2025 US GP: Post Race Analysis

Probably the wrong venue, but I so want to see Max and Charles in basically equal cars going at it, I think they would both race super hard and clean. What a show. The 2 best on the track in my opinion.

 

<rant> Super boring race, what can I say... </rant>

 

A predictable win for Max. Either watching Sprint, Practice or Qualy showed this was on the way. DRS trains etc. Not much of a race. The aero yields weak race even in Austin now lol.

 

McLaren will likely have no gas in the tank to actually beat max.

 

Tend to agree i watched the race with one eye open, but it did raise the heart beat on a few occasions, agree with OP, the tyre fiasco is a disgrace to call it motor racing..... driver and machine.

The FIA wont change the tyre rules and the so called cost cap is undoubtebly circumnavigated by most of the top teams and hasnt really levelled out the playing field either. The small teams will always be second best with occasional good performances.

 

The tire s**t! Deciding position on tire choice should be out. Want to see flat out racing like in the past. Why have a rule to run two compounds?

 

Would be nice. Let the teams, drivers decide tires, and stop COACHING 30mil per year drivers. They need to sort their situation, not be nanny'd with an engineer telling them they need to apply earlier throttle on turns 14 and 15.

 

Interesting assessment from SKY - Ted also I think tyre wear for RedBull in clear air was an enormous benefit to them.

--Unlike their rivals, McLaren didn’t gain any data from the sprint race.

Piastri and Norris crashed out on the opening lap of the sprint following an unfortunate multi-car collision.

With parc fermé conditions lifted after the sprint race on Saturday, teams were allowed to make crucial setup changes.

Kravitz’s theory for McLaren’s struggles
While Norris’ race was compromised by being stuck behind Leclerc, it looked as if he still had similar pace to Verstappen in front.

However, Verstappen might have had pace in hand, given the margin he had built up due to Leclerc.

In the ground-effect era, ride height and ensuring the plank isn’t excessively worn has been a balancing act for all teams.

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Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris
Both Ferraris were disqualified from the Chinese GP due to excessive wear - an issue that has plagued them all season.

Kravitz thinks McLaren didn’t optimise this, hence their lack of pace relative to earlier in the season.

“Piastri was never anywhere near Hamilton. And it all began at the start of the weekend,” Kravitz said after the race.

“Then it was made worse with an OK practice session. I mean, it was fine. It was all made worse for McLaren in the Sprint Race because of Oscar’s ill-judged move with Nico Hulkenberg at the front that hit him into Lando Norris, and because neither McLaren did the Sprint Race, they didn’t know how the car was going to be on its ride heights.

“They didn’t know how to set the ride height so as to be in the perfect position to be as close to the ground and get a nice downforce, but not wear away the legality plank.

“The piece of wood they have underneath the car to stop the car from running too close to the ground.

“So, they had to be conservative. McLaren had to raise the car up a little bit and give themselves some margin. So, performance just ebbed away.

“Red Bull, Max won the Sprint. They knew exactly where to suspend their car, where to run their car so that they’d be as close to the ground as possible, giving maximum downforce and not wear away the plank. They got it spot on.

 

Yes we did notice lol - Max has the 1 lap pace currently.

Russell frustrated by current F1 racing: "It's a race to Turn 1"
Overtaking opportunities were hard to create at the Circuit of the Americas over the US GP due to limited F1 strategy options

George Russell was left frustrated by the current state of racing in Formula 1 after the United States Grand Prix, claiming it is all down to qualifying and what happens at the start.

The Mercedes driver finished sixth on Sunday after dropping down to that position at lights out, while most runners used a one-stop strategy to make it hard for Russell to jump back up the order using strategic variance.

Max Verstappen eventually dominated the Austin race, marking the 13th time this year that a grand prix has been won from pole, with only six occasions in which that hasn’t happened.

“Right now in F1 it's a race to Turn 1,” Russell told Sky Sports F1. “There's no tyre degradation, there's only three tenths between the quickest car and the slowest car in the top six.

 

Leaves me wondering if Bridgestone would have it figured out.

Bring back the tire wars--if for no other reason than to enable good close hard racing.

 

Max ALMOST had another Grand Slam. Max didn't get fastest lap.

 

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/who-slept-worst-last-night-zak-brown/10769595/

 

No, it is a weight problem.
600Kg cars would not be so hard on tires.

 

I have a strong suspicion it's more fuel related similar to 1988 when the Honda power plant was so much more efficient than the Ferrari engine. Tyres dont help but running out of fuel with 6 laps to go wouldnt look good at all. I think the Merc engine is also critical in this department and seems like Honda have the upper hand.

