Formula 1: Articles & News Reports.

[Fortitude]

Sainz casts verdict after claiming surprise podium in Qatar GP.
“I’m so happy, so proud of the whole team and of what we’ve achieved today.” - Carlos Sainz
30 Nov 2025
Samson Ero
GPblog.com

Carlos Sainz expressed his excitement over Williams’ strong performance after claiming a podium finish at the Qatar Grand Prix. “I’m so happy, so proud of the whole team and of what we’ve achieved today.” - Carlos Sainz. He also praised Williams for their flawless execution on race day, from pace to strategy. “We nailed the race pace. I was super quick—much quicker than expected. We nailed the strategy, the tyre management, the start, the defending, and overall race management—and that brought us an unexpected podium, so I couldn’t be more proud," he added.

Sainz highlighted how the team maximised the few opportunities available in the race. “We got everything right today. We had a tough first half of the season when things didn’t come together, but we improved in so many areas over the year. Today, there were a few opportunities out there to grab, and we seized every single one by executing a perfect race.”

Reflecting on his elation at securing the podium. “I’m over the moon with this podium because I absolutely didn’t expect it,” he concluded. The podium for Sainz marked his third since his move to the Williams team, after claim third place in the race in Azerbaijan and another third place in the third place in US Grand Prix Sprint.

“Over the moon”;

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/sainz...um-in-qatar-gp


How a Williams experiment led to ‘very strong’ F1 Qatar GP qualifying for Carlos Sainz
30 Nov 2025
Tiana Soans
Motorsport Week

Following a difficult outing in Budapest, Sainz remained adamant that the team could and would improve. “Yeah, I’ve been pushing hard since Budapest,” Sainz explained. “We had a very off weekend at this kind of track corner, to say let’s make sure we use this year as a learning and try something in Qatar, because in Qatar in theory we should suffer, it should be a very tricky weekend for us.”

The Spaniard brought his own simulator-tested ideas to the table, while the team contributed additional concepts. “So let’s make sure we put a plan together, we test,” he said. “I had some ideas in the simulator that I wanted to test. The team came up with other ideas, we put them all together, we went to the simulator, we tested the car, and that gave us what we believe was maybe potentially a good baseline to start the weekend and give it a bit of a go.”

From Friday’s free practice session, the progress was clear. Sainz said, “And right from the get-go it was working well this weekend and it has given us a good understanding, good learnings and confidence because as a team it’s important to do these sort of tests and get them to work.”

“We put them all together”;

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2025/...ng-qualifying/


Sainz: How a brutal race was the key to Williams' Qatar GP podium
1 Dec 2025
Drew Murphy
GPblog.com

Carlos Sainz revealed how a rollercoaster Qatar Grand Prix, full of forced pit stops, helped him earn his second podium of the season. "Right from the get-go in practice, the car was a lot better than expected, a lot more competitive." - Carlos Sainz. Sainz’s hot start: Beginning the race from P7 on the grid, the Spaniard quickly improved on the opening lap as Isack Hadjar and George Russell lost positions.

Williams then made the correct call to bring him into the pits during the safety car period, and because of Kimi Antonelli's slow getaway, Sainz pushed further up the grid. Due to the Lusail International Circuit being notoriously difficult to overtake, Sainz was able to maintain his brilliant position. Proud of his team: Speaking to the media, post-race, he said: "I think it’s my proudest day in Williams.”

He was asked to explain the turnaround from previously stating Qatar would be his most difficult weekend of the season, to finishing P3. “I think it's obviously partly due to—or mainly due to—the hard work I think everyone's done trying to prepare this race after the very difficult weekend we had in Budapest. Which is kind of this long, medium-speed combined corners that we always seem to be very, very weak. We put together a plan with the team to try some different things in the simulator and in the factory to try and switch on the car for these kinds of tracks.”

