F1 2024 - 24 Rounds of Street Circuit Thrillers

[Ben]

Calendar TRANSFERS:
- China returns for the first time since 2019, after they finally get over themselves.
- Emilia Romagna remains on the calendar after losing the 2023 round to floods.



Grand Prix
Circuit
Date


Bahrain
Sakhir
March 2


Saudi Arabia
Jeddah
March 9


Australia
Melbourne
March 24


Japan
Suzuka
April 7


China
Shanghai
April 21


Miami
Miami Gardens
May 5


Emilia Romagna
Imola
May 19


Monaco
Monaco
May 26


Spain
Barcelona-Catalunya
June 4


Canada
Montreal
June 18


Austria
Spielberg
June 30


Great Britain
Silverstone
July 7


Hungary
Hungaroring
July 21


Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
July 28


Netherlands
Zandvoort
August 25


Italy
Monza
September 1


Azerbaijan
Baku
September 15


Singapore
Marina Bay
September 22


United States
Austin
October 20


Mexico City
Mexico City
October 27


São Paulo
Interlagos
November 3


Las Vegas
Las Vegas
November 23


Qatar
Lusail
December 1


Abu Dhabi
Yas Marina
December 8



Sprint rounds:
- China, Miami, Austria, United States, São Paulo and Qatar. Sprint qualifying will take place on Friday afternoons after free practice, with the Sprint race being the first track action on Saturday morning (Grand Prix qualifying reverts to its traditional Saturday afternoon slot).

Team TRANSFERS:
No new teams of course, closed shop and all. But we have a couple of exciting re-namings!
- Sauber ended their partnership with Alfa Romeo and renamed to Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber in what for a very short time was the worst team name ever, until...
- Red Bull announced the AlphaTauri name is no more and the sister team will now be known as the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team.

Driver TRANSFERS:
- Not a sausage. Worse than football.



Constructor
Car
Engine
Drivers


Alpine
A524
Renault
(10) Pierre Gasly
(31) Esteban Ocon


Aston Martin
AMR24
Mercedes
(14) Fernando Alonso
(18) Lance Stroll


Ferrari
SF-24
Ferrari
(16) Charles Leclerc
(55) Carlos Sainz Jr.


Haas
VF-24
Ferrari
(20) Kevin Magnussen
(27) Nico Hülkenberg


Sauber
C44
Ferrari
(24) Guanyu Zhou
(77) Valtteri Bottas


McLaren
MCL38
Mercedes
(4) Lando Norris
(81) Oscar Piastri


Mercedes
W15
Mercedes
(44) Lewis Hamilton
(63) George Russell


RB
TBA
Honda RBPT
(3) Daniel Ricciardo
(22) Yuki Tsunoda


Red Bull
RB20
Honda RBPT
(1) Max Verstappen
(11) Sergio Perez


Williams
FW46
Mercedes
(2) Logan Sargeant
(23) Alexander Albon



Technical rule changes:
- Teams are now allowed to install a "scoop" (whatever that is) to the car to aid driver cooling after everyone cooked in Qatar last year.
- The intended tyre blanket ban which was due to be trialled in 2024 has been abandoned after teams argued the tyres are too shit.
- 2026 will see major technical rule changes but teams are prohibited from doing any wind tunnel and CFD works for that during 2024.
- The Pirelli C0 (hardest tyre in the range) has been dropped after being introduced in 2023 but used a grand total of zero times.

Sporting rule changes:
- Right of review request reduced from 14 to 4 days.
- As noted in the calendar section above, the sprint weekend format has been adjusted after widespread criticism.
- DRS will now be available one lap after a race start, safety car restart and red flag restart.
- PU allocation increased from three to four per season for 2024 and 2025.

Testing:
- One pre-season test has been arranged: Bahrain on 21-23 February.

[Jimmy Floyd]

What are we actually calling the Stake F1 Kick Sauber outfit? Stake, Kick or Sauber?

I understand Vcarb for the other lot, which is shit but at least sayable.

[Ben]

Sauber for me. Stake is the title sponsor (like Aramco for Aston) and the constructor name is Kick Sauber.

Similarly for the other lot, Visa Cash App is just the title sponsor and the team name is RB (short for Racing Bulls apparently), in the same vein as RB Leipzig.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Stake F1 Kick Sauber every single time.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Oh I'll be going with Sauber and Minardi, but I need to know what David Croft (similarly I refuse to call him Crofty) will be mandated to say when they are dicing into turn five.

[SincereTheRebel]

Sainz to outscore Leclerc
Hamilton to win a race
Lando fails to win a race
Verstappen to win it all

[Ben]

Oh I'll be going with Sauber and Minardi, but I need to know what David Croft (similarly I refuse to call him Crofty) will be mandated to say when they are dicing into turn five.

