F1Weekly Podcast # 1124
NORRIS IS 2025 F1 WORLD CHAMPION!
MAX WINS THE FINAL RACE OF THE GROUND EFFECTS ERA
CAN OSCAR PIASTRI TAKE THE F1 CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT SEASON?
FERNANDO VERY HAPPY WITH P6 AND WILL ADRIAN NEWEY GIVE HIM HIS THIRD WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP? SO MANY QUESTIONS SO LITTLE TIME…2026 COULD GIVE US A NEW TOP TEN! WILL MAX STILL BE ABLE TO DOMINATE? AND CAN MCLAREN KEEP THEIR CHAMPIONSHIPS?…WILL MERCEDES BE BACK? OR…WILL LCH AND FERRARI BE THE NEW DOMINATORS OF FORMULA 1…ONLY IN THEIR DREAMS?…WE SHALL SEE…
THIS WEEK’S NASIR HAMEED CORNER…MORE VINTAGE BANTER BETWEEN THE HOST AND NASIR HAMEED…ON USF1 THE INTERVIEW IS…F1WEEKLY LISTENER FROM SWEDEN LARS KORNBRINK!
LANDO:
“I found a good rhythm with the car halfway through the season and I feel like I’ve been able to find confidence in myself, in my ability not just to win races but to go and fight for a world championship.
“I’ve certainly had some fortune this year but I’ve certainly had a fair share of tough moments – especially at the beginning, [there was] a lot I struggled with and lost a little bit of belief early in the season.
“More for myself at that point, it was nice to prove myself wrong in a way at times, starting off in Monaco Qualifying and a few moments after that. The second half of the season I’ve really been able to show to myself what I could do, what I was capable of doing.”
MAX:
“I’m very proud of the whole Team and I’m so proud of the incredible turnaround that we had. We never gave up and always believed we could turn things around and never stopped trying. We could have very easily just have given up, but we kept pushing, looking for improvements and always believed. This season has been a massive rollercoaster, with lots of tough moments and feelings, but I’m so proud of everyone and we have really come together as a Team. The turnaround in the second half of the season was incredible and pretty crazy that we could do that and we kept overcoming a lot of things as a Team.
Today has been a lot of fun, especially winning the race in such a dominant way. We had an incredible weekend and did everything as best as we could, so ultimately I feel good today. Although not winning a championship by two points looks painful, going back to Zandvoort we were behind by over 100 points, so am very proud of what we have achieved. Of course, for Lando this is something very special and I hope he enjoys it a lot. The first Championship win is the most emotional one and it is something you dream of since you were a little kid. His family are here and I hope he enjoys tonight with his Team. Finally, I wanted to thank the whole Team in the factory and on track: we never gave up and always believed. I am very proud of the people that I work with, they are my second family.
OSCAR:
“Honestly, pretty good. I knew that going into today I needed the stars to align to win the championship.
“Ultimately, I tried my best and put myself in the best position I could to try and win the race and give myself the best opportunity, but it wasn’t to be. I think we can be very proud of the season we’ve had.
“On a personal level, it’s obviously not quite the ending that I wished for but I think when you look at the season as a whole, I’m very proud of the work that I’ve been able to put in and my team have been able to put in to make so much progress from last year. I’m looking forward to plenty more fights in the future.”
FERNANDO:
“It is great to finish the season with a strong P6 here in Abu Dhabi. Our race pace hasn’t always matched our qualifying recently, so a solid Sunday here feels very good. It’s been a challenging year, and I want to thank the whole team for their hard work all season. We’ll enjoy a break, then switch our focus to preparing for the big changes next year. And congratulations to Lando on his first World Championship; it is a special moment for any young driver, and he deserves it.”
YUKI:
“I really tried my absolute best to score points today, and I think there could have been potential to do so, but the penalty made it tricky. We opted for a different strategy, and we were running well until the battle with Lando. I tried to hold him up, but he was pretty fast, and then I ended up with a frustrating penalty. Once I came out for the second stint, it was really challenging to pass. I can look back on this year knowing that I gave it everything until the end. There were lots of times this season where I lacked that bit of luck you sometimes need to make the difference, but that’s racing.
