🏁 Red Bull's Shake Up

PLP Season 3 Edition 5

Race Weekend

We’re back this week to kick off a triple header. A triple decker if you will. The ‘ol Bahrain sandwich. What would go on a Bahrain sandwich? Probably shawarma right. Yum. After the first late night bread (Japan) we’ll get some better start times for the rotisserie meat + the second bread (Bahrain + Jeddah). Ok enough of that half-baked analogy.

Following up on last week’s announcement of moving to releasing PLP before race weekends only - I’ve adjusted the format of the Driver and Constructor sections below in the interest of bringing only the most important updates. As much F1 content as there is out there, it’s actually hard to find something interesting and worth reporting on every single driver and team each week (looking at you, Lance Stroll. You mysterious man you. But he’s not the only one). So let me know what you think of the change - this week’s question will have more details.

Times for this weekend in EDT:

• FP1: Thursday, April 3rd @ 10:30pm

• FP2: Friday, April 4th @ 2:00am

• FP3: Friday, April 4th @ 10:30pm

• Quali: Saturday, April 5th @ 2:00am

• Grand Prix: Sunday, April 6th @ 1:00am

Quick Question!

Red Bull’s Musical Chairs

The music has unfortunately stopped on Liam, just two races and one sprint into his short Red Bull career. The rookie had struggled in quali, going 3 for 3 on Q1 exits. He had shown some promise in race trim however - he was one of the many victims of a rain soaked opener after 46 decent laps, and finished P14 in the Sprint and P12 in the GP in China. But ultimately his gap to his teammate was too much to overcome, perhaps combined with the fact that the Racing Bulls have looked quick thus far. Whose car is maybe… better? Crazy right?

Liam posted some shots of his younger self on Instagram, posing with pictures he drew of his future self becoming a racing driver with the caption: “Being a Red Bull Racing driver has been my dream since I was a kid, it’s what I’ve worked towards my whole life. It’s tough, but I'm grateful for everything that’s brought me to this point.”

In steps Yuki who will finally get his shot on the varsity squad, debuting at his home race no less. And he’s setting high expectations for himself: “My priority is to first understand the car, how it behaves compared to the VCARB. If I can naturally enjoy driving it as I get familiar with it in FP1, then the results will follow. And if that leads to a podium finish, that would be incredible." Go get ‘em Yuki.

We knew the energy drinkers were a bit ruthless when it came to seat swaps, but this is a new level. Two races isn’t enough time for anyone to figure out a car, especially a notoriously tricky one to drive for people not named Max. Especially when the RB21 is no rocket ship like past years. Especially for a rookie! Just brutal.

Race Recap: China

Sprint

Podium: 🥇 HAM - 🥈 PIA - 🥉 VER

Hamilton got his first big moment in red as he eeked out pole over Verstappen and securing his first ever Sprint victory after covering him off on turn 1 and putting in a mistake free, fast drive to maintain the lead through the 19 laps. With the McLarens thought to be favorites, Norris showed shades of his 2024 self after a mistake in quali and dropped down the order on the opening lap after dipping a wheel in the grass. While you can’t be too disappointed with P2 which involved a Max overtake on lap 15, some expected Oscar would be able to make progress towards the lead more quickly. Max pressured Lewis himself a bit in the middle of the race, but fell off his tail just as quickly as his tires lost their oomf (technical term).

Leclerc pushed Russell hard on the last lap but couldn’t get a move done. Yuki and Yuki put in solid drives to finish P6 and P7, while Norris was finally able to get past Stroll to secure the last point in P8. Gasly was an overtaking machine, pulling off five passes. A moral victory since there’s no points for P12, but hey sometimes you need that confidence boost.

Grand Prix

Podium: 🥇 PIA - 🥈 NOR - 🥉 RUS

DNF: ALO

DSQ: GAS - HAM - LEC …….. Pain.

Fastest Lap: NOR

DoTD: ANT - P6 after the DSQ’s ain’t to shabby, but a bit of an odd choice. When Toto told him on his cool down lap, Kimi said: “Me?… That’s weird.” Toto replied: “I think it’s your looks, and your target group.” Gen Z showing the love.

