Spare cars have been banned for 15 years now. Most teams tend to have a spare chassis they can build another car around, but Williams had a massive restructure over the winter and only just managed to produce two cars in time for the start of the season.
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Formula 1
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Not without precedent. In 1959 during the Goodwood Tourist Trophy race, a certain Mr Moss had a somewhat embarrassing pit stop resulting in the destruction of his car. The team pulled in the second car, turfed out the driver and sent Stirling out to eventually win the race.
357
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And the team have been very open about this being a failure on their part today.
75A
Established Member
How unprofessional, no wonder they're not taken very seriously by the 'big' teams.
I'll stick to Indy Car.
I'll stick to Indy Car.
It is a bit unfair for Logan to not race for the rest of the weekend especially since it was not him who crashed. Williams issues in the off/pre season to build there new cars is now coming back to bite them. It is also the same corner area where Alex crashed in the 2023 race.
Another notable thing this weekend & also in China & Japan is Sky doing part of the broadcast from the UK instead of all being on site at the race. Also the race build up is only one hour instead of the usual 90 minutes. The studio suffers from the usual problem of a complete lack of atmosphere. BT now TNT did something similar in the first years of MotoGP coverage from them but the atmosphere was poor & getting interviews was a problem, so went to being on site apart from 2020.
Another notable thing this weekend & also in China & Japan is Sky doing part of the broadcast from the UK instead of all being on site at the race. Also the race build up is only one hour instead of the usual 90 minutes. The studio suffers from the usual problem of a complete lack of atmosphere. BT now TNT did something similar in the first years of MotoGP coverage from them but the atmosphere was poor & getting interviews was a problem, so went to being on site apart from 2020.
They have occasionally had people presenting remotely if they aren’t available to travel. I can remember DiResta, Davidson doing this and Rosberg when he was banned from the paddock for his anti vax stance.
The build up is probably reduced because of the unsocial timing for the European audience.
Max Verstappen has qualified on Pole Position for the Australian Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz in second & Lando Norris in third. Sergio Perez originally qualified third but was demoted three places to sixth for impeding Nico Hulkenberg in the first part of Qualifying. George Russell qualified in seventh to be top Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton knocked out in Q2 in 11th. Esteban Ocon got through to Q2 to start 15th, the first time Alpine have got out of Q1 this season. Daniel Ricciardo’s underwhelming start continued with 18th in qualifying. He originally got through but was penalised for track limits as turn 4.
357
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That was actually worth getting up for!
I think we should avoid posting results until around lunchtime to let people watch it for themselves, given how early it was on?
I think we should avoid posting results until around lunchtime to let people watch it for themselves, given how early it was on?
KashmireHawker
Member
The 03:50am alarm call was worth it with how the opening 4 laps transpired!
A mighty win for the Number 55, a very good 3-4 for the Papaya, a brilliant double points haul for the American team and a very solid drive by the Japanese man to grab 7th.
I then produced my inner Carlos with a 10K PB at the Wolverhampton 10K, so I have had worse Sunday’s!
A mighty win for the Number 55, a very good 3-4 for the Papaya, a brilliant double points haul for the American team and a very solid drive by the Japanese man to grab 7th.
I then produced my inner Carlos with a 10K PB at the Wolverhampton 10K, so I have had worse Sunday’s!
It's a nice thought, thank you, it does no harm; I was watching it later. However it's not a big problem because I just noted not to look at any emails or to look at this particular thread just in case, it'd really have been my fault if there'd been a post and I read it .....
75A
Established Member
Open and honest is one thing explaining it to Sponsors might be something else.
It will be interesting to see what caused Max Verstappen’s rear brake to stick on. It sounds like it was stuck on from the start of the race. Sergio Perez’s pace was compromised after a tear off got caught in his floor costing him downforce/lap time.
When Hamilton retired it seemed like the engine shut off as there was no smoke from the engine area.
Fernando Alonso was penalised 20 seconds by the stewards some 3 hours after the end of the race after the stewards ruled he had ‘at the very least driven in a potentially dangerous way’ in the race ending incident with George Russell. I almost thought Russell had caught the grass on the entry to the corner.
Carlos Sainz win was the first time since Gerhard Berger for Benetton at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in 1997 for a driver to win in his first race after missing an event for medical reasons.
When Hamilton retired it seemed like the engine shut off as there was no smoke from the engine area.
Fernando Alonso was penalised 20 seconds by the stewards some 3 hours after the end of the race after the stewards ruled he had ‘at the very least driven in a potentially dangerous way’ in the race ending incident with George Russell. I almost thought Russell had caught the grass on the entry to the corner.
Carlos Sainz win was the first time since Gerhard Berger for Benetton at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in 1997 for a driver to win in his first race after missing an event for medical reasons.
Enthusiast
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Does anyone have any idea why Lando was not penalised for clearly crossing the white line when leaving the pits?
Max Verstappen has won the Japanese Grand Prix from Sergio Perez in second & Carlos Sainz in third. Charles Leclerc managed a one stop strategy to finish fourth. He was followed by Norris, Alonso, Russell, Piastri, Hamilton & Tsunoda completing the top ten. It was Taunoda’s first point at his home race.
It was a pretty good race with different strategies & overtaking through the race.
The race was delayed by 30 minutes after a lap one, Turn Three crash between Daniel Ricciardo & Alex Albon. The stewards deemed it a typical lap one racing incident.
It was a pretty good race with different strategies & overtaking through the race.
The race was delayed by 30 minutes after a lap one, Turn Three crash between Daniel Ricciardo & Alex Albon. The stewards deemed it a typical lap one racing incident.
