P1 with Matt and Tommy - Why 2025 could be the BEST F1 season ever

Episode Date: January 13, 2025

Welcome... to the FIRST P1 PODCAST OF THE YEAR!To get you excited about the new season, we've picked some of the standout things we can't wait for across the 2025 season. From title battles to rookies' roles and everything in between, it's shaping up to be a season to remember!Sign up to our Patreon here! You'll get access to extended versions of every Race Review podcast, every P1 episode ad-free, early access to live tickets and merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Happy new year. It's 2025 and we are ready to get ready for Formula One returning. Yes, it is still January. Yes, we have still got some time to go. But the excitement's building already. I'm not going to lie to you, Tommy, because we could genuinely have one of the best seasons ever.

have just come off the back of one of the best seasons ever. But there are so many stories, so many things to mention in this podcast that it's just got the blood flowing already. It's middle of January. We need to get a grip. I know. The ingredients are incredible. I think we did this video last year at the same time. And it was very much like, can we think of three things? whereas now it's almost like can we do less than 40 things because yeah there's just so much to look forward to and it's set up so beautifully isn't it from basically what happened last year so please come on just bring it on already absolutely i hope also by the way you're enjoying our new microphones our new audio quality i'm hoping it's sounding crisp in your ears

we continue to try and strive and improve here at p1 enterprises so anyway Let's get into it. We're going to talk about a lot of things, as mentioned, that both myself and Tommy are excited for, but also you wonderful fans as well. So let's get started with my one. I'm wearing a Ferrari shirt, no surprise. I am most excited for LeClaire versus Hamilton at Ferrari, obviously. Not just purely because of my fandom for LeClair and the fact that, you know, it is a new rivalry for LeClaire. But it's Louis. Hamilton. He's going to Ferrari. I think it's finally sunk in now, still waiting for those first pictures to arise of Hamilton in all red. But I'm just so fascinated to see how this will unfold. Just that Lewis going to a new team after so long, going to a team like Ferrari where the culture is very different, I imagine, to what it would be like at Mercedes and at McLaren as well. Lecler has embedded himself at that team.

How will Hamilton sort of pick himself up from quite a disappointing end at Mercedes? And it felt almost like it was not sour, but Hamilton was ready to go, wasn't he? Which is not something we ever thought would be the case at Mercedes. We always thought that Lewis would stay there forever. But he didn't. And he's gone to Ferrari for probably the last few seasons of his career to try and win a world title there. And I am just buzzing to see how these two battle on track. I think they're going to have brilliant battles personally.

Both of them are excellent wheel-to-wheel races. So Tommy, are you excited as I am? Of course I am. It's such an interesting dynamic having essentially Charlerclair that you feel like that team is built around him. You know, he went into that team as the young gun against Sebastian Vettel and has to be said, you know, became Charlotte Claire's team. and they signed him on a very long contract. He has Ferrari through and through. And it looked like it was Project LeCler forever.

And now they have signed a seven time world champion to partner him who's not going to want to be a number two driver. And I don't think will be a number two driver. It's just so perfectly set up. I can't wait. I think Hamilton will have a new lease of life as well. based on, you know, it's talk that he wasn't up to his best last year.

It was a disappointing season by his very high standards. But it's going to be so good because I think they'll be incredibly close and I think that we had a little taster. Was it Qatar, I think, where they went side by side and we saw maybe a little taster of the kind of wheel to wheel racing that we could get between them. It's going to be so, so good. Now, don't worry, we will be going into more depth and detail

and getting into predictions and who we think teammate rivalry-wise we think's going to come out on top in later podcasts. This is just a case of just the storylines, just the things that we really are so infused to see. So that was my one, Tommy. What are you bringing to the table? Let me get, does it Max Verstappen?

Can't wait for Max to win again? Well, it kind of, oh well, it depends how you see the season going, whether, you know, with Max Verstappen. but basically it's the championship battle and hopefully a championship battle because I don't think last year I saw as many

in the last X races this is what the order would be or you know just showcasing how close it was the final six is a great example of it the final six races of the year Le Clever Stappen Sainz Norris and Russell were separated by less than a win

if that was the start of the championship. So the way that season ended basically had us firstly thinking, why hasn't it not been this from the start of the year? Because we'd have had the best title of all time, but also as going, well, this is perfectly set up for 2025 because, of course, we have the new regulations in 2026, so that's when people are going to change. So you think, in theory, the kind of performances

should stagnate a bit and they're reaching the maximum potential of these cars and that's why it's so close it always happens in Formula One and it's so brilliantly set up for what could it not only just be a championship battle but between three, four different manufacturers as well, like cars, so insane. Yeah, not a lot's changing, right? In terms of regulations, we haven't got a massive shakeup for this year coming. That's, of course, next year and we will talk about that in depth, I'm sure. For this year, you can't think the pecking order is going to change massively.

