#Luca ghiotto

[suzie-shooter]

Clem podium at Mugello! 🏆💪🍾

[ummick]

"@.SchumacherMick , @.PREMA_Team take podium finish in Race 2" - august 16, 2020 📷 @.prema_team / twitter

[robinfrinjs]

Luca Ghiotto of Nissan Formula E Team during Valencia Pre-Season Testing (24/10/23) by Sam Bagnall

[nnato]

[dailyfe]

Luca Ghiotto of Nissan Formula E Team during Valencia Pre-Season Testing (24/10/23) by Sam Bagnall

[formulaesource]

Luca Ghiotto | Rome E-Prix 2023

📸 Julien Delfosse/DPPI Media

[lxndonorris]

[opelman]

24h Spa 2022 by Ste Tit

[thisisyourdriverspeaking]

In honour of Indycar being back this weekend, here is US racing tunes (every drivers racing number). Enjoy 😊

Helio Castoneves (10th May 1975) - The Blackbyrds - Walking In Rhythm

Takuma Sato (28th January 1977) - Al Green - Keep Me Cryin'

Katherine Legge (12th July 1980) - Queen - Play The Game

Scott Dixon (22nd July 1980) - Jermaine Jackson - Let's Get Serious

Ryan Hunter-Reay (17th December 1980) - Harry Chapin - Sequel

Will Power (1st March 1981) - Stevie Wonder - I Ain't Gonna Stand For It

Ed Carpenter (3rd March 1981) - Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb - What Kind Of Fool

Romain Grosjean (17th April 1986) - Simply Red - Holding Back The Years

Marco Andretti (13th March 1987) - Billy Joel - This Is The Time

Colin Braun (22nd September 1988) - Bruce Hornsby - Look Out Any Window

Graham Rahal (4th January 1989) - Duran Duran - I Don't Want Your Love

Tristian Vautier (22nd August 1989) - Bad English - Forget Me Not

Agustin Canapino (19th January 1990) - Michael Penn - No Myth

Marcus Ericsson (2nd September 1990) - Brother Beyond - The Girl I Used To Know

Josef Newgarden (22nd December 1990) - Madonna - Justify My Love

Alexander Rossi (25th September 1991) - Michael Bolton - Time, Love and Tenderness

Felix Rosenqvist (7th November 1991) - K.M.C Kru - The Devil Came Up To Michigan

Conor Daly (15th December 1991) - Karyn White - Romantic

Kyle Larson (31st July 1992) - Sophie B.Hawkins - Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover

Jack Harvey (15th April 1993) - P.M Dawn - Looking Through Patient Eyes

Scott McLaughlin (10th June 1993) - H-Town - Knockin' Da Boots

Tom Blomqvist (30th November 1993) - Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Boom! Shake The Room

Luca Ghiotto (24th February 1995) - 69 Boyz - Kitty Kitty

Pietro Fittipaldi (25th June 1996) - Michael Jackon - They Don't Care About Us

Alex Palou (1st April 1997) - 702 - Get It Together

Santino Ferrucci (31st May 1998) - Madonna - Frozen

Kyle Kirkwood (19th October 1998) - Savage Garden - Truly Madly Deeply

Callum Ilott (11th November 1998) - Jennifer Paige - Crush

Linus Lundqvist (26th March 1999) - TLC - No Scrubs

Pato O'Ward (6th May 1999) - Busta Rhymes ft Janet Jackson - What's It Gonna Be?

Colton Herta (30th March 2000) - Whitney Houston - I Learned It From The Best

Christian Rasmussen (29th June 2000) - Nine Days - Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)

Marcus Armstrong (29th July 2000) - Ruff Endz - No More

Rinus Veekay (11th September 2000) - Jagged Edge - Let's Get Married

Christian Lundgaard (23rd July 2001) - Babyface - There She Goes

Sting Ray Robb (3rd September 2001) - Dido - Thank You

David Malukas (27th September 2001) - Fuel - Bad Day

Theo Pourchaire (20th August 2003) - Matchbox Twenty - Unwell

Kyffin Simpson (9th October 2004) - Nelly ft Jaheim - My Place

Nolan Siegel (8th November 2004) - Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved

