F1 China, the report cards of those promoted
1. Kimi Antonelli. Long live dreams and those who chase them. Long live the kids who believe in it and are not afraid of anything, not even of exposing themselves and crying in front of the world. Long live Kimi Antonelli, therefore, who last year questioned himself after a series of dull races, up until the outburst in Spa and the mistake in free practice in Monza. From that moment on, Mercedes changed pace and Kimi with it. Now the car has the right engine and Antonelli has the wings to flyto believe in it more and more. And we with him. Other sports, even recently, have made us dream. And then we dream.
2. Lewis Hamilton. It’s all different music compared to the flywheel of the end of 2025. But Hamilton has always been like this: he exalts and depresses himself together with the context. If he has the car, he can still be important and beat a champion like Leclerc at the peak of his maturity. And battle indeed, both on the track (the duel with Leclerc was nice, certainly less artificial than the one with Russell in Australia, but let’s avoid bothering about the battles of the past) and dialectically: “We need power“, “The Mercedes advantage is only engine” are messages he sends to the team and also to the FIA.
3. Ollie Bearman and Pierre Gasly. In terms of car-results ratio, clearly the two best drivers at the start of the season. Ollie in F1 hasn’t missed a race, a curve, half a word, not even a hairstyle: Mr. Perfect can’t wait to study at Charles’ school. Gasly: last year he made babies with moustaches, I didn’t expect anything different with a barely presentable car. He may not be a champion, but he is a great driver, and doesn’t deserve to rot among the caryatids.
F1 China, the report cards of those who failed
3. Qualifications. Not to mention the failure to definitively cancel Sakhir and Gedda (I have a slight chest, but I’ll be sorry) and a championship defined as spectacular when a car gives half a minute to all the others as soon as it has a free track, the biggest failure of this new era is qualifying. Now the situation is exacerbated by large gaps and defined hierarchies (same drivers between SQ1 and Q1, same drivers between SQ2 and Q2, same drivers between SQ3 and Q3), but objectively Saturday is a poor show. The pilots sail instead of braking and – as our Federico Albano points out – follow pre-set plans in the discharge of energy. Plans that however go to pieces as soon as you look for the limit and try something different, because at that point the system adapts the scheme to the available energy and messes everything up for you. The courage that should reward you at least on the flying lap risks being your condemnation: you may even like it (I doubt), but let’s not call it Formula 1.
2. McLaren. How the world changes in 100 days. Many have passed through Abu Dhabi, where Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen fought for the title and the papayas returned to the top of the world. In China Max didn’t see the finish line, McLaren didn’t even start. He has demonstrated several times that he knows how to get up and work (his dominance was born from the rubble of early 2023), but this time it may not be enough, because today’s troubles concern areas outside of his direct control.
1. Aston Martin. Is it better not to start or to leave and get slapped by Bottas and Perez too? Two jokers whose cheeks are a mattress with a system of arched slats in fine wood to allow the teammate’s hand the best possible comfort. Two who are now companions and find it uncomfortable to prevail over the other, let alone over their rivals. But Stroll is a man on a mission: he is ambitious, and if he has to fail he wants to do it big. Aston Martin runs (so to speak) and retires in the most humiliating way, with Fernando Alonso having to stop because – and I quote – “I no longer felt my hands and feet due to the vibrations of the power unit“. And this while Honda, through a lunar press release, rejoices because the engine has done more km than in Melbourne. Now comes Suzuka, the home race, where Alonso already knocked them out 11 years ago. And where it will be difficult to drive without hands.
