Formula Journal

Lap 1 Oscar Piastri kept his P1 but after some late braking from Verstappen, Max snatched the postiton from him. In no time Max began creating a gap. A couple of laps later Pierre Gasly had a moment in the gravel during a battle with Charles Leclerc, and lost 5 places.

Many drivers found the medium tyres difficult to drive on, so by lap 12 they came into the pits to trade their tyres for hards. Unfortunately Oscar had a slower stop than he would’ve liked.

Lap 17 Hamilton must have been frustrated at not being able to overtake homeboy Kimi Antonelli. Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc were climbing back up the grid after their pit stops.

Lap 25 Oscar joined the Kimi and Hamilton battle but it wasn’t long until Oscar cleared them both.

Alex Albon was doing an amazing job in the Williams, at P3!

Lap 29 Lando boxed for hards but unfortunately Esteban Ocon became stuck in the grass causing a VSC which many drivers took advantage of. Lap 31 the VSC ended.

Lap 40 Piastri cleared Albon. Some laps later Carlos Sainz made it into the top 10.

Alpine swapped their drivers to see if Pierre Gasly could overtake Lance Stroll who was having a surprisingly decent race. Sadly Franco Colapinto didn’t have the first race he would have hoped for.

Lap 46 Kimi radioed saying he had an issue, and stopped in the grass. A similar moment to Esteban Ocon. A full safety car was deployed. This was an upsetting moment for the Italian fans and Kimi. It took longer for the safety car to end than originally anticipated but, when it did restart Max led with Oscar close behind him. Lap 60 Charles and Alex battled it out, leading to Alex driving through gravel and dropping places. The Ferrari pit wall were quick to tell Charles to give the position back.

Top 10: Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, Albon, Leclerc, Russell, Sainz, Hadjar, Tsunoda.

See you in Monaco 🇲🇨!

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6th of May Alpine Team Principal, Oliver Oakes announced that he will be resigning with immediate effect. Even before this announcement rumours were already circulating that Jack Doohan after 6 races, would be replaced by Franco Colapinto. Oakes’ resignation almost confirmed the rumours for the fans. The following day Colapinto was confirmed as the replacement for Doohan starting next weekend (the Imola Grand Prix) in a 5 race deal. Remind you of the Red Bull driver swap?

Franco Colapinto was one of the stars during the 2024 season, replacing Logan Sergeant in Williams half way through. After a very impressive season we can all say that it was very disappointing that Franco did not secure a permanent drive for 2025.

This is an exciting opportunity for Colapinto but unfortunately it’s upsetting for Doohan.

Image: PlanetF1

The first Monday in May marks the Met Gala. This year’s theme: Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. 10 years ago Lewis Hamilton made his first appearance on the Met steps and now he’s a co-chair. We’re not surprised, he brings fashion to Formula 1 and his looks never miss. Throughout the years he’s made history particularly, in 2021 when he purchased a table for up and coming black designers.

Onto Lewis Hamilton’s look. Lewis wore a custom collaborative design with Wales Boner, rich in history. His silk ivory suit which ‘denotes purity’ was paired with a custom broach, beret and a pair of black Manolo’s. Hamilton’s sash featured cowrie shells, a protective talisman in African culture. Eric McNeal who styled Hamilton said ‘Lewis really wanted there to be a reason and a story behind every detail’.

Lewis didn’t disappoint with his look, we already knew it would be fantastic before he went on to the carpet.

F1 and the Met Gala have merged many times including, Lewis’ many looks and Daniel Ricardo’s 2023 appearance. This year Damson Idris, star in the F1 movie, premiering June 27, pulled up in an F1 car! What an entrance! His first look was a Tommy Hilfiger race suit paired with a Swarovski helmet. But after a grand reveal there was a red Tommy Hilfiger suit underneath.

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Image:Theo Wargo//Getty Images

Hey Siri play Miami by Will Smith…….

Max locked up on lap 1 giving Lando an opportunity to pass him. However, Max pushed Lando off the track and Max rushed ahead to maintain P1. As a result Lando lost 4 places and Kimi Antonelli began pressuring Max. Jack Doohan received a puncture after contact with Lawson and a Virtual Safety Car was deployed. After the VSC ended Oscar took advantage by quickly overtaking Kimi for P2.

Lap 14 Oscar stole the lead from Max after a few laps of fighting.

Lap 18 Lando was back up to P2.

Half way through another VSC was deployed as Oliver Bearman lost his hydraulics, unfortunately he had to retire from the race. Many drivers took advantage of the VSC and pitted. A few laps later another VSC was deployed because Gabriel Bortoleto had stopped on the track.

