F1 2025: At Last, Ferrari's Year

We had a silly event last night which was redeemed only by Nigel Mansell being present. The cars look like this:

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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GkIrv2Ga...name=4096x4096

I hate all of them, really. The Ferrari is a disgrace, and the Williams looks like a Ligier, which is extremely unpatriotic.

Driver changes: various people have been pensioned off. Bottas, Magnussen, things of that nature. Zhou Guanyu, we barely knew ya. In their place are various miniature children. 'Andrea Kimi Antonelli' is highly rated but to my intuition feels like a disaster waiting to happen. Many point to him being named after Kimi Raikkonen, but I would point to him being named after Andrea de Cesaris. Prove me wrong, Andrea Kimi. Oliver Bearman has an un, wait for it, bearable accent. Gabriel Bortoleto has a magnificent racing driver name to which he will likely not live up. Isack Hadjar, who knows. Jack Doohan... strewth.

Liam Lawson moves to Rid Bull, replacing Perez, while Carlos Sainz signs for Williams. Lewis Hamilton, the former world champion, is now at Ferrari.

Here is the calendrier:

16 March: Australia (Melbourne), featuring Oscar Piastri quite possibly becoming the first home winner for 45 years.
23 March: Red China (Shanghai), featuring the worst turn one imaginable.
6 April: Japan (Suzuka), featuring a magnificent circuit, and Yuki Tsunoda with a point to prove, but probably won't because he isn't that good.
13 April: Bahrain (Bahrain), featuring vanilla in the desert.
20 April: Saudi Arabia (Jeddah), featuring a rubbish and really quite dangerous circuit.
4 May: Miami (Miami), featuring a ghastly track that with terrible visuals.
18 May: Emilia Romagna (Imola), featuring a DRS zone that they always get wrong.
25 May: Monaco (Monaco), featuring a load of noobs complaining about the race because they don't understand anything.
1 June: Spain (Barcelona), featuring the 17th anniversary of when those fans blacked up in pre-season testing to have a pop at Lewis Hamilton.
15 June: Canada (Montreal), featuring probably some kind of pathetic rain delay and/or no one crashing into the wall of champions all weekend.
29 June: Austria (Spielberg), featuring three DRS zones in a row because the sport is broken.
6 July: Britain (Silverstone), featuring the British fans being forced through gritted teeth to cheer a Ferrari home to victory.
27 July: Belgium (Spa), featuring more dismay at the inability of these barges to run on wets.
3 August: Hungary (Budapest), featuring some kind of surprise winner because they don't design the cars for twisty-arse tracks like this.
31 August: Dutch (Zandvoort), featuring a load of orange-clad autists aghast at the fact that this will be only the third race in two months. Why?
7 September: Italy (Monza), featuring Lewis Hamilton trying to say things like 'andiamo ragazzi' and not sounding convincing.
21 September: Azerbaijan (Baku), featuring the silliest infield section on the calendar.
5 October: Singapore (Singapore), featuring the drivers losing about 5kg in weight because the race is about 10 laps too long.
19 October: United States (Austin), featuring a load of manufactured switchback 'action' and drivers pretending to like 'college football'.
26 October: Mexico (Mexico City), featuring a load of sad-looking fans lamenting via placard the absence of their useless hero.
9 November: Sao Paulo (Interlagos), featuring the best circuit on the calendar by a mile.
22 November: Las Vegas (Las Vegas), featuring a race I will never watch because it's timed horribly for literally every global audience.
30 November: Qatar (Lusail), featuring I can't even remember what happens here.
7 December: Abu Dhabi (Marina Bay), featuring Max Verstappen hoisting the Dutch flag aloft as he claims a 5th straight title by 100 points despite being in the 5th best car.

Those driver lineups in full:

McLaren: Norris / Piastri
Ferrari: Leclerc / Hamilton
Red Bull: Verstappen / Lawson
Mercedes: Russell / Antonelli
Aston Fartin': Alonso / Stroll
RB: Tsunoda / Hadjar
Haas: Ocon / Bearman
Alpine: Gasly / Doohan, with Colapinto waiting in the wings like the General Belgrano in port
Williams: Sainz / Albon
Kick Sauber out of F1: Hulkenberg / Bortoleto

Enjoy your season in this thread.

That Ferrari is horrendous, far too dark a red and far too little of it.

Merc leading the way as always, with Aston not far behind them.

