The F1x

• The In Lap

  • Piastri really is him

  • Lando plays the team game

  • George inherits another P3

  • Perez and Sainz crash

  • Ollie and Franco shine

  • Standings

• Overheard in the Paddock

  • McLaren rear wing questioned

  • Lewis was yanking due to “worst balance ever”

  • Bahrain for testing in 2025

  • FIA introduce Officials Department

• A Quick Look Ahead

  • Singapore

The In Lap

With all the talk of team orders and McLaren focusing on helping Lando close the gap to Max, none of us saw what was coming during qualifying. Everything was up in the air by Sunday after Lando got caught out by the quickest yellow flag and had to abort his lap in Q1, which led to him being knocked out.

Piastri is really shining with McLaren. His fast, aggressive, confident, yet fair driving has been impressive so far. Now, Oscar has his second career win and appears to be improving every race weekend. Since Austria, Oscar has scored 137 points, more than anyone else on the grid (Lewis Hamilton is next with 96).

NBA star Joel Embiid tweeted on Sunday, and based on everything we have seen so far in Oscar’s young career, we would not argue that it is a definite possibility for the Australian driver. Oscar had a bit of fun with the tweet too!

Lando helped hold Checo up in the middle section, which allowed Piastri to get a clean pit stop and stay ahead. This is the second time this season Lando has played the team game for Piastri, and both times it has resulted in a winning outcome for Oscar.

Despite all that happened in qualifying and during the race, Lando was still able to close the gap a little more to Max.

George Russell inherited another podium position after a late-race crash in front of him, following the collision between Checo and Sainz. If you remember, he won his first race of the season after Verstappen and Norris came together at the Austrian GP.

That crash between Checo and Sainz had the internet split on who was at fault, and in the end the FIA stewards deemed it a racing incident. Did Carlos creep over into the middle of the track? Yes. Did Checo hold his ground and not give an inch? Yes. It was a small touch that resulted in a big accident. Unfortunate for Checo that it ruined his best showing in a long time and was looking like he was about to get on the podium for the first time since China.

It was another great outing for Ollie Bearman and Franco Colapinto, both of whom picked up points and put themselves in the best possible position to take advantage of the late-race crash between Perez and Sainz. Sometimes, putting yourself in position to capitalize on other drivers' mistakes is all you need to do cough cough George Russell.

Williams must be relieved with how well Colapinto has adapted to F1. They gained significant points in the Constructors' Championship this weekend and could look poised to continue this momentum in the final quarter of the season.

Some pressure might mount on Albon now that his teammate is finishing right behind him after only his second race. When Sargeant was with Williams, the question was always whether Albon was so good that he was extracting a higher level of performance from the car, or if Sargeant was just not good enough for F1. Now that we know there might be some legitimate pace in the Williams (at least in relation to the bottom five teams), Albon will need to maintain his performance at a high level.

A couple of notes on the drivers and constructors championships:

Valtteri Bottas is now in 22nd place in the drivers championship… Reminder there are only 20 drivers in a race 😬

McLaren have now taken first place in the Constructors ahead of Red Bull by 20 points, and Ferrari are only 11 back from Red Bull in P3. Red Bull may end up in third place by the end of next weekend, something we all thought impossible at the start of the season with the way Verstappen was driving.

Overheard in the Paddock

Whenever one team starts to pull ahead as much as McLaren have, it is common for the other teams to start asking questions and looking to find what could be giving them such an advantage. This trend is currently calling the McLaren rear wing into question.

Lewis Hamilton was reportedly having to “yank” his steering wheel around to try and find balance in the Mercedes car this weekend. He said it was the worst balance he has ever had and was fighting the car through all the corners.

The FIA confirms Bahrain will be the testing site in 2025. They have hosted testing since 2021 in 2025 it will run from Feb 26-28. The first race of the season being in Australia a couple weeks later, where the race weekend kicks off on March 14th!

FIA announce Officials Department with the goal of starting a line of trained race officials.

A Quick Look Ahead

We have a night race next weekend in Singapore! Marina Bay Street Circuit and all of its bright lights and fireworks.

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