Winter F1 nonsense stories debunked (Part 1)  –  There’s only one time of year worse than the summer break in Formula One, and its winter. This year the break between the final Abu Dhabi test and the first car 2025 launch planned by the Williams team will be 73 days. When compared to the previous season this long cold winter in Europe is actually two weeks shorter than last year.

Of course at the end of a long hard season which ended with a crushing two sets of triple head weekends, the F1 teams’ race crew personnel in particular are exhausted and need time to recharge the batteries.

Back at HQ, the winter is the time for the techies and engineers to shine, as they hit their marks in the dash to complete their racing prototypes to challenge for the coming campaign.

 

 

 

Long winters without F1

The drivers disappear to the four corners of the earth, some enjoying extreme winter sports, others taking on the surf in warmer climes and for the most they shut down or minimise their social media cutting us off from one primary source for our F1 fixes.

Inevitably this means the F1 media also slows down, but given the potential content is minimal, many of the F1 writers are chasing the same handful of quotes for their daily news offerings.

Of course less reputable publications may from time to time get carried away, making a mountain out of a mole or stretching the analysis beyond the bounds of reality. Well here are a few of the ‘F1 winter’s tales’ which are to be debunked.

Doing the rounds at present , particularly on social media are reports the reunion of Lewis Hamilton and Angela Cullen who was his personal trainer/physio and all round mental rock has reunited with the seven times world champion after splitting with him in bizarre fashion after two races of the 2022 season.

First day at Ferrari sees Hamilton SLAMMED for behaviour

 

 

 

Is Cullen the magic Lewis is missing?

Cullen stepped up following the death of Aki Hintsa in 2016, and she and Lewis developed quickly the kind of rapport, which is often a once in a lifetime connection. Yet following her departure she took a year out before returning last season to work wit Indycar racer Marcus Armstrong.

Armstrong was making his way in north the premier American single seater racing series and only in his second season in the sport with title winning team Chip Ganassi. The New Zealander revealed how much Cullen’s support had improved his metal approach in 2024 and his results on track were also better than in his rookie year.

Does this mean Cullen was the reason for Armstrong’s improvement? Or is it just the fact he is a natural talent and would have naturally improved on his 21st place finish during his rookie year?

Doing the rounds in the cold winds of North Europe is the suggestion that there is data to prove that Hamilton+Cullen is better than Hamilton-Cullen. Whilst neither Hamilton nor Cullen have announced the reforming of their professional relationship, the New Zealander was present in Fiorano for Lewis’ first tentative laps in a Ferrari F1 car.

Hamilton plays superb politics in Maranello

 

 

 

Sainz to crush Albon?

Again, this is hardly proof the pair will reunite, but it does make a hope story to read to the F1 kids before they tuck in for another European winter storm. The piece claiming Cullen and Hamilton’s data together is better than Lewis’ alone rests on comments from Dr. Turner, a sport physiologist from Manchester Met, who spends most of the interview discussing how much easier it is to reunite with an old mentor than have the award period of time getting to know somebody new.

The answer to the question, “does the data prove Hamilton together with Cullen has delivered better results than Lewis without his mentor” is a simple yes. But that is due to the fact that from 2015 to 2021, Mercedes had the best car/power unit combo and even when Lewis couldn’t win the drivers’ title, it was his team mate who stepped up.

Another piece of ‘analysis’ suggests that the battle between the Williams team mates this year will be one sided and that Carlos Sainz will crush Alex Albon de facto ending his F1 career. A bold claim indeed!

Sainz and Albon are all part of James Vowles bold project to restore the historic Williams team to the front of the grid. It appears the off season is going well in terms of bonding given Albon’s recent post of him with Carlos and the caption:”’Thai Sweet Chilli” to accompany the picture. Albon is referencing Saints nick name Chilli and of ouches the fact that Alex is British-Thai born.

Verstappen’s looming race ban

 

 

 

‘Red Bull 2025 car compromised by the cold weather in factory’ – say what???

Williams have posted their own picture of the pair and thrown down the teams out name for their new driver pairing. ‘Carbon’ it is, which takes the first three letters of Sainz first name and adds the to the last letters of Albon’s surname. Whilst slightly cheesy, its a good worker for the social media team in Grove.

A host of other tales abound at this time of the year and the latest is that Max Verstappen’s 2025 car has been compromised due to cold conditions in the Milan Ketynes factory – really???

The entire theory hangs on a single unsourced quote which states, the design, construction and in house wind tunnel testing of the RB21 has been “exposed to air temperature fluctuations”. The editorial conclusion is that the test environment is therefore compromised and the team are no “testing new parts in consistent conditions.”

Mmm. So what’s going on in Grove and Enstone, who have ageing and out of date facilities? If Red Bull can’t afford a thermostat and some consistent heating, what’s the hope for the rest of the field except Ferrari who are in the warm climes of Italy, drinking fabulous red wines and cheese for a long lazy lunch in the Italian sunshine.

Mmm. Check out the photo’s from of lewis Hamilton driving his first ever Ferrari F1 car in Fiorano last week. More coming soon on the current crop of F1 stories which may be amusing but have little substance. 

British reporter admits F1 ‘story telling’ bias

 

 

 

Newey speaks of new F1 domination

Adrian Newey is an enigmatic character and like all geniuses requires a certain degree of management. His early life in Formula One whilst it brought much success, saw the aerodynamic guru take issue with the team management over various issues like reporting structures, with the result being he would leave.

This makes his nineteen year tenure at Red Bull Racing even more remarkable, yet in the end it was this very careful management of their star asset which cause Newey to decide the time was right rot move on.

There were various claims last year, that Newey’s decision was influenced by the allegations made against team principal Christian Horner of “inappropriate behaviour” by a female  employee in Milton Keynes. Yet Horner was completely exonerated at both investigation stage and following the employee’s legal appeal and to characterise Newey as some moral prude would be laughable given the nature of his frequent visits to the public bar at Goodwood during the various historic motorsport events held at the estate each year… READ MORE