"My proudest day in Williams”;

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/sainz...atar-gp-podium


Carlos Sainz reveals how Williams defied internal odds to score shock F1 Qatar GP podium
2 Dec 2025
Jack Oliver Smith
Motorsport Week

Sainz explains difference between Baku and Qatar podiums. “It feels different,” he said. “Baku was a bit of a relief because I’d had such a difficult 10 races. I was very quick in the first few races, but always things happening to me. No results coming my way. One of those seasons. I think in the career of an F1 driver, you always have years where, for some reason, things don’t come your way.”

“Doesn’t matter if it’s luck, racing incidents, whatever. It just never comes together. But Baku was a relief – as soon as I got a chance to fight for a podium, I took it, and I gave the team the podium that I felt we needed and we deserved. And here, it’s more a combination of hard work and understanding. I’m extremely proud of the team because we’ve also struggled a bit at the beginning of the year with race execution, team calls, quali execution. And this weekend, everyone’s done a perfect job. Also, the pitstops were perfect. Everyone was perfect, and it’s exactly what we all needed.”

“Perfect job”;

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2025/...tar-gp-podium/


Carlos Sainz reveals “something broke” late on as Williams seal eight-year high
30 Nov 2025
Connor McDonagh
Crash.Net

Sainz hinted over team radio that he had encountered an issue with his car. Explaining his final 10 laps, Sainz described a dramatic shift in his car’s handling. “10 laps to go I decided to push flat-out because we were saving the tyres to keep Antonelli at bay,” he explained.

“Once they told me Lando was going to pass Antonelli, I was like ‘we need to open the gap to Lando as much as possible’ to see if they get into a fight. Five laps to go, something broke in my car, in the front-end. I don’t know if a piece of front wing fell off or something on the tyre. I lost massive front-end in the high-speed and medium-speed.”

“Turning right, actually on the straights, the steering wheel was like this and turning right it wouldn’t turn. Turning left would be fine. Lando caught up on me in the last two laps quite a bit, losing 0.5s of race pace. To be honest, today was controlled but at the same time pushing because I was around cars that were much quicker than me today.”

“Five laps to go, something broke in my car”;

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/108769...ight-year-high


Sainz grabs brilliant podium for Williams in Qatar despite late scare
01/12/2025
Phillip van Osten
F1i.com

Despite how assured Sainz looked from trackside, the final laps were far more dramatic inside the cockpit. With ten laps to go... ...something suddenly went wrong. “I don’t know if a piece of front wing fell off or something on the tyre. I lost massive front-end in the high-speed and medium-speed. Turning right, actually on the straights, the steering wheel was like this and turning right it wouldn’t turn.”

With a car refusing to steer properly to the right and Norris closing rapidly, Sainz somehow held firm. The McLaren made it into DRS range on the final lap, but the Williams driver’s sheer commitment – and his earlier racecraft – proved untouchable. He crossed the line to secure a joyous and hard-earned third place, his first podium since Baku and one of the most dramatic of his Williams tenure.

Sainz’s podium didn’t just energize the team – it cemented a major achievement. Williams is now guaranteed fifth in the Constructors’ Championship with one round still to go, their best seasonal result since 2017. The Spaniard also etched his own mark in the team’s recent history, becoming the first Williams driver since Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas in 2015 to take multiple podiums in a single year.

‘Williams driver’s sheer commitment’;

https://f1i.com/news/555126-sainz-gr...ate-scare.html


Sainz secures fifth place for Williams in constructors' standings
Dec 01, 2025
The Straits Times

Carlos Sainz expected Qatar to be his hardest race of the year and ended up celebrating a surprise second podium of the season that secured fifth place in the championship for his resurgent Williams team. The Spaniard has now taken twice as many top three placings in 2025 as Lewis Hamilton, the seven-times world champion who replaced him at Ferrari in January and has yet to finish higher than fourth.

"I was proud of Carlos and the team when we got our first podium in Baku," said team boss James Vowles. "The second is a dream come true, but perhaps more importantly at a track that was almost our worst last year. And we've come back, we've reinvented ourselves and the result is there for everyone to see."