Red Bull were very much on the sort of decline in terms of performance-wise. Max was just getting some miraculous performances in there at times. But yeah, McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes. It's going to be fascinating to see how Russell and Antonelli worked together. I think Russell had a really good season last year, and he could very much still push Mercedes to at least get some victories. So it's just so tasty. I cannot wait.

The next one comes in from Highlander GT7, Adrian Newey with Fernando Alonzo. I mean, look, again, we just forgot about this. We're saying top four teams. We're forgetting that Adrian Newey, as much as I don't believe that Adrian Newey is going to turn the tide for Aster Martin as quickly as this. I think 2026 will be a better opportunity for Adrian to actually showcase his genius. But still, I don't think it's just coincidence that when Adrian knew he left Red Bull, that Red Bull started to struggle. And I'm not saying that Adrian was the one that built the car and was the one in the garage. I'm not saying that.

But I don't think, I think there's more than just coincidence. I'm sure Adrian, it's just one of those overseers just goes around, goes, don't do that. Yeah, do that. Make sure you finish this. And that is really important. As much as as a bit of a joke is a very important role

and I think Adrian he's the best designer Formula One's ever seen so I'm sure Aston Martin will improve but it's just a case of can they take that leap because only a couple of years ago

Alonzo scoring podiums but they fell back quite a bit last year can Adrian bring them back and that's another question yeah they were awful at the end of the season really really poor and Adrian knew

going there. There's already been talk. Maybe they're kind of downplaying themselves a bit, but the fact that Adrian Newe is very kind of late to work because of his contract with Red Bull, and he's not going to be able to kind of work as magic on the new car for this coming season straight away, which would be difficult for them, and especially because of how they ended last year with very poor performance. It has to be said. Astin were well, well, into, you know, they weren't even that fifth best team anymore. They were nowhere. And it is going to be fascinating to watch Adrian Nui and Fernando Alonzo work together.

Alonzo is obviously going to, we've made this joke many times about he's going to want to stay as long as possible until he gets that. Hopefully, magic kind of formula from Adrian Nui that he's raced against a lot of Adrian Nui cars in his career. and always kind of got the maximum amount, but unfortunately lost a few championships because of it. So he's going to want that car. But I said this in our live shows quite a lot, that I really don't think it's going to be that magic bullet, particularly not next year especially,

with them coming in so late. Next year being this year, you mean? Next year being this year, that's the confusing thing. Sorry, 2025. This season. Next year is the new regs, yeah. Yeah, yeah. This season.

season. But then even next season it is going to an engine formula, but that's for another day. But yeah, it will be exciting to see how Aston can progress with Adrian Newee when he actually gets to work on that car and whether it's all focused on

2026 or if he goes, actually, this is a great opportunity while everyone else is slacking and basically not putting any development into the car. Can we give Fernando a rocket ship for half a season if we start really going ham? You never know. You never know indeed.

Next one, next exciting thing to look forward to is from P1 Patreon member Sophie, how Alex Albon really stacks up against a teammate who has proven himself already. Now, of course, Alex Albon has gone up against one teammate that has proven himself, and that was Max Verstappen, and we all know how that went down. But apart from that, we've not seen it, especially Albon in a Williams, which he's impressed, it has to be said, over the course of his career there. Of course, some question marks came up when Colapinto came in, started scoring points, beating Albon occasionally.

