Teams’ points after 12 races: comparison with last year 👀

2024
🥇🔵RBR 373
🥈🔴Ferrari 302
🥉🟠McL 295
4️⃣⚫️Mercedes 221

2025
🥇🟠McL 460 (+165✅)
🥈🔴Ferrari 222 (-80❌)
🥉⚫️Mercedes 210 (-11✖️)
4️⃣🔵RBR 172 (-201❌❌)

- RBR went from 1st to 4th in WCC. They lost over half of their points!
- McL gained 165 points in just 12 races;
- Clear decline for Ferrari;
- Almost no change for Mercedes;
- Overall, the top 4 teams lost points (who went to midfielders).

McL has more points than Ferrari and Mercedes COMBINED! 🤯

Finally: the telemetry of the near-miss that led to PIA's penalty! (Lap 21) 👀

🟠 PIA braked very intensely: around 2g sustained braking. Specifically, the low-speed braking was extreme: he reached ~2.4g at around 126km/h (low speed ➡️little downforce) and in the wet, which is close to the maximum braking effort the car can sustain under those conditions (and possibly he exceeded the grip limits briefly). He braked almost as strong as he could.

🔵 VER had to brake intensely to avoid him, and did so for longer (he nearly stopped: 32km/h).

PIA also did something similar (208km/h to 50km/h in 160m) 4 laps before, when VER was farther back. In my opinion, what he did on both laps was dangerous (very intense braking with little visibility), but the danger only showed up on Lap 21 as VER was closer.

What do you think? Was the penalty fair or too harsh?

🤔

Made via @JMP_software

2025 QUALI PERFORMANCE (Gap to fastest lap)

[Each quali is a dot ⚪️]

In Silverstone (Purple dot 🟣):
- 🟦 RBR got pole;
- 🟩 Aston (ALO) and ⬜️Haas (BEA) were closer to the fastest lap than in any other quali session (but BEA had a 10-place drop);
- 🟧 McL had their 2nd worst session (yet still 2-3 and 0.1s off pole)!
- 🟥 Ferrari had their 2nd-best showing.

TEAMS QUALI TIER LIST
(Based on average quali gap)

S-Tier: McL (almost always on pole, and when they don't, it's by a tiny margin)

B-Tier: Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari (Can fight for poles, but only if everything goes their way). Average quali gap: TENFOLD McL's!

D-Tier: Williams, RBs, Alpine, Aston. Can fight with the previous 3 on occasion, but not for pole. Very track-dependent order

E-Tier: Haas, Sauber. Often fight with the previous 4, but are the slowest on average

Aston and Sauber have improved massively (recent performance is 'top of midfield')

Made via @JMP_software

I've correlated each F1 team's average quali gap with their WCC points - and some results were surprising! 👀

🔵 RBR (VER) was the 2nd best car in quali on average. Yet, they are just 4th in the WCC due to the 'lack' of a second driver.

🟢 Sauber and 🟣 Alpine are opposites: Sauber was slowest in quali on average, yet it is 6th in the WCC (Spain-package working, good race pace, maximising chances). Alpine, instead, was 6th quickest in quali, but it's dead last in the WCC! (Need to improve race pace and capitalise more).

🔴 Ferrari has more points than Mercedes despite being slower in quali.

Try to predict the final WCC standings, and check out my page (@FDataAnalysis) for more content like this!

Made via @JMP_software

In 2025, McLaren and Ferrari both updated their front suspensions, but Ferrari radically changed their layout from Push-Rod to Pull-Rod: McL went from quickest to dominating, while Ferrari lost most of its pace after fighting for the 2024 F1 WCC.

More info in this thread 👇

Kinematically, push/pull-rod are equivalent: the wheel can displace in the same way with both configurations (meaning that, as the car goes over a bump or the tyre load changes due to load transfer, the wheel changes its camber, toe, etc., in the same way)

But here's the catch:
- Constrains (aero, clearance, mechanical stress) might prevent designing a pull-rod that behaves like the previous push-rod;
- Compliance (carbon fiber is very stiff, but it still deforms!) can change that further;
- The impact on airflow is significant, and sometimes unpredictable.