 

I don't understand why Pirelli makes a tyre that's so stupidly sensitive to temperatures. The original 2022 rules DOES make good racing, but it's been ruined by the mid 2022 update and further ruined by Pirelli's idiotic tyre compound that in 95% of the races just doesn't work properly because their compound overheats so easily, it defeats the entire purpose of the rule set. Can't follow closely because tyre overheats. Back to square one.

It pisses me off beyond believe that NO ONE seemingly has a f'in brain inside the FIA. We have a dictator in charge, fine, but he's focused on entirely the wrong things. If MBS actually focused on the RACING part and we'd have great battles no one would give a flying **** if he was a dictator that doesn't allow anyone to run against him. People are pissed because he runs the sport badly.

If I was in charge of this sport it would be very simple:

Tell tyre manufacturer to design a tyre that allows for close racing for 10+ laps without overheating. Narrower tyres at that.

Aero: narrower front wings but longer, design free but can't exceed X kN of sustained load at say 300kph. Rear wings to stay wide but again made longer, also with load limit. NO MORE DRS.

Engines. I like the idea of the variety they have in WEC/IMSA, everyone has to hold itself to a maximum power and everything is free...but I also like the idea of not spending stupid money, so would be open to a 4 liter V12 with rev cap and cost cap, much like the V8s was just with extra cylinders. Greens will be happy because cars will be run on 100% sustainable fuel, which makes Oil companies happy because they can show off how clever their nerds are making eco fuel. 1100hp target.

Brakes: No more full carbon. Utterly irrelevant. Steel brakes with a bit longer braking zone.

Gearbox: I really like the idea of going back to full manual gearbox. It allows for more mistakes, especially under pressure or when attempting to give pressure. It's not necessary as much as other things but I think it would make racing far more interesting.

Chassis: Narrower, shorter, aim for 620kg.

Race tracks: parking lot before the apex, post apex there will be gravel. Run wide? No need for silly black and white flags, you know you've gone wide because of the gravel slowing you down, so you're not as interested in running wide anymore suddenly. Funny how that works.

Racing rules: Bring back sanity. No more of this "Well i've got my nose alongside this part of your car, therefore I have rights to the entire race track and can push you off into narnia."


I really don't care that if an Audi, Mercedes, Honda (are they even in next year? I've forgotten) or whoever has a hissy fit saying that if we don't have these uber boring engines then they'll leave. No one calls their bluff. Honda in Indycar pushed through the hybrid stuff or they'll leave. They got hybrids and now they're leaving anyways. Who are car manufacturers to demand anything? I'm utterly convinced that with the above formula, we'll have more fans than ever, the sport will have REAL racing, will be excting, fans will love it, even the greens have to love it because eco fuel. The speed will absolutely be there because of MUCH lower weight and a bit more power than we have currently. The racing will be better because of less aero load. Engineers will be happy because they still have a challenge of reaching the most efficient way of aero load, to make the best chassis. In the end all of this makes the manufacturers happy because they spend less money and get more views.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

 

I don't know how the WEC or IMSA check that during the season, but I like that idea too.

F1 lost a lot of interest for me, when it started to impose engine configuration, rather than letting constructors decide the solution best for them.
I liked it when there was a mixture of atmo and turbo, or V6, V8, V10, V12, Flat12, etc ... running at the same time.
Different constructors bringing different designs each with their characteristics, advantages and disadvantages in terms of weight, packaging, torque, or fuel consumption,

Bringing back manual gearboxes and steel brakes would make the drivers work harder, and lead to more mistakes and reliability issues, meaning more DNFs. But why not ?

 

I believe IMSA/WEC uses axle sensors that measures the power live. I find it really interesting that there are so many different engines variations with no real clear winner...we have 5.5 NA V8, twin turbo V8, single and twin turbo V6, 6.5 liter V12s...I'm not quite sure what else they do for balance of performance but clearly it's working. WEC/IMSA is going through a massive resurgence currently with many more people interested in it.

 

Perhaps someone should start a new thread " How to fix F1 for the better" post 20 from Bas is a great starting point.

several things wrong with F1
for starters:-
Stupid restrictions on testing and development inc computing power etc. Stifles innovation & progress throughout the season.
Distribution of money within the participants. Greater share to the smaller teams.
Ditch Pirelli and bring a tyre that lasts the whole race or at least 50% or Allow tyre testing so teams can understand the degradation.
Limit stewards involvement.
Limit two way radio comms or ban it
Stop flexi wings

 

For BoP, the WEC also use weight and fuel tank capacity.
My main objection is that BoP has become mostly Success Ballast in the WEC.
But BoP seems to work fine in several GT3 series, I find.

 

And get rid of power steering. We don't need PlayStation kids circling around. We need proper elbows! That and manual shifting will push them.