Having only seen the limited views on the highlights I was half-expecting that they would have ruled that Daniel moved over excessively and caused a collision while forcing Alex off the track.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
Verstappen was 12 seconds ahead of his teammate in the same car! The top 10 were just about as expected. Red Bull > Ferrari > Mclaren/Mercedes/Alonso.
it was a total zzzzzzz fest!
birchesgreen
Established Member
I enjoyed the race, some good action.
I think it was a bit 50/50. Albon got better drive and I don't think Ricciardo expected him to be there as he took the racing line.
PG
Established Member
Alonso to remain at Aston Martin until the end of 2026. Presumably Sainz will be the next driver in F1 musical chairs to find a seat?
FIA & Formula 1 have announced the 2025 calendar. The main change is the season will start in Australia followed by China, Japan then Bahrain & Saudi Arabia. This has changed to avoid Ramadan which caused the first 2 races of this season to be on a Saturday. There are no new or additional venues on the calendar which remains at 24 races. There are also quite a number of double & triple headers.
Good new for Alonso who can also see how Honda are going in 2026 to decide whether to continue. Clearly the past disagreement’s with Honda have been buried after he infamously called it a GP2 Engine at the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix.
Good new for Alonso who can also see how Honda are going in 2026 to decide whether to continue. Clearly the past disagreement’s with Honda have been buried after he infamously called it a GP2 Engine at the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix.
birchesgreen
Established Member
I kinda enjoyed having races on a saturday to be honest.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
Chinese Sprint Qualifying:
Norris > Hamilton > Alonso > Verstappen > Sainz > Perez > Leclerc > Piastri> Bottas > Guanyu
Norris > Hamilton > Alonso > Verstappen > Sainz > Perez > Leclerc > Piastri> Bottas > Guanyu
birchesgreen
Established Member
The rain made SQ3 insanity. Well worth checking out the highlights.
Some rather unusual things this weekend in Shanghai are:
The Grass Fires at the side of Turn 7, some thoughts that it could be sparks from the cars or from underground (the track is built on a swamp). The FIA are going to investigate so it hopefully won’t happen during either the sprint or the main race on Sunday.
The bitumen coating of the track: the teams & Pirelli we’re both surprised when the arrived to find it on the track. The grip seems poor, not as bad as Turkey 2020, but not brilliant. In the rain some of the cars looked like they were rallying with power slides throughout SQ3. It is not supposed to happen in 2025 as the track is set for a full resurface.
If the Sprint is dry then Lewis will probably drop back as the Mercedes pace in the dry seems poor & the McLaren seems slow down the long back straight. It was great for the crowd & Zhou Guanyu for him to get to SQ3.
The Grass Fires at the side of Turn 7, some thoughts that it could be sparks from the cars or from underground (the track is built on a swamp). The FIA are going to investigate so it hopefully won’t happen during either the sprint or the main race on Sunday.
The bitumen coating of the track: the teams & Pirelli we’re both surprised when the arrived to find it on the track. The grip seems poor, not as bad as Turkey 2020, but not brilliant. In the rain some of the cars looked like they were rallying with power slides throughout SQ3. It is not supposed to happen in 2025 as the track is set for a full resurface.
If the Sprint is dry then Lewis will probably drop back as the Mercedes pace in the dry seems poor & the McLaren seems slow down the long back straight. It was great for the crowd & Zhou Guanyu for him to get to SQ3.
PG
Established Member
I can buy it being sparks but catching fire from underground when the track is atop swamp land doesn't quite sit right! I'd have thought that the solution is skim off the top layer of turf and sprinkle over with gravel.
Max Verstappen has won the Sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton in second & Sergio Perez in third. It was an interesting sprint with the third place battle towards the end a highlight of the race.
In Qualifying Max Verstappen is on Pole position for the Grand Prix with Sergio Perez in second. Fernando Alonso in third. Lewis Hamilton failed to get out of Q1 & will start 18th in the Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen has won the Chinese Grand Prix with Lando Norris in second & Sergio Perez in third. Fourth was Charles Leclerc, fifth was Carlos Sainz, sixth was George Russell, seventh was Fernando Alonso after a strange tyre strategy put him on soft tyres at the safety car whilst the others went for yards than ran to the end. Eighth was Oscar Piastri, ninth was Lewis Hamilton & tenth was Nico Hulkenberg.
There was 2 safety cars, the first was for an engine failure for Valterri Bottas & the second was for debris at the hairpin when Stroll hit the back of Ricciardo who hit the back of Piastri in a concertina moment.
Penalties were applied to Stroll for hitting the back of Ricciardo, Magnussen for spinning Tusunoda round who retired, Sargeant for a overtaking under safety car.
Ferrari have announced a new multi year sponsorship deal with HP, the last team to have this sponsor was BMW Williams in the 2000’s.
In Qualifying Max Verstappen is on Pole position for the Grand Prix with Sergio Perez in second. Fernando Alonso in third. Lewis Hamilton failed to get out of Q1 & will start 18th in the Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen has won the Chinese Grand Prix with Lando Norris in second & Sergio Perez in third. Fourth was Charles Leclerc, fifth was Carlos Sainz, sixth was George Russell, seventh was Fernando Alonso after a strange tyre strategy put him on soft tyres at the safety car whilst the others went for yards than ran to the end. Eighth was Oscar Piastri, ninth was Lewis Hamilton & tenth was Nico Hulkenberg.
There was 2 safety cars, the first was for an engine failure for Valterri Bottas & the second was for debris at the hairpin when Stroll hit the back of Ricciardo who hit the back of Piastri in a concertina moment.
Penalties were applied to Stroll for hitting the back of Ricciardo, Magnussen for spinning Tusunoda round who retired, Sargeant for a overtaking under safety car.
Ferrari have announced a new multi year sponsorship deal with HP, the last team to have this sponsor was BMW Williams in the 2000’s.
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