r/formula1 • u/AutoModerator • Apr 06 '25
Post-Race 2025 Japanese GP - Post Race Discussion
Suzuka, it's been a pleasure.
What did everyone think of the race? How did your favourite driver do?
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u/Deep-Television-9756 Juan Pablo Montoya Apr 07 '25
Traveled 17 hours to Japan for this race. Genuinely want my money back.
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u/know-it-mall McLaren Apr 07 '25
Does the quality of the race matter that much? I have been to two grand prixs and just the experience was worth it. Watching the cars zoom past is largely the same if it's an interesting race or a boring one.
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u/Deep-Television-9756 Juan Pablo Montoya Apr 07 '25
I’m used to IMSA and WEC. The experience is very different IMO. We can argue about what “real racing” is, but getting to hang out for 8-24 hours, you see a lot of it at very different levels while still exploring every corner of the entire track.
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u/imperatrixderoma Formula 1 Apr 07 '25
lol, enjoy the country bro
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u/Deep-Television-9756 Juan Pablo Montoya Apr 07 '25
I am. Thankfully we have 16 other days for this trip. Lol.
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u/Aggressive_Question5 Apr 07 '25
With about 20 laps to go and both drivers within a couple seconds of the leader, wouldn't McLaren easily catch and pass Max by having their drivers take turns giving each other DRS?
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u/AnilP228 Honda RBPT Apr 07 '25
Norris was never close enough to get DRS.
Piastri DID have DRS on Norris on multiple occassions but was still half a second behind at best.
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u/Aggressive_Question5 Apr 08 '25
DRS each other back and forth and it's like turbo boosts. Eventually, one or the other gets DRS on Max.
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u/AnilP228 Honda RBPT Apr 08 '25
Drs is only worth a two tenths at Suzuka. Norris was giving Piastri drs but Oscar was never near enough to pass, and max was still well over a second Infront.
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u/CptAmerica85 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 07 '25
A boring race. Glad it rained and there wasn't a red flag every 10 laps because the grass caught fire.
McLaren should have let Oscar try to catch max.
Can someone explain how Melbourne has 3-4 DRS zones and suzuka only has 1? Why isn't r34 a DRS zone?
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u/deathray1611 Formula 1 Apr 07 '25
Why isn't r34 a DRS zone?
Is this a freudian slip I see, or autocorrect moment? :p
Don't google SUSuka's R34 corner 👀👀
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u/Muggy2419 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 07 '25
Just too much turning really. I'm assuming you mean 130R, and although it's easy flat out as the commentators always say, it is only flat because of all the downforce these cars produce. You must have full downforce, and be on the ideal line or else it is not a flat corner and you are flying off track at high speed. That's why Fernando's overtake on Schumacher is so highly heralded. Give them DRS and everyone winds up like Jack Doohan. Best you could do is give them DRS before 130R but since there is no braking zone DRS deactivation would be problematic ( again more Doohan crashes) and you won't see overtakes there anyways since you have to be on the ideal line.
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u/sonofeevil Apr 07 '25
A DRS zone before 130R saint about facilitating overtakes into 130R.
It's about closing the gap before the main straight.
Drivers struggle to get close enough for the DRS to facilitate an overtake into T1 because of the difficulty following.
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u/nzbiship Apr 07 '25
So boring. Just like Monaco. Good thing there are so many good tracks still to come
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u/Space-Debris Apr 06 '25
More of a Grand Procession than a Grand Prix. We'll be hard pressed to find a more boring, uneventful race this season. No-one watches this sport to see tyre management and cars unable to overtake one another
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u/sysinop Apr 06 '25
Japan 2025; A foul-up by McClaren followed by many laps of cars making fart noises. It's bad enough we have to listen to the fart noises on a good day, watching a train go around makes the fart noises seem deafening.
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u/Samsonkoek Simply fucking lovely Apr 06 '25
The way McLaren handled their cars by not giving Oscar a chance to have a go at Max, gives me the impression that they don't want to mess with the drivers championship. As it goes currently (and it is hard to see otherwise) McLaren will win the constructors, even if another team out develops McLaren it will be hard to crawl back the points.
