Category: F1

2025 Belgian Grand Prix recap and outlook

2025 Belgian Grand Prix

By: Jake Rajala

The 2026 Grand Prix in Belgium was completed in 2025. The track is called, “Spa-Francorchamps”. If you love nature, then this track may be appealing.

The winner of that Grand Prix 2025 was none other than Oscar Piastri. The second place driver Lando Norris, the third place was Charles Leclerc, fourth place was Max Verstappen, and fifth place was George Russell.

The country of Belgium takes its racing serious. F1 has hosted F1 Grand Prix for the past 76 years. The future is bright for the Belgian GP. They have a contract that puts it through 2031 under a “rotational” schedule system.

There aren’t any F1 drivers currently from Belgium. However, there has been 24 F1 drivers from Belgium all time.

Jacky Ickx and Thierry Boutsen are widely seen to be the best F1 drivers from Belgium. After all, they are the only drivers from Belgium to win Grand Prix races.

The track is quite safe, despite being around for a very long time. Nobody has ever died on the ancient track. A Formula 2 driver did die in a multi-car accident on the track.

Looking ahead to the 2026 Belgian GP, we’v already have two practice sessions and we are bound to have another one tomorrow. The results are promising for a few drivers.

Max Verstappen won F1, but that didn’t quite stick. He took third in the F2 session today. Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris took the first two spots. Verstappen really needs to win this race, as he sits at seventh in the standings. Meanwhile, AK is in first place.

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Will Max Verstappen stay with Red Bull?

Will Verstappen stay with Red Bull?

By: Jake Rajala

All good things must come to an end. Max Verstappen has been on the top with Red Bull racing. Well, he has been rumored to link up with McLaren. Right now, he is laser-focused on winning the Belgian Grand Prix. After all, he is seventh place on the season.

One of Max’s reflections was, “People come and go – I think that’s sometimes also part of the process. Sometimes you want people to stay, potentially, yes, but I think that’s just how life is, how sport is as well. You just have to carry on, try to find new talents. That’s what you look at all the time and that’s what we do.”

Max is under contract until the end 2028, but that doesn’t mean he can’t leave his deal in 2027.

An interesting situation recently unfolded. A surprise agreement came with McLaren, creating a support with a 15 year driver from Belgian, by the name of Dries Van Langendonck.

So, if Max leaves Red Bull, the obvious question is: who could replace Max at Red Bull?

Carlo Sainz Jr. would be a bold pick. He left Ferrari and joined High Hopes. Of course, Carlo Sainz Jr is the son of Carlo Sainz.

Another big time option to replace Max is none other than Oliver Bearman. He is 21 years old and he comes from Britain.

A somewhat under the radar move could be Oscar Piastri going from McLaren. He is only 25 years old.

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Nikola Tsolov is climbing the ladder

Watch out for Nikola Tsolov

By: Jake Rajala

One of the most popular names in the world is Nikola. There is “Nikola” Tesla, who brought electricity to the world. Of course there is also a popular name is racing: Nikola Tsolov. We will be discussing the second one.

Nikola is a 19 year old from Bulgaria. He is on the Red Bull Junior team. He competes in the Formula 2 Championship. As noted by Planet F1, he had the Silverstone clean sweep, winning the sprint and feature race, and having three consecutive wins, a F2 first!

It’s not easy to make a transition from Max Verstappen, regardless of the new talent. Max was a legend.

It’s been noted that “It’s a good problem to have’ with more than one talented driver. The legend David Coulthard said, “Listen to that name, Nikola Tsolov, he drives very well, is a great personality out of the girl, so looking forward to him in F1.

His ability is undeniable. Campbos racing boss said the following about Max, “We ae giving him a good car, but he’s the one making the difference. He does everything so easily, and that is surprising everyone.”

So, if Nikola goes to Red Bull, what is to come out of Max? Well, it appears he could go to McLaren in the short term. Meanwhile, Dutchman should stay with Red Bull.

What else is intriguing about this mysterious driver? He raced in the Alpine academy until the late 2024.