He doesn't call Aston Martin "Aramco" or Red Bull "Oracle" so following those rules it should be Sauber (or Kick Sauber at a push) and RB.

[Ben]

Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber -> F1 Team Kick Sauber

Turns out Stake is shady money. That didn't last long.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

They're an Australian betting company whose HQ is in Curacao, of course it's shady.

[Jimmy Floyd]

That's very embarrassing. Festooned in the logos just last night.

[Waffdon]

How have they managed to keep Kick if they’re binning off stake? The former is funded by the latter

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Because Stake is a gambling company.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Mark Hughes has just pointed out that all the liveries launched so far have been predominantly black (paint costs weight). This might be the first genuinely unwatchable season.

[Disco]

Bare carbon fibre is the new grey.

[Gray Fox]

Mark Hughes has just pointed out that all the liveries launched so far have been predominantly black (paint costs weight). This might be the first genuinely unwatchable season.

Speculation that the Williams is dark blue in a lot of places to make it less obvious when they eventually just carbon those bits.

This whole weight situation has gotten a bit silly.

[Ben]

800kg and the only way they can think of to save weight is less paint. How about we don't have cruise ships with 150kg batteries.

[Shindig]

How about just more engine?

[Jimmy Floyd]

We need Trump or someone to take over. V10 in the back and let's go racing. Fuck the automotive industry and fuck the planet.

[Disco]

I'm always amazed at how little pushback they get on the ecological argument. If they really gave a shit then taking a single race off the calendar would have a far greater impact than pissing about with fuels. You could run the entire field 24 hours a day at every weekend of the season and it would still be less impactful than travelling to a single race.

[Gray Fox]

The sport preaching sustainability having several jets do a fly over before the start of every race is always great value.

Now which shade of carbon, with slight hints of colour car are we backing this season? After Red Bull obviously.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I think my allegiance has drifted to McLaren. We support our local team, etc.

[niko_cee]

Horner out and Newey to jump ship to Ferrari.

:drool:

I've made that up, of course.

[Clunge]

Hamilton ITK? :chief:.

[Gray Fox]

Wouldn't be the first time he was.

That said if Red Bull get Guenther in to replace him, I'm going to have to support them.

[Disco]

I think Newey has already confirmed his little bum chum deal with Horner/Red Bull is no longer a thing and he's staying put no matter what happens. Steiner would be a crazy choice given how awful Haas were under him.

[Shindig]

The way Newey talks about it in his book, he'll never leave Red Bull to go to another team. It's his project and he doesn't want to get overruled like he did at Williams.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Newey to my flat to help me wash the balcony decking is more likely than Newey to Ferrari.

[John Arne]

https://gyazo.com/a8b9b9f15321aa40d6afa1cac6566316.jpeg

[Ben]

Obviously it looks great but please don't be a shitbox.

[Gray Fox]

So we've a red car, a blue car and likely a blueish yellow car coming to join them, surrounded by 7 carbon cars with coloured accents.

[Adramelch]

I'm not gonna lie, feels a bit like an overreaction. Is it a step towards the wrong direction? Sure. But the cars for the most part still feel distinct to me visually.

[Waffdon]

I’m colour blind and still agree with Adra.

Merc in black over silver just looks better

[Jimmy Floyd]

Engineers, the world's dullest people, take every opportunity to remove the fun and romance from the sport so I don't trust them even slightly. Mandate paint now.

[Pepe]

I am an engineer and would gladly take pink cars, purple cars, polka dot cars, you name it.

[Ben]

Horner tried to pay off the woman he sexually assaulted to tune of £650k and she turned it down, pressing forward with the charges. Grab the popcorn.

[Gray Fox]

Those sound like the actions of an innocent man to me.

[Disco]

My favourite part is the lawyer they hired to look into it went on holiday instead of filing a report with the Thais, top stuff that man.

[SincereTheRebel]

Horner tried to pay off the woman he sexually assaulted to tune of £650k and she turned it down, pressing forward with the charges. Grab the popcorn.

Spendy Spice.

[Disco]

By the looks of it the Austrian end of the company want him gone but the Thailand side don't, hence the investigator taking a rather hasty holiday instead of filing his presumably damning report. Makes you wonder how long he can realistically stay given this is all they will be asked about for the rest of time. Oh well serves him right for being a complete cunt I suppose, and his current wife, fuck her too.

[Ben]

Looks like it was Jos Verstappen that snitched on Horner. :D

[Jimmy Floyd]

I thought it was odd that all this came out of the Dutch media. Why, as Jos Verstappen, would you want to destabilise the team that is winning your son several easy world titles?