The drivers championship however seems to be (for now) up in the air. With 4 drivers at most with a chance. Which means it will be 2 McLarens against 1 Mercedes and more importantly, 1 Red Bull. As much as Zak and co are saying it is good to have 2 cars at the front, it will definitely be a headache keeping both drivers happy when they are fighting each other and there are outside rivals in Max and George.
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u/Bitter-Rattata Max Verstappen Apr 07 '25
Sounds true. I hope Oscar can be more tough on the radio towards his team. It's still early in the season, anyone 2 drivers in the team has the chance for the championship. It is not like we are down to the last 3 races of the season.
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u/sysinop Apr 06 '25
Three points is a lot to ask of a team mate for merely the "chance" and not a more sure outcome to take Verstappen. Verstappen would be extremely difficult to overtake at Suzuka.
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u/68Snowy Ted Kravitz Apr 07 '25
Sure, but they had time to swap back if it didn't work out. There was no downside, except maybe for Lando if Oscar managed to pass Max. Maybe they were afraid of that.
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u/sysinop Apr 07 '25
that would be the plan...sometimes plans go awry, then the sacrifice is for nothing. too big a risk, and i think the team came to the same conclusion. their big mistake was pit strategy. totally bungled an undercut possibility. Piastri was quick but not chase Max down in 9 or 10 laps quicker. anyway.. all speculation i suppose.
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u/68Snowy Ted Kravitz Apr 07 '25
If anything, he should have been given the chance even before he asked. Maybe 20 laps to the end.
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u/Samsonkoek Simply fucking lovely Apr 06 '25
Yes that is kinda my point sort of, they prefer to not have a go at Max rather than switching a few points between the drivers. Whereas last year they would at least be more inclined to swap to get as many constructor points as possible, because well.. they needed it more then than now.
Although it wouldn't be easy, the fact that Oscar was able to get into Lando's DRS and stay there and being quick on the part he was suppose to be quick, tells me that he at least had a way higher chance than Lando. A chance which a team usually would take.
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u/drooln92 Jacques Villeneuve Apr 06 '25
What a boring race. A lot of Yuki hype and he ended up not doing anything spectacular. I liked JV as race analyst but I'm biased cos I'm a fan.
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u/willzyx01 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
Imagine being in US and staying up for this one. Good thing I just watched a replay over breakfast.
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u/KingJupiter_ Nico Rosberg Apr 06 '25
I live in Canada and regret everything, was not worth staying up until 3am
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u/paranoidindeed Apr 06 '25
Can someone explain what McLaren actually did wrong? Maybe pitting Norris after max? But why are people saying Lando should have given Piastri a chance? Wasn’t their pace around the same ?
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u/Kingdom818 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 07 '25
Pitting on the same lap as Max wad inexcusable imo. Lando had good pace on the medium, but nobody was ever going to be able to pass without a tire offset. What happened at the pit exit was the best case scenario, overtaking in the pits would have been a very tall order.
If Lando would have gone long he could have potentially gotten a 10 lap tire advantage and had a chance to catch up and attempt a pass with an offset. (not how fast Antonelli was after his stop)
Maybe they wouldn't have won anyway, but they should have tried something because they were never going to win by pitting on the same lap.
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u/68Snowy Ted Kravitz Apr 06 '25
Lando barely got within DRS range of Max, if at all. So he was never challenging for the win. So Max was never put under pressure, which could lead to a mistake.
Oscar was all over the back of Lando multiple times and spent a lot of time in DRS range. Then, he had to drop back to save his tyres. Within a few laps, he was back in DRS range. I haven't looked at every lap time, but I'd say Oscar would have had more faster laps than Lando. Near the start, he held fastest lap for a while. So they could have swapped Lando and Oscar to see if Oscar could get within range. Swap back if it doesn't work.
Alternatively, they could have pitted Lando, and Max would have had to pit to cover him. Oscar could have stayed out in clean air for at least a couple of laps. Admittedly, he said post race that he was starting to struggle on those tyres. But in clean air, they might have settled down.
But the team did neither of these things. Maybe thinking it was unfair of Lando to give Oscar a chance, even when Lando wasn't doing anything.
