Australian Grand Prix
Venue: Albert Park, Melbourne Dates: 14 March-16 March Race begin: 04:00 GMT on Sunday, 16 March
Protection: Dwell radio commentary of apply and qualifying on BBC 5 Sports activities Further, race reside on BBC Radio 5 Dwell. Dwell textual content updates on the BBC Sport web site and app
After a three-month break, the 2025 Components 1 season is sort of upon us.
The Australian Grand Prix this weekend is the primary of 24 races between now and Abu Dhabi in December.
There are many speaking factors with Lewis Hamilton getting ready for his Ferrari debut, Max Verstappen chasing a fifth consecutive drivers’ title and McLaren hoping to take care of the tempo that introduced them the constructors’ championship in 2024.
BBC Sport F1 correspondent Andrew Benson solutions your questions earlier than the season will get beneath manner in Melbourne.
What’s the pragmatic expectation at Ferrari this 12 months? Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc have all didn’t win them a championship thus far. Is an excessive amount of anticipated from Lewis Hamilton? – Kenneth
Hamilton has been clear – he’s going to Ferrari to win an eighth world title.
When a driver of that stage goes to such a storied group, it is apparent what the goal is. So, questions on whether or not an excessive amount of is anticipated of him miss the purpose – he and Ferrari count on that of themselves.
The influence of such an achievement could be huge.
Hamilton’s transfer to Ferrari has already dramatically elevated curiosity in F1 within the run-up to this season. Think about what the response could be to the game’s most celebrated driver breaking the one remaining all-time report whereas driving for its most iconic group.
Will he do it? That is dependent upon two issues. Whether or not the Ferrari automobile is as much as it, and whether or not Hamilton can beat his team-mate, Charles Leclerc.
As for comparisons with Alonso and Vettel, neither managed to win the title they and Ferrari so craved.
Alonso was plain unfortunate – he ought to have received in 2010 and 2012. He was excellent in each years, particularly in 2012.
Had it not been for a catastrophic technique determination in Abu Dhabi in 2010, and two separate assaults from two totally different Lotus drivers at the beginning of two totally different grands prix in 2012, he would have been champion.
Vettel’s state of affairs was extra complicated – arguably he and Ferrari threw away probabilities in each 2017 and 2018 by a mix of driver errors and group fallibility. Many individuals imagine Alonso would have received no less than a kind of titles had he stayed at Ferrari.
However that was then. The idea is that that is about nearly as good a time as Hamilton may go to Ferrari.
In Frederic Vasseur, they’ve a group boss who has given the group a extra worldwide outlook, and could be very matter-of-fact and centered on practicality. He appears to be having a superb impact and shifting them in the fitting course.
Nobody is aware of what’s going to occur. However it’s certain goes to be entertaining discovering out, nevertheless it ends.
Is that this a crucial season for George Russell, particularly given the likelihood that Max Verstappen may depart Pink Bull sooner or later? – David
Each season is crucial in F1 – individuals are at all times searching for indicators of weak point. However the stakes are fairly excessive for Russell this 12 months, and that is virtually impartial of Max Verstappen.
Russell is out of contract on the finish of the 12 months, and his new team-mate is an 18-year-old rookie, Andrea Kimi Antonelli. From the standpoint of his fame inside the sport, Russell has to return out on prime.
If he does not, although, that doesn’t essentially imply his Mercedes profession is over. However it might imply Antonelli had marked himself out as a possible future nice.
If Verstappen isn’t obtainable, Toto Wolff will stick together with his present driver line-up into 2026 – Russell has come out of three seasons with Lewis Hamilton and nearly received bragging rights. He has earned his standing as one among F1’s very prime drivers.
The stress can also be on Antonelli, though his uncooked expertise is believed to be immense. If he’s comfortably overwhelmed by Russell, he will not be round lengthy. Such is the best way of issues in F1.
It is a powerful world, and solely the strongest survive.
Evaluating the apparently pleasant relationship between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris with the continued fallout of the Verstappen-Russell spat, does that present that Verstappen does not actually worry Norris, however he does worry Russell? – Joe
For those who requested that query to Max Verstappen himself, I do know precisely what he would say. He fears nobody.
Verstappen is completely assured that if he’s given a automobile by which it’s attainable to win the title, he’ll win it. Would not matter who the opponent is.
How he will get on with somebody out of the automobile has no bearing in any way on his behaviour in it – you solely have to take a look at final 12 months’s Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix and to see that.
He’s as ruthless as they arrive, and anybody who will get in his manner will get the identical therapy.
How they reply to him off the monitor is a unique query. However Verstappen does not care about that both. Pleasant, or not. Makes no distinction to him. He’ll race them simply has laborious.
Do you suppose the battle between F1 and the FIA may escalate? The place will it lead? – Sam
There was for a while widespread concern inside Components 1 in regards to the actions of Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of governing physique the FIA, and nothing over the winter has modified that.
Ben Sulayem has been embroiled in a sequence of controversies since he took workplace in December 2021, and his latest actions in , and codifying a way by which have simply added to an extended listing of actions perceived to be problematic by many inside the sport.
For the time being, although, there isn’t any open battle between F1 and the FIA, nor between the groups and the FIA.
Nonetheless, everybody within the sport could be very conscious of the rising disquiet inside the FIA itself – the most recent side of which was revealed by BBC Sport final week in its report on quite a few world motorsport council members being , a dispute that might but see .
With an FIA presidential election looming on the finish of the 12 months, the game’s bosses are retaining an in depth eye on occasions. However except Ben Sulayem does one thing that instantly impacts F1 enterprise, it’s unlikely F1 itself will take any motion.
However with the drivers sad, and the FIA dealing with and who is aware of what else coming down the road, this story isn’t going anyplace any time quickly.
Because the FIA has now launched an additional necessary pit cease for Monaco, do you suppose that introducing this throughout all of the grand prix would enhance the racing as there could be much less tyre saving? – Andrew
The thought of introducing has been given a guardedly heat response thus far.
The hope is that it will add additional pleasure to the race and scale back its tendency to develop into a procession.
Lewis Hamilton stated he believed it was his concept initially, and added: “Monaco needs to be no less than a two-stop. The one-stop was by no means actually nice.
“That (two stops) will not repair all of it. We’ll nonetheless see a number of the problems with not overtaking and stuff, however I believe it can make it extra thrilling.”
Some, although, have puzzled whether or not this was a response to a very dangerous occasion final 12 months, which was itself brought on by a selected set of circumstances.
Final 12 months, there was a first-lap crash that led to a crimson flag. So all of the front-runners fitted a set of tyres to get them to the top of the race, and deliberate to not cease once more. That led to Charles Leclerc main the race at a pedestrian tempo and nothing taking place.
Nevertheless it’s not like that yearly. Whatever the problem in overtaking, Monaco has seen a sequence of attention-grabbing races lately, some influenced by climate, and others by issues skilled by one driver or one other.
The necessary two-stop has been arrived at as a vital evil – introducing a component of artificiality to ameliorate a selected downside.
Usually, introducing that stage of gimmickry isn’t one thing on which the powers that be in F1 are eager.
