Formula 1

[charlierc]

So... interesting. Everyone has work to do to reel in Red Bull, Aston Martin are looking genuinely quite impressive, Ferrari clearly needed to replace more than just Binotto, Mercedes are already talking up binning their car concept, the midfield looks competitive, McLaren are in a bit of a hole and I don't think anyone had a worse day than Esteban Ocon who just picked up all the penalties.

[DareToDibble]

Bit of a boring race if we're being honest but despite that it offered a lot of promise for the season as teams 2-4 seem pretty close in Ferrari, Aston and Mercedes. Think both championships will be a but if a procession unfortunately.

Alonso seems genuinely happy and even being a team player asking about Lance etc. Although I guess that's a lot easier to do in a good car.

McLaren, where to begin. Seem to be getting worse every year at the moment.

I can't understand why Alpine and McLaren kept Ocon and Norris out. I guess you coul argue they were collecting data but when you're limited on components it seems a bit daft.

[charlierc]

On 3/6/2023 at 3:54 PM, DareToDibble said:

Bit of a boring race if we're being honest but despite that it offered a lot of promise for the season as teams 2-4 seem pretty close in Ferrari, Aston and Mercedes. Think both championships will be a but if a procession unfortunately.

Alonso seems genuinely happy and even being a team player asking about Lance etc. Although I guess that's a lot easier to do in a good car.

McLaren, where to begin. Seem to be getting worse every year at the moment.

I can't understand why Alpine and McLaren kept Ocon and Norris out. I guess you coul argue they were collecting data but when you're limited on components it seems a bit daft.

It reminds me a little of 2016 or 2020 tbf, where one team out front is cleaning up but the fights behind have potential to be pretty good. Bahrain has had better races, mind. I don't think Red Bull will win 100% of all races given that it's never happened before and even previous teams who were a million miles ahead of everyone else have bottled a race or two, but this is a team and car that's perhaps got the best potential to see that. Though obviously, just one race.

And tbf Ocon did eventually get called in to stop given his incredible penalty bingo. I think McLaren treated it as just an extra testing session given they did less mileage than many peers, but yeah, they're in an abysmal place.

[charlierc]

Hmmm... Verstappen having a driveshaft failure in qualifying when pole seemed guaranteed to be his does at least make tomorrow slightly more interesting.

Could well end up being like Spa last year when he won from P14, mind. As long as the first few laps are predictable and something else doesn't break.

Edited March 18, 2023 by charlierc

[charlierc]

At the risk of me talking to myself, there's a few notes already. Namely, Red Bull have nailed the regulations, the 3 teams behind all look capable of podiums and Alpine might be close to their label when they're not engaged in self-destructive behaviour and this was a day where the FIA just couldn't win.

I mean, the Magnussen incident - either run out of time to clear it and get criticised for not allowing green flag running to the end, or get criticised for trying to be too gimmicky in trying a 2 lap mini-race at the end, and now get further criticised for allowing conditions that lead to such a restart melee and having to go on a deep dive of the rule book to figure out what to do next.

[Padjeq]

14 hours ago, charlierc said:

At the risk of me talking to myself, there's a few notes already. Namely, Red Bull have nailed the regulations, the 3 teams behind all look capable of podiums and Alpine might be close to their label when they're not engaged in self-destructive behaviour and this was a day where the FIA just couldn't win.

I mean, the Magnussen incident - either run out of time to clear it and get criticised for not allowing green flag running to the end, or get criticised for trying to be too gimmicky in trying a 2 lap mini-race at the end, and now get further criticised for allowing conditions that lead to such a restart melee and having to go on a deep dive of the rule book to figure out what to do next.

The Alpines taking each other out was very funny.

[charlierc]

On 4/3/2023 at 9:30 AM, Padjeq said:

The Alpines taking each other out was very funny.

Well it was on-brand for a bizarrely self-destructive statue.

Wonder if Gasly's penalty points stopped him from getting a penalty here as his looked at least as the incident Sainz got a penalty when he struck Alonso. To say nothing as well of Logan Sargeant getting away with crashing into De Vries.

[Neil]

[DareToDibble]

On 4/2/2023 at 7:20 PM, charlierc said:

At the risk of me talking to myself, there's a few notes already. Namely, Red Bull have nailed the regulations, the 3 teams behind all look capable of podiums and Alpine might be close to their label when they're not engaged in self-destructive behaviour and this was a day where the FIA just couldn't win.