I see they’re making Monaco have more than 1 stop. Should do it more at the tracks people just ‘save’ their tyres tbh

Gabriel Bortoleto has proper Rubens Barrichello vibes.

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25 May: Monaco (Monaco), featuring a load of noobs complaining about the race because they don't understand anything.

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Checking in early for this :)

Thank you.

The only decent livery is the Alpine. Shame they're nothing more than an unpatriotic directionless tractor outfit these days.

Ferrari is, as noted, diabolical.

I like the blue one on the second row and the white Red Bull is ok too.

I just can't abide the amount of naked carbon fibre that there is. Knowing engineers, they'd probably all be happy for all 20 cars to run around in identical black liveries.

The Ferrari might have got away with it, if it wasn't for the hideous HP branding being completely off colour. I like the Alpine, but they have a tendency to do this and then tell us later this is a special livery that will be ran only for 2 races. Their normal one will be another black on carbon fibre effort.

Enforcing mandatory pit stops onto Monaco is also quite lol. Probably brought to you by the same lot Jim mentions who do not understand the race.

The Ferrari / HP meeting must have been a riot.

'Does the car have to be red?'
'Yes-a.'
'But our corporate values are white and electric blue, we think it's important our values are reflected on the car.'
'It's-a red-a.'
'Let's circle back on this tomorrow.'

A big offender on that is also that the actual logo is at the very top of the stripe, so you just have a big white space for no reason underneath it.

It represents all the test pages I've had to produce from their useless printers over the years.

To give them the benefit of the doubt, none of the other companies are any better. Consumer-grade printers (for wont of a better term) must be the single most dysfunctional technology product, both in terms of hardware and software.

Need the fag sponsors back, they just worked.

I reckon I know what 5% of those sponsors make/do.

What or who is OKX?

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Originally Posted by Gray Fox

The Ferrari might have got away with it, if it wasn't for the hideous HP branding being completely off colour. I like the Alpine, but they have a tendency to do this and then tell us later this is a special livery that will be ran only for 2 races. Their normal one will be another black on carbon fibre effort.

Enforcing mandatory pit stops onto Monaco is also quite lol. Probably brought to you by the same lot Jim mentions who do not understand the race.

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FALSE.

We'd be happier with qualifying staying and the race being cancelled.

Appendix 1: full list of sponsors as they appear visibly on photos above, what they do, and country based in

Sauber
Stake: gambling (Australia)
Mascot: industrial workwear (Denmark)
Sensetime: AI software (Hong Kong)
Fix Network: aftermarket car parts (Canada)
Web Eyewear: sunglasses (Italy)

Aston Martin
Aramco: state-owned oil (Saudi Arabia)
Boss: fashion (Germany)
Cognizant: IT consulting (USA)
Maaden: state-owned mining (Saudi Arabia)
Glenfiddich: whisky (Britain)
Coinbase: crypto (USA)

Williams
Atlassian: software (Australia)
Komatsu: heavy machinery (Japan)
Betway: gambling (Malta)
Gulf: oil (USA)
MyProtein: supplements (Britain)
Kraken: crypto (USA)
Jackpot City: gambling (unclear)
Duracell: batteries (USA)

Mercedes
Petronas: oil (Malaysia)
Signify: lightbulbs (Netherlands)
Solera: software (USA)
TeamViewer: software (Germany)
IWC: watches (Switzerland)

RB
Red Bull: soft drinks (Austria)
Visa / cash app: payments (USA)
Hugo: fashion (Germany)

Red Bull
Red Bull: soft drinks (Austria)
Oracle: software (USA)
Mobil: oil (USA)
1password: software (Canada)
AT&T: telecoms (USA)
Rauch: soft drinks (Austria)
ROKT: software (Britain)

Haas
Moneygram: payments (USA)
Orinoco: health insurance (USA)
Playngo: gambling (Malta)

Ferrari
HP: computing (USA)
Peroni: beer (Italy)
Rayban: sunglasses (Italy)
Unicredit: banking (Italy)
Shell: oil (USA)
IBM: computing (USA)
VGW: gambling (Australia)
Richard Mille: watches (Switzerland)

Alpine
BWT: water treatment (Austria)
Eni: oil (Italy)
Microsoft: software (USA)
Infinox: trading (Italy)
ApeCoin: crypto (unclear)
MNTN: advertising (USA)

McLaren
OKX: crypto (Seychelles)
Chrome: software (USA)
Velo: nicotine pouch (USA)
Dell: computing (USA)
DP World: logistics (UAE)
Workday: software (USA)

Noice.

