[Killed by Death]

Apparently sightings of Lewis in the paddock were pretty few & far between during testing. He also made full use of of his scooter to move quickly around. He came into the paddock each day wearing Ferrari gear. When his team were asked if he would be wearing his designer gear during the season the answer was ‘We’re here to race’! I think that’s a no then! #44

[wizardofOz]

Originally Posted by dfox

Stella thinks Williams will be top 4 this year. I'd love to see Carlos pull that team up. Not that Albon isn't a good driver, but he's not top tier level.

Smooth operatorrrrr

[M5Rick]

^ ^ Looks like Fred has given him war and peace rules on what he should wear when he passes through the gates

[AmuroRay]

Can I get everyone's predictions for driver placement this season?

Mine for top 5:

1. Lewis
2. Verstappen
3.LeClerc
4.Lando
5. Russell

Lawson is closer to Max than we think but not close enough, Oscar is not good, Lando is not great, Russell is sharp, but the car isn't there. Lewis beats Charles on pure pace and has some next level wins.

[M5Rick]

1. MAX
2. Charlie
3. Lew
4. Liam
5. Lando
6.Oscar
George will get in there if anyone falters.

[dfox]

Max
Lando
Charles
Lewis
George

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by AmuroRay

Can I get everyone's predictions for driver placement this season?

Mine for top 5:

1. Lewis
2. Verstappen
3.LeClerc
4.Lando
5. Russell

Lawson is closer to Max than we think but not close enough, Oscar is not good, Lando is not great, Russell is sharp, but the car isn't there. Lewis beats Charles on pure pace and has some next level wins.

I'm not a betting man and terrible with predictions.
Half the things I read say Ferrari is a good car. The other half say Ferrari are in trouble

I do think the battle between Lewis and Charlie will come down to #FerrariThings and who has the worst luck.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

Apparently sightings of Lewis in the paddock were pretty few & far between during testing. He also made full use of of his scooter to move quickly around. He came into the paddock each day wearing Ferrari gear. When his team were asked if he would be wearing his designer gear during the season the answer was ‘We’re here to race’! I think that’s a no then! #44

Yeah . I miss LEW's dresses too ...

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

I'm not a betting man and terrible with predictions.
Half the things I read say Ferrari is a good car. The other half say Ferrari are in trouble

I do think the battle between Lewis and Charlie will come down to #FerrariThings and who has the worst luck.

LEW won't brake for Charlie and Charlie won't brake for LEW ...

And then we have it : #FerrariWarHorses (!)

[Killed by Death]

Bahrain test: Ferrari under examination convinces halfway with Leclerc
— Ferrari entered the final day of testing in Bahrain with a structured approach, splitting track time between Charles Leclerc in the morning and Lewis Hamilton in the afternoon. The plan was to assess different environmental conditions and allow Hamilton to complete a high-fuel test.
— Leclerc’s morning session focused on evaluating the car’s braking system and front suspension, with engineers making refinements to improve handling. The SF-25 featured a narrower engine cover to analyze cooling efficiency in lower temperatures.
— Early laps were affected by track conditions, with sand on the surface causing instability. Flow viz was applied to the second flap of the rear wing to assess aerodynamic behavior with DRS. A braking issue emerged, requiring adjustments to the front suspension and further refinements to improve the car’s response in corner entry and under braking.
— Comparisons between Ferrari and McLaren suggested that Leclerc’s SF-25 was more stable than the MCL39, which struggled with understeer and rotation issues, particularly in windy conditions.
— As adjustments were made, Ferrari’s handling improved, though initial oversteer remained a challenge. Long-run pace was tested with higher fuel loads, with Leclerc’s times rising slightly, but showing better consistency after setup changes.
— After a simulated wing change, Leclerc’s pace and car balance improved further, with Ferrari achieving a more neutral setup by the end of his session. The morning session concluded with Hamilton taking over for the final test runs before the 2025 season opener in Australia.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

LEW won't brake for Charlie and Charlie won't brake for LEW ...

And then we have it : #FerrariWarHorses (!)

A few wheel trims flying off then from those pansy F1 wheels, they are a joke let's face it.
* (Both the front ones now done on my M as I was saying and they look much better than on all of those F1 cars

[wizardofOz]

Max
Lando
Charles
Carlos smooth operatorrr
Oscar

Georgina last

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

LEW won't brake for Charlie and Charlie won't brake for LEW ...

And then we have it : #FerrariWarHorses (!)

That moment will come for sure!

Just as that moment will come between Lando and Oscar.

My prediction for the WDC:

1. NOR
2. PIA
3. VER
4. LEC
5. HAM
6. LAW
7. RUS
8. ANT

I think McLaren will be very strong all year, and Mercedes...not so much.

But so much can happen in a year nowadays. We saw that last year for sure!

I don't see Hamilton beating LeClerc in the same machinery. Leclerc is a better qualifyer in my book and I don't see him letting Lewis pass on track.
For Hammy beating Leclerc, he has to drastically improve his qualy skills. What he showed at Mercedes was abysmal compared to RUS last year. But time will tell. Maybe he will up his game and was really underperforming at team Merc..

[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

I'm not a betting man and terrible with predictions.
Half the things I read say Ferrari is a good car. The other half say Ferrari are in trouble

I do think the battle between Lewis and Charlie will come down to #FerrariThings and who has the worst luck.

No, Ferrari are here to win. This is going to be a good season, and Ferrari will be competitive.

Lewis is going to win it though.

[jkoral]

Leclerc feedback emerges as Ferrari investigation leaves ‘nothing to chance’
https://www.planetf1.com/news/charle...-investigation

The ‘unexpected and unpredictable behaviour’ of the Ferrari SF-25 in Bahrain testing has reportedly hurt Charles Leclerc’s confidence ahead of the F1 2025 season opener.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

That moment will come for sure!

