Let's just do l Bernie's sprinkler thing and be done. What with artificial overtaking and artificial pitstops, it doesn't seem that crazy anymore.
Now playing on iplayer the Brawn story, narrated by Neo Keanu Reeves https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0024qc2/brawn-the-impossible-formula-1-story
Just a reminder, testing starts 06:50 UK time on Wednesday!!!! First race in 17 days (16th March) in Aus! Looking forward to the first race.
The 17 days comes from F1.com: https://www.formula1.com/en/racing/2025/australia Might be time zone stuff? Could be that's days to Fridays practice
Ben Sillyman is out of Control . Key figures in Formula 1's governing body the FIA were barred from a meeting of the organisation's world motorsport council on Wednesday in a dispute with president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. Robert Reid, the FIA's deputy president for sport, and David Richards, the UK's representative, were among those denied access after refusing to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The document forbids members from discussing matters pertinent to the FIA outside official meetings, BBC Sport has been told. Insiders say Ben Sulayem demanded the new NDA, a stricter form of a document by which members were already bound, because of his concerns about leaks to the media. Legal letters have been exchanged and the dispute has raised questions as to whether decisions made by the world council - including regarding rules for the forthcoming F1 season - will be legitimate. The most high profile of these was the confirmed adoption of a mandatory minimum of two pit stops at the Monaco Grand Prix. FIA statues dictate members of the world motorsport council "may attend any meeting" and "have the right to vote". Reid and Richards both refused to comment when approached by BBC Sport. An FIA spokesperson said: "As is routine in all organisations, including the BBC, the FIA implements procedures including non-disclosure agreements to ensure confidential relationships between all parties, to safeguard personal information, and to protect our regulatory interests. "Unauthorised disclosure of confidential information undermines our ability to fully fulfil our mission and adversely impacts our capabilities to generate revenues to support our member clubs in our shared objective of growing motorsport participation, increasing accessibility, and cultivating innovation. "The steps we have taken to preserve confidentiality have been overwhelmingly supported by a super majority of WMSC members." Emirati Ben Sulayem has been the subject of a series of controversies since he took office in December 2021, including around his views on women, his approach to F1, changes to the statutes reducing accountability, the dismissal of a number of senior figures and rule changes regarding F1 drivers' public behaviour. Reid was a key member of Ben Sulayem's presidential team but the Scot, a former rally co-driver, has fallen out of favour with the FIA president. Ben Sulayem has, increasingly, in recent months complained about what he perceives as a bias against him by the British media, and Reid appears to have been lumped in with this in his mind. Richards also supported Ben Sulayem in the election in 2021, but was vocal in his opposition to the statute changes introduced last December. Ben Sulayem is running for re-election at the end of his first term in December this year. No-one has yet put themselves forward to stand against him. FIA insiders have speculated Ben Sulayem's actions on the NDA could be founded in fears that negative stories may appear in the media, or because he is planning further changes to the statutes at this June's General Assembly that would make it difficult for anyone to stand against him in the election.
This doesn’t seem that widely advertised, but if you’re prepared to spend 5 mins to give your opinion on F1 to the FIA. https://fansurvey2025-formula1.motorsportnetwork.com/
Gotta love the Sky Sports sensationalism. currently reporting that Hamilton is setting a “searing pace” at testing. Meanwhile, 1 TENTH behind on a C2 HARDER tyre is the Williams of Carlos Sainz. Carlos for the WDC then Absolutely loving the Hamilton Ferrari hype for clickbait and likes aren’t they.
Williams only 2/10ths off Max‘s Pole position from Bahrain last year in the pre season testing. Interesting to see how much quicker they can go by the end of tomorrow.
Not been able to pay too much attention what with work, but anybody have any decent long run comparisons?
Doing long runs now! Sounds like Lando doing 1:32.5 and Charles 1:33.5 both on hards at end of second stint 1st med tyres, 2nd hards, 3rd hards. UPDATE: They just said Lando was running 1 grade softer tyre so that might account for some of the 1 sec but times were at end of their stint so more deg on softer?
Is it my imagination or have they stopped broadcasting the radio conversations? I wonder if this is FIA trying to stop swearing or just a testing restriction? Hope it's just for testing.
Not sure either, just FIA muppet seems to be taking way too much control of every detail, I wondered if he had banned radio transmission broadcasting.
What we make of testing then folks? I think there’s some real improvement from almost all of the cars. Raw lap times are hard to really take literally, but I couldn’t help but think that McLaren were calm, collected and methodical and seem to have really improved slow/medium corners. They looked far better at Bahrain track that they haven’t been good at for a while, so if these improvements haven’t lost any of their traditional high speed strengths then they will be very strong. A lot of people writing off Ferrari - however their onboards looked pretty effortless and I’m certain low engine mode- I think they have had a deliberately understated test dialling in their new suspension set up. Red Bull looked to me like they were testing if they were back on a firm footing having had a couple of upgrades not help them in the way they expected last season. Max still looked very quick in patches and they won’t be miles away to begin with. Mercedes ran smoothly and reliably, it’s a step forward, young Kimi does look talented, and over one lap it looks a very good car. The question mark for them is long run and tyre wear. If they nail that they’ll be good, if they don’t get a handle early they will have to switch to their 2026 focus as early as possible. Williams had a good looking test but maybe exaggerated by the underplays of the big boys. Alpine were steady and solid- wouldn’t be surprised if they grab points early on. Aston Martins test was messy so we’ll have to see how they shape up in Melbourne. They have a lot to prove having lost their way in development last season. That’s about my take- Melbourne is a very different track and Ferrari were mega there last year so wouldn’t be surprised to see a Charles or Lewis victory to whet the appetite.
Yes that appeared to be the chatter. It felt like a strange test though- I wonder if a couple of cars have held one or two innovations back given everyone knows that the first 8 races will dictate so much of the season and how much time and resource you commit to 2025 development versus 2026 new regs.