OKX... Cypto. Of course.

Looking forward to this season.

It should be incredible which gives me the fear as last season we all had low expectations and then were blown away. Any 4 teams being able to win would be brilliant.

It’s a shame McLaren are doing a 2023 Red Bull though.

Piastri WDC at 10/1 looks value to me.

Jimmy's on a roll with his thread subtitles, so I'm all in on Hamilton.

I hope Ferrari does well, but I would lol immensely if Mercedes or, even better, Williams end up with a faster car.

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Piastri WDC at 10/1 looks value to me.

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1 win last year in the best car and it’s Norris that got pelters all year round.

With about a quarter of the experience. Move horses while you still can, he's the much more complete talent.

Well, he’s just not. He’s got the Verstappen gene of not giving a fuck over Norris but not much else. It’s not like he’s doing a Leclerc and not taking advantage of his speed, his form in quali is just not great and the H2H record has not been pretty whatsoever.

Bookies are never wrong. 10/1 for a reason.

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Piastri WDC at 10/1 looks value to me.

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That was my vote anyway. More killer instinct in his little finger than a whole Norris.

16-8 to Norris last year whilst being wiped out by Verstappen in 2 races. Not even in the same league.

Norris seems handy in qualifying.

He has good simulator pace but he's a slow thinker. Very few slow-thinking world champions in history. Rosberg jr and Hill jr, possibly. Can happen if they get a big car advantage in the right year, but Piastri is a tiger learning his craft, very different proposition.

I'd rate Russell a better long term WDC bet than Norris.

Im putting together a F1 predictor with the lads for £. Just a few questions and whoever gets most of them correct at the end of the season wins the pot. Questions such as

Will Hamilton outscore Leclerc?
Will Sainz finish on the podium?
The newb with the most DNFs?

Since Hamilton is in red, it seems more people for me are taking interest

How many times will Max lose his temper and take out Lando to stop Norris from winning a race?

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Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel

Since Hamilton is in red, it seems more people for me are taking interest

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The Hamilton aura is unmatched.

I'm looking forward to seeing how him and Charlie boy match up. Has he gone over the hill or was he just checked out in those last few races? Leclerc for me is undeniably the fastest guy if you need that single lap set. He's probably spent too much time close to France to be able to have a prolonged challenge at anything though.

Biggest name driver in the biggest team. Looking forward to seeing it myself.

I think it will be very difficult for him at this age, but definitely rooting for him. Also for Leclerc tbh. Likeable Ferrari will take some adjusting. Already gone some of the journey as I do like Sainz.

Who has the most dislikable pair? It's red bull by a wide margin, isn't it?

Easily.

Max, for me at least, is just so much worse than anyone else.

I don't think I actively dislike anyone else on the grid actually.

I can do without Tsunoda personally. Whiny little bitch. Albon loves a whinge too.

Hold up. Alonso/Stroll. No likeability there.

Yup... Tsunoda is an insufferable little turd.

I don't find Max anywhere near as annoying as a lot of the rest. Yes he moans a lot, but he has the generational talent to back it up. His dad may also be a scumbag, but at least he doesn't have to buy the team to keep his lad in a job.

Ocon I find grates on me lately too.

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

I can do without Tsunoda personally. Whiny little bitch. Albon loves a whinge too.

Hold up. Alonso/Stroll. No likeability there.

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I don't mind Tsunoda, maybe because he's so small.

Alonso I like as he's a bit of a don.

I just can't hate Stroll. He shouldn't be in a car and he's only there because his Daddy has money so that should be enough for me to hate him but he's a complete div which just makes me lol at him instead.

When he fucked his car during the formation lap it was just beautiful.

I'd have to agree on the Tsunoda and Albon ones anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

I think it will be very difficult for him at this age, but definitely rooting for him. Also for Leclerc tbh. Likeable Ferrari will take some adjusting. Already gone some of the journey as I do like Sainz.

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Fred comes across as a right Don as well

I think Verstappen is a horrible cheat / autistic Dutchman with no understanding of nuance whatsoever, but I simultaneously think he has a deep respect for and understanding of the sport which most of the others don't. I wouldn't be surprised if I become a convert to him once he's the elder statesman.

