This Week – 27/04/2025
Hello welcome to This Week, V10s have been talked about returning but this week the commission rejected that plan, the 2025 FIA election gets underway.
General News
The F1 Commission has rejected the proposal to return to V10 engines or any naturally aspirated powertrains in the near future, confirming its commitment to the power unit regulations that will come into force next season. Those regulations were discussed and approved by the FIA back in 2022, while engine manufacturers have been working on them for many years.
However, it did permit itself to investigate what it called “minor refinements,” to eliminate the risk of cars running out of battery deployment before the end of long straights, which has caused concerns for drivers, teams and fans alike. It’s introducing a system which will stop the cars from using its full-electric power straight away when exiting a corner, making consumption more gradual. This will implement a progressive speed increase along straights and stop drivers from using all energy available too early.
Electrical power is set to make up half of the car’s total power, which would allow cars to enjoy consistent electric output throughout the lap. But some engine manufacturers are known to be sceptical as to whether removing 150kW of electric power in the race and skewing the balance to just 35% electric energy can be considered a minor refinement.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has nominated British Rally Championship winner and M-Sport founder Malcolm Wilson as deputy president for sport. Wilson will replace Robert Reid who resigned earlier this month over ‘standards breakdown’
Reid resigned saying: “Over time, I have witnessed a steady erosion of the principles we promised to uphold. Decisions are being made behind closed doors, bypassing the very structures and people the FIA exists to represent.”
The vote of the WMSC will be at an extraordinary general assembly and conference in Macau in June.
Wilson is a driver and entrepreneur. His long relationship with Ford netted him the British Rally Championship in 1994, and M-Sport won the World Rally Championship for manufacturers in 2006 and 2007. He was awarded an OBE in Queen Elizabeth’s birthday honours list in 2009 for services to motorsport.
A statement by Ben Sulayem said, “I am delighted to nominate Malcolm Wilson OBE for the role of FIA deputy president for sport Malcolm has had a distinguished career in global motorsport. For over 40 years he has competed at the highest level both as a driver and technical partner to teams.”
“The FIA has played a central role in my career,” said Wilson, “and I very much look forward to supporting the president and all the FIA family in its important mission. There has never been a more exciting time to be in motorsport, and I know first-hand the benefits the sport brings to families and communities across the world.
The next general election will take place in December, F1 Academy Director Susie Wolff has announced her candidacy as one of his rivals, as Ben Sulayem seeks a second term.
The head of government in Mexico City Clara Brugada says that the renewal of the Mexico City Grand Prix contract will be announced in the coming days. Brugada, who was elected to the post last year, announced in a press conference on 24 April that “next week, we will be signing the agreement with F1” when questioned about the future of the race.
The city took over the funding from private investors in 2018 after the federal government withdrew its backing. It is understood a new three-year deal, like the ones in 2019 and 2022, which has been the norm in recent years has been agreed. Business leaders formed a private trust, and the government of Mexico City ensured that it could maintain a relationship with F1 to keep the round on the calendar.
CIE, the event’s promoter company, has not disclosed the arrangement, but suggestions are that the key details have been prepared for the renewal since last year, even in light of the departure of Mexican driver Sergio Perez from the grid.
Meanwhile organisers of next years Spanish Grand Prix have unveiled the circuit layout in Madrid. The race will return to the capital for the first time since 1981 with a circuit predominantly based on public roads around the IFEMA exhibition centre.
Known as the Madring, the circuit’s official social channels have posted a layout of the circuit, plus a video game rendering of a car completing a lap. The standout part of the circuit is the 500m ‘Monumental’ section midway around the lap, featuring at corner banked at 24% and lined by a set of grandstands expected to hold 45,000 spectators.
The corner (Turn Thirteen) is designed to be reminiscent of the area’s bullfighting history, and will take an F1 car approximately six seconds to pass through. Drivers will exit the banked part of the circuit into one of the circuit’s overtaking opportunities after taking inspiration from Zandvoort’s banked Luyendyk corner.
Madrid’s circuit starts with a left-right section before a 340 km/h sweep through Turn Four. The Turn Five-Six chicane under a motorway overpass provides easily the best overtaking opportunity around the lap. An uphill section onto the Subida de las Carcavas follows and a few corners later the cars sweet through Monumental.
The race will replace Imola for at least 2026, as Barcelona will host what is expected to be the Catalan or European Grand Prix in the final year of its contract.
McLaren
Lando Norris says the fact that he could not catch Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for the final spot on the podium last weekend in Jeddah is proof that McLaren’s car is not as dominant as some believe. Following his crash in Q3 which meant he started tenth before recovering to fourth.
It meant with his teammate Oscar Piastri taking victory he lost his lead in the championship, with the Australian leading Norris by three points. McLaren has won four of the opening five races and has a comfortable constructors’ championship lead already.