So Carlos signs going into Williams is going to be brilliant to watch, I think, just purely, I feel as though Carlos is going to do really well there. Any pressure that he might have felt at Ferrari will just dissipate and he will just see this as an opportunity. And I feel like we might even see a more aggressive Carlos signs than perhaps we've already seen because he knows that he has to do everything he can to score a miracle podium perhaps. So, yeah, I think it's going to be stacked against Alex Albon this season against Carlos. I do genuinely feel like Carlos is going to do very, very well. But this is Albon's chance to sort of just

reset now and go, okay, oh. And, and, you know, the fact he has a competent teammate coming in, that might actually help Alex, because I don't know how much you would learn with Logan Sargent as your teammate, as much as you kind of joke at that, but also you do kind of need two drivers pushing a team forward and making the car better and also giving that competitive edge to each other. So, yeah, I think Albon, he has a chance to, don't get me wrong, he's a great driver, but it's going to be difficult. Yeah, I never thought of it that way that actually Albon, it might actually push him further because great drivers, yeah, working as a team together,

they can, you know, push the car forward because, yeah, like you say, the fact that Sergeant was not getting the best out of the car, nor was Latifie. And I think the fact that what Colopinto did towards the end of the year certainly had a few alarm bells ringing and people were like, okay, is that Alex Albin actually any good? Or has he just had kind of Latifie and Sergeant as a teammate who have been so poor? but I'm also really intrigued by this. I think it's going to be a fascinating lineup. I don't think that album's going to be, I know a lot of people are like, it's going to be absolutely useless

and it's going to like expose him. I don't personally think that. I think that's very unfair because I think he has done a good job. I think it would be a way that I think Carlos will do exceptionally well. And what an asset Carlos Sines is going to be to Williams and James Vowles

in that team. you know, I think they're still kind of probably pinching themselves that they managed to get Carlos Science, if you'd have said that this time last year, that is there any better upgrade in Formula One history than going from Logan Sargent to Carlos Sites to where they were last year is pretty exceptional. And yeah, it's going to be really exciting to see what he can do because he's going to push that team forward. It's going to be super motivated to kind of get them back to the front and there'll be no pressure on him like you say with with Ferrari so um yeah can't wait can't wait to see that as well okay next one uh comes in from roxana tm n n

to see kimmy antonelli in f1 now tommy you're a fan boy so i'm gonna let you go first i cannot wait for this and i think i'm actually in quite the minority of this and particularly when we did our p1 live shares and it's like so guys what do you'll think about kimmy antonelli and just silence, which I understand because he's a new driver, he's maybe not set the world alight in Formula 2 like people expected. I think when he was spoken about,

as this exciting young driver and Toto thinks he's the next for Stappan and oh my God, he's so amazing. I think a lot of people were very much, and he's gone straight to F2, that people were very much thinking, okay, so he's going to rock up and win the title as a rookie.

win lots of races. And he did win races. He had a good performance. The Pramer was nowhere near what it should have been. We saw that even at the hands of Berman, who was his teammate. But I just think he's going to be such an exciting drive. We saw that in his one and a half laps at Monza,

of him being incredibly quick and then going backwards into a wall, which I think is going to sum up him. I feel like he is going to be, this is a massive throwback, but I can't think of so. I don't want to compare him to Vestappan. But I feel like more of like a Juan Pablo Montoya where he'll have like big statement moments where people are like, oh my God, this kid is so exciting.

And then maybe there'll be crashes and things where he's not quite there. But it's going to be fascinating because it's such a huge risk that Toto has put him straight in the car, not even gone to Williams. And they've just gone, no, you're replacing Lewis Hamilton. you're going straight into the big team against George Russell. Yeah. It's quite insane, actually, that they've promoted him this early and it's going to be exciting to watch.

Yeah, it's massive shoes to fill. Obviously, it's all happened because Hamilton's left the team. Antonelli would have no chance had this Mercedes seat this year. He was always in line for it. Toto Wolf, of course, has always supported him and wanted him to be the next big thing. But yeah, it's really exciting. It's funny, you know, there isn't that hype that perhaps we saw previously, and maybe it's because of the mistake he made in free practice, and maybe there's a hundred other stories and therefore the attention's diverted slightly.

But for me, I'm really excited to see how Kimmy Antonelli gets on, mainly from what you say, Tommy. Like, he's an unknown entity. We don't know what he's going to bring. We know that he's exciting from his junior racing. Loves a dive bomb. Yeah. He absolutely loves sending it. So if he brings that to Formula One, then what's not to love?

And I do also agree. I think he's going to be very unpredictable with it. And it will just take, right? It will take rocking up in Australia, him finishing P4 and everyone will then go, oh, Kimmy Antonelli. Wow, he's really good again. And then the hype will just barrage straight to him again. And then he'll crash in the next race to everyone say it's Finnish wives.