Nikola stands at 5’11. Height isn’t overly important in F1. After all, Lewis Hamilton is 5’8!

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Winners and losers from the Austrian Grand Prix

Winners and Losers from Austria

By: Jake Rajala

It was another beautiful, intense Formula 1 race in Austria. It was in the Red Bull Ring. With that simply, said I’m going to lay out some winners and losers from the GP.

Winner: Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen was fifth in qualifying, but that didn’t stop him. He took second in the race. He sits at seventh in the standings. If he can finish strong and crack a spot in the Top-5, I believe that’s impressive. Max passed Kimi early on in the race and kept his distance.

Loser: Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton was a stud early on in the race. After all, he is third in the season. Hamilton and Max were passed by Verstappen early on and he never recovered. He ended in fifth place. It was disappointing for Ferrari, as the other F1 driver for Ferrari was Leclerc (who came in eighth).

Winner: Mercedes

Mercedes had quite the day. George Russell came in first and A.K. Antonelli was third place. If AK is going to lose, (which isn’t common), than it better darn be to his friend Russell. The top two drivers on the season are Russell and Antonelli.

Loser: Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc needed to cut some distance today and be above Norris in the standings. After all, they both sit with 79 points. Leclerc had four points today while Norris had six points today.

Winner: Austria

We asked for a tight, intense race in Austria. We were given it. More fans are going to flock to the race next season. We need more prolific racers from Austria. We were given Niki Lauda, but that’s not enough.

Loser: P. Gasly

I would have enjoyed to see P. Gasly get on the scoreboard. He had 41 points on the season. He is right behind I. Hadjar, who sits with 42 points. To make matters worse, the other Alpine driver (F. Colapinto) merely has 16 points.

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2026 Austrian Grand Prix FP1 and FP2 results

Austrian Grand Prix practice results

By: Jake Rajala

The Austrian Grand Prix is right around the corner. As a fellow American in the Eastern Time Zone, I need to wake up for 9 am to watch it live.

With that said, we already witnessed four FP1 and FP2 results.

Some of these results shouldn’t come as a surprise.

From Practice 1, we have the following list:

1. Kimi

2. George

3. Oscar,

4. Max

5. Lewis

There was a lot of chaos from the first practice. The Mercedes drivers traded the fastest laps. George Russell had a 1 m 08.898 and then Kimi recorded a 08.448s. Russell is hoping he can have a Top-5 finish like he did last year (where he came in fourth).

The fastest lap last season at the Austrian GP was 1:07.924.

Verstappen chose to switch to soft tyres and that paid off. The Mercedes duo then changed to the soft tyre.

Practice 2 was a another animal. Here is the following list of racers from it:

1. Kimi

2. Oscar

3. Lando

4. Max

5. Lewis

Obviously, George didn’t repeat success and he left his Mercedes partner hanging. Oscar was the winner of the day, as he went from third in practice 1 to second in practice 2.

Max Verstappen was a pillar of consistency. He wasn’t able to move up the chart, however.

Cadillac had a day to forget, to be fair. Bottas reported smoke in the cockpit and limped back to the pits. The smoke was put out, but it didn’t spell a comeback for the team.

Kimi was the driver that drove 1 m and 07 seconds, which really separated him from the other drivers.

Due to the mediocrity from Verstappen, I’d love to see Lewis Hamilton take advantage and surpass the Red Bull driver.

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Haas Laura Muller is an inspiration to many

Laura Mueller has defied obstacles

By: Jake Rajala

Today is international “Women in Engineering Day”. I believe it’s worth reflecting on a special female in F1 by the name of Laura Mueller. She is the first full-time race engineer in the history of Formula 1! The 35 year old has been there for 18 months. Of course, she is the engineer for Esteban Ocon at Haas.

The Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said on the F1 website, “She’s a pretty determined character. He elaborated and said, “And then she’s very hard working.”

She has recognized that other females have shined in men sports, even in racing. She said Leena Gade was someone that she looked up to. She was the first female race engineer to win at the 24 hours of Le Mans with Audi in 2011. She said, “I’ve only met her in passing once – I don’t actually know much about her, but at the same time I was like, “That’s really cool, that’s a woman in a very important role.”

