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F1's dirty air problem is only getting worse - can it be fixed?
The processional nature of last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix has triggered fears that we could be set for a season of dull races increasingly decided by qualifying results - but could some aggressive action from Pirelli be the answer?
With just one change of position in the top 10, thanks to Lewis Hamilton getting past Isack Hadjar for eighth, last weekend's race at Suzuka rammed home how the...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-dirty-air-problem-is-only-getting-worse-can-it-be-fixed/
Red Bull's plan to beat McLaren with '25% fixed' car
Max Verstappen's victory in the Japanese Grand Prix owed an awful lot to the driving brilliance of the four-time Formula 1 champion.His superb qualifying effort to grab an against-the-odds pole position, combined with an error-free run on Sunday, was critical to helping him head home the quicker McLaren cars.But it would be wrong to conclude that Verstappen's triumph was down to him alone, because...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-plan-to-beat-mclaren-with-25-percent-fixed-car/
Why the 2025 Ferrari isn't living up to the hype
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No podium in a main grand prix from the first three races, already losing touch with the leaders in the constructors' championship and that blow of a double disqualification from the Chinese Grand Prix.It is fair to say that Ferrari's start to the Formula 1 season is a world away from how it wanted things to have kicked off.Team principal Fred Vasseur certainly sees the irony in Ferrari having del...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-2025-f1-car-what-is-going-wrong/
What time is F1's 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix? Qualifying and race start times
Formula 1 returns to the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir for the fourth round of the 2025 campaign.This crop of F1 cars already ran in Sakhir earlier this year, during three days of pre-season testing, so the Bahrain Grand Prix will represent a particularly valuable opportunity for all 10 team to verify the progress they've made.Lando Norris and Max Verstappen enter the weekend one point a...
What explains Haas team-mate gap that's baffled Ocon
Esteban Ocon doubted the upgrade Haas had pushed through for the Japanese Grand Prix was working the same across both its Formula 1 cars at Suzuka - despite the team’s data indicating that was the case.Ocon said after a disappointing weekend in which he qualified and finished 18th that the Haas upgrade “worked on one car” after team-mate Ollie Bearman made it into Q3 and scored a point at Suzuka.
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Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/haas-suzuka-f1-car-upgrade-bearman-ocon/
Russell and Sainz divided on need for auto-DRS change
Formula 1 Grand Prix Drivers’ Association directors Carlos Sainz and George Russell have opposing views on whether the FIA needs to make changes after Jack Doohan’s huge Suzuka shunt. Doohan crashed his Alpine at Turn 1 in second practice on Friday at the Japanese GP, ripping his Alpine A525 to pieces and giving his team a lengthy repair job before final practice. After the session it emerged Dooh...
Red Bull is poised to exploit McLaren's biggest strength
Lando Norris raised a few eyebrows ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix when he suggested McLaren was making such an impact in Formula 1 this season because it was the only team with two good drivers right now.With so little to choose between himself and Oscar Piastri in the fight for wins, other squads he suggested looked worse off because of more one-sided operations.Mercedes had a rookie on board w...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-poised-to-exploit-mclaren-biggest-strength/
10 things we learned from F1's 2025 Japanese Grand Prix
A hugely controversial decision was immediately justified at Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix, which was deceptively interesting on and off track beyond a stagnant Sunday afternoon.Here’s everything we learned at Suzuka.F1's best car got stuck in 'rabbit hole'The fastest car at Suzuka didn’t win the race. It wasn’t even on pole.That was partly because of Red Bull getting its own car into close enou...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/10-things-we-learned-2025-japanese-grand-prix/
Edd Straw's 2025 Japanese Grand Prix F1 driver rankings
A pretty static Japanese Grand Prix produced a surprise winner, but that wasn’t the only star underdog performance that caught Edd Straw’s eye for his Formula 1 driver rankings.
How do the rankings work? The 20 drivers will be ranked in order of performance from best to worst on each grand prix weekend. This will be based on the full range of criteria, ranging from pace and racecraft to consist...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/japanese-grand-prix-f1-driver-rankings-2025-edd-straw/
Alpine F1 reserve leaves for Haas in abrupt switch
Ryo Hirakawa has left Alpine to become a Formula 1 reserve driver at Haas immediately after impressing for Alpine in Japanese Grand Prix practice at Suzuka.Having been a Toyota affiliated driver throughout his career and won two World Endurance Championship titles and a Le Mans 24 Hours with the firm, 31-year-old Japanese driver Hirakawa seemed a good fit for Haas given its new relationship with T...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-loses-f1-reserve-to/
Being the underdog has unleashed the best of Verstappen
Red Bull’s car is not as fast as McLaren’s, and Lando Norris narrowly leads the Formula 1 championship for a reason, yet Max Verstappen is setting up an unlikely title bid.Asking any more of Verstappen from this start to the season would be unreasonable. He has been unleashed in the role of the underdog and in this form he can win the championship if he gets a little help from Red Bull.
