Written by Skye Slatcher
Illustrated by Sylvain Chan
F1 is back for 2025.
For the Ferrari loyalists amongst the readers, the last two weekends have been a harsh reintroduction to typical Forza Ferrari chaos. Lewis Hamilton’s fans have been thrown straight into the Italian team we have come to know in the past few years. Six rookies have graced the grid with a myriad of team switches from the familiar faces.
Australia’s return to hosting the season opener delivered a Sunday of rained-out carnage. There were only 14 classified finishers. Hadjar’s F1 debut ended on the formation lap, but many of the headlines of the weekend were drawn out of what happened after he got out of the car. Crying and walking back through the paddock, the French driver was embraced by Anthony Hamilton, Lewis’ dad. Cameras surrounding them, Hamilton seemed to offer some words of support to the young driver. Doohan, Sainz, Alonso, Bortoleto, and Lawson also did not finish the race. Ferrari finished P8 and P10 after some poor strategy calls.
Standouts from this race? Well, it would be wrong not to mention Kimi Antonelli and his impressive run from P16 to P4 on debut. His driving showed control and maturity beyond his age. Some will try (and have tried) to pass this off as a stroke of luck, but the determination with which he was driving suggests otherwise. Of course, the rest of the season is long, but his first drive has confirmed him as one to watch this year.
Albon in the Williams had a surprising run to P5, putting him on solid footing for a possible stronger finish in the Championship this year.
Norris won the race, followed by Verstappen and Russell. Not a hugely surprising result, after a devastating moment for home hero Oscar Piastri, who went off the track and had to reverse back on to continue.
A few days later, the Chinese Grand Prix was back, bringing us the first sprint weekend of the year. McLaren remained the clear favourite going into the weekend, while Ferrari and others aimed to make progress going into the weekend.
Ferrari and Hamilton took pole and the win in the sprint race, marking the pair’s first victory together. Many, like me, had hoped this marked a turnaround from the underwhelming conclusion of the previous weekend – any such hopes were quickly put down. Both Ferraris, after finishing P5 and P6, wound up being disqualified for technical infringements: Hamilton for the width of the plank under his car and Leclerc for being below the weight limit. Gasly’s Alpine was also DSQed for being underweight. Hardly the weekend the Tifosi (nor Gasly’s fans) would have hoped for.
Piastri made an immense comeback from Australia to win the GP, in a race in which strategy calls became central. Lando just behind him, followed by George Russell, finished off the podium. Alex Albon, on his birthday, bagged more points for Williams, putting Williams fourth in the constructors’ standings currently. Haas also impressively scored double points, highlighting the strength of the driver pairing and the leadership of Ayao Komatsu.
Alonso suffered a second DNF, while Lance Stroll scored points. Interestingly, Stroll is currently eighth in the championship order, ahead of both Ferraris. The Racing Bulls did not score points in the race, but Hadjar put in an impressive performance in qualifying, as the highest-finishing rookie.
Lawson has had a disappointing two weeks, failing to score any points, leading to the typical speculation around what the Red Bull teams will do with their driver pairings. Some have suggested discussions involving Franco Colapinto have been taking place too. Others have hinted that Yuki Tsunoda might finally get his call-up to the senior team. All remains to be seen.
There are 22 races left this season. Everything to race for. They go again in Japan on 4-6 April.