‘The Spaniard has now taken twice as many top three placings in 2025 as Lewis Hamilton’;

https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/f...tors-standings

[Fortitude]

Lewis Hamilton has ‘so many notes’ for Ferrari in ‘no reason couldn’t fix’ claim.
“It definitely has been the most challenging year both in and out of the car,” he said. “I’ve got so many notes in terms of things we need to improve on.”
03 Dec 2025
Jamie Woodhouse
PlanetF1.com

Ferrari has a long list of “notes” from Lewis Hamilton on how the team can improve. Ferrari is now consigned to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship. F1 2025 has not been the season which Ferrari had hoped for, the ambitions of a title challenge not coming close to fruition. However, Hamilton is “hopeful” for progress, as he sees nothing in his “notes” that Ferrari would be incapable of triggering to make progress.

“It definitely has been the most challenging year both in and out of the car,” he said. “I’ve got so many notes in terms of things we need to improve on. Time will tell whether or not we act on those things and we keep hold of the things that are good and change the things that are not – and there’s plenty of those. There’s literally no reason why we couldn’t fix those if we just put those into action. I’m hopeful for us making progress.”

‘So many notes’;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/lewis-...ari-to-improve


Enzo Ferrari’s son issues ‘guarantee’ to Lewis Hamilton after dismal Qatar Grand Prix weekend
2 December 2025
Tyler Rowlinson
F1 Oversteer

Piero Ferrari issues ‘guarantee’ to Lewis Hamilton that Ferrari will improve after torrid Qatar Grand Prix. He told RMC Motori: “After a race like this, there is little to say. It’s a blow and a punch in the stomach. It hurts to see Ferrari like this, but I console myself with the thought that there is still one race left, the last of the season, and then we can put this championship behind us. In the history of Ferrari, we have had ups and downs; that’s what happens in racing.”

“It doesn’t console me, but we have had worse moments and we have always managed to bounce back. I remember 1973 and the 1975 world championships after a growing season in 1974, the crisis of the 1990s and the subsequent triumphs. “It’s part of racing, so I’m confident we’ll recover. We have some things that haven’t worked, but I can guarantee that at Maranello we also have many other things that do work.”

“The hard part is putting them all together to get the most out of them, and I’m sure we’ll do that. I have faith in the good things we have at home, and as a fan, I hope we can put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Ferrari will return to winning ways, we will certainly not give up, I know the excellence we have at our disposal.”

‘Guarantee’;

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/enz...-prix-weekend/


Hamilton’s Ferrari Warning: Fix This, Or Else
December 3, 2025
Alex Albuquerque
FastestLap.com

Headline: Hamilton’s bruising Ferrari debut ends with a thick notebook — and a warning. Lewis Hamilton didn’t come to Maranello for a season like this. One to go in 2025, and Ferrari is already locked to fourth in the Constructors’ standings, winless, and running out of ways to sugar-coat a campaign that never got off the ground. Hamilton’s response? A stack of notes big enough to wedge under a wobbly simulator. And a pointed message: there’s no reason these can’t be actioned.

“It’s definitely been the most challenging year both in and out of the car,” he said after a scrappy Las Vegas–Qatar double that summed up Ferrari’s fade. “I’ve got so many notes in terms of things we need to improve. Time will tell whether we act on those things… There’s literally no reason why we couldn’t fix those if we just put those into action. I’m hopeful for us making progress.” Hopeful, but hardly blind to reality. The last three rounds brought only 20 points for Ferrari across both cars, and the drop-off has been stark. Hamilton’s qualifying form deserted him at exactly the wrong time — last on the grid in Vegas, then a double Q1 exit in Qatar as set-up experiments sent the weekend sideways.

He started the Sprint from the pit lane and the Grand Prix from P17, scrapping to 12th at the flag and finishing 12 seconds behind Alex Albon’s Williams. The contrast hurt. Carlos Sainz, now leading Williams’ resurgence, logged his second podium of the year in Lusail. Hamilton admitted it “highlighted just how developed everybody else is and how undeveloped we are at this point of the year,” adding that he was nearly swallowed by the Stake and couldn’t live with the Williams on race pace. When a car in blue takes a trophy and Ferrari leaves with a shrug, Maranello takes notice.

