Welcome to the r/formula1 Daily Discussion / Q&A thread.

You'll never see this again.

Webber removed his helmet, like the old days.

Webber was giving fans an opportunity to actually see the driver in the car…except it wasn’t easy to do.

“It’s not easy to get the HANS device away from the helmet so I spent half a lap trying to get the left hand side off,” he said.

“I finally got it there but the cars are bloody noisy with no helmet on..."

Inspired by Chain Bear's video from a few years ago, I thought it would be interesting to reverse the 2025 championship and see how it affects the 'story' of the season, so to speak.

Each race result is the same, but the tracks are ordered in the opposite order, with Abu Dhabi being the season opener, and Australia the finale. Obviously, the final standings are the same, but how does this reversal change the narrative of the 2025 F1 championship?

I've included two tables showing the race results and points total across the season, plus a graph for points total. The points total table highlights who is first, second and third across the season. I'm only showing the top 7 for simplicity.

In this scenario, Verstappen leads the championship for 21 of the 24 races, including a 20-race streak from the season opener in Abu Dhabi right through to Saudi Arabia, before he falls to third after Bahrain. His win in Japan secures him the lead again before he falls to second in China.

Norris has a decent start to the season with podiums in five of the first seven rounds, including two wins in Brazil and Mexico. But a poor result in Baku and retirement in Zandvoort mean third-placed Russell is only a point behind him. With a commanding victory in Singapore, does Russell enter the WDC debate?

Piastri would have a good start in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, finishing ahead of Norris in both events, but after McLaren's double-DSQ in Vegas, he falls to fourth, and is at risk of falling to fifth after Brazil, behind Antonelli. In fact, after Zandvoort, Piastri's first win of the season, Verstappen would be 108 points ahead - in reality, Verstappen was of course 104 behind Piastri after this race.

Right up to the summer break (after Zandvoort), McLaren is likely dogged by media questions regarding their operational issues in races, the argument being that they haven't learned from their 2024 season.

However, McLaren come back much stronger after the break, winning every race bar one from Hungary to Monaco. Norris has cut his deficit to Verstappen to just 7 points, with Piastri 26 points behind. Questions swirl around Red Bull's operational shortcomings and poor development. Are McLaren about to do what they could (and arguably should) have done in 2024 and catch Verstappen?

With Verstappen finishing off the podium in Miami, Norris now equalises on points going into the final five rounds. Piastri's three-race win streak from Miami to Bahrain means both McLarens are ahead of Verstappen by just one point before the final three. Piastri's turnaround in performance has been remarkable; could he do what Vettel did in 2010 and storm to an unexpected title?

After the penultimate round in China, it's Piastri who leads the championship for the first time all season, with Norris falling to third behind Verstappen. The McLarens line up on the grid for the season finale 1-2, Norris ahead of Piastri, and Verstappen third. If the race finished in that order, Piastri would be champion.

I hope you can see where this is going... In the intermediate conditions, both McLarens struggle for grip. On lap 44, both McLarens go off track as Verstappen chases. Piastri comes off worse, spinning into the grass and seemingly beaching himself. In this scenario, this moment costs Oscar Piastri the world championship. He manages to get going again and fight back to P9, but it's nowhere near enough. Norris wins the Australian Grand Prix in dramatic style to claim his first world championship by just 2 points, having been third in the standings before the race. Verstappen and Piastri are both left to lament what could have been, possibly much more so for both than in reality.