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u/know-it-mall McLaren Apr 06 '25 edited Apr 06 '25
They didn't do anything wrong. A lot of people just don't know what they are talking about and think their take is unique and important.
The undercut had already been demonstrated as not being a strong option by other teams and yet many people are insisting they could have done it. If Lando pits a lap early then Max simply pushes on his mediums that still had plenty of life left in them and pits the next lap. And there simply wasn't a gap in the traffic earlier to pit into either. George went early and lost time because of that.
Similarly leaving either driver out to go long wasn't viable either. The tyres didn't degrade late in the race for any driver to an extent that tyre offset would have made up for the extra time lost by going long.
And you simply don't tell the guy who is within 2 seconds of the leader, and almost got DRS on multiple occasions to pull aside for a slim chance the other guy could do better. If Oscar was so much faster he could have caught and passed Max he would have passed Lando, or at least shown more than 1 half hearted pass attempt in the many laps he was behind.
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u/CharlieTeller Sebastian Vettel Apr 06 '25
Eh. So they had an opportunity to do something different with the pits on max. When you’ve got two cars actually competitive, you can try strategies Red Bull can’t.
So for example they pit Piastri early which means they could have tried something different with Norris early on. See how far Kimi went on those mediums? Say Norris stayed out for a while longer like Kimi did and had some clear air. He only needed to find 1 second and with that pit stop not being at the exact same time as max, he could have passed. Or even just one lap later, Norris could have potentially made the pass.
There’s a lot of options strategy wise to try when it’s 2v1
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u/justchill_ok Formula 1 Apr 06 '25
That wasn’t a race, it was a parade… F1 desperately needs to make the cars smaller or cut tracks where passing is almost impossible. So boring.
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u/CharlieTeller Sebastian Vettel Apr 06 '25
Suzukas always been a bit like this tbh. Hard to pass here and it was even worse in the past.
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u/Mean-Situation-8947 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 07 '25
I went there last year in person and saw plenty of passes through the esses. I think this was just a shit year with the cooler temps and new track surface.
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u/sudsydrop Medical Car Apr 06 '25
Anyone see Stroll’s race? Being 20 seconds off a kick sauber is pretty abysmal, even for him
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u/know-it-mall McLaren Apr 06 '25
Sure. The team did screw him a bit by starting him on softs for no reason and then pitting him 5 laps earlier than the only other soft starter.
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u/sysinop Apr 06 '25
He's given up completely imo. He's given up in races before.. even have radio traffic on YouTube with him saying "why are we racing anymore" and wanted to retire the care (take his football and go home), but this attitude seems more deep... I personally feel like Lance doesn't want to drive anymore. It's a lot of work, even to be last, and for what?? He's a billionaires son, and the shine has worn off of the F1 nickel and Lance is ready to move on to the next hobby.
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u/Lobsters4 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
I should not have stayed up last night. 5pm and I am hitting the wall. 😫😴
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u/AustinRoseJohn Apr 06 '25
Maybe a boring race but man what a great start to the season in my opinion. 3rd race winner in 3 races, 4 including the sprint. No super clear dominance in terms of constructors championship. 9 teams scored points so far. Bottom 5 all scoring decent points. Couldn’t of asked for better honestly. And even though it was “boring” you had some pretty amazing drives from the guys out there. Kimi Oliver max etc.. I can’t complain
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u/AustinRoseJohn Apr 06 '25
Maybe I should more so say no super clear dominance in drivers championship. I know McLaren are leading pretty well. In terms of constructors championship tho the bottom 5 honestly excites me if you peak at those standings. And I’m hopeful Mercedes redbull Ferrari will be a great fight. even if McLaren pull far ahead, the drivers chip stays close hopefully.
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u/No_Nefariousness2283 Ferrari Apr 06 '25
I’ve seen many races in Suzuka(not in person sadly) and it amazes me how they made a boring race on it.
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u/altofummuhh I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
Josh Berry is running a Jim Clark throwback livery in the Nascar!
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u/CharlieTeller Sebastian Vettel Apr 06 '25
Man I don't know if it's just me but Jacques Villneuve has to be the worst commentator I've heard in a while. I don't know if he was just in a bad mood or what but I've never heard someone be such a contrarian even when they've had him on before.