‘A thick notebook — and a warning’:

https://fastestlap.com/news/hamilton...-this-or-else/


Jean Alesi slams Fred Vasseur’s ‘embarrassing’ excuse for Lewis Hamilton’s dire first Ferrari season
2 December 2025
Kyle Archer
F1 Oversteer

Jean Alesi slams Fred Vasseur’s ‘very weak excuse’ that Ferrari focusing on 2026 ruined 2025. Having also failed to get a single Grand Prix podium during the first 23 rounds, Hamilton has called 2025 his “worst season ever” in F1. The seven-time champion has never failed to take a rostrum before, and he will set his worst total under the points system introduced in 2010.

Team principal Fred Vasseur suggested at the Qatar Grand Prix that Ferrari have struggled in 2025 as they shifted their development focus onto the 2026 F1 regulations back in April. Yet Jean Alesi thinks Vasseur offered a “very weak” excuse for the misery Ferrari have produced. “Ferrari’s attitude makes me think of an embarrassing attempt to protect this failure,” Alesi told Corriere della Sera, via quotes by Fanpage. He added: “Saying that all development was interrupted to prepare for next year’s car seems like a very weak excuse.”

‘Embarrassing’;

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/jea...errari-season/


Lewis Hamilton’s ‘only hope’ identified after atrocious F1 season
Martin Brundle assesses a dismal weekend for Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton.
02 Dec 2025
Lewis Larkam
Crash.Net

Martin Brundle believes Lewis Hamilton’s “only hope now” is that Ferrari ace the 2026 F1 regulation shake-up. “Ferrari had a miserable weekend which team boss Fred Vasseur has attributed to the very high tyre pressures mentioned earlier,” Brundle wrote in his latest Sky column.

“They lacked rear grip and general handling balance and are now confined to fourth in the Constructors' championship behind McLaren, Mercedes, and Red Bull. Charles Leclerc appeared to be fighting his car every corner of every lap to secure eighth place and Lewis Hamilton looked equally challenged and too had many adventures for an anonymous 12th place.”

“It's very difficult times for the Scuderia and particularly Lewis, who can only hope now that Ferrari do a great job on the massive 2026 regulation changes if he's going to add to any of the statistic tables in a positive way. Antonelli is just two points behind Hamilton in the championship, the man he replaced at Mercedes, and despite nine races in the wilderness it will sum up Lewis's year if the Italian teenager beats him to sixth in the championship.”

“Challenged and too had many adventures”;

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/108774...ious-f1-season


Lewis Hamilton’s priceless response to Max Verstappen’s Qatar F1 win
Lewis Hamilton reacts to the latest twist in the 2025 F1 title race.
02 Dec 2025
Lewis Larkam
Crash.Net

Seven-time world champion Hamilton endured another miserable race for Ferrari, finishing a lowly 12th. Afterwards, he admitted he had no idea who had won, and assumed Piastri had. “How's Max 12 behind now?” Hamilton asked upon being told the championship picture. “Max won? Oh, shoot, I didn't know, I had no idea. Wow, holy sh*t. No, no, I thought Piastri won, I don't know.”

When informed that Norris had only finished fourth, Hamilton responded: “Oh, really? Lando was fourth? Where’s Piastri?” Hamilton was then informed that Piastri finished second ahead of Carlos Sainz’s Williams. "So Oscar's third now [in the championship]?” Hamilton added. “Well that’s exciting! Goes right to the wire!”

Hamilton praised the job Verstappen has done this year to remain in the hunt, having remarkably reduced what was a 104-point deficit after the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August. “Well, we all know Max does a great job,” Hamilton said. “I think he's got a phenomenal team behind him, which there's no denying they've had the best car over the last four years. And maybe less so at the beginning of this year, but they somehow came back. He's obviously got a great car, but he does an amazing job with it, so I can't fault him.”

‘Priceless response’;

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/108773...s-qatar-f1-win

[Fortitude]

Verstappen is only one McLaren blunder away from his fifth title.
Things keep going wrong at McLaren, where the first signs of championship pressure seem to be emerging.
1 Dec 2025
Tim Kraaij
GPblog.com

After the Qatar Grand Prix, Max Verstappen is just one slice of luck away from wrapping up his fifth world title. Even a seemingly hopeless position in Qatar ended up breaking his way. After qualifying for the GP in Qatar, the mood was gloomy. Although a pole position for Oscar Piastri was good news for the world title fight, a third place for Max Verstappen wasn’t enough to truly have hope for the result the Dutchman needed.