Hamilton took the opportunity to overtake both his teammate and Carlos Sainz as they were engrossed in a squabble. Liam Lawson came into the pits on lap 38 and became the 4th driver of the race to retire their car.

Later Charles was back in front of his teammate but after 3 laps of waiting Ferrari swapped their drivers to see if Lewis could overtake Kimi. Charles began complaining about the dirty air and they swapped back.

Close to the end Lando became more of a threat to his teammate in the lead. Oscar kept the lead and became the first McLaren driver to win 3 races in a row, since Mika Hakkinen in 1998!

Top 10: Piastri, Norris, Russell, Verstappen, Albon, Antonelli, Leclerc, Hamilton, Sainz, Tsunoda.

Kimi Antonelli was the youngest F1 pole sitter in history.

Today all the drivers looked out of their pit and saw rain before the Sprint. During the formation lap Charles Leclerc aqua plained into a wall, causing immense damage to his car, so he was unable to start the race. Yet another Ferrari failed strategy, as he was on the wrong tyres. Fingers crossed his car is fixed in time for qualifying.

The race had a safety car start with many divers, saying on their radios, that the conditions were too difficult to drive in.

Fans at home and Kimi Antonelli were left in suspense as the race was red flagged due to the lack of visibility on the track.

After a red flag delay of an hour and a half the race commenced and funnily enough it was reasonably clear weather. Remind you of British weather?

After 2 more laps behind the safety car, the race began (finally). Unfortunately after a typical turn one incident, Kimi lost a few places which enabled Oscar Piastri to lead the start of the race.

Lap 11 Yuki came into the pits to trade his inters for slicks, with Hamilton, Sainz and Stroll following. McLaren double stacked their drivers but it favoured Lando more than it did Oscar. When Max left his pit box he crashed into Kimi Antonelli with Max damaging his front wing. Red Bull was noted for unsafe release and shortly Max was handed a 10 second penalty.

Carlos Sainz lost grip, as a result he ended up in the wall leaving debris over the track, sadly for him he had to retire from the race.

Fernando Alonso crashed due to Liam Lawson hitting him (this was noted by race control), the safety car was deployed again. This played straight into the hands of the man out in front, Lando Norris.

The race finished behind the safety car.

Final top 8 : Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, Russell, Stroll, Tsunoda, Antonelli, Gasly

Oscar Piastri had the edge on Max Verstappen at the start by getting ahead at the apex on turn 1 but Max cut the corner and kept his position. Later the incident was reviewed by race control and Max was given a 5 second penalty which no one at Red Bull was happy about. Also on lap 1 Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda bumped heads, with the Alpine ending up in the wall. However Yuki kept his car running and drove into the pits during the safety car but unfortunately had to retire his car. On the lap 3 restart Max caught the drivers by surprise enabling him to get away quicker.

Lando overtook his former teammate and bestie Carlos Sainz, then he had a battle with Lewis Hamilton who used his many years of experience to keep Lando at bay. Eventually Lando made the move stick for p6. Later Lando overtook Kimi Antonelli for p5.

Lap 19 the drivers who set out on medium tyres began to pit for hard tyres. Oscar had a slower pit stop than he would have liked. Max pitted and came out p5 leaving Leclerc to lead the Grand Prix with Lando in p2.

Lando’s hard tyres kept well and he maintained a good pace for 34 laps. The FIA investigated Lando due to his dodgy pit exit but no further action was taken.

After clearing Russell, Lando began hunting down Charles on the last lap but Charles held on to p3.

Top 10:

Piastri, Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Sainz, Albon, Hadjar.

We now have a new championship leader in Oscar Piastri who is 10 points ahead of his teammate!

It was a very busy evening for the stewards!

Oscar Piastri led with Leclerc behind him and within the first lap Oliver Bearman went from P20 to P15! Max Verstappen was quick to point out that Lando was infont of his grid box before lights out, which he received a 5 second penalty for. Lap 10 the drivers with soft tyres traded them in for hard tyres. In the pits Lando took his 5 second penalty. Unfortunately Max had a very slow pit stop which hindered his progress.

Lap 23 Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar received black and white flags, many more were handed out to drivers like Doohan, Tsunoda, throughout the race. Lap 28 brought another train of everyone pitting due to their tyres wearing.

Lap 33 a safety car was deployed in order to clear debris from the track after a squabble between Sainz and Tsunoda. As lap 35 restarted George was on Oscar’s tail. Unfortunately Lando didn’t have the start he would have wanted, as he had to give back p4 to Hamilton but on lap 38 he tried the move again and it stuck.

