Piastri dismisses “far-fetched” claims
Oscar Piastri has dismissed George Russell’s claims about McLaren being consistently at the front of the field as “far fetched”. In Melbourne, teammate Lando Norris achieved a grand slam: taking pole, winning the Grand Prix, and driving the fastest lap of the race. Piastri was driving a solid race as well, matching Norris closely. But a mistake towards the end of his Melbourne campaign saw him fall to ninth.
Speaking about McLaren’s performance following the race, Russell declared that McLaren is “at such an advantage because they can stop development now and go fully on ‘26 as it’s difficult to overcome that gap.”
Adding “Red Bull started the [2024] season off so far ahead of everyone, but I don’t think people overtook them in terms of development. They brought some things to the car and went backwards – or had some things – let’s say – clarified, and went backwards.” Russell claimed that McLaren were six-tenths ahead which no one can find over the course of a season.
While Norris has been more cautious in his assessment of what’s to come this season, admitting his car is “difficult to drive.” That despite having a car which is performing well but Verstappen looked to be at the same level in the wet.
Speaking to Motorsport.com about these contrasting statements ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, Piastri didn’t hold back in his response. Piastri stated pointedly, “I think one of those statements is pretty far-fetched. I’ll let you decide which one.”
Adding “But, no, I think, you know, clearly our car was very strong in Melbourne. I think there’s no denying that. I think we got to a place where it was also handling well. You know, of course, we’re racing drivers, we’re never gonna have everything we want, but I think it was clear that in all the conditions in Melbourne, our car was very strong.”
Piastri says that Melbourne could be an exception because it has been a circuit where they have been strong in recent years.
‘A lot of unknowns for Red Bull’
Max Verstappen says there are “a lot of unknowns” going into the Chinese Grand Prix, last weekend in Melbourne the four-time champion surprised with what he described as a “decent starting point” qualifying third and finishing second less than a second behind Lando Norris.
Speaking to the media ahead of the first sprint weekend in Shanghai they cited one uncertainty heading into the weekend. He said, there are “a lot of unknowns, I would say, of course, this is quite a different layout and we have different, new tarmac here now.”
“It’s a Sprint weekend, so not a lot of time to adapt, so we will have to see how the car is going to respond to that. I hope that it will be in a good window and then we will try to do the best job we can.” He said when asked if McLaren were beatable, that it would be tough because they are very fast, competitive and good all-round.
But Verstappen wanted to focus on their own car because that is the only thing they can control, as he looks to find more performance. The Dutchman appears aware that there are lot of “different areas” they need to come together to “unlock a little bit more pace.” He appeared happy with the characteristics but admitted they need to be more all-rounded.
Adding “It is more the rest of it, where we are not all-round enough. That is what we have to work on. Here, there are not that many high-speed corners, but there are a lot of unknowns with the tarmac – it’s new. So it’s very hard to say where we will be.”
“I for sure know that we will not be the quickest because I think that is McLaren with how strong they are currently. But that’s fine. We just have to focus on ourselves and try to do the best we can.”
Eddie Jordan dies aged seventy-six
Eddie Jordan former team owner and broadcaster had died at the age of seventy-six. The Irishman announced last year that he had an aggressive prostate cancer, and died in the early hours of Thursday morning.
A statement from his family said: “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Eddie Jordan OBE, the ex-Formula 1 team owner, TV pundit and entrepreneur. He passed away peacefully with family by his side in Cape Town in the early hours of 20 March 2025.”
Jordan who developed a reputation for his outspoken, mischievous character, achieved rare success as an independent team owner. His team, which made its debut in 1991, won four grands prix in its fifteen years in the sport and challenged briefly for the drivers’ championship in 1999, before suffering declining fortunes and being sold in 2005.
Born in Dublin on March 30, 1948, Jordan grew up in the Irish capital and was a keen karter as a teenager. He suffered numerous injuries in single-seaters but raced at the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours in 1981. It was in 1979 when Jordan founded Eddie Jordan Racing to race in Formula 3, giving drivers opportunities to reach to F1.