Although Verstappen saw the gap to Lando Norris shrink dramatically due to the disqualification of both McLarens in Las Vegas, the 24-point deficit was still large enough that Verstappen could already be eliminated from title contention in Qatar. After qualifying behind both McLarens, the title fight seemed over for Max.

But 24 hours later, the mood in the paddock had completely flipped. After yet another major blunder from McLaren, it was Verstappen who seized the victory and suddenly sits second in the championship. The gap to Norris is now just 12 points, leaving everything to fight for in Abu Dhabi.

‘Championship pressure seem(s) to be emerging’;

https://www.gpblog.com/en/features/v...is-fifth-title


Verstappen now McLaren’s worst nightmare: ‘Call me Chucky’
30/11/2025
Phillip van Osten
F1i.com

In the post-race press conference, Verstappen laughed off Brown’s comments — and even leaned into the metaphor. “You can call me Chucky,” he laughed, the Dutchman referencing the demonic ‘Child’s Play’ character. "I don’t know, I mean I saw it [Brown’s comments] as well, I thought it was quite funny. From my side I just focus on myself, you know…”

“I know that when I go in the car, I just try to do the best like I guess everyone does. That’s the only thing that I can control, right? And that’s the only thing that I focus on. I'm a lot more relaxed now,” he said. “I know that I'm 12 points down. I go in there with just positive energy, I try everything I can but at the same time if I don't win it, I still know that I had an amazing season. So it doesn't really matter. It takes a lot of the pressure off. I'm just out there having a good time like I had today.

“I also started today with 'oh, we'll see how it goes.' I know that when I sit in the car I will always maximise everything I can and that's what I'll try to do also in Abu Dhabi. But at the same time, I also know that we need to rely on probably some external factors to have a go at it. But a race like today shows that we think it's going to be boring and straightforward. It's not, so I'm hoping that Abu Dhabi is going to be similar.”

‘McLaren’s worst nightmare’;

https://f1i.com/news/555027-verstapp...me-chucky.html


Verstappen lands ‘another one’ McLaren quip after Qatar GP strategy error
30 Nov 2025
Jamie Woodhouse
PlanetF1.com

Earlier in the race weekend, Verstappen had suggested that he was only still in the title picture due to “other people’s failures”. Norris had responded by stating his “respect” for Verstappen, but added: “Max generally has a good clue about a lot of things. But, there’s also a lot of things he doesn’t have much of a clue about.” He suggested that “Red Bull’s way of going about things is this kind of aggressive nature and, yeah, just talking nonsense a lot of the time.”

Following his victory, Verstappen was asked whether McLaren’s Qatar strategy blooper supported his claim. “Another one, yeah,” he responded. “When they called me in, I had to look and remember that we were going into Lap 7. So I was like, ‘Okay, now we can go to the end,'” said Verstappen. “So then, yeah, I was a bit surprised once I did the whole pit stop, because, I mean, when they call you in, you’re focused on the box and making sure you’re not in trouble with releasing and whatever.”

“So when I came out of the pits, I was like, ‘Okay, I think this is a very good opportunity now for us to win the race.'” Asked if he thought, at that moment, that this was his race to lose, Verstappen replied: “I thought at that moment that there was a big chance of winning it, yeah. I don’t think about losing. That’s not in my head. I think about how to win.”

“Another one, yeah”;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/max-ve...-quip-qatar-gp


‘Call me Chucky’: Max Verstappen revels in McLaren’s Qatar Grand Prix horror show
30 Nov 2025
The Straits Times

Formula One champion Max Verstappen revelled in McLaren’s strategy horror show at the Qatar Grand Prix on Nov 30 as the Red Bull driver won again, days after the team’s boss compared him to a movie monster who keeps on coming back. Verstappen passed Norris at the start and pitted from second on Lap 7 when the safety car was deployed, while the McLarens stayed out and paid the price... “We should have followed him in, no? If we knew the car in front was staying out?“ asked Norris on team radio. Norris would have won his maiden F1 crown with victory in Qatar.

