Did you catch the 2025 Formula 1 season opener? While I could not be at the Albert Park circuit in Australia, I did watch the mayhem unfold on TV.
The weather for practice and qualifying was decent on the days leading up to the race, but rain was predicted for race day. races had been run prior to the Formula 1 race, laying down rubber on the track. The rain on top of that rubber made the surface extremely slick. One team member likened the surface to being covered with wet, slippery soap. Driving on the painted white lines was even more slippery.
The racecars were new for 2025 and Formula 1 regulations barely permit any testing, so no one knew exactly what to expect. Even the great Lewis Hamilton, the multiple Formula 1 World Champion now driving for Ferrari, had never driven his new-for-2025 racecar in the rain.
Add to that an unfamiliar circuit for some of the drivers. The rain made this already challenging situation much more difficult. What happened to most of the rookies, therefore, was almost certainly predictable and inevitable.
Six rookies were on the grid for the start of the race, and one did not even make it to the start of the first lap. Even the most experienced Formula 1 drivers struggled to keep their new racecars off of the walls.
After years of preparation, working his way up through the junior classes, rookie Formula 1driver Isack Hadjar was on the verge of fulfilling his life-long dream — to race in Formula 1. He was on the Formation Lap, following behind other cars, as they drove at reduced speed around the racetrack. All that Isack needed to do was continue to follow along and then stop his racecar in his place on the starting grid — but he did not get that far.
On the Formation Lap, racers try to put some heat in their tires to improve their grip. They dothis by turning the steering wheel back and forth as they drive, and perhaps spinning the rear tires a little, just prior to the start of the race. No doubt that is precisely what Isack’s racing experience had taught him to do — use the warm-up lap to try to put some heat into his tires, to get them closer to their optimum level of grip.
However, a Formula 1 car is unlike anything he had ever raced before. It is much more powerful than the Formula cars in the junior classes, and the racetrack was slick because of the rain. He broke traction and lost control. His racecar spun and slid hard into the wall, leaving it a mangled wreck. His race was over before it began.
Concerned and anxious, his team called out to him on the radio, but Isack was too distraught to answer. Instead, sullenly he emerged from his stricken racecar and, with his helmet still on, broke down in tears, uncontrollably weeping next to a track worker. Later, as he walked back to the pits, Lewis Hamilton’s father came over with some encouraging words.
Other rookies faced a similar fate, but thankfully after the race began. One after another, they too found a wall that ended their day.
Even the highly experienced Carlos Sainz similarly, and suddenly, lost traction and was forced to retire as a result of his racecar hitting a wall. Once the racecars broke loose and started to spin, their drivers were just along for the ride.
Fortunately, some drivers were more lucky, spinning harmlessly on the racetrack or on the wet grass.
In retrospect, the race could have been postponed, but with another F1 race in China the following week, that was probably not a realistic alternative. So, instead, the rookies were letloose on the track to face the inevitable. It was a very expensive day, but at least no one got hurt.
For more information about this race and the rest of the 2025 season, visit https://www.formula1.com.
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Copyright © 2025 by Jan Wagner – AutoMatters & More #875