Asked about being unable to get close enough to the Ferrari late on and the fact Verstappen was in the hunt for the win again, Norris repeated his frustration from earlier in the season about the suggestions that McLaren have a car way out in front of the rest.
Norris told Sky Sports “I don’t know why people are so surprised, they’re just as quick in most sessions, they’re just as quick as us in the race. Just because we’re quick in practice, people just keep coming up with all this crap.”
“I mean, they can keep saying what they want. We don’t believe we’re much ahead, as shown. I think probably Max was the quickest out there today if he didn’t have that five-second penalty, so we have work to do.” He also suggested that the reason why they show their pace more in practice compared to their rivals.
Ferrari
Team principal Fred Vasseur has reiterated that he is “2000% behind” Lewis Hamilton after the Briton experienced a tough weekend at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the team boss confident that the “potential is there” once Hamilton becomes more comfortable with the car.
The seven-time champion could only finish seventh in Jeddah saying that he was “fighting the car every corner” and that “nothing I did would work”
However, when asked post-race if there was anything that he or the team could do to help the seven-time champion in adapting to the SF-25, Vasseur suggested that other outings earlier in the season, including China, where Hamilton took victory in the Sprint, have hinted at what is possible.
Following the race Vasseur explained, “I will be 2000% behind him and I will give him support here, and we will start from tomorrow morning to try to find solutions and reasons and to work on it early in the morning.”
“But honestly, I am not too worried; if you have a look on what he did in China or what he did in the race in Bahrain last week, or even on the first part of the season except in this weekend, the potential is there for sure.” He added the team and Hamilton were working together to resolve the issues with balance and tyres but says the potential was there.
With Charles Leclerc claiming his first podium of the season by crossing the line in third in Jeddah, Vasseur acknowledged that it is natural for Hamilton to feel disappointed about his own result.
Adding “For sure he’s down because when you finish the race in sixth, seventh and your teammate is on the podium, honestly I take it as positive that Lewis is down, because if he was happy with this it wouldn’t be normal.”
Neat Burger, the restaurant chain backed by Lewis Hamilton and Leonardo DiCaprio, has closed its doors after just six years in business. The vegan eatery, which served “100 per cent plant-based meals,” has been forced to shut down after recording major losses.
The Sun has reported that the two remaining stores in the UK have remained closed and all its hundred and fifty staff are set to lose their jobs. A spokesperson said, “We have no further comment at this time, other than to confirm that the business has taken the difficult decision to close its UK restaurants.”
Racing Bulls
Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer believes Liam Lawson will soon rediscover his form after being left “sad” and “a bit puzzled” by his seat swap. The New Zealander has had a mixed season, after being demoted from Red Bull after two Grands Prix in a swap with former teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Since then Lawson has struggled to score points making him the only driver not to score points this season. But Bayer insisted that he was in “great spirits” after bedding himself back in with the team over the triple header, though he acknowledged that Lawson had been “sad” in the days that followed his Red Bull demotion.
In an interview with F1.com, published this week, Bayer said, “I had breakfast with him (Saturday 19th) morning, [he’s in] great spirits. It took him a short moment, to be honest; when he came to us the first time, when I saw him in Faenza, Italy, for the seat fit, he was sad.”
“He was a bit puzzled by all the events because everything happened very quickly. But, at the same time, we also told him that you [must] not forget that you’re still an F1 driver with a team that you know – you know the people, you know the set-up, and you’ll be able to extract performance from this car, the way you drive and the way how the team will support you. And I see that he’s picking up the pace.”
But Bayer insisted he had already seen progress from the New Zealander as he backed him to get up to speed soon.
Cadillac / General Motors
The FIA has formally approved the US car manufacturer General Motors as an engine supplier for the 2029 season. The announcement puts a date for the first time that Cadillac will become a fully-fledged manufacture team with it entering the sport with Ferrari power until its own power unit is ready.
F1 approved it after the project was reconstituted as an official Cadillac entry, rather than by the US-based Andretti racing organisation with GM financial backing. GM has set up a new engine company to design and build its new power unit.
A spokesperson for GM confirmed to BBC News, that the manufacturer was committed to having an F1 engine “ready by (the) end of the decade”.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said: “Although the process was at times challenging, the progress we see today affirms the journey has been worthwhile. Welcoming GM Performance Power Units LLC. as an approved power unit supplier for the championship starting in 2029 marks another step in the global expansion of Formula 1 and highlights the growing interest from world-class automotive manufacturers like General Motors.”
Under current F1 rules, the 2029 season will run to the new engine regulations that are being introduced for next year and are set to run until the end of 2030.
F1 engine companies two weeks ago rejected a proposal by Ben Sulayem to introduce V10 naturally aspirated engines before the end of the next rules cycle. But it was agreed to keep talking about the next set of regulations