oh disappointing start from Ferrari, especially Hamilton

Pretty impressive Max is still right up there after Newey left

Well this car still has Newey DNA all over it, it'll be next season when we really see what they can do. I see Lawson seamlessly taking over the baton for the second seat also.

Both Ferraris being out qualified by an RB and a Williams was quite worrying for them.

Such an insane season opener! 😮

I'm not sure that the current RB21 is that heavily a Newey style design. He spent much of the 2023 involved in the RB17 Hypercar and Pierre Wache did much of the work on the design of the RB20 and consequently all the development work the car, including the course correct on its design flaws.

Since then the new car has a number of significant changes around the nose and air intakes. The philosophy is the same but we shouldn't underestimate Pierre's contribution.

As to the race, it took a while to get going with people constantly binning the cars but looks like the expected pecking order is

McLaren

Max

Mercedes

Ferrari

Williams/RB

Lawson/Red Bull

Aston Martin

Alpine/Sauber

Haas

Wow quite a lot to unpack there, one of the most dramatic season openers I've ever watched maybe just behind 2008 which an all time classic season so fingers crossed we're in for another. The McLaren pace in the dry was pretty scary but hopefully Max can keep them honest.

Ferrari literally had a double podium out of nowhere on a platter and tried to be too clever hoping for a red flag. I absolutely lost it as Leclerc's 'words of wisdom' remark 🤣 in for a another meme-heavy season that's a definite.

What a chastening day for the rookies but a storming drive from Antonelli! And Hulk casually scoring more points today alone than Sauber did the entirety of last season. Very much Magnussen 2022 Bahrain vibes...

Definitely a race worth being up at 4am for. Glad Piastri managed to get back into the race and into the points, I felt my heart breaking when it looked like he might have been out in not just the first race of the year, but his home race, after managing to complete every lap of 2024!

Nice to have someone else leading the drivers championship for the first time since Spain 2022(?)

Weird race, managed to catch the last 20 laps or so and that was pretty good. Most rookies did poorly and so did Ferrari.

I set an alarm to wake up, slept through it and woke up 23 laps in. Seems like my body knew when it would get exciting!

i see the Italian press is very mean with Hadjar, calling him a crybaby

and an embarrassing moment, crying for like a half an hour non stop after the incident.

Even De la Rosa who is kinda "human", was saying he should have kept it inside

and tried not to show.

I guess it's 2025 and men are showing more his feelings.

What do you guys reckon?

They were kinda mean with Hamilton's debut for Ferrari, read some articles calling him the worst debut in years.

Macho bullshit through and through. Sets a bad example and reinforces a stupid ideal that men shouldn’t show emotion

I think much of what the Italian press has said was probably inspired by Helmut Marko's comments about 'a tearful show' being 'a bit embarrassing'. I don't completely disagree with Marko's words (although I do disagree with his intent) but I think his targeting is way off. it was a show Hadjar was putting on. it was him being genuinely upset. That's fine, he should be upset really, not that I'm criticising him but if he's not upset by crashing in his first race he shouldn't be there as we need drivers who care about succeeding. The embarrassing parts isn't that he cried, it's not even that the cameras wouldn't leave him alone whilst he did, that is after all their job. The TV director didn't need to show it all. It's fine to show that he cried but you don't have to make it a 15 minute piece when there's plenty of other things to discuss or view.

If Hadjar can put this behind him and focus on the performance going ahead, he'll be fine but if he's going to be overcome with emotion every time things go wrong, he'll have a hard time coming. Regardless of whether it's fair.

I think objectively Hamilton's Ferrari debut was the worst for any driver, especially a former Champion's, for many years. Barrichello finished 2nd in his debut, Raikkonen and Alonso both won, Vettel finished 3rd, Leclerc was 5th in his first for the Scuderia and Sainz, Massa, Salo, and Fisichella all finished in 9th. The only driver of the 21st century to finish equal or lower than Lewis did last weekend was Luca Badoer in 2009. All that being true, Lewis wasn't entirely to blame for his result but Leclerc definitely performed better, even if this is to be expected right now.

They also mentioned a lot the lack of chemistry between Hamilton and his new engineer

In McLaren they kinda tolerated his childish tantrum but not sure how it's gonna go in Ferrari...

Yeah, I think that's going to be the biggest problem for Lewis. he's very much used to being indulged and having his ego massaged. That won't happen at Ferrari for very long. With the exception of Villeneuve, Enzo was always far more concerned about the cars than he ever was about the people who drove them. Although nowhere near that level of callousness, Ferrari drivers are always completely dispensable if they don't bring the required results. Sometimes, even when they do.

If Lewis takes too long to gel with the car and is too public in his criticisms the love affair won't last long.

Eddie Jordan has died -

Eddie Jordan, former F1 team principal, manager and driver, dies aged 76 · RaceFans

Oh wow, absolute legend of the sport. RIP Eddie

Great character

Growing up, Jordan was always one of my favourite teams: EJ was such a character and that translated into how unique his team felt! One of the last underdog success stories (coming 3rd place in the 1999 constructors and Frentzen being not a million miles from the drivers title!)

RIP Eddie!

Echoing what Bjork said, EJ was an absolute legend of the sport. Sad day in the world of F1.

Sad news, he was a great personality both as a team owner and a pundit.

Lawson won't even last 5 races at this rate...