F1. China 2025 Review

By Gavin Huet, Aiden McLaughlin, Graeme Woolf , Chelsea Wintle and Scott MacLean

Driver of the Weekend

Aiden: After spinning off in his home race just a week ago, Oscar Piastri was sensational in Shanghai. Runner up in the sprint race before taking pole for the main event and then winning maximum points there. When he’s at the top of his game, the Australian is very hard to stop. Great for McLaren and a genuine driver’s championship race seems likely this year.

Chelsea: Ciao, everyone else, it’s Ollie Bearman for me. After a forgettable weekend in Australia, 19-year-old Bearman showed off some handy overtaking rizz on Lawson, Doohan, Sainz and Gasly to finish in the points. Sunday’s race was the dramatic opposite of last weekend, and Bearman’s manoeuvres added some spring to its step.

Graeme: Oscar Piastri. It’s long been said that this kid has the goods and we saw it numerous times in 2024. After claiming his maiden Grand Prix Pole on Saturday, I’d say that Piastri never looked troubled during the race, but we didn’t see him on the TV coverage. That says he drove a good clean race and rolled around the Shanghai track pretty comfortably. He seems a pretty unflappable character and he’ll compete with his team mate all season long for race wins.

Gavin: George Russell. The Mercedes man had a very steady weekend, fourth in the sprint race and third in the main race. The Mercedes seems to be a rock steady car this year and this could prove a point of difference with the other teams that seem to have designs that are much more variable. If Kimi Antonelli has a couple of decent results along with George they could be in a position to fight for the constructors.

Scott: “Aussie” Oscar Piastri. Third in qualifying for the sprint and second in Saturday’s race was a useful start, but from there he was dominant. Pole for the race and largely a leisurely cruise out at the head of a papaya 1-2. Teammate Lando Norris might still be the title favourite, but – Zak Brown’s commitment to his “go racing” philosophy pending – Oscar is definitely in the frame.

 

Talking Point

Aiden: Not one, not two, but THREE disqualifications? Ouch. Between weight issues and skid block breaches, it wasn’t a good day for Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, nor Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, but it was handy for the likes of Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz who ended up scoring points. What’s worse for team morale – a driver crashing out during the race or a disqualification after the race has ended? I have no idea but all concerned will be looking to make amends in Japan.

Chelsea: What a bummer to wake up on a Monday morning to find (a) you have to go to work, (b) you already watched the race yesterday, and (c) both Ferraris have been disqualified. Given the tightrope teams walk to get their cars as low as possible without being too low, it’s likely to be bad luck rather than outright cheating – and given the checks are random, I’d wager other teams would have been in the same boat. It’s going to put a sizable dent in Ferrari’s early title hopes, sweetened only slightly by Lewis’ victory in the sprint.

Graeme: With few talking points during the race, my talking point was on Monday morning, when I woke to see that both Ferrari’s and Pierre Gasly had all been disqualified. That moved around the points scorers from Sunday and added to Ferrari’s inconsistencies over the past couple of years. The margins in this sport are so minute, that if a team is as little as 1kg or half a centimetre off the regulations, it changes the result of the day dramatically.

Gavin: Both Ferraris being disqualified is quite the story. The cars to be checked at the end of the race are chosen at random which makes me think that other teams would have had the same issues if they had been checked as Ferrari believe that with Charles Leclerc it was because of the one stop strategy. Rules are rules but you just hope Ferrari are not going to trip over themselves again after being overhauled by Fred Vasseur over the last few seasons.

Scott: Ferrari’s early pace and subsequent disappearance. Lewis Hamilton’s sprint pole and race win were a nice boost for the Maranello squad, but whatever was working suddenly did not and they shared the third row for qualifying. A bit of contact at the start between the two saw Charles Leclerc lose a front wing endplate underscored further struggles during the race, before the double ignominy of seeing both cars disqualified post-race.