It's probably right early. It's Formula One. It's such a fickle sport. You're only as good as your last race. That's, in the eyes of most fans, that is. literally it. But no, it's brilliant. If anyone's complaining about the likes of Kimmy Antoninni coming into the sport,

I just think, what would you, would you prefer no changes like we had previously? Like there's so many rookies, there's so much new talent, new blood. It's just it's exactly what you need in Formula One. So bring it on. The next one is from Fogel underscore Shane.

To see if McLaren can win the drivers and constructors championship. They've got to be the favourites. They've got to be the favourites coming into this year. They were, on average, the quickest car over the year. They weren't the quickest car every single weekend, but they were competitive almost every weekend, especially after Miami. You take away Max's dominance at the beginning of the year, and it was so close, even with the question marks that we had with McLaren and some mistakes that they made. But I genuinely do believe that they will be the

favorites to win both. I think Ferrari will also have a really good opportunity at the constructors at the very least, just purely because I think that duo is going to push that team forward. But McLaren, I think, have the advantage with just what we saw last year. And Lando will have learned a lot from last year. It's the first time he's ever competed for a driver's championship. And he was up against, in my opinion, the hardest driver in the world to take on for a world championship. So now he'll have that experience under his belt. And I think he will improve and he will be better.

And I think he'll be more consistent. So yeah, bring that on. Oscar Piastri, the trajectory that he was on. He had a bit of a sort of quieter end to the year compared to that sort of two thirds through the season. Everyone was like, oh my God, he's the greatest driver. And I think as we get more seasons into Oscar Piaastri's career, we're going to have bigger, longer periods of this kind of driving.

So, yeah, McLaren have an incredible lineup and one with which I do genuinely believe, like Fogel-Shane said, that we could see them win both the drivers and the constructors. It's amazing to think that, I know this wasn't an unpopular opinion to think that maybe after Monza and Azerbaijan ran that kind of time, like you say, when Piastri was driving superbly and not only being incredibly quick and obviously the talk of how much has improved so quick. but also the daring moves that he was making and being a bit more ruthless that he would be going into next year thinking he is a good bet of winning the championship and then Lando

funny that we mentioned the previous question and he was good as you last race had the last race of the season been Brazil we'd probably go into this championship going oh Lando has he got enough he made a lot of mistakes and all this kind of stuff but then he brilliantly won in Abu Dhabi and has kind of gone into the new season

and he's a lot of people's favourites I think he is one of if not the favourite to win next year which isn't a surprise because McLaren had the best car through the majority of the year and they are I think in my personal opinion are probably going to be less of a team compared to the likes of

Ferrari Mercedes where they're going to put all their eggs in kind of 2026. This could be a great opportunity for them to win a Drivers and Constructors Championship again while they've got this car and this package. So yeah, it's going to be really good. And it will just come down to can their two drivers deliver? Because, you know, the Constructors Championship, they won it. Both drivers have been, you know, very happy in celebrating it. but the drivers is the one that they want to win deep down.

Oh, yes, they do. And yeah, it's good to me going, Tommy. I'm ready. Let's start now. Two months, come on. Let's get in the time capsule. Next exciting moment is P1 Patreon member Ruben, the rookies and seeing how they stack up against the expectations

and experienced teammates. Let's have a look, shall we? I'm still classing Liam Lawson as a rookie-ish, okay? Like a kind of rookie. Like he hasn't had a full season under his belt. So therefore it's a kind of a rookie-ish. That's what I'm going to call him. He's literally in Red Bull.

We're not even mentioned that. Max Verstappen has a new teammate. Liam Lawson, who is aggressive, not afraid to go for moves. He's going to learn a lot with Max Verstappen and his teammate, as his teammate, I'm sure. That is going to be fascinating. I just love seeing Max go up against a new teammate. And I'm sure you do as well because he usually wins all of them. He normally ends their career.

I hope for Lawson's sake that doesn't happen. But yes, Max does usually do very, very well against his teammate. So you've got Lawson there. Of course, we've mentioned Antonelli alongside George Russell. You have Jack Dewan alongside Pierre Gasley. We mentioned actually, didn't we, in our Patreon podcast, a little bit about the news there and the fact that Colapinto is an Alpine reserve and the amount of pressure that's going to be on Jack Dewan's shoulders now

with the fact that I think, including the two drivers, they now have five in their roster of F1 potentials to have the seat. And I do genuinely hope that do and does well. But if he doesn't, I see that seat changing. Very quickly, yeah. Very quickly, indeed. Of course, Olly Behrman alongside Esteban Okon at Hass.