A big congratulations to Lando—he has been superb all year and drove a solid race tonight to win his first title. Also, congratulations to Max for his victory and an amazing season. Between himself and the Team, they put together a brilliant effort to challenge until the very end and just missed out. He is the best driver on the grid, seeing him work and extract everything that he does is, just shows how good he is, and he has the mentality to go with it, it’s very inspiring to see. I’d like to say thank you to the engineers, mechanics, and the entire Team for this season, and I’ll still be around next season, so it’s not a proper goodbye.”
ISACK:
“It was a very tough Sunday. We haven’t had enough pace the whole weekend to fight for our usual positions, and yesterday it was a surprise for me to put the car in P9. We started in the points, but we knew it would have been difficult for us to maintain that place. Looking at the positives and reflecting on my first F1 season, it’s been a great journey and I’m proud of everyone within VCARB for everything we achieved together. It’s not the final race we wanted but getting P6 in the Constructors’ Championship was our target and a great reward for all of us.”
LIAM:
“Congratulations to the team on P6 in the Constructors’. While we struggled with our strategy and pace today, we’ve had a strong season and achieved our target this weekend. I’m excited to get back to work after the short winter break. Next year will be a big opportunity with the team which I’m very excited and grateful for.”
FORMULA 2
Lindblad holds off Duerksen to claim victory at Yas Marina.
Arvid Lindblad was pushed right to the end by Joshua Duerksen, holding off his AIX Racing
rival across the line to claim victory of the Yas Marina Sprint Race.
The Campos Racing driver led from start to finish, giving him a third win of the season, with
Duerksen ending up second. Nikola Tsolov made it two cars on the podium for the Spanish outfit,
achieving his first Formula 2 podium in third.
AS IT HAPPENED
Lindblad and Duerksen were even at the start, as the Campos driver kept the lead heading into
Turn 1. Having started third, Victor Martins was down to P5 at the start, before Dino Beganovic
demoted him to P6 later in the lap.
The top two were pulling away on Lap 2, as Duerksen set the fastest lap, closing to within half a
second of Lindblad.
Beganovic was showing good pace as he had Oliver Goethe in his sights, and was six-tenths
behind at the start of Lap 5.
Further down the field, Sebastián Montoya, having had a slow start from sixth, was now in P17,
and made a nice move on the brakes into the Turn 6 chicane on Luke Browning for P16.
Tsolov, in third, was pulling away from the Goethe and Beganovic battle, while also closing the
gap on Duerksen to 3.9s on Lap 8.
However, the Bulgarian’s progress was halted briefly when the Virtual Safety Car was
deployed, with John Bennett having stopped on track at Turn 5.
The VSC ended on Lap 9, and Duerksen was pushing hard to get ahead of Lindblad. However,
he ran too deep at Turn 12 and off the track, dropping out of DRS range to the race leader.
As the 23-lap race hit the halfway point, the majority of the field settled into management mode,
looking to make sure their Medium tyres lasted until the end. However, Martins in P6, was being
closely followed by Alexander Dunne, Gabriele Minì and Jak Crawford.
Dunne looked to go around the outside of the ART Grand Prix driver at Turn 9 on
Lap 13, but quickly found the door shut by Martins.
Crawford and Minì then went wheel-to-wheel at the Turn 6 chicane on the next lap, with the
DAMS Lucas Oil driver completing a nice move to take eighth place.
Goethe was doing a good job of holding on to fourth place from Beganovic, and the Hitech TGR
driver looked to brave it around the outside at Turn 9 on Lap 16, but again found no way
through.
The Swedish driver looked to make the same move at the same corner on the next lap, and on
this occasion was able to take fourth from his MP Motorsport rival.
Further back, Crawford’s charge continued, as he got past Dunne for seventh at Turn 6.
Lap 19 started with Duerksen having closed to within 1.6s of Lindblad out in front, as he looked
to make a late charge for the win. Minì was struggling, and was coming under pressure from
Roman Stanek and Leonardo Fornaroli.
Crawford was right on the back of Martins on Lap 20, and once again the American was looking
to make a move at Turn 6. However, the pair made contact, leaving the DAMS car with front
wing damage, although he was able to take P6 heading into Turn 9.
The VSC was deployed on the next lap so the end plate could be retrieved from the track, and
once the action resumed, Duerksen’s pursuit of Lindblad continued, with the AIX driver 1.1s
behind heading on to Lap 22.
Onto the final lap, the lead out in front was 0.9s, but even with the DRS advantage,
Duerksen could not make a move, giving Lindblad his third win of the season ahead of
the Paraguayan.
