Albon

With the power units being made simpler next year, will they generate more noise than presently (I accept they will never sound like they did up until 2013)? I consider it an embarrassment for the sport that the F3 cars (and Porsche Cup cars) that also race on the F1 weekends are louder than the main event – Raffi

The impression might be that the new engines being introduced next year should be louder because they will no longer have an MGU-H – the device that recovers energy from the turbo.

But I am told that while they might be a little louder than currently, they won’t be that different, because they still have turbos, which is the overriding impact on the sound.

As you may have read, there is a push from governing body the FIA at the moment to return F1 to older-style naturally aspirated engines, and that’s partly because of the noise.

Initially, this seems to have come from a whim of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, with influence from Bernie Ecclestone and Christian Horner, rather than a reasoned opinion based on thorough research of the desires of the audience.

However, it does chime with concerns that exist about how F1 will look next year because of the energy-recovery demands of the new engines, which have close to 50% of their total power output coming from the electrical part of the engine.

From what I’m told about fan surveys done by F1, there is no widespread agreement on whether louder engines would be a positive.

Some – like Raffi – obviously think they would be.

But the F1 fanbase has changed a lot in recent years, and inside the sport there is concern that newer members of the audience – more women and children now come to races, for example – would not welcome engines that made so much noise as to be virtually deafening, that made ear defenders an absolute necessity, that stopped people having a comfortable conversation when the race was on, etc. Likewise the guests in the corporate boxes.

Equally, city races such as Miami and Las Vegas would be threatened if the cars suddenly became much noisier than was promised to residents when discussions about the races took place.

It would highly likely revive the complaints that used to take place in Melbourne about this, too.

The world has moved on in many different ways since the first decade of this century, and it’s far from clear that effectively turning the clock back 20 or 30 years would be a good idea, even if it was with the addition of a token hybrid element to the engines and sustainable fuel.

Talks are ongoing on the future direction of engines from 2030 or so onwards, but they are a long way from reaching a conclusion.

There is a sense that V8s might return – many manufacturers in F1 still make V8s for road cars. But most say a hybrid element is non-negotiable, and some – such as Audi – are currently insisting on a turbo, too. A conclusion is a long way away.

Sainz explained that his first impressions were “positive”, and he said Williams’ willingness to host a day for media and sponsors and give the car its debut at the same time was indicative of the progress the team had made.

Last year, the team struggled at the start of the season as attempts to introduce new processes in the team delayed the car build. A crash-strewn 2024 season has also impacted the team financially.

Sainz, whose seat at Ferrari was taken by Lewis Hamilton, said he wanted Williams to continue to show progress in 2025 as they build towards the new regulations that will be introduced in F1 in 2026.

“It is important to keep the momentum up, keep the positive trend, the forward trajectory,” Sainz said.

“And if we manage to keep that momentum going and riding the wave in a way, that for me is the most important because Williams’ big opportunity comes more in ’26 than ’25.”

Sainz shrugged off a question as to how he would feel when he sees Hamilton in a Ferrari for the first time by saying he had “been through that already” after seeing the seven-time champion’s appearance at the Ferrari factory last month.

Spaniard Sainz won four grands prix for Ferrari in his four years with the team and said he was not sure how he would feel about his inevitable fall down the field.

“I don’t know how much I am going to miss it, how much fun I am going to find it fighting for P7-P15,” Sainz said. “Maybe you need to ask me later in the year how I am finding it.

“But what I can tell you is I’m very happy and motivated, I am excited, I feel supported. I feel a team full of good, positive energy and a team principal and team that fully trusts in my abilities and wants to listen to what I have to say and I have confidence in my ability to move forward.”

Team boss James Vowles said the car was an “evolution” of last year’s model but that the team’s prime focus this year was to ensure it was best prepared for 2026, when new engine and chassis rules come on stream together for the first time in F1’s modern era.

“Everyone is aligned, and that includes Carlos and Alex, that we want to be winning championships and for that we can’t keep giving a little bit towards now because it looks better,” Vowles said.

“If you put your focus on the following year you miss out on that long-term evolution. There are bits we’re doing today that won’t come on line until 2027.