I mean, the Magnussen incident - either run out of time to clear it and get criticised for not allowing green flag running to the end, or get criticised for trying to be too gimmicky in trying a 2 lap mini-race at the end, and now get further criticised for allowing conditions that lead to such a restart melee and having to go on a deep dive of the rule book to figure out what to do next.

I was away for the race so didn't get to watch it, just reading it online sounded confusing enough and read like the stewards had really messed it all up again but when I got home and watched it I think they probably got it about right. As you say, they were in a no win situation really as they either get criticised for what they did or they get criticised for letting the race finish behind a SC. Granted this is what happened but they tried to get some racing.

[charlierc]

Certainly Australia's chaos had more to it than this one in Baku, which ended up just showing the worst traits of both the new sprint format and the track. Though Checo at least indicates we could still have a title fight of some kind, assuming he can close the gap to Verstappen on the courses that aren't street circuits.

This, meanwhile, was pretty unacceptable, but at least we avoided anything nasty happening.

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by charlierc

[DareToDibble]

On 4/30/2023 at 6:23 PM, charlierc said:

Certainly Australia's chaos had more to it than this one in Baku, which ended up just showing the worst traits of both the new sprint format and the track. Though Checo at least indicates we could still have a title fight of some kind, assuming he can close the gap to Verstappen on the courses that aren't street circuits.

This, meanwhile, was pretty unacceptable, but at least we avoided anything nasty happening.

 

I was away all weekend so binge watched a lot of the F1 today. Wish I hadn't bothered with the race as that was a snoozefest, though that press thing you posted is absolutely insane, should never happen. 
The sprint was good though. Good to see Checo still taking it to Max and it not just being a 1 horse race all season.

 

What do you think about this new Sprint Quali format? I had no idea about it until my mate messaged on Friday to say Quali that day was for the race grid and he wasn't sure how they figure out the grid for the sprint. Not sure if they're trying to do too much but he's pretty into his F1 and still didn't really know what was going on at first.

[charlierc]

12 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

I was away all weekend so binge watched a lot of the F1 today. Wish I hadn't bothered with the race as that was a snoozefest, though that press thing you posted is absolutely insane, should never happen. 
The sprint was good though. Good to see Checo still taking it to Max and it not just being a 1 horse race all season.

 

What do you think about this new Sprint Quali format? I had no idea about it until my mate messaged on Friday to say Quali that day was for the race grid and he wasn't sure how they figure out the grid for the sprint. Not sure if they're trying to do too much but he's pretty into his F1 and still didn't really know what was going on at first.

Yeah that sprint quali stuff was a strange one. On paper it didn't seem like a bad idea but in practice it just added to the sense of being beaten over the head with a pretty mediocre season so far. I missed the sprint and seemed to miss the fun of Verstappen v Russell, but that was about it. And with the RB stuff, fingers crossed Perez can do more at non-street tracks to give us a Hamilton v Rosberg kind of fight.

It seems to me as though all the downforce taken off to make them better wheel-to-wheel racers as was the intent in 2022 has been put back on. Leclerc's pole-time in Baku was the fastest ever for that track, and it seemed as though cars just couldn't follow one another well, similar to the 2017-21 cars and continuing a theme seen in Bahrain and Saudi where overtaking was trickier than in 2022.

Bodes well for Miami, which got a bit of a kicking from fans last year for being overhyped (though in retrospect actually wasn't the worst race ever).

Edited May 2, 2023 by charlierc

[charlierc]

Miami was a curious race in a way but I wonder if that's as much just people dissatisfied with Red Bull being F1 and everyone else being F1.5. I enjoyed it more than the dour round in Baku last week, but that isn't saying much.

[gazzared]

11 hours ago, charlierc said:

Miami was a curious race in a way but I wonder if that's as much just people dissatisfied with Red Bull being F1 and everyone else being F1.5. I enjoyed it more than the dour round in Baku last week, but that isn't saying much.