 

Gossip Time

Aiden: I wish I could ignore it, I really do, but a 23-year-old Kiwi is not only the main subject of gossip in the world of F1, but he’s one of the the most talked about sportsmen in the world at the moment. For me, his struggles indicate two main things; the RB21 is a complete bugger to drive and Max Verstappen is even better than most of us realised. But those two facts aren’t saving Lawson from the social media wolves and speculation is rife he could be gone even before Japan in a fortnight. My feeling is he has four more races (finishing in Miami) to save his seat. I have everything crossed for him.

Chelsea: I hope Liam Lawson’s staying away from the internet, because you can’t swing a cat without hitting a Lawson meme at the moment. The bright side: he did actually complete both races. The dark cloud: Hadjar in the Racing Bull beat him soundly in both outings, and Tsunoda was also dominant. Rumours abound that Red Bull are considering a driver swap as early as Suzuka in two weeks’ time, but that would be numpty behaviour and embarrassing for the team. Red Bull need to focus on building a second car for their second driver – whoever that might be – rather than hoping to find someone who shares Max’s particular quirks.

Graeme: It seems all F1 related gossip currently surrounds one person, Liam Lawson. I can’t imagine the pressure he must be feeling and as a New Zealand sports fan I can only hope that internally Red Bull give him everything possible to succeed, and that he performs next up in Japan. There is an incredible amount of gossip and fake news around that it’s hard to know what to believe. Reading this morning that Ralf Schumacher has been quoted as saying that Lawson is already out for the next race and that Yuki Tsunoda has replaced him to then seeing another story saying that they’ve signed Franco Colapinto for the remainder of the season. Personally, I don’t believe that any of these stories are true, but there’s only one way to quieten it all down Liam.

Gavin: Is Fred Vasseur right in that F1 conveniently broadcasts certain messages to create some soap opera drama? The messages in question were between Lewis Hamilton and his race engineer where they were trying to get a plan in place for the two Ferraris to swap places as at that stage Charles seemed a lot faster. What was not broadcast was the original message from Lewis instigating the plan, so for all of us watching it appeared that Lewis was in fact being told by the team to swap. I get that sport is entertainment but we don’t need Netflix style editing while the race is on.

Scott: Guess who is at the centre of it? Our Liam and whether he’d make it to the next race in Japan. More tough qualifying was partly offset by two decent race performances (and at least he finished ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in the Grand Prix). Red Bull boss Christian Horner is at least still making the right noises (for us) publicly about the team needing to do a better job, but a better weekend at Suzuka – a track Liam knows well – and especially in qualifying would do a lot to cool the flames under his seat.

 

Looking Ahead

Aiden: So, it’s off to the iconic Suzuka Circuit next time, with its figure of eight track and famous ‘S’ chicane. Tyre degradation is likely to be high there as well, with most teams likely to opt for a two stop strategy. But there could well be one and three stop strategies employed as well which means an exciting, unpredictable race in store.

Chelsea: With Piastri dominating in qualifying and the race, team orders didn’t come into play for McLaren this weekend, but they will. I hope the papayas have learnt from last year and have some form of map in their back pocket for how they plan to achieve both championships, lest we get awkward Will Joseph awkwardly begging Lando over the radio to awkwardly give up his position again, awkwardly. Nobody wants that.

Graeme: I know I predicted Ferrari to win the Constructors Championship this year, but can we lock in McLaren for it now? Two Grands Prix and two victories. I know it’s early days but they’ve been utterly dominant in both races. Ferrari will eventually get their act together and Mercedes are up there too, but can I change my pick?

Gavin: Big weekend coming up for Liam Lawson in the second Red Bull car in Japan in a fortnight (and yes, I do still expect him to be in that seat no matter what social media might think). The first two races have not been kind to him but he knows Japan well and needs to bounce back. If he has another bad weekend then I feel the worst for his Red Bull career as Dr Marko is not a patient man and as Oliver Bearman would say, “ciao”.

Scott: Two races in, two weeks until Suzuka and one of my favourite tracks of the season (that 130R corner? Wooooff!!). Can Mercedes, Red Bull, or Ferrari find some magic beans to stave off what already looms as another Papaya Procession?

Bonus Picture

Lewis celebrating his first (sprint race) win for Ferrari with his father.

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