Nuts & Bolts -- March 25, 2025

• Red Bull are trying to change the decades old belief that slow, difficult-to-handle cars are difficult to drive, to something we have never heard before--fast cars are hard to drive. Are they saying it is easier to go fast in a slower car?

• Rumours have been swirling (when aren't they) that Yuki Tsunoda will be in the Red Bull for the next race in Japan, his home race. We need to see this, if not for the lone sake of just seeing it.

• Here's an idea: How about Red Bull put whatever driver is at their home race in the second seat? Lance in Montreal, Lewis in Britain, Sergio back for Mexico City. Lawson can keep the seat when there is no local driver.

• Helmut Marko has an enviable position. Promote young, inexperienced drivers to race-winning seats. If they thrive he looks like a genius, if they fail he can blame the driver.

• Kimi Antonelli won the fan-voted driver of the day in China. Apparently if you are young, score pole position, and dominate the race in a race-winning car, you do not win driver of the day, but if you are young and tour around in 8th in a race-winning car, you do. At least Antonelli was as surprised as I was.

• While it's been an interesting enough season so far, let's point out that the pole sitter has won both full races and the sprint race. Has there been an on-track pass for the lead yet?

• The Japanese GP will be run on Oscar Piastri's birthday. A driver has won on his birthday twice before: James Hunt in 1976, and Jean Alesi in 1995. One of those went on to win the world championship that year, the other never won another race.

• Max Verstappen has led all but 8 laps at the previous 3 Japanese races.
  

• Of course, after suggesting Lewis Hamilton would not be as fast as Charles Leclerc, Hamilton immediately dominates the sprint race in China. I should have learned my lesson about saying such things during the Schumacher years.