All added to this playlist 😊

[f1]

We had to pit or we were going to catch fire Ocon | RaceFans Round-up

In the round-up: Esteban Ocon explained the serious overheating problem which forced him out of the British Grand Prix early in the race. In brief Ocon avoided car fire by retiring from British GP Alpine’s Esteban Ocon potentially spared his team a large damage bill by retiring in the pits on lap 10 of the British Grand Prix. “It was a frustrating race. We had a hydraulic leak, so we had to box the car otherwise we are going to catch fire,” he said. “Had a decent start, but that was it from there. Unfortunately.” Ocon added there “is always some positives” to take away from a weekend like that. “There’s always things that we can carry forward. Hopefully we come back stronger in the next two before the break, and there is some some great stuff coming on the car so big hopes for us.” Formula E reveals full rookie practice line-up An additional practice session will take place at this weekend’s Rome E-Prix for ‘rookie’ drivers, functioning in much the same way that Formula E’s annual rookie test does. The full line-up was unveiled on Monday, and includes several high-profile racing figures. Two-times World Touring Car Cup title winner Yann Ehrlacher will drive for DS Penske, former Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat will take part for NIO 333, reigning DTM champion Sheldon van der Linde is in action for Jaguar, Nissan have called up their simulator driver Luca Ghiotto and Yifei Ye will be driving for Porsche. He normally races one of their Hypercars in the World Endurance Championship. F1 Academy driver gets 0.3s penalty The F1 Academy action at Monza last weekend was full of collisions and penalties, and none stranger than the 0.3 seconds that was added to Amna Al Qubaisi’s race time following the finish of race three. It cost her third place to Nerea Marti, but Al Qubaisi had actually taken third from Marti during the race via an off-track moment, and a subsequent Safety Car period that ran all the way to the chequered flag denied Al Qubaisi the chance to give back the place. A five-second penalty would be the most commonly seen penalty for such a pass, but that would have dropped Al Qubaisi to ninth given the closeness of the pack behind the Safety Car. The stewards therefore deemed an unprecedented 0.3s penalty to be the most appropriate way to return Marti to the podium. Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free Happy birthday! Happy birthday to Dougy_D, Joaqo, Pabs1, Tomd11 and Pawel! On this day in motorsport 30 years ago today Alain Prost won the British Grand Prix after team mate Damon Hill retired with engine failure while leading via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

[thechicanedoll]

‎ ‎ 

CHEQUERED FLAG, LOOK AT HOW FAR SHE'S COME!

Gear up for the fast lane and relive the rise of one of the most untouchable icons in motorsports. From her highest of victories to her lowest of failures, take a look at her greatest triumphs and the legacy she's built over the course of almost 14 years in racing.

SECTOR 1: KARTING TO FORMULA 4

Griffiths took up karting at the age of 8 in 2009 in West Wales before she progressed to the cadet class in 2012, becoming the MSA British Champion and British Open Champion.  ‎ ‎  In 2013, she moved to the Rotax Mini Max category before she soon graduated to the KF3 class in 2014, where she earned the SKUSA Supernationals title and became the CIK-FIA European Champion, which she successfully defended in 2015. In her final year of karting in 2016, she finished 3rd in the KF1 CIK-FIA World Championship.

‎ ‎ 

In the beginning of 2017, Quinton moved on to compete in the BRDC Formula 4 under the TRS Arden Junior Racing Team, wherein she had a very close fight with fellow TRS Arden Junior Racing Team driver, Oscar Piastri, for the championship, and ultimately won the championship by 65.5 points. ‎ ‎  At the end of her rookie season, Griffiths won the Autosport BRDC Award while also earning the privilege to test Formula 2, DTM, and GT3 cars. At the young age of 16, she had become the youngest-ever winner of the award following the previous achievements of fellow driver George Russell who was 17 at the time of awarding. Afterwards, she was selected for the BRDC’s Superstars Junior Driver mentorship programme, where she had once again become the youngest-ever selection.