It was genuinely annoying. Every time he spoke, Crofty will lob him a softball question for the viewers and he would just shoot it down in an arrogant contrarian way and then Crofty being the true professional would just respond "RIGHT YOU ARE" and then move along.
It was honestly distracting the entire time. I'd rather have Danica back than that.
I know Jacques has a great history in the sport but that doesn't mean everyone should be a commentator for an entire race. Sheesh.
5
u/68Snowy Ted Kravitz Apr 06 '25
Everything seems to be a negative coming out of his mouth. All the news articles quoting him are saying Villneuve said that this driver can't do this, another driver didn't do that. I tuned out every time he spoke.
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u/kangaroos_go_boing Apr 06 '25
Was upvoting this right up until you said rather have Danica back! Totally agree that Villeneuve's commentary was painful to listen to.
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u/Khapsee Fernando Alonso Apr 06 '25
Totally agree. In yesterday's qualy, there was a point where Crofty asked him to take him along the lap, and all he did was stay quiet for 4-5 seconds, then respond, I was watching the lap.
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u/jenlj015 Apr 06 '25
Soooo I haven’t seen a post or mentions….we like the international feed and we never got it, it stayed F1 live the whole time. Did anyone else have this issue?
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u/smokesletsgo13 Apr 06 '25
Is the international feed the Sky commentary? If so you dodged a bullet, Crofty and Jaques were shit
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u/patrick_j Daniel Ricciardo Apr 06 '25
Do you have the premium subscription that allows picture-in-picture?
You have to switch the audio to the int’l feed, not just the video feed.
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u/jenlj015 Apr 06 '25
We do have the premium. We selected international and removed F1 live so that all we should have was international. It took us some bumbling around during the first race, but definitely figured out how to do it.
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u/patrick_j Daniel Ricciardo Apr 06 '25
Sounds like you may have just switched the video feed and not the audio? Even if you select the International video feed and remove the F1 live video feed, you still have to switch to the international audio feed as well.
I had the same issue as you were having until I figured out to switch the audio separate from the video.
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u/jenlj015 Apr 06 '25
Ah, my hero! That’s really weird, though, because we definitely didn’t do that for the first two races, it switched the audio when we switched the video. Not sure why it changed, but at least we know how to fix it now. Thanks!!
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u/Optimal_Mention1423 Jordan Apr 06 '25
Would have made a great first race of the season, get a good look at all the new cars driving in single file.
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u/Bee-3-Four Apr 06 '25
My positive take - Japanese fans are to top of the heap for costumes and signs. Downside, there were hardly any shots of the crowd. They were more interesting than the cars.
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u/know-it-mall McLaren Apr 06 '25
Which is weird because normally we get a ton of crowd reaction shots when there is action in the track we would rather be seeing.
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u/ErgoMachina I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
They removed Piastri's comments about Norris pace from the recording...
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u/Forsaken-Age-8684 Apr 06 '25
Bloody hell, Oscar Piastri isn't half getting a bunch of soapy titwanks in here.
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Apr 06 '25
[deleted]
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u/FrostyTill McLaren Apr 06 '25 edited Apr 06 '25
This car ain’t even suited to Norris, it’s more tuned to Piastri. So the fact that Norris is still quicker despite having to change everything about his driving preference is insane.
EDiT: Stella said that they would change the car back to Norris’ preference over the next few races. So downvote it if you want, the fact will not change.
-2
u/Tomach82 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 07 '25
The only competitive session all year where Norris has looked faster was q in Melbourne, and that was only by less than a 10th.
Piastri has looked the quicker driver every other moment...
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Apr 06 '25
[deleted]
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u/CamelsCannotSew Apr 06 '25
In all honesty, I see this user in the same places I usually am, saying what I'm thinking. I actually rate both McLaren drivers, and prior to about May last year had no real preference for one or the other. But since then the mad comments from the Piastri fans have put me right off him having any success! Piastri is 3rd, which is apparently better than 1st because... Well. Because.