[Luke Emia]

I thought it was odd that all this came out of the Dutch media. Why, as Jos Verstappen, would you want to destabilise the team that is winning your son several easy world titles?

I had read somewhere they had a falling out last season. Which is madness because for all his faults he’s basically ensured that everything about that team has been set up to benefit Max from the second he walked through the door.

[Shindig]

Considering what Jos has been charged with over the years, snitching's pretty on brand. He's a petty cunt.

[Disco]

Perhaps he had been planning to punch the woman Horner was horning over.

[niko_cee]

He obviously has massive inadequacy issues so I'm not sure of the logic behind training his son to be everything that he wasn't/isn't, won't that just make things worse?

[Gray Fox]

This reads like the higher ups putting pressure on to get Horner gone.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68333346

[Disco]

Daytonaaaaaaaa. On a Monday for some reason.

https://aceztrims.pages.dev/nasca/

[Shindig]

Denny Hamlin's car cam is on youtube.

[Pepe]

Look at all those colorful cars.

[Disco]

The colours make the racing better.

[Ben]

Testing is underway.

If the Red Bull doesn't overheat with these tiny sidepod inlets then it's going to be a bigger drubbing than last year.

[niko_cee]

2 hours into testing, Versteppen with the most laps and the fastest time, come back next year lads.

[Gray Fox]

Quite funny how the Mercedes has tried its best to get to the Red Bull design, but then Red Bull have largely reverted back to similar to what Mercedes had.

They're going to be seething properly if it turns out that sidepodless is the right way to go and they just couldn't make it work.

[Ben]

Mercedes always maintained it was their flawed floor that stopped the zero pod thing working. Red Bull don't have that issue.

[SincereTheRebel]

More of the same

[niko_cee]

Early days but the Merc looks an absolute dog again.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I assumed the Merc being a dog was why LH made the move.

Should be a good battle for 13th at most races.

[Gray Fox]

Well this all seems quite ominous.

[Waffdon]

It’s Norris’ year.

:cool:

[SincereTheRebel]

Season predictions

Will Lando win a race - Yes
Will Mercedas win a race - No
Will Ferrari win a race - Yes
Will Sainz finish with more points than Leclerc - Yes
Verstappen to win over or under 15.5 races - Yes
Will Perez win a race - No
Will Albon beat Sargent every race again - No
Will Strulovic finish on the podium - No
Will Haas finish above Kick Sauber - Yes

[Gray Fox]

Everyone getting a lot of laps in today. I expected at least one team to suffer from some gremlins in the system. Some 60 odd laps for Williams even with theirs.

Either that Mercedes is a pile of shit, or it's being sandbagged a lot. Nearly 2.8s off the best lap from Max. If you assume their car is so dominant that it doesn't matter, he's still 1.6s behind Lando.

I haven't seen any interviews with Toto yet though. We could do without another year of depressed Toto.

[niko_cee]

I think we can park the idea of Mercedes sandbagging, you can only do that coming from a position of strength.

Maybe they're going to roll out a no-sidepod car tomorrow.

[Gray Fox]

We've got another dodgy drain cover debacle going on.

The field have for the most part edged up closer to the times Max did yesterday. We also may have the first bit of petty F1 regulations shenanigans over the Mercedes front wing too.

[Ben]

Looking at that Mercedes, I'd just let them get on with it.

[niko_cee]

Reasonably impressive time from Sainz with all of the necessary caveats.

Maybe he can Rosberg his way into retirement as world champ at the end of the season.

[niko_cee]

Wait, the season starts on a Saturday? Is that new? It feels new.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Saudi's asked to have theirs on Saturday due to Ramadan and because they were paid a shit tonne of oil money they said yes.

This also caused the Bahrain GP to be moved as the rules state a GP can't be hosted less than 7 days after the previous one.

[Gray Fox]

Boring time.

F1 rules state there must be at least 1 calendar week between races. Ramadan means the Saudis have said they won't have theirs on a Sunday, which is the weekend after the Bahrain GP. So Bahrain has had to move forwards a day to keep within the rules.

Vegas will also be on a Saturday night for us.

[SincereTheRebel]

Red Flag for same drain.

[Gray Fox]

Seems to be a bit of an acceptance in the paddock that while the Bulls have gone on parade up the road, your Ferrari, Aston, McLaren and Mercedes would-be challengers are all very similar to each other.

I remember watching onboards last year and seeing how twitchy the rears of the latter two looked. They seem a lot more planted this time around.

[Ben]

It seems like Alpine have responded to all the fans crying about no paint and gone full blue on the nose and front wing, at the cost of 0.03s per lap (I call bullshit on that). Normally that would convert me into a fan of some kind, but it's still a French Renault.