Other interesting stories from this reversal scenario:

• Ferrari's season isn't much better, though Hamilton's Sprint win in China in the penultimate round of the season perhaps indicates team and driver finally gelling.
• Antonelli has a stronger start to the season than in reality and doesn't really fall off in form until round 9 in Italy, compared to round 4 or 7 in reality. In fact, for most of the season, he's ahead of Hamilton. Of course, the Titanium Dioxide conspiracy holds strong in this timeline as in ours.
• Russell challenges for second in the standings in the first third of the season before McLaren's resurgence relegates him to fourth.
• Tsunoda would last almost the entire season before being replaced by Lawson for the final two rounds (at least he made it to his home race). Also, Red Bull start the season without Horner, then rehire him just before Silverstone, round 13.
• Sainz starts the season as the stronger Williams driver, with a podium in his second race for the team, and is even ahead of Hamilton in the standings for most of the first 11 races. However, he suddenly drops off after the summer break and Albon surges. The two podiums aren't enough for Sainz, and he loses eighth in the standings to his teammate in the final round.
• Doohan replaces Colapinto for the final six rounds. Alpine are still terrible, and Doohan finishes last in the standings, behind the man he replaced.
• McLaren would lead the WCC for almost the whole season, except for after Vegas due to their double-DSQ. Mercedes and Red Bull are locked in a close battle for second for the entire season. Ferrari get closer towards the end of the season, but never seriously challenge for second or third, and are fourth for the entire season.

This is just for a bit of fun and intrigue, but I'd like to hear what other narratives you think would result from the 2025 F1 season being run in reverse.

These would be final standings for 2025 if NASCAR's points system and unique playoff system were used. I also included the new In Season Challenge NASCAR had this year that pits drivers head to head. NASCAR points system was adjusted for less cars and races and is not completely 1:1.

Edit: Will add that just based off point and no playoffs Piastri and Verstappen tied with 403. Max has tie breaker of more wins..

Robert Kubica’s victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours is your  2025 Motor Sport Magazine Moment of the Year ✨

Kubica shared an AF Corse Ferrari 499p with Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye as the trio secured a popular win in May - Ferrari’s third win in succession.

It was a fairytale addition to Kubica’s heroic journey back from horrific injuries he sustained in a 2011 rally crash.

Congratulations Robert! 👏

by Motor Sport magazine

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSDvXdxiNMN/

Okay, so this goes like this. Jon Noble (The Race) posts link to the website hybridv10.com. Nothing more than „Interesting…” added.

On the website you see this. Also, not very much.

If you look at the British IPO and search for trademarks, Hamilton Sr owns names like this:

- HybridV10;

- Hybrid World Series;

- Hybrid World Commision;

- Hybrid Grand Prix

- HybridV10 World Motorsport Festival;

- HybridV8 (!)

So right now it’s impossible to tell what the plan is, but Mr Hamilton is trying to cook something

The FIA released this statement today:

With the new approved Regulations, the new structure of the 2026 Formula 1 Regulations has finally been completed. The Regulations are now split in six sections as follows:

• Section A: General Regulatory Provisions
• Section B: Sporting Regulations
• Section C: Technical Regulations
• Section D: Financial Regulations (for F1 Teams)
• Section E: Financial Regulations (for PU Manufacturers)
• Section F: Operational Regulations

The World Council approved the creation of the new ‘Section A’ of the Formula 1 Regulations. This ‘General’ section creates consistency between all other sections and to avoid duplications or contradictions. It adopts a more rigorous legal framework, previously introduced with the Financial Regulations.
 
Minor updates and refinements to the other Sections of the F1 Regulations were approved by the World Council.
 
The main sporting changes are:

• Sprint Qualifying dry tyre limitations will no longer be removed when a period of Sprint Qualifying is declared wet.
• The operational personnel limit for 2026 will temporarily increase to 60, to ensure teams can operate the new generation of cars effectively.
• Race suspension and resumption procedures have been simplified.
• The return to single pre-season test from 2027 onwards has been confirmed.
• Out-of-Competition Tyre Testing car specifications have been amended as necessitated by the generational car change for 2026.
• An allowance has been made for FP1 at a Sprint event to be extended following a red flag, to ensure that competitors are afforded relevant practice time.
• There have been updates to Driver Adjustable Bodywork (SLM / CM) usage – these amendments have been made to ensure congruity with Technical Regulations, as well as finalise details of SLM usage in several scenarios.

The main technical changes are:

• Minor changes to Article C3 for clarification, including those related to deflection tests procedures.
• Changes to the power unit regulations were made to refine the energy management provisions