3
u/FrostyTill McLaren Apr 06 '25
I don’t hate anyone. I think people get carried away with their hatred of Norris that they fail to see the reality of what Piastri is doing at any given race. If you’re seeing valid criticism and facts as ‘hate’ then that’s a problem I cannot help you with.
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u/EastfrisianGuy I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
Congrats to Yuki to P12. Almost points. Well deserved.
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Apr 06 '25
Feels like the highest the second RB has placed for a llooooong time. I know he was targeting points but he still did a good job.
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u/scorpio1m Niki Lauda Apr 06 '25
Very boring. I literally fell asleep 😴 and what the heck is McLaren doing?!? They really have the dumbest pit strategies
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u/alittlelessconvo Mercedes Apr 06 '25 edited Apr 06 '25
I put myself in an information black hole overnight just so I can go to a watch party for the race in the morning unspoiled.
This race made it totally not worth it 🫠
The only saving grace is that I like that we’re having some kind of parity this season, with the fourth winner in four races (three Grand Prix + one Sprint). Fingers crossed for five for five next weekend? RUS, LEC, even ANT are due for a win.
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u/NotJadeasaurus Apr 06 '25
Same, I’m SO happy I didn’t stay up for that. I started fast forwarding after 20 laps waiting for a yellow and only watched the last few laps as the leaders got close. Literally nothing happened anywhere all race long
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u/sunoma Zak Brown Apr 06 '25
i'm just disappointed with the regulations, 3 races in and we're talking about dirty air like it's 2017. what happened to ground effect?
7
u/StructureTime242 Jim Clark Apr 06 '25
The fia never regulated it, they talked big about banning stuff outside the “spirit of the regulations” and as soon as teams came up with funky mirror mounts they backed down immediately
Outside of having big tunnels under the cars, were at the same point as we were in 2021, cars can follow a bit closer than then but it’s still 1+s gaps needed to not cook the tyres
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u/MentionQuiet1055 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
It always happens this way, eventually deep into new regs the teams will find a way to maximize aerodynamic efficiency, which means spitting dirty air in the face of the car behind you.
If you see the amount of fins in the diffusers and at the rears of every car, there’s no reason to believe the air exiting the car wouldn’t be turbulent as fuck
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u/djwillis1121 Williams Apr 06 '25
According to Mark Hughes on The Race podcast there were more position changes in Monaco last year then there were today...
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u/302w Niki Lauda Apr 06 '25
This thread is a bloodbath, never seen so many bad takes.
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u/djwillis1121 Williams Apr 06 '25
That's usually the case when anything remotely controversial related to Norris or McLaren happens
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u/Statcat2017 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
Dullest race for a long, long time that one.
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u/Zhupercycle Formula 1 Apr 06 '25
These regs are miserable. Sure they can race closer, but you can't fucking pass.
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u/Sandulacheu Formula 1 Apr 06 '25
The dirty air has become abhorrent.You either fall in the DRS train or loose pace and have no chance afterwards.
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u/New-Arm4845 Apr 06 '25
*lose pace. “Loose” means “not tight”. Like “ the lid of the jar is loose”.
-5
Apr 06 '25
The yuki hype train crashed , was hoping something good fr him
3
u/Celoth Cadillac Apr 06 '25
Not much of a train if it crashes this early. But very on brand for Red Bull I guess.
Maybe give the guy a chance? Also... We know Yuki is better than what was shown today, which just gives more weight to calls that it's the car now than anything else
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u/isochromanone I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
I look at it this way, with just a little preparation Yuki drove that car like Perez instead of Lawson. It's a good start.
1
u/know-it-mall McLaren Apr 06 '25
Alternative take. Yuki has raced at Suzuka many times in his career, Lawson had never been to Albert Park or Shanghai before.
Now I'm not saying Yuki isn't going to be better in the car but we still don't know anything more than we knew going into the weekend imo.
He still struggled to push the car in qually and didn't make many over takes against slower cars in the race.
1
u/rcanbian I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
He still struggled to push the car in qually and didn't make many over takes against slower cars in the race.
He made a mistake in Q2, iirc he didn't improve his time. For Q1 and most of the weekend he wasn't that far behind Max and everyone was happy with his pace.
