Off season in F1
Rule changes tend to upset the competitiveness order, hence Mercedes losing dominance last year and Red Bull gaining it. This year, no big changes, so probably no big upsets. Expect to see either Verstappen get another championship without much bother, or Verstappen having to work for it but still getting another championship.
There are three new drivers. I would have chosen Oscar Piastri as the one most likely to make an impression, but as his team mate is Lando Norris, who's hard to beat.
There's been some team principal musical chairs. They're all confident that they'll help their new team improve. They can't all be right. In theory the budget cap should help the smaller teams. It hasn't shaken things up too much yet.
There's a new series called F1 Academy for women only. Despite the name, it's not F1 cars (similar to F4, maybe?), and I haven't seen any drivers named. Is there some talent pool that's not already in W Series? I wonder why the FIA didn't do more work on whatever was stopping Jamie Chadwick getting a seat in F3. Every year she was clearly ahead of the others in W Series, and every time she won it there was talk of her going somewhere else. Now she's in the US IndyCar support series, Indy Nxt (not a typo). Hmm. American racing series are where European drivers go when they can't get a seat.
Finally, a sad thing. The presenter of the UK radio coverage and the Chequered Flag podcast, Jennie Gow, has had a stroke, and is apparently not doing so well. She's 45, which is the wrong age for that sort of thing. I hope that she makes a good recovery.
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