teams. Also, usually, such a team would typically have a driver with the skills to consistently win most of the titles over the period. Schumacher, Vettel, Hamilton and Verstappen are examples of such exceptional drivers in recent times.

Of course, we have to take note of those exceptional drivers that make the difference by making up for any shortcomings of the car to produce unbelievable performances. Senna comes to mind, Hamilton is very much in this category, if you think of his incredible recovery in the 2021 season to the point of practically winning the 2021 championship against the odds before it was stolen from him. Or winning Silverstone with only three tyres. There are a few others which l am sure others would be able to point to.