I reckon that could be fireworks, which would be great. Yuki Sonoda alongside Isaac Hajar. And then, of course, Bortoletto alongside Holcomberg as well. So many. So exciting, Tommy. What stands out to you the most out of all of those that I've just said? I think the fact that you've got two rookies, like you say, Antonelli and we're classing Larson as a rookie in what is essentially a race-winning machinery.

But then even like you've got rookies in the full scope of the grid. Normally you get rookies come in and you get one or two and they join a backmarker team. and it's kind of like, oh, like a George Russell, like, oh, this is interesting. How is he going to stack up against his teammate? Is he going to do well? Is he going to be able to prove himself enough? And now it's just like, have all the rookies. I saw an absolutely insane thing that seven drivers of the grid are on the grid, so almost,

sorry, over a third of the grid were born after Fernando Alonzo made his F1 debut, which is absolutely nuts. Everything comes back to Fernando Alonzo for you, doesn't it? Yeah. Everything comes back to Mr. Fernando. The world revolves around Fernando Alonzo for you, doesn't he? It basically does. But, yeah, the rookie is going to be really exciting. Bortoletta is another one.

You know, we mentioned Antonelli and about how people thought, oh, you know, he should be winning the championship in F2 as a rookie. Bortoletto did. I know he's going to essentially be driving a dustbin. But if he beats Niko Holkenberg, which is a big ask, but not. I wouldn't be like absolutely insane. That'll turn a few heads.

It would, yeah. It's interesting because you have different kind of scopes for these drivers, right? Like with Bortoletto, he's at a team that is not, there's no expectations whatsoever. But Antonelli and Lawson are going into teams that are not going to be sat there going, don't worry. Have ten races. And then we'll see. You know, Red Bull, absolutely cutthroat.

And then of course you have Mercedes. as well. How much patience is Toto Wolf going to have with Antonei? Well, Mercedes-Signed Bottas, right, as a reserve, which some people have maybe thought is this kind of a, oh, this is a good backup in case this Antonelli gamble is an absolute disaster. Exactly. And how will Toto, I'm sure Toto will have more forgiveness for Antonelli, considering how much of a project he is for him. But still, it is fascinating. I cannot wait. And that sums up a lot of, and not all of the things that we are excited for for the 2025 season. Tommy, what are your final thoughts?

The first final thoughts of 2025. Talk to me. My first final thoughts of 2025 is just that actually just speaking about F1 again and getting hype. This is no better podcast to start the year because it's just made me go, oh, please, can we just have racing already? Because I've missed it so much and it's set up so beautifully. just can't wait for this year to get fully underway. It's going to be so good. I've missed it. I've missed you. I've missed everything.

I've missed everybody listening. And we look forward to an amazing, and another amazing year of F1, P1 and everything else in between. So thank you everybody for tuning into the first podcast of 2025. We'll see you very soon. Take care. Lots of love. Sweet dreams. Bye. Bye. So you thought we'd forgotten the chores.

Did you? Yeah? You thought you'd just sit there and not do a particular choice. sure that the first chore of 2025, right, listen, right, if you have still got your Christmas decorations up, you need to sort your life out, okay? It's past the threshold or whatever the limit. The 12th nights is. The 12 days of Christmas or whatever it is, or 12 nights, whatever. If you are still looking at your Christmas tree right now, get up, off your bottom and put the tree down. Okay? The tree wants to go home, into its box until the end of the year. Tommy,

you've got a chore to share? God, try and say that 10 times quick. I was going to say that. Torture share. Charlotte Claire? I don't know what I said. I hope the New Year's resolutions are going well and I hope you've not Yeah, let us know if you've already broken your New Year's resolution because that will be very interesting.

Mine was put the tree down. No, I'm joking. Don't worry. It's down. Love it. And also, as you're still here, and it's only audio, I hope you're enjoying the new mics. I hope they sound beefy and beautiful because that's what's what we're. what we're trying to do is be as beautiful really crisp in your ears anyway don't know why i'm

talking so sort of subtly and anyway this is a p1 after dark now yeah this is a weird you've dropped your voice down a pageant's now kind of gone into normal audio now um we should probably end this uh tommy your biceps look and swole we'll see you soon take care bye