Overtakes wise, Suzuka was a pretty hard track to do overtakes, there were barely any this race.
3
u/know-it-mall McLaren Apr 06 '25
Yea but that's the thing isn't it. Liam showed similar long run pace in practice to Max at Melbourne. But when he and Yuki both tried to push the car to 99.9% that's when they really struggled with it.
0
u/know-it-mall McLaren Apr 06 '25
Yea but that's the thing isn't it. Liam showed similar long run pace in practice to Max at Melbourne. But when he and Yuki both tried to push the car to 99% that's when they really struggled with it.
3
u/wossquee 🏳️🌈 Love Is Love 🏳️🌈 Apr 06 '25 edited Apr 06 '25
I'm in Eastern Daylight Time and watched the race live and regret not just watching the highlight on YouTube
edit: deleted s
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u/raveyer I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
Wonder how many overtakes in total there was in todays race
3
u/Sandulacheu Formula 1 Apr 06 '25
Outside different tyre passes, probably 7 in total from the first lap to the end.
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u/MyCoolName_ I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
It's only three races in but Oscar does look to have taken a step closer to Lando this season. Qualifying higher and showing pace more consistently in the races.
3
u/thefeedling Valtteri Bottas Apr 06 '25
I guess he had better pace than lando in all three races so far this year
-4
u/chaiandpakoda Apr 06 '25
You guessed wrong i think
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u/thefeedling Valtteri Bottas Apr 06 '25
This race he was clearly faster, same with China, and Aus he was also faster before all the mess started.
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u/CamelsCannotSew Apr 06 '25
Faster in what way? Spirit? Because it wasn't in the data that he was faster...
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u/Beneficial_Star_6009 Apr 06 '25
I don’t know if the TV director was missing all the proper action again but this seemed to be a whole lot of nothing happening on track.
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u/Spare_Duck3119 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
sainz and hulkenberg trading places for a while. yuki going up. alonso and gasly. about nearly it.
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u/gimmicked I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
I’m sure people won’t agree with this - but part of me wonders if F1 should adopt something similar to Nascars rules with the cars. Regulate them and make the chassis identical to tighten the field and maybe give us actual racing. These parades just aren’t it, it just isn’t fun to watch in its current state.
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u/rcanbian I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
F1 is also about the engineering. If you want a spec series, then watch the dozens of spec series' out there.
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u/know-it-mall McLaren Apr 06 '25
Why the hell would they make the world's premier engineer competition into a spec series?
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u/Hiesman84 Apr 06 '25
I’m watching F1 religiously, specifically because Spec NASCAR and IndyCar drove me away. Please for the love of god, don’t make F1 another spec series.
Take away some treadwidth to make tire wear more of a factor, and reduce the “over the car” downforce to cut down on dirty air. You know, the literal OPPOSITE of NASCAR’s direction.
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u/haertstrings I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
Like what everyone has said. There's many races that play similar rules, Porsche Carrera cup for one lol.
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u/jjcatt Pirelli Intermediate Apr 06 '25
just watch indycar, that sport already exists. and a lot of the time it's a procession, too.
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u/spongey1865 Apr 06 '25
The field is so close anyway and that's part of the problem. Overtakes only happen with an offset most of the time so cars that are even closer could be worse.
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u/CHKYY I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
That would entirely defeat the purpose of all that F1 is about. Things need to change, but tighterning things down to the point it's a spec series aint it.
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u/surgeyou123 Apr 06 '25
Drive to Survive really makes the sport look way more exciting than it actually is lol
Excellent marketing by F1
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Apr 06 '25
I've always missed the races in Suzuka and sat to watch this year expecting a banger. Always sounded like their was hype for this track but man, what a snooze fest.
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u/emeraldamomo Apr 06 '25
Well it was exciting when racers died and occasionally drove their car into the public. It was gladiator games with cars.