I'm almost at that point with him already. Although I felt like Vettel was a 'put him in any car and he'll smash it' type and that just didn't quite happen. You know what? I think Russell's a twat.

He's had quite the similar career arc to Vettel so far. Both turned up and did incredible at junior Red Bull team. To age it you could even remember it was because Vettel flew by Hamilton in a damp Interlagos that we ever needed an "is that Glock?!" moment.

Both then got into the Red Bull car to then win a first title, before dominating a regulation change immediately after. Both won 4 titles on the spin and then both have started a family around that time too.
Let us not forget Vettel had that same ruthless streak/lack of nuance in his younger years, but once the kids started coming he softened massively.

I don't know where Max stands on wanting to break records, because really he should break them all. Though I get the impression that while he enjoys the racing, he hates everything that comes with it and this could see him walk away before he does break them.

Verstappen is a vastly better driver than Vettel ever was. The latter was quick but very fortunate to get the blown floor Newey cars when he did.

Here's a thought. The last 18 world titles, and 29 of the last 31, have all gone to drivers from what you would call northern Europe (Britain, Germany, the Netherlands or Finland). I don't think that's a coincidence. The same countries picked up only 4/22 titles in the years before that. Those runs basically pivot around the emergence of Adrian Newey. Gotta be a cold-headed protestant to drive these aero monsters to victory.

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Originally Posted by Shindig

I'm almost at that point with him already. Although I felt like Vettel was a 'put him in any car and he'll smash it' type and that just didn't quite happen. You know what? I think Russell's a twat.

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Russel has more than a whiff of the utter cunt about him, he was almost exposed last season and it's only a matter of time before the mask is off. Brundle loves him too, which says it all really.

Russel is great because he owns being a cunt. Norris is as much of a one but always has the slimy media front on. I'd much rather the former because of it.

Norris just leaves me cold rather than dislike.

Russell is just confident and enjoys his life, not everyone's cup of tea but you can't knock it.

Cold :D

Get a grip

Cold is better than wet.

Norris acts like he's still at school half the time, which is ironic given he barely went.

Just tuned in for a bit of the testing [scintillating stuff] - why is there an ostensible omerta on how many laps Hamilton ran? The BBC livetext makes mention of virtually every other driver's total laps but seems to conspicuously omit Hamilton's info. Best I can decipher is somewhere between most [74] and least [40]. Odd.

Maybe it's not just an ostensible omerta. Bloke with dark glasses. 'We count Hamilton's laps now, capisce?'

They've finally had the nod, 70 laps.

And now the lights have gone out.

This is a beautiful circuit you've got here . . .

At home with the lurgy today so have testing on, and what a gratifying sight to see Red Bull with the veterinary screens up around their garage, presumably turning Liam Lawson and/or his car into sustainable fuels.

:D

That little start sequence at the end there was a bit odd.

I might be losing my touch, but to my eye the Ferrari looks like an understeering dog and the macca looks pretty good. Time sheets say exactly the opposite.

Race programme runs seem to back you up. Ferrari about 1s per lap down on McLaren.

Obviously engine modes and fuel modes unknown, but surely it's not that much difference.

McLaren looking good in pre season testing. Makes a change - dominant title inbound.

My takes from watching all this:

- Macca best car
- Alpeen better than expected
- Antonelli not good - I wouldn't want Bottas sitting as reserve driver, if I were him
- Sainz will destroy Albon with effortless ease
- Aston Martin is a tractor

Let's see how right or otherwise I am come Aus.

Lando's year?!?!?????

The Alpen being good is nether here nor there, failure is baked into that team at every level. In the same way that modern mclaren will win nothing without a serious car advantage.

Next week this all starts. I want to get everyone's predictions and keep it all logged. Me and the lads are putting a £5 on the line, with the most correct predictions at the end of the season. Winning all the pot. Some of the questions I have gone with can be found below. Any of you lot want in? Any questions I may have missed that could make it more interesting?

https://forms.gle/FGHpEMGRKLQjYFKF6

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MERICA BABY.

It's now official, fuck knows how Monaco will cope with another two boats on the tiny streets.

Yeah! Build the front of that thing like a Cadillac Cien. To hell with downforce.

This is just Andretti with a Cadillac badge right?

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Originally Posted by Disco

This is just Andretti with a Cadillac badge right?

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So its got a bit weird. It seems Andretti has pissed off everyone in the paddock and so they've only accepted the bid that is 'Andretti with a Cadillac badge' if Andretti himself legally cannot financially benefit from the entire enterprise.

