Zoom Zoom 2025! Formula One kicks off Race One in Australia! One rookie's very bad weekend, and a wet and wild BONKERS Grand Prix- from start to finish!

Welcome back, Zoomies! The new season is upon us, and this year, the first race is being held in Oscar Piastri's home country of Australia. Oscar is probably very happy for that, and the fact he just recently signed an extension with McLaren, making Team Papaya fans very happy! I covered some of the offseason stuff in my F1 Primer post, which you can find here https://colbymichaels.wixsite.com/getyourgameon/post/zoom-zoom-2025-formula-one-f1-racing-primer . So lets uncork the bottle of pent-up excitement and dig into our first 2025 race weekend! Personality-wise, while his teammate Lando Norris has an adorably cheeky sense of humor, Oscar's humor is very dry short and sweet, and spot on. He's a bit of the "quiet assassin" on the track!

I was remiss with my Primer post for not giving flowers out to Max Verstappen for winning his 4th Drivers Championship, and to McLaren for winning the Constructors (team) trophy last season (after many years!), so I gone done it here- Congrats! Also, I missed that this race is Alpine's rookie driver Jack Doohan's home race as well, but most eyes and hearts are with Oscar. Oh and McLaren, by winning the Constructors Cup, won 130 million dollars! Speaking of Alpine, the team now has FOUR reserve drivers, including the young Argentine that fans fell in love with, Franco Colapinto! So, no pressure, Jack! ( there is hella pressure!). Your spot of tea for the day! :) Oh, just learned that Yuki Tsunoda, after Red Bull decided to elevate Liam Lawson to the seat next to Max, has changed management teams...hmm... Before we dig into Practice One (P1), I'm not making predictions, but here is a list of things I would like to see happen in 2025: Alonso getting on the podium, so Sky Sports and race-caller Crofty can stop counting the days (its in four figures now, i believe) since Fernando was on the podium.

If Lewis Hamilton won his record-setting 8th Drivers Championship, I would be happy.

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon improving the Williams Racing team by getting podiums/wins.

Oscar and Lando winning races for McLaren and the Constructors Cup again (also if Lando won Drivers).

Yuki winning a race! I reserve the right to update this list as the season goes on! :)

P1: Full house, the weather this day (its Friday at Albert Park in Melbourne), 67 degrees, looks nice, clear skies, and all drivers starting this 60 minute practice on the Medium tyres. Lots of gushing as Lewis takes the track in Ferrari red! (Note: I am digging the Williams livery/colors). Doohan kicks up a bunch of gravel on track at turn 10, bringing out a red flag and a gravel machine sweeper for a few minutes. Reminder the clock keeps ticking down even if there is a delay. With about 19 minutes left in P1, we have our first crash of the season, on that same gravelly Turn 10, as Haas Ollie Bearman slides into the gravel, and on his way out, locks up, car does a pirouette, and end up crashing into the wall. Bring out the big truck with the crane, cuz while Ollie is okay, the car is not, and we are in Red Flag mode. Interesting commentary about Haas having not run testing on soft tyres/low fuel simulations, suggesting that that lack of knowledge may have led to Ollie's loss of control of the car. We got a quick yellow flag in the last minute as George Russell had a spinout at Turn 4, but avoided hitting the wall, righted the car, and finished up practice. I do have to note that on one lap, Yuki Tsunoda decided he wanted to have a bit of a drag race with Lando, both zipping down the straights with their DRS enabled- definitely off-script, boys! Practice One wraps with Isack Hadjar of RB(Racing Bulls) being the highest-ranked rookie, in 9th place, Lando came in 1st, and Williams drivers Sainz and Albon did quite well both finishing in the top 10. P2: Still nice weather, no incidents, a few spinouts in the gravel on Turn 3 and 10. Teams testing out starting on mediums and finished on soft tyres. Only news is that Ollie's car suffered so much damage, it did not make it to the track. Charles LeClerc came in first and Norris and Piastri rounded out the top three for Team Papaya. Also another good showing for both RB drivers, with Yuki in 4th and Isack in 6th! P3: I didn't have access to this, so I am going by notes I've read on the socials. The good news for Ollie Bearman and Haas- the car is fixed and ready to hit the track! The bad news, that after two laps, on Turn 11, Ollie spun out into the gravel, with enough damage to the car that his P3 was done before he even got warmed up! Sending hugs to Ollie and the Haas pit crew team! Apparently Liam Lawson's power unit was not in the mood to race, as his Red Bull car was pulled and Liam didn't post a time on the sheets for P3. Kimi Antonelli had the best time amongst the rookies, placing 5th. Williams Racing showing so far they have the car and drivers, finishing in the top ten, and Yuki once again finished in the top ten for RB. the top three were separated by 0.081 of a second, with Oscar first, George Russell for Mercedes in 2nd, and LeClerc for Ferrari in 3rd.

Hometown Eye Candy with Oscar!

