And I can't lie, I am so excited for this season to start because I think it's going to be one of the most exciting seasons we've had in a little bit. The amount of new drivers that we have on the grid, I think it's six rookies that we have there. We have drivers that have changed teams, Carlos Sainz going to Williams, Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari, and I think that is one driver that everyone has got their eye on at the moment, just to see how he's going to fare when he goes to Ferrari.

Driver weight has also been increased this year that's going up to 80 kilograms and that is to account for drivers that might be a little bit heavier or a little bit taller. But also just to look after driver well being. So another good change coming in for the drivers.

The FIA are increasing the number of rookie sessions, though. So at the moment, every car has to field one rookie in one FP1 session throughout the season. Now it's going to be two rookies per car. Really good way to get some more younger drivers that experience in a Formula 1 car, and it also gives the teams a chance to see what talent is out there when they're in a current Formula One car on a track. So I'm very excited and interested to see who the teams are going to be picking this year because some of the drivers that the teams would have picked are now rookies in F1. So I'm very interested to see who in F2 or in their driver academies or maybe in a different series they will be bringing into their cars for those rookie sessions.

Kind of do get it. I do think sometimes using a free practice session can work better. But I also understand that sometimes in a free practice session teams are doing different programs. They're not always trying flat out qualifying pace. They might be trying race pace. They might be trying different types of parts on their cars and different specs. So I do get it that practice doesn't always help set a grid. But yeah, regardless, they are now going to be using the championship standings. And in one respect, right, I'm glad that we have that rule out because it just gives us clarity and there's no umming and ahhing. We'll know what the grid is going to look like if qualifying can't be held.

Now there is one set of rules that have come into place over winter break that have been quite controversial and this isn't to do with anything on track necessarily. But it is to do a lot with public comments, especially from the drivers. So the FIA and Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of the FIA, have put stricter rules in place.

The new rules have come into place though, and it's not just to do with if drivers are swearing, it includes that, it includes if they are bringing the FIA into disrepute, so any sort of negative comments towards the FIA, and also I think any, was it political and religious gestures or comments, right? All these things are coming under this umbrella and these new set of stricter rules.

And I'm going to have to check my notes to remember this because it's a sort of three strikes and you're out system. So the first offence for swearing any negative comments about the FIA or any religious or political displays will give you a fine of 40,000 euros, The second offence will then give you a fine of 80,000 euros. And the third one is where it seems quite drastic. So it's 120, 000 euros for your third offence, right? Okay, fair enough. On top of that, it looks like you're going to get a month suspension and you will have points docked from the World Championship. Does this feel excessive? Yes.

Now I understand that sports people, athletes, when you're in the public eye, you are looked up to as a role model and yes, I get it, you might not necessarily want, in terms of swearing at least, you're not going to want drivers doing that on live TV. Okay, fine.

It feels like a little bit of a grey area at the moment, and yeah, I'm very curious how this is going to be taken by the drivers because they already weren't too happy last season with the FIA wanting to clamp down on the swearing. A lot of them just feeling like the FIA was starting to treat them like kids, which I do get. They're grown men, they're driving extremely fast around circuits and adrenaline is very high.

I don't think it's a good idea and I can't quite figure out what the FIA want to gain from this. Will it work? Will it stop the drivers? I don't know because yes, that third offence, the punishment for that is really harsh. A month's suspension on top of docking points from the world championship. Seems very excessive. But we will wait and see what happens. I'm very curious on what the drivers are going to say. Because like I said, this specific set of rules came out over winter break. The drivers are obviously away from the media. They're spending time with family and friends, as they should be. But yeah, when they're back into that world of F1 again, when the season starts up, I am very curious what they're going to be saying.

Let's move on to the calendar, though, for this F1 season, and we don't actually have a lot of changes going on. Still have twenty four races on the calendar, which I personally believe is still a little too many, but I don't think that's gonna change.

China, Miami, Belgium, and i'm gonna have to check my notes because I can't remember US, Brazil and Qatar are the sprint races. Sorry about that. Could not remember all the sprint races.

China is an interesting one, now it's not that I didn't enjoy the sprint race last year, I did, but China is the second race on the calendar so it will be interesting for the drivers and the rookies to only have one practice session out in China and then go into sprint qualifying, sprint, quali and then the race. So that's going to be an interesting one.

Other than that though, the only other changes I think is that Azerbaijan and Japan have almost swapped places. So Azerbaijan is much later in the season now, it's after summer break, and Japan is then way earlier in the season, it's the third race, and yeah, very, very early on, and I think it's just to help geographically with all the teams and personnel traveling everywhere. So that does make sense to me.

McLaren and Aston Martin, though, are the only teams who have not changed their lineup. So every other team has at least one new driver coming in, and McLaren and Aston Martin are the only ones that have locked in with the same drivers.

So for Ferrari, we have Lewis Hamilton coming in with Carlos Sainz leaving, and that's had so much media attention. Especially lately with him having his first day there, the first runs in that Ferrari car, and Pirelli tyre testing as well. It's been really exciting to see. Red Bull, Sergio Perez is leaving, with Liam Lawson coming in his place.