That's what I thought, we'll see how serious they get with the engine side. I wonder who'll be driving, probably some deeply uninspiring veteran like Perez and whoever is acceptably american and can scrape together the super licence points. Most like Herta or O'Ward would require much better Indycar seasons than they look like having, Crawford isn't completely terrible I suppose and has at least some experience in F2/3.

Pato O'Ward being an american driver does come across as something straight out of a japanese megadrive game.

He's on American tv so is therefore American.

Isn't Palou the best Indy driver?

Too Spanish for the American slot but I'd take him over someone like Perez in a heartbeat. If this were a European based outfit they wouldn't touch him with a bargepole but Andretti might.

Isn't O'Ward Mexican?

I watched the Tampa indy race the other day and although it is a silly series with silly cars and largely shit drivers, Palou did look a bit head and shoulders. Hard to imagine how he would get to F1 in an era when even Toto Wolff is signing miniature teenagers out of FOMO.

I'd have thought Herta alongside some grizzled veteran. Bottas, perhaps.

Not grizzled enough. They'll take a 46 year old Fernando Alonso on the proviso he gets to try Indy again.

In the latest DTS, which I was watching last night as I just feel a bit too intelligent and need to liquefy my brain a bit, Toto Wolff incorrectly states, while he and Suzy speculate about driver hire over a greek salad on a Monaco roof terrace, that Fernando Alonso is 45. Not a day over 42 at time of filming.

Later in the same episode, Toto is seen on a diving yacht in Monaco harbour telling a shirtless George Russell that 'It's time to stop making mistakes George' and it was at this point that I had to make hasty use of the off button.

I couldn't finish the second season.

Haven't watched in a while, but I enjoy Indy. Pure entertainment. Like WWE to F1s Olympic wrestling or something.

I'm glad it exists, but I wish more over-25 F1 rejects went there instead of sports cars or the execrable Formula E. The people they have on the current indy grid are 80% absolutely rubbish.

I suppose a lot of them don't fancy fiery death on an oval.

Formula E's getting influencers behind the wheel now. That feels like a death knell.

I watch Indycar to track the progress of Scot(ty) Mclaughlin and to try and work out why, against all discernable logic, it's better than Super Formula. Both are better than FE if only because you can tell the tracks apart. Oval racing is fun but an acquired taste, it's a completely different discipline and I cannot argue against the idea that you only need to watch the last 1/4 of the race at most. On that subject NASCAR did their COTA race last week, which I am yet to watch but is always worth it to see 30-odd guys (less Shane van Gisbergen who knows what he's doing) try and work out what a braking point is.

For the first time ever, during an early morning start. Me and a group of lads are getting together to watch the first race...

I am going to try and make the 4am start. Amazing what a bit of parity can do.

4am seems way early even for Kangaroo land. Although I'm probably getting that mixed up with the slightly more sensible Japan start times.

I think it was last year when they changed it to 04:00 (GMT). Something to do with complaints about running it so late in the evening over there.

That would be 3pm down under. Sunset is after 7pm so those aussie cunts could make it later if they wished but its global now and all nations needs to be considered.

In the truly good old days it always used to be a 3am start for Michael Schumacher to piss the season opener by 40 seconds.

First one I remember watching was the one when Martin Brundle was upside down at turn three of lap one.

Unsurprisingly, Australia is great for me. Midday for quali and 11am for the race. I may even treat myself to a fancy full English in the city.

I was thinking to myself the other day that for a sport that now considers itself to be both MASSIVE and GLOBAL that having the big kick off in some backwater nowhere [apologies Australia] at a time where literally no one that matters [apologies JA] can comfortably watch it is a bit odd.

Saturday 9pm on the west coast. Primetime, baby. Yee hah.

Given that all of their own major sporting events are much earlier than even that suggests that other than the Honolulu market this arrangement is equally bad for the US as it is everyone else outside of the whackjob timezones.

In reality I think they've just punted the camel races back because of Ramadan, so what's a girl to do.

Suzuka round 3 is all kinds of wrong. Should be the finale.

Growing up, it was always down under for the season opener before those guys who play in the sand came in.

I missed the Spanish GP moving from Catalunya to another fucking street circuit in Madrid.

