2025 Motorsports Racing Season.

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I record all the NHRA events and watch them after the wife hits the sack, as she's not into drag racing at all.
I finally got around to watching the Arizona Nationals.
Wow.. that Ron Capps crash sure had shades of John Force's big crash. Amazed he wasn't injured badly. Hit the wall at 260mph..
.

John's crash as a comparison, was a bit nastier, and he's retired from driving because of it, whereas Ron will soon be back at it.
 
Japanese F-1 Qualifyinf results

1. Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:26.983
2. Lando Norris McLaren +0.012
3. Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.044
4. Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.316
5. George Russell Mercedes +0.335
6. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.572
7. Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +0.586
8. Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.627
9. Alex Albon Williams +0.632
10. Oliver Bearman Haas +0.884
11. Pierre Gasly Alpine +0.676
12. Carlos Sainz Williams +0.690
13. Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.751
14. Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +0.760
15. Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +0.854
16. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +0.883
17. Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +0.935
18. Esteban Ocon Haas +1.009
19. Jack Doohan Alpine +1.190
20. Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.584
 
Japanese F-1 Qualifyinf results

1. Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:26.983
2. Lando Norris McLaren +0.012
3. Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.044
4. Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.316
5. George Russell Mercedes +0.335
6. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.572
7. Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +0.586
8. Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.627
9. Alex Albon Williams +0.632
10. Oliver Bearman Haas +0.884
11. Pierre Gasly Alpine +0.676
12. Carlos Sainz Williams +0.690
13. Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.751
14. Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +0.760
15. Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +0.854
16. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +0.883
17. Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +0.935
18. Esteban Ocon Haas +1.009
19. Jack Doohan Alpine +1.190
20. Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.584
A certain irony to Lawson qualifying above Tsunoda ;-)
 
In fairness to Yuki, it was a brand new car for him, whereas Lawson had some previous seat time in his.
As the pundits said about Max's record breaking lap time to win pole, "he is a champion".
He really does know how to drive if the car is to his liking.

It is going to be a heck of a race if it rains..
 

Not sure it was worth getting up at 1:45 for but, it was fast and a bit Interesting.​


Japanese GP result​

1) Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2) Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.4s
3) Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +2.1s
4) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +16.0s
5) George Russell (Mercedes) +17.3s
6) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +18.6s
7) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +29.1s
8) Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +37.1s
9) Alex Albon (Williams) +40.3s
10) Ollie Bearman (Haas) +54.5s
11) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +57.3s
12) Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +58.4s
13) Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +62.1s
14) Carlos Sainz (Williams) +74.1s
15) Jack Doohan (Alpine) +81.3s
16) Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +81.9s
17) Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +82.7s
18) Esteban Ocon (Haas) +83.4s
19) Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +83.8s
20) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) + 1 lap
 
I agree it was not a very exciting race overall. There was a bit of dueling among mid pack cars, but not much edge of your seat type passes. Sainz put on a good show when he first changed to the soft tires, Hadjar put on a decent show. Wonderful watching Antonelli driving his car like an old pro, turning lap times faster than his team mate Russell. Shame they don't give out points for the fastest lap of the race any longer. I thought he deserved something for his performance.
Yuki, sadly for the home crowds, was fairly lackluster overall I thought, with just a 12th place finish. Nothing heroic like one might expect. Least he finished ahead of Lawson. That should make the powers to be at Red Bull thinking they did the right thing with switching drivers. Oddly with gaining only two place in the event, he still rec'd the Driver of the Day Award, with four percent more votes than Max, and a shocking fifteen percent more than Piastri. Think Yuki's being Japanese had anything to do with the votes.. 😊

Built in 1962, when Honda decided the company should have its own test track. It wasn't till 25 years later that F1's raced on it for the first time, and back in 1987 the cars were a heck of a lot smaller than todays beasts.
Today's F1 cars weigh a minimum of 800 kilo's empty and are 222 in (18.5 ft) long and 6'7" wide.

The 1987 F1 car weighed only 540kilo's, and was 168.5, inches (14 ft long).. four and a half feet shorter!

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Antonelli, is doing great, finished 6th, got good points, I liked the point for fastest lap also
they got rid of it, backmarkers going in with 2-3 laps left and coming light doing fastest lap
I was ok with that to.
Considering faster lap than Russell, how long before he is ahead of his teammate?

Hadjar of the 4 redbull cars was closet to Max, as a rookie, another strong performance
Yukie ahead of Lawson I am sure helps, voting well 1.3 billion people in China and it
is voted on by public, not sure how exactly, but likely made him a shoein.

Lawson after 3 races is looking like a bad choice for F-1 and only makes decision
of powers to be look like right choice, he better get is crap together.

That is biggest Kock on F-1 cars even by teams and drivers, far to big and heavy.
I do beleive there is small adjustment in 2026 regulations, to make shade bit smaller and lighter.
but not enough to be noticeable to us.
 
Antonelli, is doing great, finished 6th, got good points, I liked the point for fastest lap also
they got rid of it, backmarkers going in with 2-3 laps left and coming light doing fastest lap
I was ok with that to.
Considering faster lap than Russell, how long before he is ahead of his teammate?

Hadjar of the 4 redbull cars was closet to Max, as a rookie, another strong performance
Yukie ahead of Lawson I am sure helps, voting well 1.3 billion people in China and it
is voted on by public, not sure how exactly, but likely made him a shoein.

Lawson after 3 races is looking like a bad choice for F-1 and only makes decision
of powers to be look like right choice, he better get is crap together.

That is biggest Kock on F-1 cars even by teams and drivers, far to big and heavy.
I do beleive there is small adjustment in 2026 regulations, to make shade bit smaller and lighter.
but not enough to be noticeable to us.
Good summation, yeah Russell better watch out!!
Agree Antonella and Hadjar doing great.
 
Yes I'm looking forward to this round in the F1 2025 world tour. :)
The higher temperatures in Bahrain are already showing who's boss in the heat. Neither Red Bull, Ferrari, or Mercedes have so far proven during todays practice sessions that they are quite as fast as the McLarens are. So much can change between now and the race. As we have seen before, Max never seems to drive as fast in practice as he does in qualifying. Even Norris stated that the other teams had more than they showed during practice. Could it be a bit of gamesmanship from teams, as in, lets not show the others the cards in their hand, before qualifying?

Piastri so far, seems to be the faster of the papaya team. I expect he realizes that any advantage he may see in team orders may be based on the starting position. Norris seemed to have been getting a bit of advantage over Piastri in Japan, after Piastri's pleas to pass Norris and chase down Max were ignored. Norris is leading the Driver Championship points so far, so I understand why he would get a little more priority, but Piastri is very fast. I sure hope the team gives him a chance to prove it at this race, if a similar situation were to develop.

Antonelli once again proving he's not just a flash in the pan, getting the fifth fastest time in P2 in the Mercedes. Amazing.

I sure hope Jacques Villeneuve is not commentating at this weekends race. He was horrible in Japan in my opinion. Please bring Martin Brundle back. Even Danica who does far better at the job, and she's easier on the eyes..;)
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