F1Weekly Podcast # 1105

Play Podcast: 07-28-25f1weekly1105.mp3

Piastri passes Norris on lap one and never looked back, in the most uneventful wet Grand Prix ever! Aston Martin going no where fast, Max and LCH not happy with rain delay! Is the FIA playing it too safe? This week’s Nasir Hameed corner we have Peter Windsor, Colton Herta and Logan Sargent. Gracias!

Oscar:

“I was a bit disappointed it was a rolling start because I thought that was going to take away some opportunity,” said Piastri after the race.

“I got a good exit out of Turn 1, was able to stay close and when I was that close I knew that I’d just got lift a little bit less than Lando did and try and keep it on the track.

“A bit lively up over the hill, but managed to make it stick and from there the tow helped me out. I’m proud of my first lap.”

Max:

“Today was quite disappointing and I think we were a bit unlucky. We set up for the wet and ultimately we didn’t do a wet race. We were pretty impacted because of the rear wing that we chose and because most of the race was dry. It was cautious and I felt like we could have done a few laps behind the safety car and ultimately, we want to make sure we don’t miss out on classic races as we can still have cool wet racing. When we went in with the slick tyres, every lap we saw Charles pulling away; he locked up in the last chicane which made it look closer but ultimately we weren’t fast enough.

The race today does also show some of the weaknesses that we have; it is clear that the upgrades did work but we are limited in other areas, including general tyre behaviour and management and the balance of the car. We tried to do the best that we could today but we will just have to keep pushing, keep trying to improve and we will go again.”

Alex:

I’m really happy; we’re top of the midfield so that’s always nice and I managed to hold off Lewis, which is never easy. I struggled a little bit in the rain, which is to be expected, so I lost that position to George early on but after that, we settled in and were able to maintain position and finish strong. It was important to not make mistakes with Lewis behind, but I think his downforce worked in our favour. As a team we did a great job as it’s not easy beating those top teams, so it’s good to see our package is working well.

Palou Continues Domination of Laguna Seca, Series Standings with Eighth Win of 2025.

MONTEREY, Calif. (Sunday, July 27, 2025) – WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca remains Alex Palou’s best track, and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ champion designation almost certainly will stay with him as well.

The driver of the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda proved both with a dominating drive in the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey. In leading 84 of the 95 laps, Palou won on the California road course for the second consecutive year – again from the pole – and scored his third win here in the past four years.

Palou’s command of the sport is most evident in the season standings, where collecting the weekend’s maximum number of points, coupled with the fourth-place finish of Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, swelled his lead to a whopping 121 points. Only three races remain.

The winner of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge still has work to do to clinch his third consecutive series championship and fourth in five years, but the effort required will be minimal. Effectively, O’Ward needs to win out for Palou to be threatened. Everyone else has been eliminated from contention.

“It’s been an awesome weekend, an awesome year (and) today was something else,” Palou said. “It’s super fun to be here – one of my favorite tracks for sure. I couldn’t be happier right now.”

This win gave Palou his eighth win in 14 races this season. Only three drivers in the sport’s history – A.J. Foyt in 1964, Al Unser in 1970 and Mario Andretti in 1969 – have won more races in a single year. Foyt and Unser hold the season record with 10 wins. Andretti had nine. Palou is one of six drivers with eight; he is the first to do so since Sebastien Bourdais in 2007.

The win also was the 19th of Palou’s still-young career – the 28-year-old Spaniard has made just 95 starts. Only 23 drivers in open-wheel racing history have been to victory lane more often, and the next race is at Portland International Raceway, a track where Palou won in 2021 and 2023.

Palou relinquished the lead on this 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course only to pit. Interestingly, the first time the driver taking the top spot was Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel, who led the first 11 series laps of his career. On Palou’s second stop, Team Penske’s Will Power was briefly ahead of him, but Power pitted before he could officially lead a lap.

Palou’s margin of victory was 3.7965 seconds, but he frequently led by more than that. He lowered his average finish in five starts at this track to 1.6, the lowest of any driver in any event on the current calendar.

“It was not easy,” he said. “We had to push; we had to try to be ready for those (late caution periods). We knew that we were not on the (freshest) of tires … but luckily we had enough pace to open a small gap and get the win.”

Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard finished second with Colton Herta of Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian third. The two had a memorable mid-race moment when Lundgaard muscled his way to the inside of Herta in the track’s final corner.

There were two incidents on the opening lap. First, a tussle between Conor Daly and rookie Robert Shwartzman shoved the latter into the Turn 3 gravel pit. Three corners later, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson ran into the back of Felix Rosenqvist, knocking the Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian driver through the gravel and against the tire barrier. Simpson ricocheted off the wall, sending his car into another part of the tires.

On Lap 11, Dale Coyne Racing rookie Jacob Abel appeared to have a mechanical failure as his car completely missed Turn 1 and sailed into the gravel. Later, Kirkwood ran into the back of Dale Coyne Racing’s Rinus VeeKay, drawing the penalty that effectively ended Kirkwood’s championship hopes.

The two late caution periods were the result of the Turn 6 off by Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson and AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci spinning at the top of the Corkscrew.

Formula 2

Dunne masters the wet to take victory at Spa!