SECTOR 2: FIA FORMULA 3

Although Griffiths was rumored to spend the entirety of 2018 competing for Arden International, her BRDC award had given her the privilege to skip directly to the European Formula 3, wherein she debuted as part of Prema Theodore Racing, alongside Guanyu Zhou and Ralf Aron.

‎ ‎ 

She made her debut in Circuit de Pau-Ville, where she finished 1st in the Drivers’ Championship with 365 points – her best finishes being first in Round 3 at Spa-Francorchamps, Round 2 at Silverstone, Round 1 at the Misano World Circuit, and a total sweep in Nurburgring. She continued her streak up until the second round of the season at Red Bull Ring. She finished ahead of her teammates, which ultimately helped Prema secure their Team Championship the very same year.

SECTOR 3: FIA FORMULA 2 (2019 TO 2020)

Griffiths moved up to Formula 2, wherein she was signed to DAMS and set to race alongside Nicholas Latifi. She would end the season, finishing 4th behind Luca Ghiotto and short of 62 points for the championship. With her and Latifis place in the championship standings, they were able to secure DAMS their team championship for the year.

‎ ‎ 

However, in the sprint race in Monza following a double rear collision with Ghiotto, Griffiths suffered a rear right puncture on her car after Ghiotto misjudged his braking for Turn 1 that led to a collision with de Vries, simultaneously hitting Griffiths. Going into Variante della Roggia, her car lost control and violently smashed on the safety barriers. Unfortunately, due to the sheer impact at the speed she was going, Griffiths suffered a break in her fifth metacarpal on her right hand which gave her about 3 to 6 weeks to fully heal.

‎ ‎ 

Griffiths would unfortunately depart from DAMS the following year and temporarily resign from professional racing due to her aforementioned injury – with the rigorous training she had been subjected to before the beginning of the 2020 season, too much strain was put into her injury which only worsened her condition, hence her temporary departure from the sport.

SECTOR 4: FIA FORMULA 2 (2021 TO 2023)

Griffiths made her awaited comeback on the track in 2021 with her previous team DAMS, racing alongside Guilherme Samaia and Roy Nissany. However, on her comeback race in Bahrain, Griffiths experienced a major power loss which caused her retirement from the first Sprint Race of the season.

‎ ‎  Her misfortune was soon followed up in the second Sprint Race wherein she climbed to 6th place by the 13th lap, but was unfortunately dropped to 10th after a safety car was deployed and rivals with fresher tyres were able to pass her. Griffiths ended the 2021 season 13th in the Drivers’ Championship and 8th in the Teams’ Championship.

‎ ‎ 

The following season in 2022, Griffiths was set to race for DAMS alongside Roy Nissany once again with high hopes to come back from the arguably worst season she has ever had in her career. Her steady positions within the points led to her finishing 5th in the overall Drivers’ championship, beating her teammate by a huge 121 points in the final standings.

‎ ‎ 

At the end of the season, however, it was announced that Griffiths would once again depart from DAMS and join ART Grand Prix in the 2023 season, joining Victor Martins. 

‎ ‎ 

Her unexpected move to ART Grand Prix was exactly what she needed to start the season on the right foot, finishing 5th and setting the fastest lap in the Bahrain Sprint Race in 2023 and 1st in the Feature Race, while also starting from pole position. Throughout the entire season, Griffiths consistently finished within the points, rarely ever getting arguably terrible results which led to her winning the Drivers’ Championship for Formula 2 in 2023 with 203 points and an 11-point gap to rival Frederik Vesti. ART Grand Prix also went on to finish 1st in the Teams’ Championships with the efforts of both Griffiths and Martins, who finished 5th in the Drivers’ Championship.

SECTOR 5: FIA FORMULA 1

Throughout her achievements in the 2023 season and given her performance all throughout her career, Griffiths was offered a chance to test for Scuderia Ferrari back in Fiorano to be part of the 2024 grid. Despite performing well, she was offered nothing more than a reserved driver role — one she thought would not suit her, hence the spot being given to Arthur Leclerc and Oliver Bearman.