I’m not saying that Laura is “Amelia Earnhardt”, but she is an inspiration for many people. She is inspiring from an engineer perspective and an athletic perspective.

Her fame has been captured in unique ways. Laura and Hannah Schmitz became the first women to have the corner named after them at the Australian Grand Prix. Hannah is the head of race strategy for the Formula 1 Red Bull team. She is 41 years old and she came the University of Cambridge.

So, what else should we note about Laura? Well, she went to Technical University of Munich. Rudolf Diesel, who invented the diesel engine, went there.

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Madrid’s La Monumental corner is around the corner

Madrid’s La Monumental is on the horizon

By: Jake Rajala

The Spanish Grand Prix has a rich, deadly corner. It’s called, “La Monumental”, which is turn 12. It’s even more deadly than the corner in the Pixar film, “Cars”. It has in fact been 45 years since the last GP hosted by the capital of Spain. They will want to make some twists and attract a bigger audience, whether it’s in person or behind the screens.

The design goes up 10 meters high and it takes six seconds to turn. It’s safe for the audience. The drivers on the other hand? Not as much.

We never want to see someone die. Hence, the need for halos. However, we love the thrill someone cheating death. We always want to see craziest tracks that can make this happen. If the Madrid can set the standard with this corner, then we should see other tracks one-up this track.

Carlo Sainz is obviously a Spanish driver. He said the following about the corner, “I need a simulator to give you exact details of how it will feel, but I can already tell, it looks impressive, because we’re going to be entering that corner at a very high speed.”

So, what about the rest of the track? Well, there is a 140,000 spectator capacity and it’s minutes away from the international Barajas airport and 20 minutes from the city center.

This epic GP will start on September 11-13. The last winner of the Spanish GP was Lewis Hamilton in 2016. In other words, it’s bloody time for a GP to be shown in La Roja, also known as Spain.

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Who is “Italian Bono” Carlo Santi?

Who is “Italian Bono”?

By: Jake Rajala

Lewis Hamilton may be one of the very best sports figures to walk the earth. Well, let it be known that he doesn’t do everything for his team. He has a crew that does the “dirty work”. In particular, he has an “intern” by the name of “Carlo Santi”, who is the lead engineer for Ferrari. There should be a statue of him in Hamilton’s lawn, as he’s half the reason Hamilton won his first race with Ferrari. This comes after Hamilton replaced Ricciardo Adami with Santi.

It’s been widely shown that his first win with Ferrari was his first win since 2024! He has 106 F1 victories.

Hamilton has emphasized the importance between engineer and driver. Per F1, Hamilton said, “The driver-engineer working together is very, very important. I think last year, Adami and I had a really good relationship. He’s a lovely guy. We worked relatively well together.

Hamilton also said, “I chose a different set-up this weekend, just ciphering through the data, working really well with my engineer, he’s absolutely awesome, and I really love working with him”.

The 2025 season featured Hamilton struggling when the driver-engineer goes wrong. Hamilton and Riccardo Adami struggled with communication. He said he “felt like he was along for the ride”.

He also suggested to the team that “they should have a tea break, while they are at it”. It feels like Aaron Rodgers getting upset with Mike McCarthy when they were both on the Green Bay Packers.

We’ve seen sports figures change agents when they don’t get the contract offer they want. We also see them find a new training program if they want to upgrade their body in new ways. This is similar to F1 drivers changing their lead engineer.

Hamilton noted that a change after another short while would be detrimental to the team’s chances. In other words, they are going to work with what they’ve got.

So, what personal details should we know about this rising genius?

Well, he is 52 years old. So, he’s 11 years older than Hamilton. He was also born in Verona, which has a population of 255,000 people.

He studied mechanical engineering, specialising in vehicle engineering and dynamics, at Polytechnic University of Milan. In 2016, he became the performance engineer for Kimi Raikkonen. He got a taste of the Ferrari life when he had a leadership role with the “remote garage”.

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