Alexander Dunne converted pole into a third Feature Race victory of the season as he mastered
the wet conditions to come out on top at Spa Francorchamps.
The Rodin Motorsport driver was forced to hold off challenges from Ritomo Miyata and Roman
Stanek before winning the race. Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad came through to second, with
Stanek taking the final spot on the podium for Invicta Racing

After four Formation Laps under the Safety Car, a rolling start in rainy conditions got underway
and there was an immediate change for P2 as Stanek overtook Miyata at Turn 1.
The ART Grand Prix driver fought back immediately, diving to the inside of his rival at the end of
the Kemmel Straight to retake the position.
But their battling allowed Dunne to escape up the road and by the start of Lap 2, the polesitter
was 1.8s clear in front.
The rain started to get heavier and Leonardo Fornaroli, having overtaken Josep María Martí on
the opening lap for P6, ran wide at Eau Rouge, allowing the Campos Racing driver back through
on Lap 3.
Dunne then started to be caught as Miyata closed the gap to 1.2s by the end of Lap 5.
Fornaroli’s struggles continued and on Lap 6, PREMA Racing’s Gabriele Minì took seventh place
from him down the Kemmel Straight.
Dunne’s lead over Miyata was just 0.3s to start Lap 8, with Stanek also within a second of the
Rodin driver.
Victor Martins in fourth was struggling to keep Lindblad at bay, and on Lap 10, the ART driver
was handed two five-second time penalties for exceeding track limits.
On Lap 11, several drivers, including Dino Beganovic, Fornaroli, Sebastián Montoya, Minì, Richard
Verschoor all pitted for new Wet tyres. On the next lap, Stanek, Martins and Martí did the same.
The top four of Dunne, Miyata, Lindblad and Luke Browning were in next on Lap 13, however, the
Hitech TGR driver spun at pit exit, although he was able to continue on.

As for Dunne, he came out just ahead of Stanek and the two went wheel-to-wheel through Les
Combes, but the Irishman stayed ahead as the rain continued to get heavier.
The Rodin driver then pulled out away from Stanek but encountered traffic in the form of the
yet-to-pit Oliver Goethe. The MP Motorsport driver fought hard to stay in front, but Dunne
eventually got through around the outside at Pouhon to take the lead.
Stanek, having looked set to take the lead a few laps earlier, was now struggling and lost a place
to Miyata at the final chicane. He was down to fourth moments later, when Lindblad took P3
down the Kemmel Straight on Lap 15.
Onto Lap 16 and Miyata spun at Pouhon, dropping him from second to fourth, forcing him to
defend from Martí and the recovering Browning.
Further behind, Fornaroli took seventh from Beganovic with a brave move through Eau Rouge.
Browning’s comeback through the field continued and after making slight contact with Martí at
Stavelot, the British driver dived to the inside of his rival at the final chicane to take fifth.
The Safety Car was soon deployed on Lap 18, with Sebastián Montoya having spun and stopped
at Eau Rouge.
However, as the cars rounded the track Goethe stopped with an issue on Lap 21. As a result, the
Red Flags were waved and with the race not being resumed, Dunne claimed his third victory of
the season.
Lindblad finished second, as Stanek took the final spot on the podium ahead of Miyata. Browning
recovered from his spin to finish fifth ahead of Martí and Fornaroli. Beganovic was eighth, Minì
ninth, with Martins in 10th.

Indy NXT

Collet Completes Weekend Sweep as Hauger Stumbles at Laguna Seca.

MONTEREY, Calif. (Sunday, July 27, 2025) – Brazil’s Caio Collet completed a doubleheader sweep of the INDY NXT by Firestone weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, thrusting himself into championship contention with three races to go.

The HMD Motorsports driver led all 35 laps in each of the Grand Prix of Monterey races, slicing his deficit to series leader Dennis Hauger by more than half as Hauger stumbled in Race 2. With nine laps remaining, Hauger had contact with Andretti Global teammate Lochie Hughes, sending both cars to gravel pit. Hauger finished 16th in the 19-car field.

Hauger entered the weekend with a 94-point lead on Collet, who was in third place behind Hughes. But that advantage has been sliced to 42 heading to the Aug. 10 race at Portland International Raceway. Hauger finished second in Race 1. Hughes finished sixth and 15th in the two races and trails Hauger by 89 points.

Collet scored his third win of the season and his fourth overall. He also became the 12th consecutive series pole winner to win the race.

“It’s incredible and also we had some luck today as well for the championship,” Collet said. “Hopefully I’m in the fight right now, and we’ll keep it going.”

Collet admitted gratification when he came around the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course and saw Hauger and his car stuck in the gravel.

“It’s hard not to think about the championship when you see your main rival going off (the track),” he said. “Obviously, there was still racing left. There’s always bad luck (in racing). I had it happen at Barber (Motorsports Park on May 4); now it’s happened to him.

“It’s a championship and hopefully we can fight until the end.”

Josh Pierson of HMD Motorsports finished second for his second straight podium result. He had not had a top-three finish in his first 32 series races; now he has them in consecutive races. Abel Motorsports driver Callum Hedge finished third, making it his first podium of the season and second of his career.

For the second consecutive day, Lap 1 presented trouble, and it seemed to start when Hauger dropped right-side wheels into the gravel, which kicked up dust. Deep in the pack, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Bryce Aron ran over the back of HMD Motorsports’ Liam Sceats. Tommy Smith’s HMD Motorsports car was collected. Smith later had contact of his own, bouncing off the tire barrier in Turn 6.

On a mid-race restart, Abel Motorsports’ Jordan Missig spun in Turn 11, creating a chain reaction as the trailing Smith got hard on the brakes. Behind them came three HMD Motorsports drivers — Nolan Allaer, rookie Juan Manuel Correa and rookie Hallie Deegan – with the latter two receiving the most damage.

The ensuing restart had Abel Motorsports’ Myles Rowe spinning during a passing attempt on Hedge. In front of them was the skirmish between Hauger and Hughes. On the restart with five laps to go, Rowe had contact with Andretti Global’s Salvador de Alba in Turn 5, earning Rowe a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.