Just as that moment will come between Lando and Oscar.

My prediction for the WDC:

1. NOR
2. PIA
3. VER
4. LEC
5. HAM
6. LAW
7. RUS
8. ANT

I think McLaren will be very strong all year, and Mercedes...not so much.

But so much can happen in a year nowadays. We saw that last year for sure!

I don't see Hamilton beating LeClerc in the same machinery. Leclerc is a better qualifyer in my book and I don't see him letting Lewis pass on track.
For Hammy beating Leclerc, he has to drastically improve his qualy skills. What he showed at Mercedes was abysmal. But time will tell.

Yes . That moment will come . We can bet on that

MAX P3 in the WDC ?
Then he will be gone ...

MAX has to race in a difficult situation because he has 8 penalty points (!)
His penalty points will expire (I think) in June..
This means that MAX runs a high risk of receiving a race ban in the first 10 races (!)

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

A few wheel trims flying off then from those pansy F1 wheels, they are a joke let's face it.
* (Both the front ones now done on my M as I was saying and they look much better than on all of those F1 cars

Great job my friend

[E92inNC]

Originally Posted by AmuroRay

I'd honestly prefer more F1 content. Less races (especially in lower traffic countries) better consolidated race dates/locations (Maybe Race in continent by month or so? So there isn't back and forth- Europe/Asia/US/Europe/US etc)

and proper offseason. Less races mean more time to develop a better product - testing should be 2 weeks!! We should be having interviews with crew and engineers, actual technical talk and information. F1 right now is homoerotic media shots of drivers, dumb speculation and boring content like "where do I buy this shirt" and "look what tires they used for last year's testing"

Give us a proper off season, trades, tech talk and testing. This is pointless.

I think how the races are organized and grouped together are pretty efficient, especially the proximity of the countries when there are double or triple headers. There’s also other factors going into why they would be in a particular area multiple times during the year like weather or other events already scheduled.

I would love for more technical talk but it really only appeals to gear heads and we are the extreme minority so there’s little to no monetary benefit to them doing it. It all comes down to more races = more money, which comes at the cost of testing, rest, off season development.

[E92inNC]

My gut says Lawson is going to get eaten like all other others who have sat in the second RB seat these past few years, probably not as bad as Perez the last 1.5 years, but still a sizable gap to Max.

I’ll go

Piastri
Lando
Max
Charles
Ham

I got McClaren running away with the WCC and wrapping it up more than 5 races left. Pains me to say the Ferrari drought continues but the McClaren looks too strong

[dfox]

Originally Posted by E92inNC

My gut says Lawson is going to get eaten like all other others who have sat in the second RB seat these past few years, probably not as bad as Perez the last 1.5 years, but still a sizable gap to Max.

I’ll go

Piastri
Lando
Max
Charles
Ham

I got McClaren running away with the WCC and wrapping it up more than 5 races left. Pains me to say the Ferrari drought continues but the McClaren looks too strong

Man, the Checo story is so distorted it's not even funny. In 2024, Checo started 2nd, 2nd, 5th, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and then he fell off starting in Italy, when Red Bull admitted they started screwing up the balance of the car, ignoring Checo's complaints. Straight out of Horner's mouth.

If they get the car better balanced, maybe Liam will do something with it, but based on current comments, it sounds like the balance issue might get worse as they favor Max and push the car to a higher capacity but on a razor thin edge. I expect Liam to be sent to the wolves. He won't be in the RB seat in 2026. I like him, and I want to see him succeed, but I don't think the 2nd RB seat is it.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by E92inNC

My gut says Lawson is going to get eaten like all other others who have sat in the second RB seat these past few years, probably not as bad as Perez the last 1.5 years, but still a sizable gap to Max.

I’ll go

Piastri
Lando
Max
Charles
Ham

I got McClaren running away with the WCC and wrapping it up more than 5 races left. Pains me to say the Ferrari drought continues but the McClaren looks too strong

My friend ,that's not sure yet ...

A FIA investigation team has been sent to Maranello and England (Woking, Surrey + Brackley) and it depends from what the findings will be regarding the cheating DRS wings .
The FIA has video evidence of the cheating (flexible) DRS wings during the pre-season testing in Bahrein.

[E92inNC]

Originally Posted by dfox

Man, the Checo story is so distorted it's not even funny. In 2024, Checo started 2nd, 2nd, 5th, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and then he fell off starting in Italy, when Red Bull admitted they started screwing up the balance of the car, ignoring Checo's complaints. Straight out of Horner's mouth.

If they get the car better balanced, maybe Liam will do something with it, but based on current comments, it sounds like the balance issue might get worse as they favor Max and push the car to a higher capacity but on a razor thin edge. I expect Liam to be sent to the wolves. He won't be in the RB seat in 2026. I like him, and I want to see him succeed, but I don't think the 2nd RB seat is it.

Early on in his RB tenure, he was delivering results similar to what Bottas was doing at MB, steady podiums with the occasional win. Then for whatever reasons, starting midway through 2023, his qualifying pace steadily declined followed by his race results. The number of times he failed to reach Q3 last year and his race results was not indicative of the pace of that car. He became a mid-fielder. Max is not that much better than him that the points gap is almost 3x, it looked like he had checked out mentally.

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

My friend ,that's not sure yet ...

A FIA investigation team has been sent to Maranello and England (Woking, Surrey + Brackley) and it depends from what the findings will be regarding the cheating DRS wings .
The FIA has video evidence of the cheating (flexible) DRS wings during the pre-season testing in Bahrein.

I certainly wouldn’t mind it in they found a little something something