In later years he became known for his work with the BBC and Channel 4 as a chief analyst because of his outspoken views, as well as the ability to break news. He continued working until the end recently sharing his ambitions for London Irish Rugby Football Club, of which he had recently become a patron.
The statement added, “Eddie and Jordan Grand Prix were known for their rock and roll image, bringing a fun and exciting element to F1, as well as consistently performing above their weight. Many successful F1 drivers owe their career breaks to Eddie, and world champions including Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill drove for him. EJ brought an abundance of charisma, energy and Irish charm everywhere he went. We all have a huge hole missing without his presence.”
Jordan was known for his flamboyant lifestyle and his many showbiz friends. Beyond F1, he was a drummer in band called Eddie & The Robbers, working on Top Gear and presenting a podcast.
He also oversaw the move last year of Adrian Newey to his former team now called Aston Martin. Jordan negotiated the designer’s departure from Red Bull in May last year.
F1 president Stefano Domenicali said: “We are deeply saddened to hear about the sudden loss of Eddie Jordan. With his inexhaustible energy he always knew how to make people smile, remaining genuine and brilliant at all times.”
“Eddie has been a protagonist of an era of F1 and he will be deeply missed. In this moment of sorrow, my thoughts and those of the entire Formula 1 family are with his family and loved ones.”
Hamilton criticises media over Melbourne difficulties
Lewis Hamilton has accused the media of making too much of his communication difficulties with his new race engineer Riccardo Adami during last weekend’s race in Melbourne. During the race, there appeared to be a lack of chemistry and communication about what Hamilton wanted and didn’t want to know.
However, people who have listened to the full race from Hamilton-Adami’s point of view from the onboard and radio channels, say they spent large parts of the race working together fine. Speaking to Sky Sports, the seven-time champion believed the media had made too much from those exchanges. “Naturally, everyone overegged. It was literally just a back and forth.”
“I was very polite in how I had suggested it. I said: ‘Leave it to me, please’. I wasn’t saying ‘F*** you’. I wasn’t swearing. At that point, I was really struggling with the car, and I needed full focus on this couple of things. We’re getting to know each other. He’s obviously had two champions or more in the past and there’s no issues between us still.”
Hamilton also accused the media of double standards saying that Max Verstappen’s heated exchanges with Gianpiero Lambiase don’t get the same coverage describing it as far worse. He rightly pointed out they are still learning how to work together and what information he feels he needs.
Hamilton’s point can be argued, as Verstappen did receive a lot of flak for his outburst against Lambiase during last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
At the time Verstappen grew increasingly frustrated by his team’s poor strategy on one of his worst afternoons of the year, telling Lambiase: “No mate, don’t give me that bullshit now. You guys gave me this f***ing strategy, okay? I’m trying to rescue what’s left. F*** sake.” The pair cleared the air the following week in the Spa-Francorchamps paddock.
Adami has previously worked with the likes of Carlos Sainz and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, faces a difficult balancing exercise while he and Hamilton get used to each other’s style of working.
But Hamilton appears to accept he does need more instruction at this phase of his time at Ferrari, however accepted they need to tighten up communication.
Antonelli “surprised by intensity” of debut
Kimi Antonelli says he was “surprised by the level of intensity” required to stay with the front-runners during his first F1 race in Australia last weekend. The Mercedes driver recovered from sixteenth to finish fourth in Melbourne despite the conditions and damaging his car after going wide.
Speaking to the media in Shanghai, Antonelli said, “Definitely, for a first race they were not the easiest of conditions. I’m not going to lie, at the start, I was a bit nervous, because I started at the back in the rain, and things can happen, but it was a good experience.”
“What really surprised me was the level of intensity that I have to keep in order to perform and be able to stay with the front-runners. It’s all so intense. As a driver, you want to be on the top of your game, you want to be [up] there, you want to be fast.” Antonelli was the youngest driver to score on debut in F1.
Reflecting on his FP1 crash at Monza last season, he says while it was a terrible moment for him crashing at his home race, he added it had changed him as a driver and a person. Adding “’m not going to lie, when I was in FP1 in Monza, I was pushing. I was free to push, and I was like no fear … on the limit, not caring about anything else.