Is...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/being-the-underdog-unleashed-the-best-of-max-verstappen/
What's behind Hamilton's claim his Ferrari has 'deficit' to Leclerc's
Lewis Hamilton dropped some intriguing remarks after the Japanese Grand Prix pointing to a “deficit” between something on his Formula 1 car and that of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.After another challenging F1 weekend in Japan, in which he came home in seventh place, three places behind Leclerc, Hamilton pointed to his team having found a root cause of where his form was suffering.Speaking to...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hamilton-leclerc-ferrari-car-difference-japanese-gp/
Why Verstappen-Norris pit exit run-in went unpunished
In an otherwise neutralised fight out front at Formula 1's Japanese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris never got closer than on the exit of the Suzuka pitlane.Verstappen's pitstop was one second slower than Norris's (3.3s versus 2.3s), which opened the door for Norris to attack him on the pit exit - making full use of the advantage constructors' champion McLaren gets in the pitlane.Norris...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-verstappen-norris-japan-f1-pit-exit-run-in-went-unpunished/
Mark Hughes: Where McLaren really lost a winnable Japanese GP
Yes, this was a Max Verstappen masterclass. Perfection on Sunday in the Japanese Grand Prix based upon sublime virtuosity on Saturday and a Red Bull team which did a great job of solving the very difficult equation which describes the RB21's narrow sweet spot. And around a Suzuka track where the very low tyre degradation meant a key disadvantage to McLaren was not really exposed.However...did McLa...
Was Tsunoda’s disappointing Red Bull debut as bad as it looked?
Yuki Tsunoda’s poor grid position unsurprisingly translated into a disappointing result on his Red Bull debut in a stagnant Japanese Grand Prix.It means the headline results make for bad reading: 15th in qualifying, 14th on the grid after a Carlos Sainz penalty, and a point-less 12th in the grand prix.
Is Verstappen now the 2025 title favourite? Our verdict
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Tsunoda doesn’...
Winners and losers from F1's 2025 Japanese Grand Prix
It was hardly a classic, but Formula 1's 2025 Japanese Grand Prix still produced plenty of winners and losers.Below you'll find our team's picks.Loser: McLarenAny time you fail to win with what is objectively the fastest car in F1 at the time it has to go down as a loss.This was a very narrow defeat - the fine margins created by Max Verstappen's stunning final Q3 lap versus Lando Norris' apparent ...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-losers-f1-japanese-grand-prix-2025/
Verstappen beats McLarens in Japanese GP after Norris pit run-in
Max Verstappen held off the McLaren duo in the Japanese Grand Prix for his and Red Bull's first win of the 2025 Formula 1 season.Weather forecasts for Sunday from earlier in the weekend had hinted at a potential repeat of the dry-wet season opener in Australia, but after dampening the track in the lead-up rain stayed away - turning the grand prix into a conventional, largely processional one-stop ...
Japanese Grand Prix F1 2025 race results
F1 2025 produced its third different race winner in as many races as Max Verstappen took victory at the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix.He was joined on the podium by the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who he kept at bay all race long. The only time Norris got close enough was a lairy moment exiting the pits where he ended up on the grass - an incident that irritated Norris but the steward...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/japanese-grand-prix-f1-2025-race-results/
Is Verstappen now the 2025 F1 title favourite? Our verdict
McLaren appeared to have the fastest Formula 1 car at the Japanese Grand Prix but it was defending champion Max Verstappen who walked away with victory on Sunday.That partnered with his excellent prior 2025 damage limitation means Verstappen sits just one point adrift of points leader Lando Norris in the drivers' championship.So is he the title favourite? Is he simply in the title hunt? Or is he n...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/max-verstappen-japanese-gp-win-2025-title-favourite-verdict/
What engine every F1 team is using for 2026 rules
Five engine manufacturers will provide power units for the Formula 1's next rules cycle, which begins in 2026 and will run until the end of the 20230 season.That's an increase of one compared to the current list of providers, with Audi and a Ford-supported Red Bull Powertrains programme joining Ferrari, Mercedes and Honda - somewhat off-setting the loss of Renault at the end of 2025. Here's the co...
Read more: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/2026-f1-team-engines/