I dont even bother watching it live anymore and Ive loved F1 since a kid but the races are terrible this year. I watch my recording when convenient but end up fast forwarding to the end as red bulls are so much faster its not even a race  . Iam not even bothered that mercedes are awful again , I just want it to be competitive 😭

[DareToDibble]

Yeah, echo both of your posts above really. It's getting a bit (very) boring just having Red Bull run away with it race after race. I'm sure I saw Horner say they've gained more time in their upgrades so he's not sure why Merc and Ferrari haven't. Obviously he was using it as a chance to have a dig but it does feel like they're getting further away, not closer.

Could be another season where the broadcasters have to hype up the race for 3rd and below and top 2 will be done by the summer break at this rate.

[charlierc]

So, after the rain made Imola a bust, Monaco. Ordinarily, not a race I look forward to but if somebody can outqualify the Red Bulls on a track where this spec of F1 car makes overtaking borderline impossible, that could make things very interesting indeed.

[DareToDibble]

On 5/24/2023 at 9:32 PM, charlierc said:

So, after the rain made Imola a bust, Monaco. Ordinarily, not a race I look forward to but if somebody can outqualify the Red Bulls on a track where this spec of F1 car makes overtaking borderline impossible, that could make things very interesting indeed.

Well the rain almost made it interesting for a bit! Max is absolutely running away with this now. Great to see Alonso up there again. Apparently their Barcelona upgrade will give them another 2 tenth, not sure if I can see that though.

Mercedes making some good progress race by race, think they might be level with Ferrari now. Wouldn't bet against them winning a race or 2 by the end of the season.

[charlierc]

4 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

Well the rain almost made it interesting for a bit! Max is absolutely running away with this now. Great to see Alonso up there again. Apparently their Barcelona upgrade will give them another 2 tenth, not sure if I can see that though.

Mercedes making some good progress race by race, think they might be level with Ferrari now. Wouldn't bet against them winning a race or 2 by the end of the season.

Alpine getting a podium was pretty good, not least given their own CEO was trying to throw his own team under the bus with a lot of uncomplimentary comments in Miami.

Hell Ocon could nearly have got pole given he was up there before Leclerc, Alonso and then Verstappen got just quicker in the zone when a red flag would've meant an instant session end, and had Ocon got pole, Monaco's tight nature meant it would've been a challenge for anyone to get past him.

I think Alonso would well have won that. Max needed to do a brilliant final sector to even got pole, and then Alonso pit at what ended up being the right lap for inters only to do an ill-fated lap on another set of dries right at the point it really began to piss it down.

We'll see what Barcelona brings. Mercedes might be better for their much-taunted upgrade or it might be a flash in the pan. Though it is the case that we have Aston, Mercedes and Ferrari fighting over the final bit on the podium given Max and Checo are basically in another league (assuming Checo is able to avoid a disaster like he had in Monaco Q1, that is).

[DareToDibble]

Max won with absolute ease yet again. Was good to see the Mercs up there though, they continue to make good improvements.

Ferrari. Same as always really and getting worse. Is anyone starting to doubt Leclerc as potential future world champion? I'm not convinced if he's in the same car as Max/Lewis he would compete with them. He still seems pretty prone to mistakes too.

[DareToDibble]

3 hours ago, Barry Fish said:

I think there is very little evidence up and down the gird that many could compete with Max...

Lewis and Alonso for sure...  but its looking more doutbful that either will have the car to do it anytime soon and both are not getting any younger.

Maybe Russell ?  Norris ? 

I think I have seen enough from Leclerc to know he is too error prone, too many unforced mistakes to match Max over the course of a season.

Yeah I think we could be in for some Max dominance for a few years yet. It could be worse than when Lewis dominated (by worse I mean so 1 sided it becomes a bit stale).

Maybe a bit unfair of me to say but I'm not convinced Norris has what it takes to be at Max level either but hard to say when he is driving that shitbox. 

You might be on to something with Russell, he looks very quick when given the car. Other than that it's hard to imagine anyone else as champion from the current grid. Certainly doesn't feel like any of the young drives are a future Schumacher, Hamilton, Verstappen (who is still young himself).

 

On another note - how long until Williams just give up? They've been useless for many years now.

Edited June 5, 2023 by DareToDibble

[charlierc]

On 6/5/2023 at 11:18 AM, DareToDibble said:

Ferrari. Same as always really and getting worse. Is anyone starting to doubt Leclerc as potential future world champion? I'm not convinced if he's in the same car as Max/Lewis he would compete with them. He still seems pretty prone to mistakes too.