I think I've realised that the problem I have with street circuits is the identikit high fences which mean you can't actually see any backdrop (and the fact that the fuckers seem to like doing the street races at night). The day races where you can see the backdrop (Monaco, Baku) are far less objectionable. FP1 Singapore is the most underrated session of the season, you can actually see Singapore.

Does anyone like them? Presumably some people must do or they wouldn't do them.

Corporate sponsors presumably, as they remove the need to go out into the wilds where the actual people / fans / race tracks are.

We need to start going back to properly out of the way places to piss the sponsors right off.

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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...%28Aida%29.png

If you know, you know.

We need another pandemic so we can go back to all the decent circuits again.

Don't give them any ideas. Three back to back rounds in Saudi Arabia.

I'm disappointed three of those corners don't have proper names.

The Pacific Grand Prix. Golden era of F1. :cool:

Huge fan of the names for turn 1 and 11.

Get your precections in lads. Any other questions worth throwing in, let me know. I know a few of you, have already answered.

https://forms.gle/LJwtyVGrVJrdVpKTA

Unrleated, this madness came across my timeline the other day. https://youtu.be/r2owD951bR0?si=MNmcWDqVyGOqRYIg watch it in full

I never recognise Aida because all the corner names look like they should be at Snetterton or Mallory Park.

That's exactly where my mind went.

Okayama is fun in the F1600s in iracing. I assume F1 would be about the same

Rain forecast

Verstappen odds are ridiculously good if so

Piastri will win the race.

In a rare double-win, Sky have dumped Danica Patrick and signed up Jacques Villeneuve.

Has he got a new album out?

:drool: on all counts, musical or otherwise.

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Originally Posted by Ben

In a rare double-win, Sky have dumped Danica Patrick and signed up Jacques Villeneuve.

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The one time Twitter bullying someone’s employers came in handy

Imagine humping into a Formula 1 to car launch your career at... [checks notes]... 61 :D

This looks shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69ffwl-8pCU&ab_channel=FORMULA1

Looks like he's shagging his team boss in the trailer, too. Red Bull wouldn't stand for that.

Oli Bearman "pulling a Stroll" 10 minutes into the season :)

Also, curious, are all these highlight packages on FP, Quali and the Race geo-blocked in the UK?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stF2J_SJabs&ab_channel=FORMULA1

It's the one of the few things F1 does well.

Red Bull is clearly a tractor, we love to see it. Verstappen might only win the title by 30 points.

Haas appear to have brought F3 cars unless there is something not apparent.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John Arne

Also, curious, are all these highlight packages on FP, Quali and the Race geo-blocked in the UK?

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No they're not blocked. F1 just blocks them being viewed outside of YouTube so we need to click the link and watch it on the website itself.

Looking like a McLaren-Ferrari battle at the top, at least early doors until the Europe upgrades. Verstappen wringing the shit out of that car and it still looks half a second off here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ben

No they're not blocked. F1 just blocks them being viewed outside of YouTube so we need to click the link and watch it on the website itself.

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Gotya. I actually thought that may be blocked because of TV rights in the UK. Good to know.

I think the big media companies realise now that having a well-run YouTube presence is overwhelmingly a good thing. Sky and TNT put up highlights for pretty much everything that isn't Box Office within a couple of hours now.

May even stay up for qualifying at this rate. Genuinely looking forward to this. I see @Waffdon has already made his predictions.

https://forms.gle/YcNuXm3iMFraAsw66

I'm up every day before this qualifiying time so happy days. Paid no attention to anything so far so I can't wait to see 'i want to thank the fans' in a Ferrari.

Don't forget the guys back at the factory.

Think I might go for the 7.30-9.30 version, although what that will actually entail is me realising at about 9 o'clock that I've missed it.

I will miss Danica Patricks legs. Pinkham needs to let them loose.

I'm planning qualifying 5 and race 4, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. See if the body can still handle it.

1.30am for FP3 if you really want to push the boat out

I'm up and ready to go.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John Arne

Oli Bearman "pulling a Stroll" 10 minutes into the season :)

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And again in FP3 :) Fortunately for him, just the gravel this time.

A lot of these guys are all over the place. Lawson could barely turn it in.

Hair being torn out at Maranello.

Williams and Alpine seem to have delivered a great package there, assuming this all carries over to race pace.

Great session.

Not impressed by the standard, far too many of them trying to wring the cars' necks and be too aggressive under braking. Verstappen drove within himself, remains head and shoulders. McLaren should piss a 1-2 if it's dry but he'll win if it's wet.