Onto qualifying! This next paragraph should look familiar to some of you!

A note on how Qualifying works: There are three quick races to determine grid position for the GP race. First quali the last five drivers are cut, second quali again, last five drivers dropped, and 3rd and final quali determines the top ten on the grid and the ever important pole (1st) position. This also applies to the Sprint Qualis, you will just see me use SQ1 to show the difference.

Q1: 18 minutes. Raceway once again packed, it's hot, 90 degrees, about 100 degrees track temperature, 48% humidity (its a dry heat!), overcast with ominous cloud cover with sun breaks. All drivers on Soft tyres except Russell and Kimi for Mercedes who are on medium tyres. And in the first two minutes, Ollie heads to the paddock, as his gearbox was also damaged from the crash in Practice 3, and he is out of Quali and will finish in last place for the Grand Prix...just an awful weekend for Ollie and Haas! I need a Sad Ollie meme at this point for the kid! No other incidents, and the bottom 5 are: Bearman-Haas, Ocon-Haas, Lawson- Red Bull, Hulkenberg-Sauber, and Antonelli- Mercedes. Kimi's car was very close to the track, due to breaking the the front of the car on a curb.

Q2: 15 minutes. No incidents, other than Hamilton's Ferrari spun around in the middle of the track, which hurt Doohan's lap, and is in the bottom 5 along with Alonso-Aston-Martin, Bortaleto- Sauber, Stroll-Aston-Martin, and Isack Hadjar- RB.

Q3: 12 minutes. No incidents. Lando DID have his first lap deleted, so he had to put in a perfect last lap in, and he did to take pole position from Oscar, who is in 2nd place, with Verstappen in 3rd, Russell in 4th, Yuki in 5th (!!!!), Albon in 6th, Leclerc in 7th, Sainz in 8th, Gasly in 9th and Sainz rounds out the top 10! Observations: McLaren looking good, Yuki Tsunoda one of his best quali finishes, Williams Racing looking much improved over last season!

Now to see if the projected rain comes for the GP on Sunday. There may be a LOT of bolded words!

Australian Grand Prix: 58 Laps, 14 turns. 3 miles per lap. Total weekend attendance around 300,000. Weather: Wet and windy. 90 minutes before the race start, it was a mini-monsoon at Albert Park! Now the track is just very wet and "greasy", meaning getting grip from the tyres to the pavement is almost non-existent. (Teaser: Keep this in mind while you read along!).

Drivers line up (Ollie in the pit lane to start from the back), for the formation lap, which is where the drivers take a lap around the track to warm up the tyres, get a feel for the grip of the wet track and OMG, HADJER HAS CRASHED HIS CAR AFER TWO TURNS! He is okay, but oh so embarrassing to get DNF for his RB car when he didn't even start the race! I will note that Lewis Hamilton's dad comforted Isack on the way back to the paddock- classy move! So we already have a crash and delay (rookies!) even before the race has started (you know the magic words!). Isack is okay, just tried to warm up those tyres, and went too fast and spun out into the wall. Delay for a restart. Take two 57 laps now. Everyone made it through the the formation lap! The spray from the back of the cars makes for tricky visibility. All cars due to the weather, starting on Intermediate tyres. And its LIGHTS OUT , and Lando holds onto the lead thru the first turn, Max overtakes Oscar for 2nd; overall an excellent start for the drivers on this first lap! I spoke/wrote too soon, as on Turn 6, Alpine's rookie, Jack Doohan spins out and crashes into the wall! He is okay, but Jack's race is over for our second DNF. Safety car deployed for the drivers follow it. Oh, look, on the same lap, at the last turn (14) Williams Racing Carlos Sainz has crashed into the wall! His rear axel spun him into the wall. We are already three cars down and barely into Lap 2! On Lap 8, the Safety Car leaves, and real racing starts again! Lando holding his lead over Max, starting 10 otherwise still the same. No DRS at the moment due to track conditions. Lap 12 DRS enabled! Max hits a puddle on Lap 18, Turn 11, allowing Oscar to take his McLaren car to 2nd, behind his Team Papaya teammate Lando! LeClerc has leap-frogged over Yuki and Alex Albon, now in 5th. Lap 30, and Norris and Paistri are overlapping the drivers at the back of the grid already! It's now a bit of a race between Lando and Oscar for first! Max 16 seconds back in 3rd. Rookie Kimi Antonelli has inched up to 11th place. Lap 34 finds Alonso skidding into the wall at Turn 7! He is okay, but is now the 4th driver whose race day is over. Meanwhile, it's decision time for the teams to pit while the Safety Car is out and change tyres from their overworked Intermediates. McLaren drivers opt for Hard tyres, Max on Medium, Russell and LeClerc, Hard, Tsunoda. Medium, Albon , Medium, Hamilton, Gasly, Antonelli, Stroll Hard, Lawson, Medium, rest on Hard, whereas Haas drivers, Ocon and Bearman (Ollie!), choose to stay on the Intermediates (??). Oh! I finally heard Lara Mueller, the first female driver engineer on the radio to her driver Ocon! Safety car unleashes at Lap 42 as the rain is coming in, and Lando holds on to the lead, with Oscar and Max behind, no changes in top 10 other than Antonelli in 10th with Alonso out. Drivers are on the slick compounds I listed earlier. Lap 45= Chaos! Both McLaren cars slide out, Norris recovers but has to pit, as do both Mercedes cars (Russell and Antonelli), Albon, Stroll, Hulkenberg pits as well. Max stays out and is in the lead, with Yuki Tsunoda in 2nd, and Hamilton in 3rd, Gasly, 4th, LeClerc 5th, Lawson 6th, Norris comes out of the pit at 7th, Russell 8th, Albon 9th, and Stroll 10th, Antonelli 11th.Oscar is stuck in the grass, but eventually gets his car back on track to pit and change tyres. My reaction to all this: <bleep> <Bleep> <BLEEP> <censored> <hard censored> <censors have thrown up their hands and left the room censored!>.