“The fact we’ve gone from 700 people to 1,000 means you’ll have low-hanging fruit of producing a better car with more performance added to it, but I consider that second to the long-term investment to get us where we need to be.”

George Russell made it four accidents for Mercedes drivers in four consecutive days of track action with a crash in Friday practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Russell’s heavy impact with the barriers in the high-speed Esses followed Lewis Hamilton spinning out of the US Grand Prix on the second lap last Sunday, Russell crashing in qualifying the day before at the same corner, and a spin for Hamilton at high speed in the Esses in Austin Friday practice.

Russell, who was winded but otherwise unhurt in the crash, said: “It seems like it’s one thing after another at the moment. It’s frustrating, as in first practice we were really fast.

“I tried taking the same line cutting that corner and for whatever reason on this occasion the thing just started going on me.”

Russell, who set the pace in the first session by 0.317 seconds from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, was taken to the medical centre for mandatory checks because of the size of the impact. He said he was “OK”.

“I don’t really know what happened,” Russell said. “The car just started bouncing on the ground and before I had a chance to catch it, I was already spinning, a lot of work for the guys tonight, again.”

Bouncing was part of the cause of the accidents both Mercedes drivers has at Turn 19 in Austin last weekend.

Hamilton, who was seventh fastest in the second session, said of his run: “I know what we need to fix. Whether or not we can actually do that, we’ll see. It didn’t feel terrible, a little bit off the front. (Some) rear end. You always want more rear.”

The seven-time champion did not run in the first session as his car was being driven by his replacement in 2025, Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Italian was 12th fastest, 1.202secs behind Russell.

Hamilton’s car continues with the upgrades introduced last weekend in Austin, despite their crash-strewn weekend in Texas. Russell is using an older specification because he damaged his new parts with his qualifying crash and Mercedes have not had time to build replacements.

Title contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris had difficult days.

Verstappen’s first session was cut short by an engine problem, which then prevented him from doing any timed laps in the second session after Red Bull failed to fix it.

The Dutchman, who leads Norris by 57 points with five races to go and 146 points still available, described it as “a day to forget” but said there was no risk of a grid penalty for using too many engine parts.

Norris ran only in the second session, which was almost entirely devoted to a Pirelli test of 2025 development tyres, because his car was being used by IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward in the first.

The Briton, who was fifth fastest, said: “Not great. Lack of laps compared to most others but playing a little bit of catch-up.

“Not a great feeling, it’s hard to get a good feeling around this circuit just because it is very low grip.

“I’m sure it will be fine tomorrow but not the most comfortable, so a bit of work to do.”

Norris is running a new floor specification, on which McLaren have been working for many months, while team-mate Oscar Piastri, who was second fastest in the second session, was on the previous spec.

Norris said: “Good for a back-to-back (comparison) but it’s not really much better, so… Oscar was quick today. I was a bit off.”

Piastri said he “seemed to be in good shape”, adding that McLaren “still (had) some pace to find to Ferrari but we are in the mix”.

Sainz was fastest in the second session with team-mate Charles Leclerc fourth.

Leclerc did not run in the first session because his car was being used by reserve driver Oliver Bearman, who crashed with Alex Albon’s Williams at the Esses early on.

The Ferrari’s front left corner was damaged while Albon had a heavy impact with the barriers and Williams could not repair his car in time to run in the second session.

Albon called Bearman an “idiot” over the team radio but race stewards took no further action, saying in their report that both drivers accepted it was a “racing incident”.

Albon said: “Listening to the radio, he got told very late that I was coming up behind him. He tried his best to speed up into the high-speed corners. We caught each other at exactly the worst moment on the track you can. There was a 100km/h difference in speed.

“I don’t blame myself but I don’t think it’s all on Olly. He could have been told a bit better also he’s new and the closing speeds in F1 are much higher than in F2.”

Williams were unable to repair Albon’s car in time for him to run in the second session.

As well as Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari, a number of other teams used the first session to fulfil their mandatory requirement to run drivers with little F1 experience.

Fernando Alonso, celebrating his 400th grand prix this weekend, was replaced in first practice by reserve driver Felipe Drugovich, and Robert Schwartzman took over from Zhou Guanyu in the second Sauber.