Ferrari's tyre wear was a problem in 2021 that got worse last year but this year has been really bad. They have great one lap pace in qualy (most of the time) but just can't seem to make the tyres last in a way Merc and Aston can, let alone Red Bull. It's also not a good omen both Leclerc and Sainz talk about it as a problem they don't understand.

Seems to be a trait Ferrari's client team Haas have picked up given theirs in Barcelona was really bad. They would be brilliant for about 3 laps, then faded pretty much straight away and Hulk and KMag got overtaken by anyone behind them.

I think the fact Verstappen is already talking about taking up things in other series like Le Mans (or indeed Andretti wants him for the Indy 500) means that we may not get dominance forever if he decides the time for a new challenge is nigh. Certainly he just suits the car so well if he can win by nearly 25 seconds and his only real threat was the team trying to get him to slow down, and after the brief flirtation that Perez might be able to challenge has gone away, it feels like title #3 will be his before long. Merc made progress but a lot more is gonna be required to reel in Max.

[charlierc]

There was news this morning that actors Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Michael B Jordan are part of a group that have all brought in to 24% of Alpine. Feel like that team's been on the cusp of a breakthrough for a few seasons without looking like they would manage it.

Certainly another sign that F1 is getting the US attention its coveted for so long with this going on. And given Verstappen's dominant streak carried on in Canada last time out - if perhaps not as dominant as usual - might well be one of the more intriguing bits of this week in F1.

[DareToDibble]

Well we knew it would happen but this season is on course to be one of the most boring ever. Max is winning with absolute ease. Says a lot he was able to pit with 2 laps to go just to get the fastest lap.

Hamilton complaining about the FIA needing to do something about this dominance is a bit rich coming from someone that was part of a team dominating for about 8 years. 

I was talking to a mate the other day and I really struggle to see who the future world champions are on the grid at the moment. Outside of Max does anyone see any driver being WDC from the young drivers?

[charlierc]

9 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

Well we knew it would happen but this season is on course to be one of the most boring ever. Max is winning with absolute ease. Says a lot he was able to pit with 2 laps to go just to get the fastest lap.

Hamilton complaining about the FIA needing to do something about this dominance is a bit rich coming from someone that was part of a team dominating for about 8 years. 

I was talking to a mate the other day and I really struggle to see who the future world champions are on the grid at the moment. Outside of Max does anyone see any driver being WDC from the young drivers?

Well if Max leaves in 2028 as he seems to be implying he will, that opens the floor quite a bit. Though it could opened up before that if the 2026 engine rule changes mix things up, and given Red Bull already felt the need to air complaints about what their simulator data is saying they'll be like, it could hint they've not got that project off to a good start.

Certainly, for as much as the rest of the grid were actually quite entertaining in Austria (track limit arguments aside), Verstappen was in no real jeopardy until they ended up making that late pit stop, which very much would've introduced jeopardy if they'd had, say, a Bottas in Monaco 2 years ago moment where the wheel got stuck.

[DareToDibble]

On 7/4/2023 at 7:51 PM, charlierc said:

Well if Max leaves in 2028 as he seems to be implying he will, that opens the floor quite a bit. Though it could opened up before that if the 2026 engine rule changes mix things up, and given Red Bull already felt the need to air complaints about what their simulator data is saying they'll be like, it could hint they've not got that project off to a good start.

Certainly, for as much as the rest of the grid were actually quite entertaining in Austria (track limit arguments aside), Verstappen was in no real jeopardy until they ended up making that late pit stop, which very much would've introduced jeopardy if they'd had, say, a Bottas in Monaco 2 years ago moment where the wheel got stuck.

I do wonder about Max. He says he's not that bothered by records etc but I find it hard to believe if he's on, say, 5 or 6 titles by 2028, that he wouldn't want to stay on to match/break the record. Maybe he truly doesn't care but it would be odd for a F1 driver not to.

I did see him say something about 2026 regs being horrible and something like he would be quicker going down 1 gear at the end of the straight at Monza under the 50% ICE/50% battery regs. Find that hard to believe but who knows.

 

Hopefully the British GP might be a bit more entertaining but I'm not holding my breath.