[niko_cee]

Looks like Christian Horner is free to continue to blight lives worldwide for the foreseeable.

Bad luck Austria.

[Disco]

Motorsport finally getting into the new season so I've been catching up. Fantastic race finish for NASCAR in Atlanta, two good races at Bathurst in Supercars and despite the weird tire shenanigans Superbikes at Philip Island has a cracking finish with the added fun of a returning Iannone. At this rate I might even watch some TCR and WRC.

[John Arne]

Was a little bored so went and Wiki'd NASCAR. The 2023 Series Cup champion Ryan Blaney started all 36 rounds, achieved 0 pole positions, 3 wins and 18 top ten finishes, yet managed to win the title with 5,035 points :D #Winningmentality.

[Pepe]

Their points system is all about consistency. Or it used to be, I don't even know how it works nowadays with all the weird stuff they have added.

[Disco]

It's not decided by points exactly, near the end of the season the top 16 (determined by winning races, stages or raw points) enter a playoff with several rounds that gradually whittles them down to 4 and whichever of those 4 finishes highest in the last race wins the title. A weird fit for motorsport but I guess they hate having potentially dead races at the end of the year. I have to date not retained interest in a season long enough to see who wins.

[Ben]

The WSBK tyre thing was a shocker. Hopefully not a long term problem because somehow it managed to overshadow a can't miss weekend with Philip Island and Iannone. Still was good fun, especially with the mixed up order, but what a shambles. The danger now is Dorna seeing the forced pit stop creating some interesting chaos and thinking it's a good thing.

Also, a reminder that the F1 GP weekend is a day earlier (practice today, quali tomorrow, race Saturday).

[SincereTheRebel]

Practice One is underway.

[Waffdon]

The Sauber is disgusting :lol:

[Jimmy Floyd]

Hang on, what are we doing starting a race weekend in February?

[SincereTheRebel]

A lot of wrestling is going on. Caused by the wind, allegedly.

[7om]

Is the race on Saturday? What’s this all about?

[Waffdon]

Saudi’s requested Saturday GP and you need 7 days between races so Bahrain had to be moved also

[Ben]

Alpine are pretty lol. Apart from the steering wheel, the entire car is new.

Still a tractor.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I can probably sort them for some spares, toutes marques et modèles.

[Lofty]

1763225056199778382

[Gray Fox]

I guess we'll find out tomorrow, but if these FP2 times are near representative(Karun thinks they are), the season could be tasty.

[Waffdon]

lol, not a chance. Merc will be the same as last year if not worse off because McLaren won’t start as horrendously as they did

[Ben]

1763225056199778382

from: josverstappen@hotmail.com

[Ben]

A few teams seemed to be carrying around at least a full livery's paint worth of sandbag in that second session.

[Waffdon]

The few screenshots going around don’t look that bad at all. Just looks like two adults having an affair.

Presume there’s much worse

[Disco]

Tasty, perhaps the rumours of Austria wanting Horner gone have some truth to them. Could be the most interesting fight of the season.

[Clunge]

I can't see how this ends any other way than Horner going. Even if it is relatively low-level stuff, it brings Red Bull and F1 into disrepute, and neither will tolerate that if this drags on much longer.

In other news, the Sauber is indeed offensive to look at.

[Disco]

The list of emails the info was sent to exactly matches the list of season pass holders so it was clearly sent by someone with good access inside the sport.

[John Arne]

The list of emails the info was sent to exactly matches the list of season pass holders so it was clearly sent by someone with good access inside the sport.

What's a season pass?

[Disco]

Media track/paddock passes I assume. Joe Saward has also teasingly said that only half the story has come out and if the rest does it will be 'really ugly'.

[Ben]

Red Bull are well past the negative PR point now, even if there's nothing concrete to discipline/prosecute him they should still just get rid now. Obviously Jos expected them to realise this and sack Horner before the season started. Alas, the Thais don't give a fuck about this sort of thing, hence the Google Drive leak.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Media track/paddock passes I assume. Joe Saward has also teasingly said that only half the story has come out and if the rest does it will be 'really ugly'.

Hopefully a return for at least some of the props from Max Mosley's not-Nazi sex dungeon, F1 has really missed that kind of vibe since the great man's passing. Horner would look good in an armband (we won't talk about Helmut Marko).

[Ben]

1763254275554087248

[Ben]

The list of emails the info was sent to exactly matches the list of season pass holders so it was clearly sent by someone with good access inside the sport.

The talk is the list of email recipients is: the journos, all the senior F1 staff, and Jos Verstappen.

Covering his tracks excellently. :D

[SincereTheRebel]

In other news, the Sauber is indeed offensive to look at.