Carlos Sainz had to retire his car on lap 46 due to his hit with Tsunoda leaving a hole on the side of his car.

Lando gained p3 and was chasing Russell to make it a McLaren p1 and p2, even though George had many technical problems he managed to hold on to his second place position.

Top 10:

Piastri, Russell, Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen, Gasly, Ocon, Tsunoda, Bearman.

Nico Hulkenburg has been disqualified because his skid plank wear was over the limit.

Last week I was kindly invited to the EDM Precision Technologies premises at Silverstone to meet Paul Waldron and discover the behind the scenes of making parts for a F1 car.

EDM (Electro Discharge Machinery) supply 4 UK based teams and 2 others continuously throughout the season. Paul told me about the high pressure the company’s under to deliver to these teams and how EDM has modelled its business around speed and quality. EDM specialises in wire erosion, which enables them to cut difficult machinery with accuracy, and spark erosion, which enables them to machine hard materials. They also have milling machines which create precise shapes and features, this operation is used often when creating F1 parts.

First the F1 team identifies the area that needs improvement, designing the part and approving it within their in-house production team. The team approaches a professional tech buyer with the design drawing, giving them a lead-time. The F1 team then sources an approved supplier, like EDM. The key things F1 teams are looking for is, speed of response, the ability to achieve the lead-time, quality and price.

The approved supplier quotes the team for the required part and within a couple of hours the supplier will receive confirmation of the order.

Production planning starts. The production team need to decided if they have the required stock, buying materials separately if needed. Also if the component needs heat treatment (to enhance the strength and performance of the component). Along with the resources machinery also needs to be planned. The item requires inspection once, but twice, if it has been heat treated. Lastly they deliver the component and send an invoice. Interestingly some parts are so small that members of the team will have them in their hand luggage when going to the race.

A big thank you to Martin Knapman for introducing me to Paul.

Everyone made it through the start unscathed with Verstappen leading the pack staying 2 seconds clear of Norris. Throughout the race Oscar stayed behind Lando keen to get past and overtake Max.

Lap 21 Piastri pitted to change his medium compound tyres, to hard tyres which enabled him to last to the chequered flag. Later Max, Lando and Charles pitted. Lando exited the pit 1 second ahead of Max and had the edge, but as he exited so did Max, who ended up in front of him. Lando saw an opportunity to try to overtake Max at the pit exit which meant he ended up in the grass, losing time and sacrificing his chance of getting ahead. Both Red Bull and McLaren pounced on the FIA to tell their story but no further action was taken. Whilst this was happening rookie Kimi Antonelli led the Grand Prix, the youngest ever driver to do so.

Lap 33 Oliver Bearman swapped with his teammate Esteban Ocon who was ahead. Pierre Gasly swapped with Jack Doohan and this begged the question would McLaren swap Lando and Oscar giving him a chance to pass Max.

Lap 43 Oscar relayed to the team that he thought he had the pace to catch Max. The last few laps were tense, Lando turned the 2 second gap between him and Max into just above 1 second, out of DRS, but Oscar was within 1 second from Lando and had that extra push. Unfortunately, Lando locked up on the last lap and couldn’t catch Max.

This was Verstappens 4th consecutive Suzuka win and his first win this season. It was a frustrating race if you’re a McLaren fan but a great race if you’re a Red Bull fan. Lando is still ahead in the Driver’s Championship, but only by 1 point.

Top 10: Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Russel, Antonelli, Hamilton, Hadjar, Albon, Bearman.

It was announced this morning that Liam Lawson will be replaced by old teammate Yuki Tsunoda, and Lawson will go back to Visa Cash App Racing Bulls. Red Bull have made this decision because of Lawson’s performance in the two races we’ve had this season. Unfortunately Lawson hasn’t gained any points, having crashed in Australia, ending P14 in the sprint at China and P12 in the race. Red Bull most likely see Liam’s performance as damaging their chances of reclaiming the Constructor’s title that McLaren won last year. Team Principle of Red Bull, Christian Horner says ‘It’s been difficult to see Liam struggle’. Max Verstappen has had many teammates in the past, Daniel Riccardo, Sergio Perez, Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, we start to think that it’s not the drivers, not being capable of driving against Max, but it’s the unfair treatment that the other drivers receive. Liam has only had 2 races at Red Bull, barely enough time to show his potential in the big team. Rather than the team seeing what they can do to help him, they are getting rid of what they think the problem is and replacing it, just to aid their chances of winning the Constructors title.

On the other hand this is an opportunity Yuki has been waiting for, for years. His performance in the junior team has improved recently, so fingers crossed Yuki gets on well with Red Bull and Liam with the RB.