Tsolov took his maiden F2 podium in third, with Beganovic fourth ahead of Goethe. Crawford
finished in P6, ahead of Martins, as Dunne rounded out the points in eighth.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Leonardo Fornaroli has already sealed the Drivers’ Championship and stays on 211 points out in
front, while Jak Crawford moves to second on 173 points, three clear of Richard Verschoor in
third. Luke Browning is still fourth on 162 points as Alexander Dunne rounds out the top
five 150.
Invicta Racing are on 297 points and can win the Teams’ Title on Sunday, but will be challenged
by Hitech TGR, on 266 points, and Campos Racing, on 255 points. DAMS Lucas Oil are fourth on
199 points, while MP Motorsport round out the top five on 197.
UP NEXT
Formula 2 will go racing for the final time in 2025, with the Yas Marina Feature Race set to take
place at 13:15 local time on Sunda
Fernando Alonso on our new Team Principal, the 2026 reset, and fighting until the very end in Abu Dhabi.
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marks not only the final race weekend of the year but also a moment of reflection and looking forward for Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin Aramco.
Undeniably, it has been a challenging campaign, but it’s also been one of relentless work and progress as we continue to grow and build for the future – for F1’s new era.
As the season reaches its final act, and the current generation of F1 cars are prepared for battle one last time, Fernando gives his take on this year and on what’s to come.
Fernando, the sun is about to set on the 2025 campaign. How do you reflect on 2025?
“It has been a testing year. On a personal level, I’ve tried to perform at my best every weekend and to extract everything from the car. There were moments of strong pace, and we had weekends where things felt more promising, but overall the competitiveness this year wasn’t where we wanted it to be.
“As a team, we’ve had to deal with challenges – sometimes related to reliability, sometimes performance – and for a project with big ambitions like ours, that’s been hard. But I also believe this year has been important: we’ve learned where things need to improve, and also a great deal around optimising all the fantastic resources we have at our disposal – all of this can only be a good thing.
“Success in F1 is not easy to achieve, there are ups and downs along the way. And sometimes the difficult seasons are the ones that lay the foundations for future success.”
Managing Technical Partner Adrian Newey will take on the additional role of Team Principal. What was your immediate reaction when you first found out?
“It’s extremely motivating for the whole team. Knowing that Adrian is shaping the 2026 project from the ground up gives everyone belief. He’s already introduced new ideas, new approaches, and a way of thinking that pushes us to be more ambitious.
“Even before becoming Team Principal, Adrian has already had a big impact. He’s been working closely with the engineers on the 2026 car, and he’s influenced not only the technical direction but also the way we’re developing as a team.”
It’s the final race of the current regulations before the swathe of changes for 2026. What is your view on the sport’s upcoming new era?
“I think we have the ambition and resources to make real progress next year. We know we have work to do, but a new rulebook is exactly the kind of environment where you can make take steps forward.
“I’ve been through many regulation changes in my career, and these are among the most significant I’ve seen. It’s a challenge, no doubt, but challenges are what keep you sharp.
“We’re unveiling AMR26 to the world on 9 February, and I can’t wait for everyone to see what we’ve been working on.”
2026 also marks 25 years since your F1 debut. Does that mean much to you?
“25 years since my debut – that’s crazy to think about. Obviously wins and results mean most to me but it’s still a nice milestone to reach.
“My motivation feels as strong as ever. Maybe even stronger, because of the opportunity that the new regulations can provide.
“And I’m pushed on by the belief that I can still fight for big results. We have a short winter break before another long season next year so I’ll be taking some time to rest and recover, but I know after that I’ll be excited to go racing again in F1’s new era, and I’ll be ready to give it my all.”
Our fans have been with us throughout our journey this season. How important has their support been?
“It means a huge amount, and we feel the love of our fans wherever we go; their support is incredible. I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported us this year, including our partners who have also been with us every step of the way.
“Whether we were fighting for points or dealing with difficult weekends, the support kept coming and we felt all of it. It really does keep you pushing throughout a long 24-race season.
“2026 is a new start, and we’re working relentlessly to give our fans something to cheer. We will fight, we will push, and we’re more determined than ever to repay their faith next year.
“But first, the last Grand Prix of 2025. We arrive in Abu Dhabi carrying momentum from our positive result in Qatar, so let’s try to repeat that this weekend.”