I found it difficult at times to tell the difference between the Merc, Aston and Alfa so i appreciate the cartoon puke green sauber.

[Disco]

All those bits in DTS of the Horners at Home are now just them sat in awkward silence at the breakfast table.

[Ben]

I found it difficult at times to tell the difference between the Merc, Aston and Alfa so i appreciate the cartoon puke green sauber.

Each team should have a separate colour. A few years ago (2020?) half the grid was white and now half of them are black and/or blue because evidently paint got really heavy in 2023 and now we can't tell who is who if the driver doesn't have a clown helmet. The Alpine was especially egregious before they buckled to Twitter and put more blue on the nose.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Saward keeps saying it's part of a 'much bigger story', I don't quite get that. Are Ford trying to knock the value down to buy them or something?

[Disco]

I assume he's referring to the Red Bull infighting. If it's confirmed that Helmut and co are trying to oust Horner or that the leak came from VosJerstappen@gmail.com then that would indeed be pretty ugly.

[Giggles]

What's he done then, haven't seen the leaks? If he's just been dipping the wick in someone happy to be dipped then sacking him would be a disgrace.

[Ben]

He's an arsehole. Nothing is a disgrace when it comes to jettisoning this cunt.

I take your point though.

[Gray Fox]

Been dipping it in a former employee of his who then accused him of being controlling and inappropriate. If I've got it right.

[Disco]

Bringing the brand into disrepute or some other corpo-speak, neither the team or F1 want this being the focus at the first weekend of the season and it's not just going to go away I don't think. He should tough it out and go for the infidelity hat-trick.

[Gray Fox]

I think the F1 higher ups will eventually ask him to go away. Unless this subsides of course.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The implication seems to be that someone in RB is trying to get rid of him. God knows why you would want to upset such a successful organisation, no matter how much of a tit he may be.

[Giggles]

He's an arsehole. Nothing is a disgrace when it comes to jettisoning this cunt.

I take your point though.

Oh yeah he's deeply unlikeable, but he's in F1 so that's the rule rather than the exception there. But if every lad or lady that had some extra marital capers got their P45 though it would be some shit show. Now of he is harassing and all that then yep fry him.

[Ben]

Oh God that Alpine is a dog.

[niko_cee]

In danger if the Alpines can find pace . . .

:lol:

[Jimmy Floyd]

Every car has its own strengths. Maybe it can play the Marseillaise through the air ducts.

[Clunge]

Less than a second covering all 20. And only the Alpines are real outliers. Close.

[Waffdon]

One of the Mercs to finish outside of the points after all that hype :drool:

[Waffdon]

Less than a second covering all 20. And only the Alpines are real outliers. Close.

Majority of the top 10 didn’t put another flying lap in. Wouldn’t look into it too much

[Gray Fox]

We'll see what this lot have all got now then.

I suspect Max still has 0.2 in hand. If the 4 teams behind him could get within a tenth or so of each other, then all should be good tomorrow. We'll see if the Red Bull still has lol DRS tomorrow too.

[Waffdon]

Norris not even having to use new softs there could be pretty big. One hopes anyway

Think Leclerc gets pole yet again before the usual story happens tomorrow

[Waffdon]

Hulkenburg in qualifying is amazing

Get him in over Stroll

[Jimmy Floyd]

Red Bull flap remains a cheat code I think.

[Waffdon]

Norris forever cocking up somewhere in P3 is annoying as fuck. Terrible sector 1, had a chance if he kept it together

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Fucking Max.

[Giggles]

Russell :cool:

[Waffdon]

Tomorrow is going to be hilarious. Their race pace certainly won’t be an issue and they’re already 0.2 seconds up on everyone

[Giggles]

What's happened Alpine? In a non-Jimmy sense, I'm already presuming it's not a lack of deodorant or a ring of onions.

[Giggles]

Actually, never thought of it or seen it mentioned, but who is Hamilton replacing at Ferrari in '25 or have they said yet?

[Gray Fox]

Actually, never thought of it or seen it mentioned, but who is Hamilton replacing at Ferrari in '25 or have they said yet?

Sainz is out the door.

[Waffdon]

Sainz

[Giggles]

Ah, hadn't seen that anywhere. Has he a deal somewhere or anything?

[Gray Fox]

Ah, hadn't seen that anywhere. Has he a deal somewhere or anything?

They were negotiating his deal and Leclerc at the same time. They got Charles wrapped up and then Hamilton expressed an interest in taking the seat, so they immediately signed him up and told Sainz tough titties.

Sainz is widely expected to be part of the Audi venture into F1 in 2026, so he's got to busy himself for a year somewhere. He's been through a fair few teams now though so there aren't many places left for him.