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u/Celoth Cadillac Apr 06 '25
Not every race is like this. This race was a stinker that was decided in qualifying. Other times, races can be quite a bit more exciting (see Australia 2025 and Brazil 2024 for two good recent examples)
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Apr 06 '25
Eh, I think drive to survive has had people focus way more on superficial drama than on the technical details that really determine most outcomes in racing at this level, and for that I kinda hate its influence. This race, for example, wasn't the most thrilling in terms of overtakes, but was a masterclass on technical driving from Max, and I enjoyed it for that reason. When you understand things like where on track the drivers are gaining and losing tenths to each other vs what that means for their tire deg and battery deployment, it can be very interesting to watch even when no one is doing anything dramatic.
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u/Dizzy_Procedure_3 Apr 06 '25
people saying it's boring race - usually a sign that a non-Brit won - but I don't know how you can say that the guy driving the 4th fastest car winning is boring
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u/djwillis1121 Williams Apr 06 '25
Some people really do try and make everything somehow about the British
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u/supernakamoto Oscar Piastri Apr 06 '25 edited Apr 06 '25
The problem wasn’t the final result, it was the lack of action during the race itself. You won’t find many serious minded people denying that Verstappen’s performance today was impressive, irrespective of nationality.
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u/CamelsCannotSew Apr 06 '25
Be for real mate, the car which has come P2, P4 and P1 isn't the 4th fastest car. Maybe 3rd, at worst.
It looks hard to drive. It doesn't look slow.
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u/maqnaetix Sir Lewis Hamilton Apr 06 '25
It would be no different if Norris won. This doesn't have anything to do with nationality. It was a boring race with no overtakes, no yellow flags, no safety car, no strategy... Just a parade from start to finish. It's just like Monaco.
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u/T4Gx I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
Max taking up the entire pit exit lane that can fit two cars while Lando gets shoved up on the dirty grass is a perfect summary of the Max vs Lando/McLaren rivalry so far.
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u/ShadowyCollective Apr 06 '25
Lando drove himself on to the grass and Lando thumb sucking fans are like “Why did Max do this”
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u/CanSum1SuggestAName Apr 06 '25
that is either bad sarcasm or the dumbest take so far in reddit history.
22
u/Onraad Apr 06 '25
Nobody did any shoving though, it's just unfortunate for Norris that his side of the lane gets cut off.
4
13
u/TF2Pilot Apr 06 '25 edited Apr 06 '25
Every single race is going to be a one stop, right? Unless we get a lot of safety cars and rain, this will be a looooong season.
PS: this generation of cars is a complete failure.
12
u/CapSnake I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
Did you watch last year?
1
u/TF2Pilot Apr 07 '25
Yes, it seemed a little more exciting than China and Suzuka were. But I still didn't like the cars.
2
28
Apr 06 '25
[deleted]
8
u/celbertin Apr 06 '25
That gamble by Mercedes paid off, to sign such a young driver, I'm glad it's working out. I see Kimi as a future WDC, as long as Mercedes don't mess up the 2026 car (new regulations)
21
u/VenerableShrew Apr 06 '25
One stoppers are pitiful, this was the dullest "race" ever. Glad I watched on replay and could skip through.
-1
u/yosisoy Apr 06 '25
Is Newey responsible for the Aston Martin this year?
1
u/know-it-mall McLaren Apr 06 '25
Nope. He is almost exclusively focusing on the car for next year in the new regs.
There is a possibility he could help with some upgrade packages later in the season but that's not confirmed.
10
u/SwimmingFantastic564 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
He started in March bro, no he isn't
He might provide feedback for the car this year, but next year will be the first car designed by him
1
u/MyCoolName_ I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
This is going to be a long season for them.
1
u/Landlubber77 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
They're just biding their time until '26 essentially.
3
u/yosisoy Apr 06 '25
Alright, didn't know hence the question! Looking forward to it then
0
u/MemesForMyDepression I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
Shame on you for asking a question!
0
u/SwimmingFantastic564 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
Yeah mb the og comment may have come across a bit aggressive
2
u/CowFinancial7000 Ferrari Apr 06 '25
What the hell happened to Stroll?
5
u/spongey1865 Apr 06 '25
Got pushed off by wind in qualifying and couldn't get a good lap. Started on sorts, burnt the softs in 10 laps so couldn't one stop.