‎ ‎ 

Griffiths respectfully declined further negotiations from Ferrari, believing that the Scuderia did not have enough faith in her talent to offer her a much more enticing position in the team.

‎ ‎ 

At the end of the 2023 season in December, Griffiths was once again invited to test in Abu Dhabi at the Yas Marina Circuit, this time for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, alongside fellow driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

‎ ‎ 

Despite performing with little to no mistakes, she fell short compared to Antonelli’s results in terms of pace and ultimately, did not secure a seat for herself — one that Antonelli secured the following season, to be able to race in 2025 for the aforementioned team. 

‎ ‎ 

It was in January of 2024 when Griffiths received a call from Oracle Red Bull Racing and their Team Principal, Richard Martin, offering her an opportunity to test for the senior team directly in Silverstone. Clawing for a seat in Formula 1, Griffiths made quite the first impression for herself, finishing just fifth-hundreths of a second behind 4-time Drivers’ Champion Max Verstappen.

Martin was incredibly impressed by the performance shown by the rookie, offering her another reserve driver role for the 2024 season. However, in her contract, a condition set by the team was that her role would put her at the forefront of consideration should a driver be taken out of Oracle Red Bull Racing. 

‎ ‎ 

Griffiths sat in the shadows of this news throughout the 2024 season, waiting to hear from Red Bull once again but after not receiving a call from them until the Qatar Grand Prix, she slowly started to lose hope.

‎ ‎ 

It wasn’t until the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that she received a call to test for them one more time at the Yas Marina Circuit, alongside VISA Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda. This time, Griffiths was determined to learn from her mistakes during her test drive in Mercedes the previous year. 

‎ ‎ 

Griffiths ran a lap time ahead of Verstappen’s performance in 2024, which would have placed her in P5. She would finish a half a second behind Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, which only further solidified Oracle Red Bull Racing’s decision on choosing Griffiths to be their second driver for the 2025 season.

‎ ‎ 

This news was announced to the general public last 23rd of December, 2024 via the official social media platforms of Oracle Red Bull Racing, following the departure of Sergio Perez from the team. Since then, Griffiths has been continuously preparing for her upcoming season with Red Bull with the expectations of fans worldwide hanging on her shoulders. 

‎ ‎ 

[suzie-shooter]

ELMS interview with Clem (link above, copied text under the cut)

Double WSK Super Master Series Kart Champion and Formula 2 race winner Clement Novalak will begin on a new chapter in 2024 when the 23-year-old French driver makes his ELMS debut with Inter Europol Competition in Barcelona, ​​competing for the overall title in LMP2 alongside Ollie Gray and Luca Ghiotto.

After clinching his second WSK Super Master Series title in 2017, Novalak moved up to single seaters winning the 2019 BRDC British Formula 3 title with Carlin and finishing third in the 2021 standings of the FIA ​​Formula 3 Championship. A move to Formula 2 garnered another win with Trident Racing last season, but now Clement Novalak has his sights set on glory in the ELMS and beyond.

Novalak was due to make his endurance racing debut at the Daytona 24 in January, racing in LMP2 with his new team. However, a pit lane incident during the final practice session sidelined the French driver before he could compete in his first race. After suffering a fractured rib, Novalak has now recovered and is ready for the start of the ELMS season in April.

So w hat influenced Novalak to change from single seats to prototypes? “I have always enjoyed the longer format of races; being able to get yourself into the zone at the wheel of the car for multiple hours,” he said. “The format is a real challenge, and enjoyable as we get to work with other drivers. I've always been interested in endurance racing from a young age when I watched the 24 Hours of Le Mans with my dad.

“In saying that, this is a new challenge for me, it's very different from what I'm used to with the sprint races in Formula 2 and Formula 3, but I'm really looking forward to it,” Novalak continued.

“ELMS is good for me, with WEC not having the LMP2s on the calendar anymore, ELMS now has so much racing talent within the championship and this means, that it will be harder to perform well. Inter Europol Competition are a mega team, they have great experience at the highest level of sportscar competition, and I am delighted to be racing with them this year.”