[Shindig]

Assuming Audi are turning up. :uhoh:

[Giggles]

Assuming Audi are turning up. :uhoh:
Replacement like Aston or new?

[Shindig]

They were looking to buy into Sauber but there's been some murmurings about Audi not being that committed.

[Waffdon]

Leclerc and Norris were both quicker than Verstappen in sectors 2 and 3. Not sure how much that tow Verstappen got off Piastri made a difference.

I have faith in another Norris podium - a season of 2nd and 3rd awaits again.

[Giggles]

Leclerc and Norris were both quicker than Verstappen in sectors 2 and 3. Not sure how much that tow Verstappen got off Piastri made a difference.

I have faith in another Norris podium - a season of 2nd and 3rd awaits again.

I'd normally hope so if it weren't for your sperm production.

[Gray Fox]

That McLaren looks fast, but it also looks twitchy. Could very well throw one of them into a wall. Merc seem to have the other problem. Their car was very twitchy to start last year, but now it's all quite calm, just a little slow. It's not quite the best at anything but its decent.

It's funny but we've basically returned to where we were at the end of last season. The field had closed up, but Max still had pace in hand. We got great battles for podiums at times but never for the win really.

[Waffdon]

I'd normally hope so if it weren't for your sperm production.

Smithy didn’t scare you enough

[Giggles]

Smithy didn’t scare you enough

In fairness.

[SincereTheRebel]

Silly race starting in 10 minutes

[Giggles]

Were all the cars not supposed to be black?

[niko_cee]

:hat:

Thought the race was 4pm.

[niko_cee]

Oh well, fun race.

[John Arne]

Bored already.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

:hat:

Thought the race was 4pm.

So did I.

Fucking annoying as I had planned my day around it.

[Pepe]

I will lol if the Mercedes turns out to be better than the Ferrari.

[Waffdon]

4 seconds clear after 6 laps :lol:

[Ben]

My pessimism a few weeks ago is already justified. F1 demoted to screen two in favour of seeing Middlesbrough get mugged by relegation-threatened Stoke.

[Pepe]

Lolclerc. That boy needs ABS.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Safety Car might help for a few laps until Max pulls away again.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sanz BODYING LeClerc was lovely to see.

[Pepe]

I like the green car.

Toro Rosso looks nice too.

[Giggles]

I like the green car.

Toro Rosso looks nice too.

Reminds me of the 7up Jordan.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sexy Carlos providing the entertainment.

[Waffdon]

Sainz schooling Leclerc when it comes to the race day again.

[niko_cee]

Fucking hell, Jay Kay got old.

[Pepe]

Broken seat. :lol:

[Giggles]

Broken seat. :lol:

Getting him acclimated to a shit show in preperation for next year.

[niko_cee]

Verstappen on track to lead every minute of every race.

[SincereTheRebel]

The aldi version of red bull looks good onboard

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

This hasn't been great.

[niko_cee]

It's been absolutely dreadful.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1763528360112591110

This is quality though.

[Pepe]

If you ignore Verstappen it has been decent.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yuki SEETHING is pretty fun and he's got every right to be angry.

[Pepe]

Team orders when outside the points is some BS.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1763967703776178404

:lol:

Yuki is quality.

[Giggles]

1763967703776178404

:lol:

Yuki is quality.
He's a spoilt little twat. You'd have the pearls ground to dust if it was anyone else.

[niko_cee]

Seemed an odd decision to switch them, particularly when 'Danny Ric' was even less impressive in trying to get past Magnussen. Obviously he'll blame the fact that he wasn't let through sooner, but you'd have thought their best chance of passing was when Tsunoda was 0.4s behind him. Maybe they were going for some sort of blue flag shenanigans and hoping to capitalise as Verstappen came past but it went 100% wrong as they had to bail on a straight and Magnussen was able to let him by running ever so slightly wide at a corner.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

He's a spoilt little twat.
Aren't they all?

[Giggles]

Aren't they all?

They are. He just gets more leeway than most. Should get a very big rap on the knuckles for the likes of that.

[John Arne]

Yuki started pissing me off with his complaining last season.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Baaaaaad race. No offence to Leclerc who tried to make it interesting by being useless.

[Ben]

Ricciardo then got on the radio and called him “a fucking helmet” :lol:

[SincereTheRebel]

Why do they favour the washed Aussie. Since he came back, he has just been OK.

[Disco]

Methinks we may have found the source for the Coco Pop files.



There is tension here while he remains in position. The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can't go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim, when he is the one causing the problems.

[SincereTheRebel]

The guy who asked Yuki and Daniel to swap positions is the same guy who was at Ferrari with all those awful strategy calls :lol:

[Ben]

I’ve never seen a team call when there’s no chance of points. Truly bizarre.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Somehow Jos being desperate to get rid of him makes me warm to Horner a bit.