Mercedes, we have Kimi Antonelli coming in, in the place of Lewis Hamilton. So, you know, a rookie driver coming in. With Liam Lawson in Red Bull, he's had a couple of races now with VCARB. Kimi Antonelli, though, really is a rookie in the truest sense of the word. He's done rookie sessions, he's done a lot of testing with Mercedes, but he's not actually driven in an F1 weekend.

So I don't know, I think it's very performance dependent on Jack doing now as to whether he keeps the seat, according to the rumours. Because nothing has actually been confirmed here, but there have been a lot of rumours about it. And yeah, I can't imagine how that's a feeling for Jack right now, whether they're true or not, but to have the media talk about this before your F1 debut cannot be a great feeling.

But definitely one to keep an eye out for. My gut feeling is saying that Flavio really wants Franco in that seat. Whether it happens or not, though, is a different conversation entirely. But by the sounds of it, Alpine did pay a lot of money to get Colapinto out of that Williams contract. Don't feel like you'd do that just to keep him as a reserve driver.

Haas are having an entirely brand new lineup. Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen have left the team, and in their place we've got Esteban Ocon and rookie Ollie Bearman. Visa CashApp RB have a rookie coming in with Liam Lawson leaving. They've brought up Red Bull Junior Isack Hadjar. Williams obviously have Carlos Sainz coming in with Sargeant vacating the seat midway through last season, and then obviously having signed Sainz before Colapinto was their driver. And then in Sauber they have an entirely new line up as well, they've got Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoletto in those seats.

Max still won the drivers which was amazing but yeah, the car itself for the team is not as strong so I think that's something in general they're gonna wanna see improve.

I think those are the two teams that I think need just small improvements but then the rest of them I think I've got on this list need bigger improvements in a nice way, you know. I want to see all the teams do well.

Yeah, I was going to chat about drivers that need improvement, but it's kind of hard to say, I think, with drivers. And I think what I have are drivers, not so much that I say would need improvement, but drivers that I'm just hoping have a good season. And that does go for all the rookies, right? I want them all to have a decent season.

And when I look at Liam Lawson and Kimi Antonelli in particular, they've got a lot of pressure on their hands, right? Liam Lawson is joining a team with the reigning world champion, with a four time back to back world champion in Red Bull, and we know from Max's previous teammates, Max is not an easy driver to go up against. At the end of the day, you know, he is a very talented driver, has very good speed, and has that experience over Liam Lawson as well, you know, and that counts for a lot. So I am hoping that Lawson has a decent season and can hold his own a little bit against Max, you know. I don't think anyone's necessarily expecting him to be on the same level, but , he's still in that fight with other drivers, he is able to get a decent haul of points on a race weekend.

And with Kimi Antonelli, once again, he's stepping into a very good team with Mercedes. It's like I said before, Liam Lawson has at least had a couple of races with VCARB. Antonelli has not had that, so he really is going in quite fresh when we see him out in Australia. Obviously three days of testing out in Bahrain, but you know, the pressure you have on a Grand Prix weekend is very, very different. So I'm hoping that he also has a decent year.

A lot of eyes I think are going to be on Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari and I'm hoping that he settles in well to that team. That the car is decent and he enjoys driving it and has a good season with them. I would love to see him win in red.

Alex Albon, I think for him this is going to be a season where he needs to show that he can go toe to toe with Carlos Sainz. Carlos is a fantastic driver and so is Alex. But I think this for Alex Albon while he's been in Williams, it's the first driver that I think is really gonna push and challenge him. And we saw some points against Franco Colapinto, Albon couldn't consistently get the better of Colapinto. So I'm curious with Carlos Sainz what that's gonna be like.

But yeah, other than that, I think Oscar Piastri was the other driver I think he's just going to want to get closer to Lando Norris and want to be in that fight right at the front with his teammate.

Sauber, like I mentioned, because they're becoming Audi, I can't see them doing a vast amount of improvement right now. I could be wrong, and we've also seen how Nico Hülkenberg has driven a Haas that has not always had great race pace and managed to get it into the points, managed to get it into Q3. So they're going to be an interesting team to watch but I genuinely do think Williams and Sauber are still going to be trailing behind everyone.

The WDC though, and who I think is going to be fighting for that top prize to get that world championship. I think it will realistically be a battle between Lando and Chalres. I am hoping that Lewis is involved in that fight. And I do think there is also a chance that Max could be involved in that fight as well because there is every chance for both of those drivers. As long as they've got a decent enough car, it doesn't have to be the best car, but as long as they are comfortable in it and can drive it, I think they could be fighting for it as well.

I just think it's going to be quite close for the WDC this year, honestly, whether it's two drivers fighting for it, three, four, five, whatever, I think it's going to be very, very close and the rest of the grid also very close and I think there'll be a lot of changes throughout the year.

But thank you guys so, so much for listening. It is so good to be back and diolch yn fawr for sticking around. Make sure you follow me on TikTok and Instagram @stewards_office and I will see you guys the next time you're summoned to the steward's office.