The next obvious question is how the Oreca 07 compares to the single seaters Clement Novalak has raced up to now. “Surprisingly, the car is not too different to what I have been used to,” Novalak admitted. “While heavy, it still has a single-seater vibe! The tires are more complaint than what we had in Formula 2, so overall, it feels similar, and I felt at home from the get-go.

“You can change your driving style and the car responds well, it does what you want so you can play around with it. It’s been extremely enjoyable getting to know the car and hopefully, we’ll be fast out of the box in Barcelona.”

Another new thing that Clement Novalak will have to learn and that is sharing a car. So how does he approach sharing a race car with two other drivers for the first time? “I'm looking forward to working alongside them both to try and extract as much performance as we car from the car and have some fun on the way!

“I don't know either particularly well. Luca (Ghiotto) was someone I looked up to in Formula 3 in my formative years, as he raced against the likes of Callum Ilott and those guys. Ollie (Gray), I know of, he's been in F3 and did a season with Carlin, as did I, so I expect we can share some stories and experiences.”

The competition in the ELMS is always fierce but with 22 LMP2s on the grid, 14 in LMP2, this season is likely to be tougher than ever for the overall title. So how is Clement Novalak approaching the start of the season and what is the goal for his debut year in Le Mans Prototypes? “For sure it's going to be the toughest LMP2 grid in the history of ELMS. There are so many professional drivers joining the series, so it’s going to be a huge challenge,” he admitted. “From my side, I unfortunately fractured a rib in Daytona, so I have not been able to be in the gym as much as I would like, but I have been around the sport and will do as much as I can physically, use the simulator, talk to the engineers and test when I can.

“I'll approach each race weekend as a standalone event, and not think too much about the championship. My job is to maximize everything in the car and the added benefits of having two teammates on the same car is, that we pool our knowledge and feedback to adapt and develop together.”

With six of the most challenging circuits in Europe the ELMS offers a good variety of challenges. So which circuit is Clement Novalak looking forward to the most? “I've had the pleasure of racing on all of the tracks, and to be honest, while there's only six rounds, they are probably the best circuits in Europe.

“It's difficult to pick and choose a favorite, but for me, Le Castellet is a home race and will therefore be special. The elevation changes make Spa-Francorchamps a favorite of many drivers, and for me Imola is one to look forward to with the flowing layout and great atmosphere.”

So what does Clement Novalak get up to when he is not racing? “For me, it is important to be able to switch off, outside of racing. I really enjoy playing tennis and watching football with friends. I'm starting a business at the moment – ​​related to motorsport – so that is taking up quite a lot of my time away from the racetrack.

“I think once you're an athlete, you always enjoy – and respect tremendously – others excelling in other sports. So apart from sitting on the couch watching F1, its football, tennis, and golf; plenty to do in the time I do have off!”

The opening round of the 2024 European Le Mans Series, the 4 Hours of Barcelona, ​​will take place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain on Sunday April 14.

[thechicanediaries]

THE CROWNING OF THE PADDOCK PRINCESS.

Take a look through her journey towards the pinnacle of motorsports. Why don't we count her achievements together?

I. KARTING TO FORMULA 4

Griffiths took up karting at the age of 8 in 2009 in West Wales before she progressed to the cadet class in 2012, becoming the MSA British Champion and British Open Champion. In 2013, she moved to the Rotax Mini Max category before she soon graduated to the KF3 class in 2014, where she earned the SKUSA Supernationals title and became the CIK-FIA European Champion, which she successfully defended in 2015. In her final year of karting in 2016, she finished 3rd in the KF1 CIK-FIA World Championship.