“I learned after that … it’s better to take a step back and its better to push progressively and build the session because when such a mistake happens, you make a lot more steps back than you make forwards.”
He is working with Pete ‘Bono’ Bonnington, who was race engineer that seven-time world champions Michael Schumacher and Hamilton worked with while driving for the team
Talking Points Shanghai
Round two of the season brings F1 to Shanghai in the days following the drama-filled opening race in Melbourne much of the talk has been about McLaren’s dominance and Lando Norris backing up his status as favourites this season. It’s a boost for Norris after holding off Max Verstappen in the closing stages.
McLaren however are tied with Mercedes on twenty-seven points after George Russell finished third and Kimi Antonelli finishing fourth on his F1 debut. Ferrari look to be in it but last weekend put themselves in a bad position, they missed out in qualifying and then were caught out by the weather and the wrong strategy.
Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri will be hoping to bounce back after a late off in the closing stages while fighting for the win saw him go off for a whole lap. But ninth place was scant reward for a strong weekend that had looked set to end the drought of an Australian driver finishing on the podium at their home race.
But the conclusion was McLaren are the team to beat in both dry and wet conditions, with much of the race being a straight fight between the two teammates.
The Shanghai circuit is based on the Chinese character for the city meaning “above” or “ascend” with long corners and one of the longest straights of the season. This means there are penalties of overtaking opportunities and hard braking zones. The smooth track surface and long, high-speed corners means the car with the best aerodynamics will stand out.
Add into the mix a sprint weekend for the second year in a row it gives the teams little information to go on as this track was off the calendar during Covid. Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver with six wins from fourteen races, and like we saw in both the sprint and Grand Prix last year pole has a good conversion rate into victory.
He will be hoping to bounce back after a difficult weekend, where they had been expecting more. They became unstuck in qualifying then got the strategy wrong in the changeable conditions, following the communication woes in Melbourne. China provides the first opportunity to try and put the lessons learned over the opening race weekend into practice.
China will be fast-paced is because the grid will only get one practice session to try and get up to speed before they need to be pushing their cars to the limit. That’s the beauty of the Sprint schedule, where FP1 leads straight into Sprint Qualifying on Friday, setting the grid for the shorter race earlier on Saturday.
FIA further tightens wing defection tests
The FIA has announced there will be even tougher tests from this weekend to clamp down on the flexibility of rear wings have been introduced for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. The governing body the FIA decided to put the tests in place after observing the rear wings on cars over the Australian Grand Prix last weekend.
Tougher tests on rear wings had already been introduced for the Melbourne race. A statement said following analysing footage from cameras aimed at studying rear wing deformation, “sufficient grounds exist for a tougher test to be introduced” immediately.
This test will, for the race in Shanghai, limit the gap that can open between the rear wing mainplane and flap to 0.75mm when a 75kg vertical load is applied to it in the pits. That includes a 0.25mm tolerance permitted on the basis of the short notice involved that will be removed for the following race in Japan on 4-6 April, reducing the permitted gap during the test to 0.5mm.
In Australia, this so-called ‘slot gap’ had been permitted to open no more than 2mm.
The FIA said the teams had been informed of this rule change on Monday, and that all teams had complied with the regulations in Australia.
Teams have for years tried to exploit this aera to increase performance, in principle you want low drag on the straights to increase straight-line speed, before the wing flicks back to a maximum downforce-producing specification as the car slows for corners, to boost grip.
In general, the process allows teams to run the cars with more downforce in the corners without sacrificing straight-line speed, which would normally be a consequence of more powerful wings.
Thai GP talks
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra have met to discuss the proposal of a street circuit to host a Grand Prix in the capital Bangkok from 2028. With Shinawatra announced the government would commission a “feasibility study” into the possibility of a race in the capital from 2028.
There is an existing track in Buriram, in north-east Thailand, which is accredited by the FIA, the governing body for world motorsport and has hosted MotoGP since 2018, with the expectation of 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19.
Domenicali described the plans as “impressive”.
Paetongtarn said: “I believe that all Thai people will benefit from organising this event, whether it is large-scale infrastructure investment, job creation, new income generation, and importing new technologies and innovations.”