That rocketed Verstappen up to second in the championship, 12 points behind Norris with only the Abu Dhabi finale remaining and four ahead of Piastri. At the end of August, the Dutch driver had been 104 points off Piastri’s lead. “I didn’t expect to win today, that’s for sure,” Verstappen told Sky Sports. “Looking at pure pace, we were not on the same level as McLaren, but we made the right call, as most of the grid did, in boxing under the safety car. That almost gives you a free pit stop and that made the race for me. For sure, that call at the pit stop made me win the race today.”

Red Bull reinforced that feeling by sending Hannah Schmitz, the team’s principal strategy engineer, up to the podium to share the 28-year-old Verstappen’s fizzy celebrations under the floodlights. Verstappen said he did not think McLaren had messed up by trying to be fair to both drivers, not wanting to disadvantage one over the other in the title battle if they had double-stacked them at a pit stop, but just made a wrong call. “It was about missing the whole pit-stop opportunity,” he said. “On pure pace they are faster, but as it showed today again, anything is possible.”

‘Red Bull reinforced that feeling by sending Hannah Schmitz, the team’s principal strategy engineer, up to the podium’;

https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/f...ar-horror-show


Abu Dhabi F1 finale: History haunts McLaren, beckons for Verstappen
Dec 3, 2025
Laurence Edmondson
ESPN.co.uk

Strange things often happen when a Formula 1 title fight goes down to the final race of the season. Nerves ramp up, past form counts for nothing, and even the rules of the game -- such as how a race director implements the safety car procedure -- can get lost in the madness ... just ask Lewis Hamilton.

Logical advantages -- such as holding a 12-point margin at the top of the championship, like Lando Norris has over Max Verstappen -- can hold little comfort when you qualify out of position and line up on the grid needing to make up places to secure the title. Each setup decision over a weekend can snowball in the wrong direction or you could, simply, become the unwitting victim of someone else's accident, safety car or pit strategy gamble during the race.

And when there's more than two protagonists in the running -- like there is this year with Norris, Verstappen and Oscar Piastri all still mathematically in contention -- it's not unheard of for the outsider to emerge victorious. Minimizing pressure can sometimes be the easiest way to maximizing lap time. To borrow a phrase from legendary commentator Murray Walker: "Anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does."

‘Nerves ramp up, past form counts for nothing, and even the rules of the game’;

https://www.espn.co.uk/racing/f1/sto...max-verstappen


Don’t Blink: Norris, Verstappen, Piastri Decide It All
December 3, 2025
Alex Albuquerque
FastestLap.com

Headline: Norris unmoved as Verstappen closes in: “He’s been the threat all year” Lando Norris walks into Yas Marina with a 12-point cushion and a clear conscience. Max Verstappen is close enough to make it interesting, Oscar Piastri is still in the fight, and McLaren’s title leader insists nothing changes for the finale. “We’ve treated Max like the threat since day one,” Norris said in Qatar, keeping his voice flat and his eyes on the bigger picture.

“Every race, every briefing — we know what he and Red Bull can do. So there’s no reason to act differently now.” It’s not posturing. Even when Verstappen looked miles back — 104 points off then-leader Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix — McLaren never bought into the gap. They know how a championship unravels, and how quickly Verstappen tidies it back up. Over the final third of the season, the reigning champion has dragged himself into range and arrives in Abu Dhabi with a shot at a fifth consecutive title.

Norris can kill the suspense with a podium on Sunday. That’s the cleanest line through this. Verstappen’s win last time out tightened the screws, but it didn’t flip the narrative: the title is still Norris’s to lose. Verstappen, four points ahead of Piastri, must do what he usually does at Yas Marina — qualify up front, control the tempo, and pray McLaren blinks.

“We’ve treated Max like the threat since day one.. Every race, every briefing”;

https://fastestlap.com/news/dont-bli...decide-it-all/