In the beginning of 2017, Quinton moved on to compete in the BRDC Formula 4 under the TRS Arden Junior Racing Team, wherein she had a very close fight with fellow TRS Arden Junior Racing Team driver, Oscar Piastri, for the championship, and ultimately won the championship by 65.5 points. At the end of her rookie season, Griffiths won the Autosport BRDC Award while also earning the privilege to test Formula 2, DTM, and GT3 cars. At the young age of 16, she had become the youngest-ever winner of the award following the previous achievements of fellow driver George Russell who was 17 at the time of awarding. Afterwards, she was selected for the BRDC’s Superstars Junior Driver mentorship programme, where she had once again become the youngest-ever selection.

II. FIA FORMULA 3

Although Griffiths was rumored to spend the entirety of 2018 competing for Arden International, her BRDC award had given her the privilege to skip directly to the European Formula 3, wherein she debuted as part of Prema Theodore Racing, alongside Guanyu Zhou and Ralf Aron. She made her debut in Circuit de Pau-Ville, where she finished 1st in the Drivers’ Championship with 365 points – her best finishes being first in Round 3 at Spa-Francorchamps, Round 2 at Silverstone, Round 1 at the Misano World Circuit, and a total sweep in Nurburgring. She continued her streak up until the second round of the season at Red Bull Ring. She finished ahead of her teammates, which ultimately helped Prema secure their Team Championship the very same year.

III. FIA FORMULA 2 (2019 - 2020)

Griffiths moved up to Formula 2, wherein she was signed to DAMS and set to race alongside Nicholas Latifi. She would end the season, finishing 4th behind Luca Ghiotto and short of 62 points for the championship. With her and Latifis place in the championship standings, they were able to secure DAMS their team championship for the year.

However, in the sprint race in Monza following a double rear collision with Ghiotto, Griffiths suffered a rear right puncture on her car after Ghiotto misjudged his braking for Turn 1 that led to a collision with de Vries, simultaneously hitting Griffiths. Going into Variante della Roggia, her car lost control and violently smashed on the safety barriers. Unfortunately, due to the sheer impact at the speed she was going, Griffiths suffered a break in her fifth metacarpal on her right hand which gave her about 3 to 6 weeks to fully heal.

Griffiths would unfortunately depart from DAMS the following year and temporarily resign from professional racing due to her aforementioned injury – with the rigorous training she had been subjected to before the beginning of the 2020 season, too much strain was put into her injury which only worsened her condition, hence her temporary departure from the sport.

IV. FIA FORMULA 2 (2021 - 2023)

Griffiths made her awaited comeback on the track in 2021 with her previous team DAMS, racing alongside Guilherme Samaia and Roy Nissany. However, on her comeback race in Bahrain, Griffiths experienced a major power loss which caused her retirement from the first Sprint Race of the season. Her misfortune soon followed after in the second Sprint Race wherein she climbed to 6th place by the 13th lap, but was unfortunately dropped to 10th after a safety car was deployed and rivals with fresher tyres passed her. Griffiths ended the 2021 season 13th in the Drivers’ Championship and 8th in the Teams’ Championship.

The following season in 2022, Griffiths was set to race for DAMS alongside Roy Nissany once again with high hopes to come back from the arguably worst season she has ever had in her career. Her steady positions within the points led to her finishing 5th in the overall Drivers’ championship, beating her teammate by a huge 121 points in the final standings. At the end of the season, however, it was announced that Griffiths would once again depart from DAMS and join ART Grand Prix in the 2023 season, joining Victor Martins. 

Her unexpected move to ART Grand Prix was exactly what she needed to start the season on the right foot, finishing 5th and setting the fastest lap in the Bahrain Sprint Race in 2023 and 1st in the Feature Race, while also starting from pole position. Throughout the entire season, Griffiths consistently finished within the points, rarely ever getting arguably terrible results which led to her winning the Drivers’ Championship for Formula 2 in 2023 with 203 points and an 11-point gap to rival Frederik Vesti. ART Grand Prix also went on to finish 1st in the Teams’ Championships with the efforts of both Griffiths and Martins, who finished 5th in the Drivers’ Championship.

