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As I sit here writing this article, I see that there's been so much that has happened in the F1 world since the last race. So, mind me if this article is all over the place… but it'll have to do.
First, off congratulations to Ollie Bearman, he had a fantastic overall race for an 18-year-old, and he scored points in his debut race. I believe he's the third youngest driver ever in Formula 1 history. Now, playing devil's advocate, you can clearly see the inexperience and lack of understanding of the car and the pace at which it is at the next level. He didn't make it out of Q2 (which is a lap pace and shows how far you can actually push the car), and his pace was drastically slower than Charles Leclerc's during race day. With all that being said…. It's expected from an 18-year-old driver. I think Ollie is exceptionally talented, but he's not the next generational prospect like Max Verstappen or Kimi Antonelli. But a big shoutout to him, and I think this will prompt him for a Haas seat next year.
We won't talk much about Mercedes, Aston or McLaren. They are going to have a battle all year long until someone rises to the cream of the midpack. I'd put my money on Mercedes because they have always proven they know how to develop a car over a year. Although they haven't proven they can develop a car from scratch during the offseason, lol.
It should be interesting to see what happens in the Red Bull camp. The Christian Horner mess itself deserves its own blog. But it's been interesting to see how Red Bull has two different management/ownership, 51% being the Thai side and 49% being the Dutch side. That has played a role, in my opinion, in why we haven't been able to put to bed the Christian Horner saga. Now, it's been reported that Thai ownership didn't think too much of Western activism, and it ended up playing a big role in the way we are today. Now, when you put everything in perspective if Max Verstappen leaves, that adds a domino effect of Adrian Newey, Marco Helmut and high-level Red Bull personnel that could spiral Red Bull into a very dark age. There is no one person that's bigger than the team, which Christian Horner said… and yes, that is true. But Max Verstappen is the best driver in the world… so you take that with whatever grain of salt you need to lol. I can't understand why Red Bull would even be open to losing Max Verstappen / would let him out of his contract (which has been reported). Who knows what Red Bull does and if Christian Horner lives to fight another day in a Red Bull uniform? But the team is oozing drama, and I'd like to see us just get back to racing (although they aren't racing anything and just dominating)
General consensus at Tidal League is that It was a snooze fest… my general thoughts… it was a fun race at Jeddah as always. I think people need to always look at the track and give its due credit. We've heard it multiple times since the track opened up in 2021 but it might be the most physically demanding track on the circuit. That in itself is a joy to watch these drivers push the limit at high speeds on one of the more difficult tracks.
Ferrari seems to be just waiting and watching Red Bull's drama unfold to make some big moves. Obviously, bringing over Lewis Hamilton in 2025 would be the first domino. With reports of Ferrari going after Red Bull's Head of Aerodynamics, Aero trackside performance team lead, head of performance engineering and more, they could be poised for a dominant new era in 2026. I haven't even mentioned the fact that it's been mentioned that Ferrari will give Adrian Newey a "blank cheque" to come over to the Scuderia… He's the damn godfather of Formula 1 development… some people could argue James Allison because of the masterpiece of the W12 he created back in 2020. Regardless, Ferrari has the best driver line, hands down, in 2025 unless somehow Max and Lando Norris team up. With the best driver pairing and potentially bringing over some of the biggest names on the technical side, they are potentially poised for a takeover on the grid in 2026
We'll see you guys when we get to the land down under!