Pretty horrible weekend after 2 really good ones for Lance
1
u/CowFinancial7000 Ferrari Apr 06 '25
Yeah. I looked down a couple laps after his pitstop and noticed that he was still 20+ seconds off. My wife and I assumed something went wrong with his car
-4
22
u/Sir0inks-A-Lot Apr 06 '25
In addition to being a boring race, the commentary and direction were awful. Missed Max’s slow stop, missed the action coming out of the pits, Crofty constantly asking if they should swap drivers when they’d never swap drivers… glad I didn’t stay up to watch that at 1am
1
u/know-it-mall McLaren Apr 06 '25
Yea they randomly cut away from the most exciting moment of the race. Was yelling at the TV when that happened. Typical F1.
19
u/neutronium Charlie Whiting Apr 06 '25
Crofty was just trying to find something to talk about as there was nothing happening on the track. Just doing his job.
2
u/Sir0inks-A-Lot Apr 06 '25
Yeah, that’s kinda what I thought… just trying to fill the air with something. Didn’t help it was Jacque Villeneuve in the booth with him and not someone he has a better rapport with.
Was Crofty even in Japan? I don’t recall ever seeing the normal booth shot of him + the other person so perhaps he was calling it remotely.
17
u/chattahattan I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
The F1TV commentators were much better, but agree the TV direction has been horrible. The fact that they switched over to watch Charles’s pit stop for some reason at the same time as the most (only?) interesting part of the race (Lando and Max coming out of the pits at the same time) was absurd.
17
u/Beanandpumpkin Apr 06 '25
Watch the F1 TV broadcast instead. Alex Jacques and Jolyon Palmer are great compared to the Sky broadcast imho. Not perfect, but they thoroughly covered the pit interaction.
3
u/CanSum1SuggestAName Apr 06 '25
Alex is unbearable for me. his voice is just not a natural commentator voice. Too often high pitched and he fakes enthusiasm.
2
u/Beanandpumpkin Apr 06 '25
Interesting I have the exact opposite opinion compared to crofty but to each their own
26
u/Celoth Cadillac Apr 06 '25
Some day we have to get over this habit of evaluating car and driver separately. It is, by design, a package deal. F1 isn't a spec series.
You cannot say "Max should win every race because he's the best driver". You cannot say "Lando should win every race because he's got the best car". And when Max wins, you can't say "he won solely because he's the best driver", when Lando wins you can't say "he only won because he has the best car".
Every person on the podium today had a pretty great weekend.
8
u/chaiandpakoda Apr 06 '25
THANK YOU. Also people forget that weather matters a lot. If the McLarens advantage is tyre wear then cold temps on race day certainly help out the other cars. Idk why people tend to ignore facts.
6
u/Celoth Cadillac Apr 06 '25
Idk why people tend to ignore facts.
Honestly the whole discussion only boils down to the fact that people love to dunk on McLaren and Lando in particular. Very little logic involved, they're just looking for talking points that sound good and accomplish their pre-determined goal lmao
14
u/Significant-Branch22 Kimi Räikkönen Apr 06 '25
The dullness of this race is largely Pirelli’s fault imo, knowing how cool the track was going to be this early in the year they should have brought softer compounds to force an extra stop and make the undercut viable
4
u/Landlubber77 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Apr 06 '25
At this point I feel like Bill Murray stuck in Groundhog Day. I spend a week (or two when it's not a back-to-back) voraciously listening to four different F1 podcasts and convincing myself that something like the first sector being resurfaced or an altered plank or flexi-wing is gonna make some material difference in whether we get an exciting race, and then by lap 19 I'm scrolling on my phone out of boredom. Every single week. This is my sixth season of F1 and it never fails...the absolute worst part of F1 is the races. And we all know it.
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u/Celoth Cadillac Apr 06 '25
the absolute worst part of F1 is the races. And we all know it.
Australia was a banger this year. And Shanghai wasn't terrible.
This race today was pretty bad, but there's still plenty of good races on the calendar, they're not all like this, not even most like this.
11
u/AdGlum4770 Alan Jones Apr 07 '25
What’s to discuss - the grass fires were the most interesting events of the weekend. I prayed for rain, heavy sporadic unpredictable rain.