V. FIA FORMULA 1

Throughout her achievements in the 2023 season and given her performance all throughout her career, Griffiths was offered a chance to test for Scuderia Ferrari back in Fiorano to be part of the 2024 grid. Despite performing well, she was offered nothing more than a reserved driver role — one she thought would not suit her, hence the spot being given to Arthur Leclerc and Oliver Bearman. Griffiths respectfully declined further negotiations from Ferrari, believing that the Scuderia did not have enough faith in her talent to offer her a much more enticing position in the team.

At the end of the 2023 season in December, Griffiths was once again invited to test in Abu Dhabi at the Yas Marina Circuit, this time for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, alongside fellow driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Despite performing with little to no mistakes, she fell short compared to Antonelli’s results in terms of pace and ultimately, did not secure a seat for herself — one that Antonelli secured the following season, to be able to race in 2025 for the aforementioned team. 

It was in January of 2024 when Griffiths received a call from Oracle Red Bull Racing and their Team Principal, Richard Martin, offering her an opportunity to test for the senior team directly in Silverstone. Clawing for a seat in Formula 1, Griffiths made quite the first impression for herself, finishing just fifth-hundreths of a second behind 4-time Drivers’ Champion Max Verstappen. Martin was incredibly impressed by the performance shown by the rookie, offering her another reserve driver role for the 2024 season. However, in her contract, a condition set by the team was that her role would put her at the forefront of consideration should a driver be taken out of Oracle Red Bull Racing. 

Griffiths sat in the shadows of this news throughout the 2024 season, waiting to hear from Red Bull once again but after not receiving a call from them until the Qatar Grand Prix, she slowly started to lose hope. It wasn't until the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that she received a call to test for them one more time at the Yas Marina Circuit, alongside VISA Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda. This time, Griffiths was determined to learn from her mistakes during her test drive in Mercedes the previous year. 

Griffiths ran a lap time actually ahead of Verstappen's performance in 2024, which would have placed her in P5. She would finish a half a second behind Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, which only further solidified Oracle Red Bull Racing's decision on choosing Griffiths to be their second driver for the 2025 season. This news was announced to the general public last 23rd of December, 2024 via the official social media platforms of Oracle Red Bull Racing, following the departure of Sergio Perez from the team. Since then, Griffiths has been continuously preparing for her upcoming season with Red Bull with the expectations of fans worldwide hanging on her shoulders. 

[robinfrinjs]

Teams have to run rookies in both cars. This is 3 hours in each car, but most teams are opting for a single driver in both cars (but separate sessions). The only driver confirmed so far is Gabriela Jilkova for Porsche. She will be running in both Pascal and Antonio their cars.

However, some other drivers are already rumoured. A summary down here:

Porsche: Gabriela Jilkova (confirmed)

ABT Cupra: Adrien Tambay

DS Penske: Robert Schwartzman

Andretti: Zane Maloney

Maserati: Yann Ehrlacher

Nissan: Luca Ghiotto & Victor Martins

Mahindra: Jordan King (confirmed)

Envision: Jack Aitken (confirmed)

These rookie drivers will not be eligible to take part in the two race simulations that are scheduled for the second day of the test on Wednesday October 25, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

[andromedasummer]

sheldon is 24 so i guess he is young-ish? luca ghiotto hasn't raced fe yet he's their sim driver, his last race was subbing in an f2 race. as you do

AH i meant like, as in, young drivers tests usually meaning young drivers who also haven't broken into the professional racing scene (kvyat was in f1 a WHILE and is currently in WEC, van der linde has been in a few series).

also THAT explains why I'd seen Ghiotto's name before ty for letting me know. For some reason I thought he'd subbed in for an FE team for just one race a goood while back in the early days when he was still in feeder. must've mixed him up with someone. early fe swapped out drivers every other race so keeping track was always very hard.

[lovebaybayme]

I was missing an option "I don't like any of them" bc I might have no opinion on Luca Ghiotto, but I have clear opinion on others and I do not like them

@fewtrell made a indycar sorter that you should definitely check out 'cause it be accurate 👀😳 (tho everything below conor daly is a hodgepodge of me either not knowing those drivers that well or in SOME cases. actively disliking them. you're free to guess which drivers fall into the latter category 😅)