Changing the upper-wishbone angle, like both teams did, has mostly predictable mechanical effects (e.g. on the anti-dive and local stresses) and a more complex impact on the airflow.

Changing the suspension layout (Push➡️Pull-rod) has a much greater (and unpredictable!) effect!

When the car was revealed, I lauded Ferrari's audacity in changing such a crucial design aspect in the last year of regulations, despite getting close to the noscript in the previous year.

The gamble hasn't paid off, though...

Check out my profile for other technical discussions!
🛠🏎

BELGIAN GP - WING THURSDAY!

🟦 Red Bull is using the same low-load wing used in Silverstone (which got VER on pole, then ruined his wet race), despite the 75% rain probability at the race start in Spa. 🤔

Spa, however, features fewer medium/high speed corners (mostly S2) and more time spent full throttle than Silverstone: the balance favours low drag rather than high downforce 👌


⬛️ Mercedes: low load as well
🟧 McL /🟥 Ferrari: higher

🟩 Sauber shifted its load from the lower to the DRS plane: their DRS effectiveness should be very high!

⬜️ Minimal drag for Haas: let's see if they have enough downforce to run that wing!


📸 @AlbertFabrega

BELGIAN GP - PRACTICE 1 ANALYSIS

BEST SECTORS 📊

Sector 1: 🟦 VER (Highest top speed: 345km/h!);
Sector 2: 🟧 PIA (Excellent downforce);
Sector 3: 🟩 ANT (Excellent sector time on Mediums!).

Both Mercedes and Racing Bulls on Mediums.
TSU and BEA too.

NOR had a TEN km/h top speed deficit to VER: he was nowhere in S1 and S3 (which require low drag), but his (and PIA's) pace in the twisty S2 was impressive.

TOP SPEEDS

10km/h between VER and NOR!

All the analyses 🔥👇

https://buymeacoffee.com/f1dataanalysis/belgian-gp-analyses-repository-3872440

BELGIAN GP - SPRINT QUALI | VER vs PIA Telemetry:

🟦 VER: less drag (+3km/h top speed, gained on all straights); despite that, he was quicker in the Pouhon corner! (295 vs 292km/h, lifting less).

🟧 PIA was quicker T7 to T9, but most of his massive gap was made T12 to T15: RBR looks like a midfield car!

Additional analyses coming soon! 🔥

It finally happened: the W11, the fastest #F1 car ever designed, was beaten! 🤯

PIA beat its laptime by 0.742s! ✅

⬛️W11 (2020): quicker mostly in the medium-speed corners and changes of direction (54kg lighter).

🟧MCL38: unmatched aero efficiency thanks to ground effect! Way less drag with DRS open (+12km/h top speed) and more peak downforce (was as quick in Pouhon: the additional downforce compensated for the added mass)!

This is the first time this happened, and Spa was the ideal track for that (fast layout ➡️Ground effect cars' high efficiency shines; it was also resurfaced in 2024).

Which record will fall next? 👀

Made via @JMP_software

This means that PIA was also over 1.2s quicker than the monstrous, non-WEC legal Porsche 919 Evo, which reached 359km/h over the Kemmel straight!

BELGIAN GP - SPRINT

SPRINT PACE:
Tier 1 (Win-worthy)
🟧NOR/🟦VER/🟧PIA

Tier 2 (Best of the rest)
🟥LEC +0.46s

Tier 3 (Top of the midfield)
⬜️OCO/🟦SAI +0.82/0.85s

HAM reached 358km/h during the Sprint, thanks to DRS and a very strong tow! Expect some crazy top speeds from tomorrow's race. 😎

BELGIAN GP

1) RACE PACE (on slicks)
1) 🟧 NOR (Quickest on average, also thanks to Hards);
2) 🟧 PIA +0.33s/lap;
3) 🟥 LEC +0.45s/lap;
4) 🟦 VER +0.47s/lap;
5) 🟩 RUS +0.88s/lap.

2) TOP SPEEDS (Bottom part of image):
ANT reached 356km/h!
LewisHamilton, however, reached 358km/h in the Sprint.

VER's high-load setup made him the slowest in the speed traps (but the McL drivers, who didn't use DRS either, were barely faster).