Although the current agreement F1 has with its teams allows for a maximum of twenty-five races and therefore the potential to add an event without losing one, there would likely be pushback from drivers if an already gruelling schedule grows further.
Hadjar defuses embarrassment of Melbourne spin
Isack Hadjar says he has spoken to Red Bull’s Helmut Marko after copping criticism for his tearful Australian Grand Prix exit, and reveals he has received further support from Lewis Hamilton. The Frenchman failed to start after spinning at Turn Two on the formation lap after hitting the wall forcing an aborted start.
It was a disappointing end to what had been a decent weekend, with him just missing out on Q3. Walking back to the motorhome, Hadjar didn’t even need to take his helmet off to put his emotions on full display, from disbelief to anger to embarrassment. Hamilton’s father was the first to console him, but afterwards, Red Bull advisor Marko took a dim view of what he called an “embarrassing, tearful show”.
Going into the first sprint weekend of the year Hadjar says he has defused the situation. He told reporters “”I mean, I found it embarrassing myself. I had Helmut on the phone a day later, and it’s all good. I’ve known him for a few years now. I’m used to how he works. He was speaking German, he was reinterpreted differently.”
“You don’t know about the body language. I didn’t see the footage, so I can’t say much. But apart from that, all the love from the fans and the people, I did not expect that at all when I binned it in the wall. So that was nice. On Monday I already felt quite a lot better, especially knowing that it’s a back-to-back weekend, so I’ve got to run it back quite early, not having a month to dwell on it.”
Hadjar drew comparisons to events in Shanghai when Hamilton arguably lost the championship in 2007, when he went wide and beech himself in the gravel on pit entry on worn tyres during Typhoon Krosa.
Sat alongside Hadjar in the press conference, Williams driver Alex Albon has his own experiences with both Marko and debuting for Red Bull’s junior team, and he said he had been impressed by how strong the F2 runner-up had performed up until his fateful formation lap spin.
Albon said “I don’t see it so much as a so much of a setback. I think Isack had a fantastic start to his Formula 1 career. The pace was surprisingly strong, actually, from all the rookies for a weekend in Australia, where the track is very difficult. It’s been a good start for him. I think he’s going to be someone we’re looking out for, for the rest of the year.”
Both Hadjar and Mekies are keen not to dwell on the negatives and remember the positives from what had been a really promising weekend, and in following their example perhaps the focus should be more on the compassion shown by some prominent paddock members rather than the lack thereof by others.
The Weekend Ahead
This weekend I think is going to be interesting as we have the sprint format at the second race of the year when the teams are still learning about these cars. We know the format is unchanged from last year I think there is added pressure having one practice session at a very different circuit to Melbourne though they had that running in Sakhir which is similar to Shanghai.
McLaren are the favourites like in Melbourne as while they weren’t strong in testing in terms of headlines digging into the data they looked very strong, Lando Norris took his first win in the sprint last year. Ferrari however needs a strong weekend after dropping the ball in Melbourne as we are expecting them to be able to challenge for the championship.
But I think Ferrari had a huge wake-up call, hopefully, they were only teething problems on Lewis Hamilton’s side. I think the sooner he gets up to speed we could see him in the mix fighting for wins, it feels he got the full Ferrari experience last weekend and could he turn around that area which we know has been Ferrari’s weakness.
Mercedes and Red Bull are not far off each other, Mercedes have moved forward and Red Bull have slipped back but given the right situation, I think they can be fighting for victory if the right situation be fighting at the front. But the question is how long is that going to take as you need momentum early on.
Shanghai should give us a good few pieces of the jigsaw given we have a lot of variation in the flyway races in terms of type of circuit, conditions and variables. I think it’s going to tell us a lot for the high speed and downforce circuits. Red Bull I feel got lucky last weekend as I’ve over the last few weeks not seen anything to make me sit up and see the dominance we have got used to in recent years.
You need to expect close racing as we said last weekend, both in the leading group and midfield as they were all fighting for points and to get into Q3. As we saw Kimi Antonelli was knocked out in Q1 by a hundredth which we know is tight and we could really at this stage of the season anyone knocked out of qualifying.