[Disco]

It's also a weird fight to pick, I mean what else do they want? The team is built around his son, his only opponent is the least threatening driver possible, and he's indulged at every turn.

[SincereTheRebel]

Jos wants his job

[Jimmy Floyd]

Why the fuck is Max to Mercedes now being touted everywhere? Do they know something we don't know about the 2026 Red Bull? Seems insane otherwise.

[Gray Fox]

I expect this is more of Jos sticking his oar in to get Horny Spice gone.

[Shindig]

Fernando Alonso somehow winding up in another fixed race. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68465516)

[niko_cee]

Why the fuck is Max to Mercedes now being touted everywhere? Do they know something we don't know about the 2026 Red Bull? Seems insane otherwise.

Toto and Jos were flirting in public in Bahrain, which I believe actually carries a death sentence.

[niko_cee]

Fernando Alonso somehow winding up in another fixed race. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68465516)

It's also somehow not the lollest F1 story of the day (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68470753).

Appointing a former Boro centre-half as head of aero sounds a bold gambit. Bon chance!

[Ben]

It's also somehow not the lollest F1 story of the day (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68470753).

Appointing a former Boro centre-half as head of aero sounds a bold gambit. Bon chance!

Haha imagine. Bloke has been on the piss permanently since retiring.

I once saved one of his penalties at school with my face.

[niko_cee]

Accuser suspended, Horner the victim. :lol:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Leak some more shit Jos.

[Ben]

This is going to be fun. Can't see the Verstappens backing down on this.

[Waffdon]

There’s been a few close calls in FP2 so far. Wouldn’t surprise me if someone goes through the back of someone if they keep this up

[niko_cee]

I can't get on with all this Thursday to Saturday scheduling.

[Waffdon]

McLaren seemed confident they would do well at this track compared to Bahrain but I’m not so sure unless they’re holding back. Think I’m going to have to hope for more miracle upgrades ala last year.

[Luke Emia]

There’s been a few close calls in FP2 so far. Wouldn’t surprise me if someone goes through the back of someone if they keep this up

I was speaking to a lad in the office today. If ever there was a track someone is going to get killed at it’s this one.

[Clunge]

Someone's eventually going to spin and then get sawn in half when they get t-boned at 180mph. It's a daft circuit.

Which non-permanent circuits are actually any good? We've had so many failed attempts over the past 20 years. Montreal and Melbourne are fine, although they've ruined the latter a bit by getting rid of the complex before the back straight.

Singapore's okay I guess, and Azerbaijan has thrown up a disproportionate amount of half-decent races, although most of them have been good owing to some sort of chaotic element being introduced into the mix. Monaco was fine, but now the cars are five metres long, it's not really very well suited to the current formula.

[SincereTheRebel]

Racing on circuit like Saudi is sensational virtually on a rig but you are right. You cant see cars around corners.

[Ben]

Unfortunately there would need to be a death for anything to be done about these absurd non-permanent circuits.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Liberty fucking love them because they give the sport a 'cool urban' look which is the one thing that all these companies are obsessed by. Taking everyone to some park in Europe is deeply uncool, you can't activate your brand or find added value there, they probably want to scrap Monza and replace it with a street race past the Colosseum.

[Shindig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6-0Bshkr2o

Yeah, that could work. :D

[Clunge]

Sainz out of Saudi with appendicitis. Shame for him, he looked on it in Bahrain. Ollie Bearman in :who:.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

He has a lot of potential in F1 Manager.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sainz could miss Australia too is surgery is needed.

Edit: Surgery is indeed needed...

[Jimmy Floyd]

Bearman looks about ten years old. Used to be grizzled old fucks who drove Ferraris.

[Ben]

Where is Luca Badoer?

[Shindig]

I’d have given Giovanazzi a call.

[SincereTheRebel]

Mika Salo wasnt available.

[SincereTheRebel]

10th in P3 for Bearman

[Waffdon]

Alonso, Verstappen & Leclerc all look absolutely rapid. McLaren nearly half a second off, for fuck sake

[Jimmy Floyd]

Bearman sounds like he goes to Harrow or something. No oiks in F1.

18 ffs. How is anyone emotionally ready to chuck a 200mph deadly weapon around at that age.

[Jimmy Floyd]

All credit to Max and Red Bull, but my word this season is a dead duck. Geriatric Nando still a quarter of a second up on Ferrari, give me strength.

[Gray Fox]

The only potential savoir down the line is a McLaren style upgrade package like happened last season.

At least the racing behind Max should be good.

[Waffdon]

Top 3 pretty much as expected. Hopefully Leclerc doesn’t pussyfoot around Verstappen in the first corner.

