IIDOTR: Japanese GP 2025

[TomPryce]

A dearth of nominees today.

Probably Hadjar and Bearman, with Antonelli close behind. All three performed well today.

[RAK]

In the absence of a better nominee, I'm actually leaning towards Max Verstappen, although the rookies largely impressed today.

[rachel1990]

1. Hadjar. Got points and impressed in the racing bulls.

2. Bearman. Impressive weekend and got a point.

[Ducktanian]

Hadjar Well deserved P8.

[Salamander]

Isack Hadjar for making Q3 and scoring points despite his struggles during qualifying.

Me for forgetting when the race started and setting my alarm a couple hours too late, judging from everyone's comments in the Discord.

[Alextrax52]

Isack Hadjaar: Very good performance all weekend. Comfortably the best after McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Max Verstappen Racing.

Ollie Bearman: Another point and absolutely destroyed his more experienced teammate

HM: Max Verstappen: No one expected him to make the podium after Friday never mind win but he once again shows why he’s the best driver on the grid right now

[IceG]

Three rookies scoring points was quite the result - so that.

Antonelli really does look like the real deal. Got close to, (edit) no actually beat, the race lap record, led confidently for ~10 laps and was next to Russell all the way - and all without drama.

[James1978]

Antonelli gets it for me - McLaren why didn't you do that strategy with one car at least?

[You-Gee-Eee-Day]

Max

Also Antonelli is as far as I can tell the only teammate who is consistently doing all of the following: scoring close to his teammate, not getting in his teammate's way, and supporting his teammate in the race. So I'll say Kimi too. Very nostalgic, getting to say Kimi in IIDOTR.

[mario]

Also Antonelli is as far as I can tell the only teammate who is consistently doing all of the following: scoring close to his teammate, not getting in his teammate's way, and supporting his teammate in the race. So I'll say Kimi too. Very nostalgic, getting to say Kimi in IIDOTR.

I suppose it does come with the caveat that the amount of testing Antonelli did under the "testing of previous cars (TPC)" rule exemption was higher than normal, with Wolff having mentioned a figure of around 9,000km of testing mileage for him (as a comparison, I've seen a figure of around 6,800km of testing mileage quoted for Piastri, and Piastri seems to have been one of the more active drivers testing under the TPC regulations in recent years). Now, it's still another thing to go from testing to racing, but out of all the rookie drivers on the grid, he's going to have an advantage in terms of time spent driving a relatively modern F1 car.

[You-Gee-Eee-Day]

Also Antonelli is as far as I can tell the only teammate who is consistently doing all of the following: scoring close to his teammate, not getting in his teammate's way, and supporting his teammate in the race. So I'll say Kimi too. Very nostalgic, getting to say Kimi in IIDOTR.

I suppose it does come with the caveat that the amount of testing Antonelli did under the "testing of previous cars (TPC)" rule exemption was higher than normal, with Wolff having mentioned a figure of around 9,000km of testing mileage for him (as a comparison, I've seen a figure of around 6,800km of testing mileage quoted for Piastri, and Piastri seems to have been one of the more active drivers testing under the TPC regulations in recent years). Now, it's still another thing to go from testing to racing, but out of all the rookie drivers on the grid, he's going to have an advantage in terms of time spent driving a relatively modern F1 car.

That's true! I'm just impressed by how much of a team player he is honestly. I guess the standards for a good teammate are low this season though.

[Jarvis]

Bearman gets it for me with an impressive 10th-place finish.