The first Formula One race weekend of the 2025 season is done and dusted and many of the tantalising questions from pre-season testing have been answered. McLaren are definitely the team to beat at this early stage of the year, while even a “horrible” Red Bull car is capable of extraordinary feats in the hands of max Verstappen.
Mercedes appears to have the edge over Ferrari, which will please Toto Wolff no end and his selection of junior driver Kimi Antonelli to replace the departing Lewis Hamilton now appears to be a masterstroke. Antonelli was the best of the rookies in Melbourne last weekend with a drive from P16 to finish less than two seconds behind his team mate in P4.
The young Italian made a daring overtake in the closing laps to pass Williams’ Alex Albon, something missed by the world feed live at the time. Only Oliver Bearman of the remaining first race of the season rookies managed to finish the rain affected race in Melbourne.
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Embarrassingly for Red Bull and new Racing Bulls driver Isaac Hadjar, his race was over before even the lights went out. A mistake during the formation lap saw the young French driver crash out at turn two and he was subsequently captured on TV in floods of tears down in the pitlane.
Red Bull’s replacement for Sergio Perez faired little better, although he managed 46 laps before he put his car into the barrier too. Lawson had been languishing towards the rear of the field throughout the race having messed up in qualifying and started from the pit lane.
Under pressure Alpine driver Jack Doohan lasted a lap longer than fellow rookie Hadjar, as he crashed his Alpine on the opening lap of the race. The Australian is already under pressure with the team having signed superstar Argentinian Franco Colapinto, who turned heads with his drives for Williams having replaced Logan Sargeant with nine races remaining in 2024.
The final rookie, Gabriel Bortoleto who won last year’s F2 drivers’ title and the F3 one the year before, started the weekend well as he out qualified his experienced Kick Sauber team mate Nico Hulkenberg. But this was preceded by some stinging criticism from Red Bull’s Dr. Helmut Marko, in his pre-weekend review of the new F1 rookies on the grid.
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Marko rates Bortoleto a “B driver”
Speaking to Servus TV, Marko had grouped this year’s rookies into three classes, A, B and C. Jack Doohan was the only driver to receive the lowest rating stating bluntly, “he is a ‘C’. I don’t think he will complete the season.”
The 82 year old Austrian Red Bull advisor went on to discuss the merits of last year’s F2 champion. He questioned Bortoleto’s lack of race wins compared to previous F2 champions and listed him in the ‘B’ category. Gabriel is the first Brazilian F1 driver since Felipe Massa retired in 2017 but Marko says he lacks “pure speed” despite having won both F3 and F2 championships.
“I would classify him as a ‘B’ driver,” continued Marko. “He’s a very intelligent driver: he won the Formula 3 championship, but with only one win and he usually stays out of trouble.
“In Formula 2 he only managed two victories. He is a driver who brings the car home safely, has a good command of strategy and tyre management, but I don’t see that pure speed in him,” concluded Dr. Marko.
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Despite being criticised by one of the most feared characters in the F1 paddock, Bortoleto was asked for his thoughts following the Austrian’s categorisation of him. “I don’t care. I mean, I’ve seen that, and I love challenges.”
The Brazilian was on the front foot when it came to Marko’s assessment as he pointed out even the revered Austrian Red Bull advisor didn’t always get it right. “Hearing that from Helmut, he’s a guy who has put a lot of talent in Formula 1 and has put a lot of wrong talents in F1. So, you can see he got it right and wrong, and hopefully I will prove him wrong with the time.
“But nothing I say now in the media will change his mind, just my results on track. I’m sure I’ll prove him wrong at some point and hopefully he will admit this when I prove him wrong.
“For now, I’m just focussing on doing my job and improving and doing the best I can. I’m proud of what I did in junior series and I won in F2 and F3 against the Red Bull drivers he has, so good for me,” Bortoleto concluded.
Brundle mocks Marko’s ratings
Ironically Marko’s assessment of Bortaleto being a careful driver who “brings the car home safely” proved to be wide of the mark in the F1 season opener down under. The Brazilian managed 45 laps before a mistake in the wet conditions which saw his Sauber wrecked after a big hit with the barriers.
Far from justifying Marko’s categorisation of the Sauber rookie as a ‘B’ driver, Sky’s Martin Brundle suggested the Austrian should mind to his own business. When it was suggested to him that Bortoleto had acquitted himself well, “Not bad for [a] B-class driver as Dr. Helmut Marko was saying, eh?” Observed co-poresenter Simon Lazenby.
Apparently unimpressed with Dr. Marko’s previous assessment Brundle replied: “Yeah, exactly. I think Helmut Marko needs to worry more about commenting on his own drivers than other people’s.”
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Neither Liam Lawson nor Isack Hadjar covered themselves with glory in Melbourne, with one Sky presenter suggesting “Sergio Perez is laughing….” as his replacement struggles. Lawson made a number of mistakes in qualifying and then lacked pace in the race before finally putting his Red Bull car into the wall.
Hadjar didn’t even make the starting grid after spinning off on the formation lap at turn two and so Dr. Marko has some work to do if Red Bull are not to experience a similar gulf of performance between Verstappen and Lawson.
Red Bull may be regretting not taking up the option on Carlos Sainz before his move to Williams as their young academy drivers were unimpressive in what were indeed difficult conditions at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.
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The Concorde Agreement is a legal tome which binds all parties involved in Formula One into a single legal framework. Each agreement over the years has a defined time scale, although in some cases the parties could not agree a new oe and so the ‘old Concorde’ deal would roll over.
The legal framework revisited and agreed once more happens every few years and is crucial for the day to day running of the sport. It dates back to the 1980’s when the first draft ended the era of ‘the handshake’ which had seen numerous political disputes plague F1 at the time.
The Concorde Agreement is a contract between FOM (commercial rights holder), the teams, the promoters and the FIA in its regulatory role. It defines how F1 is to be run and sets boundaries for issues like the maximum number of teams which can compete and the maximum number of race weekends per year…READ MORE ON THIS STORY
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