This just feels like last year. Aston Martin to start the year off well before falling off when teams upgrade.

Hamilton is shite.

[Waffdon]

The only potential savoir down the line is a McLaren style upgrade package like happened last season.

At least the racing behind Max should be good.

Not here. Alonso gonna have everyone behind him in a DRS train. Leclerc to be 5 seconds off Verstappen after 10 mins

[Waffdon]

Bearman sounds like he goes to Harrow or something. No oiks in F1.

18 ffs. How is anyone emotionally ready to chuck a 200mph deadly weapon around at that age.

His accent is utterly horrendous. Fuck me

[Jimmy Floyd]

Done some important research. So-called Tory George went to a cheaper school than Norris, Albon or Bearman. Basically a socialist firebrand, is Russell.

[Waffdon]

Norris is the only one out of them that doesn’t sound like a twat.

Russell is from the same place Brundle is from isn’t he? And he doesn’t sound anything like him

[Luke Emia]

Done some important research. So-called Tory George went to a cheaper school than Norris, Albon or Bearman. Basically a socialist firebrand, is Russell.

Didn’t George go to Wisbech Grammar? I mean that’s as posh as it gets round here.

[Luke Emia]

Norris is the only one out of them that doesn’t sound like a twat.

Russell is from the same place Brundle is from isn’t he? And he doesn’t sound anything like him

They are indeed both from King’s Lynn although technically Russell is from 10 minutes up the road where all the gyppos live.

[Shindig]

That's some set of teeth running through the Bearman family.

[Ben]

Shows the state F1 is in these days, the thread resorting to chat about private schools and dodgy teeth.

[niko_cee]

I think the posho element was more palatable in the fiery death era, even admirable, but maybe that's true of all aspects of the sport.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The quality of posho has really declined in the last half-century. James Hunt nowadays would have dabbled in some Formula Ford, got nowhere and would now be earning half a mill a year to get rich Russians around sanctions.

Do the DTS crowd still like this, by the way? I can't see what there is for a new fan currently. 11 of the last 12 seasons have had an unstoppably dominant car that won the vast majority of races. 10 of the last 12 have had a driver completely unchallenged in waltzing to the title.

[niko_cee]

Dr Marko in the firing line now. Horner with some big you come for the king you'd better not miss energy obviously. Would be funny if he survives and everyone else gets the heave-ho.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1766186710633742380

The end of Red Bull potentially :drool:

[Gray Fox]

Now that would give the higher ups a decision to make. Back Horner who your own investigation has deemed innocent(or at least not enough evidence) and risk losing a generational talent. Or do you take this chance to clear out the cancerous characters in the background, with losing Max the big downside.

[Disco]

Bearman is decent, him along with Antonelli and Martins are the current drivers du jour in F2.

[SincereTheRebel]

Can we ger Lawson to replace Dani Ric plz

[Jimmy Floyd]

I still don't get why the Verstappens need to be involved in this whole thing. Isn't it a boardroom power struggle? You're driving the car, Max.

[Giggles]

Presumably he's arrogant enough to think he is the team.

[Shindig]

On the flipside, that car is good enough for 3-6 drivers to walk away champion. Verstappen is replaceable in the short term.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Would Perez win the title in it? I'm not so sure.

[niko_cee]

It would depend on who his team mate was.

Would Verstappen in this year's Ferrari come close to Perez in the Red BUll?

[Shindig]

I think he would if he wound up the lead driver.

[Disco]

Verstappen could beat Perez in his Dads Arrows let alone this years Ferrari.

[Pepe]

Would Perez win the title in it? I'm not so sure.

Had a terrible last season and still finished second, so probably.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

First corner crash for Max please.

[Shindig]

Alpine, you shambles.

[John Arne]

Looked like a false start from Max... ban him for 3 races.

[Adramelch]

Had a terrible last season and still finished second, so probably.

Had a horrible second half of the season though so it depends on whether he'd carry on that form.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I can't see him beating anyone who ended up taking Max's seat.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Red Bull are so fucking good at pitting.

Double stacking and getting a 2.4 and 2.7.

[Adramelch]

Much like last season, things would be even worse were it not for Stroll and his shenanigans.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

"Can you make it back?"
"No, I'm in the fucking wall"

:D

[Ben]

:lol:

[Gray Fox]

Just give it up Lance. Go find another hobby.

Hamilton and Norris hung out to dry here.

[Pepe]

Forgot about this. I am sure I missed some incredible action.

[Gray Fox]

I'm sure they had great intentions with these cars, but the pesky engineers/aero teams have got us back to precession style events now.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Genuinely can't remember the last good race.

[Pepe]

Some time in the 50s probably.