Whatever problems McLaren had in the Sprint, they were tweaked away by team engineers and strong driver performances, securing a 1-2 finish that was only slightly in doubt in the final laps of the race - only due to a failing Norris brake pedal that saw him ease the car into P2 ahead of a gaining Russell. Oscar shook of his home race disappointment, never quite getting too much pressure from his teammate and maintaining control throughout. Russell continued to show he’s a formidable foe this year, battling early with the McLaren’s and with some good pit exit fights, taking the final podium spot.

Both Ferraris had a good start, jumping ahead of Verstappen early. Max would get his revenge late in the race, retaking P4 on track. Despite some front wing damage, Leclerc was faster than his teammate and the beneficiary of a Lewis-called driver swap, which gave him the chance to push on George in front. Crossing the line P5 and P6 was short-lived though as Lewis was served with a DSQ for excessive skid plank wear, and Charles one for failing to meet the minimum weight (Gasly met the same fate). Mama Mia.

What was thought to be a two stopper early saw most teams opting for only 1 stop as the hard tires were running better than expected. Alonso’s nightmare start continued, this time via a brake fire on lap 4. Ocon put on brave wheel-on-the-grass move on Kimi early, on his way to a brilliant P5 finish. Kimi was solid again (becoming a trend - he’ll get a podium this year) while Albon (who even led briefly), Bearman, Stroll, and Sainz took P7-P10, all decent results for the midfielders.

Japanese GP Preview

This high speed track features quick snaking “Esses” from turns 3-7 (which inspired a similar section at COTA), the commitment-testing Degner curves of turns 8-9, 130R (turn 15, named for it’s metric radius, reminds me a bit of Vegas turn 17), and that neat little 180 at turn 11 are all highlights among what is routinely included in many driver’s short list of favorite tracks. It’s got the now famous crossover at turns 9 and 15, though there were three instances of track overlap in the original design. Need more track crossovers. No bridges even, maybe just a yield sign.

High downforce is crucial in the fast tight turns, but with only 1 DRS zone excessively draggy cars will be punished. The track is tough on tires, so expect multi-stop strategies. It’s also all gas, baby - drivers use the brakes for only about 10% of the lap, the lowest % of all tracks on the calendar. And once again, the chance of rain keeps increasing the closer we get to Sunday. I waited for a rain delay in Suzuka two years ago, only for it to start around 2:30 a.m. Still deciding if I’ll catch this year’s on time delay or stay up..

What to Watch For:

• Yuki’s Debut: Yuki’s had a decent start to the season, it will be very interesting to see how he performs in an unfamiliar car. It’s not often you see one driver in different cars in the same season. It should give us a good idea of the Red Bull vs VCARB differences.

• Liam’s Response: He’s not the first - Both Gasly and Albon were let go by Red Bull after struggles against Max and are now regarded as strong drivers. Look for Liam to start his revenge campaign and get some confidence back.

• Fight at the top: We’ve got a good teammate fight on our hands. While we all hope some more drivers get in the mix, the NOR vs PIA battle will be fun to watch regardless.

• Points Needed: The Hamilton high from the Sprint in China was quickly evaporated after the double DSQ. The Scuderia needs to bounce back in a big way.

• Carlos: It’s been a slow start for Sainz, while his Williams vet teammate has looked strong early. Expect him to take steps and start to challenge Alex for the team lead.

• These Absolute Beauties: Feast your eyes. This about to be the prettiest GP in a long time. Max’s helmet (HOTW front runner), the return of the “White Bull” (My goodness that is fresh. Way better than the normal livery), and Haas’ cherry blossom themed livery (Stunning. Love this one. Just need to swap the red for pink too. But ya know, sponsors and all that) 🔽 

Late night FP1 update: Whatever Yuki does this weekend at least he’ll look good doing it. That White Bull is CRISPY. Ya know I guessed that crispy might be slang for cool, then I looked it up, and it is! Neat!

Driver Drama

Quote of the Week

Because this needed it’s own section:

I like this kid.

Constructor’s Corner

Tech Talk

Off the Grid

We’ll be back next week to recap Yuki’s Red Bull Debut.

Did you know? This isn’t even the first time Yuki has taken Liam’s seat 🔽 

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