This is a MILD representation of how I felt after Lap 45....mild:

<Collects myself>. Norris, Russell, Albon, Antonelli and many others on Inter tyres, Hamilton and Gasly, on Hard, Yuki and Liam on Medium tyres. Max pits for intermediate tyres, so Hamilton in the lead for the first time in a Ferrari car! Gasly pits to switch to intermediates. On Lap 47, both Lawson and Bortoletto have slid off and crashed , Lawson at Turn 2, Bortoletto at Turn 13! Four rookie drivers did not finish their first race! Oh, and Lando somehow has now retaken the lead! If you are doing the math , that is six cars who DNF'ed, and 14 left to try and finish the race! (PS, i do not want to write that much about tyres again!). Oh, LeClerc had a pirouette moment on the track, didn't crash, and was able to race, but has dropped to 5th. Lap 48: All drivers on Intermediates!!!! Lando leads, with Max just behind him, with Russell and Albon behind them Kimi and his Mercedes car have moved up 11 places for 5th- one rookie is having a good day! Piastri has recovered and is in 13th. Safety car scoots away, and racing begins on Lap 52. Oscar makes a sweet overtake move on Gasly for 10th and into the points! Last lap finds Max coming hard at Lando, McLaren radio tells Lando to keep calm. It's so very close on this last lap, but Lando takes the checkered flag by 0.08 seconds over Max, with George Russell 3rd on the podium. Albon-4th, rookie Antonelli-5th for a great debut. Stroll-6th, Hulkenberg 7th, LeClerc-8th, Oscar clawed his way back to 9th, and Lewis Hamilton, in his Ferrari debut, finishes with the last point in 10th! Whew!

Notes: First the obvious observation: This race was cray-cray BONKERS, entertaining to some, nerve-wracking for others- definitely a race to be remembered! Welcome to 2025 F1 Racing!

Drivers Standings after first race of 2025: This is the point distribution for the top ten teams in a Grand Prix race. I like ths graphic, cuz it shows you the drivers and their team! Antonelli's 5 second penalty was dismissed, so he and Albon flip positions.

Lando was named Driver of the Day by the fans with 20% of the vote. I suspect Hometown boy Oscar and rookie Kimi got a lot of the other votes. Lando DESERVED to win this race! Led for most of it, about 90 Safety cars were thrown at him, avoided six crashes, endured 3-4 restarts, the wet and wild weather, and Max breathing down his rear wing in the last two laps!

What an excellent F1 Grand Prix debut for Mercedes Kimi Antonelli, the youngest driver on track at just 18 years old!

Team Principal Toto Wolff (middle) must be very pleased with Kimi and George's results today in Melbourne!

Williams Racing had a very good weekend overall, minus the Sainz crash in the GP; they definitely have a much improved car than in previous seasons.

Oh Ferrari, and your strategies....<smh>

Haas team had an awful weekend, finishing last in every race they were in (if they even finished!). At least Ollie was able to finish the GP after his wretched weekend.

Lando had the fastest lap, but that doesn't count for points anymore....BOO!

The Aussie curse continues for drivers in their home race, but Oscar did manage to get points for his McLaren team! (But ohh, what could've been before the dreaded Lap 45!) A week to recover and off to China for Race #2! I will definitely need it! Oh, and we will have a Sprint race (short version of the GP- top 8 drivers gets points from 8 to 1).

Late Note! The Darth Vader of F1, Red Bull's "consultant", Helmut Marko, had to spew his toxicity again this weekend! First calling Jack Doohan a "B+ driver", and then after the race, said that Isack's emotional crying was "embarrassing"! These are just two examples why us F1 fans HATE this man!

If you want a saner recap than the one I've written above, this You Tuber does a nice job evaluating the drivers and teams in this short video!