Nice to see Williams up there. Yuki dodged a bullet by the looks.

There might well be a few "uh-ohs" from team principals on the wall there with seeing some of the performances.

3 of the most aggressive drivers behind Norris? P4 by lap 2 :cool:

Helmut Marko calling Bortoleto a 'b-grade driver' only for him to dump Lawson out of Q1 in a Sauber is quite satisfying.

I suspect Lawson won’t last that long.

Bit of a mystery to me why neither Merc nor Red Bull took Sainz. I quite like Lawson but it's such an ask with 9 grands prix or whatever he has not to look like a prat against Verstappen.

Supposedly it’s a Jos and Snr thing for Red Bull coupled with wanting to have a clear second driver who doesn’t challenge Max too much. I’m not too sure how true that is though.

With Merc it just seems madness to me give Sainz two years and Antonelli would still be young and you could have stuck him in at Williams anyway.

Mercedes logic is the sounder of the two, if you're looking for the next long term team leader then Sainz isn't it but Antonelli may be. What do they gain from taking Sainz, they aren't going to find out anything they don't already know and it's two years that Antonelli could be in your team learning. Even if he's rubbish they don't lose much, decent but not great drivers like Sainz will still exist and want a Mercedes drive in two years.

Red Bull I don't understand, Sainz would have been a perfect second driver. If the reasoning truly was that 'our dads don't get on' then it is officially the lamest way to shoot yourselves in the foot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waffdon

3 of the most aggressive drivers behind Norris? P4 by lap 2 :cool:

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The Supercars race just got red-flagged for rain so he may be spared a standing start.

Herr

Sainz should absolutely have been in the Mercedes.

However Toto has PTSD over Max. Back when he was a yute and looking to get onto the grid, the word goes that he favoured Mercedes, but they had no seat for him. Hamilton and Rosberg had it locked down. Red Bull then offered Max an immediate seat in the sister team and he took it.

Now Antonelli supposedly has great potential so he didn't want to make that same mistake again.

1- Piastri
2- Max
3- Lewis

Max is going to piss it by 20 odd seconds if it rains all the way through.

Lewis to DNF.

Watching replays has spoiled me, I'd forgotten how insufferable the live coverage is.

What a debut :D

Hadjar :D

Is it just me being a grumpy old man.... but does car recovery take 3 times longer than it used to?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John Arne

Is it just me being a grumpy old man.... but does car recovery take 3 times longer than it used to?

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It takes the same amount of time, they just used to drive around things pre-Bianchi.

Suspect he won't be the only rookie to end up in the wall today.

Large bet on Antonelli(I do not grant him the rank of Kimi) into the wall/other people early on too.

I agree so you're definitely being a grumpy sod, an extra ten minutes is madness, pull it out of the way do another formation lap and get on with it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Disco

I agree so you're definitely being a grumpy sod, an extra ten minutes is madness, pull it out of the way do another formation lap and get on with it.

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I believe THE RULES state that any amended start to a session must be given with 10 minutes of warning.

Rules smules.

Stroll in P1 after 2 laps with his wets...
EDIT: scrub that, commentator just said everyone on inters.

One fatality a decade is a small price to pay for my viewing convenience, start the fucking race.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John Arne

Stroll in P1 after 2 laps with his wets...
EDIT: scrub that, commentator just said everyone on inters.

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The only way he will be P1 is if he skittles everyone in front of him out of the way and then carries on.

Or if he called his motorhome 'P1'

:D

Sir Jim in the Mercedes garage has made me lol every time I've seen it this weekend.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Disco

One fatality a decade is a small price to pay for my viewing convenience, start the fucking race.

---

Might as well get back to bed. That'll be a good 30 minutes.

Fuck me, this is insufferable. I'm done already.

These guys are so inexperienced.

Great weekend for the rookies, Flavio being proved right perhaps the worst of all outcomes this weekend.

Fucking hell lads. Come on.

I'm amazed they didn't drop a rouge there, count your blessings.

Same here. They're usually itching to wave it.

Brundle going from calling for a red flag, to one lap later wondering when they can get the slicks on. Never change F1.

It's not often I'll call for more awful corporate sponsorship but the bare nose on that Mclaren is very disconcerting.

Leclerc :D

You cant call hold position not even halfway through the first race of a 40 odd race season. Bore off McLaren.

Thank you Fernando for your sacrifice.

Splendid work by Ferrari as always.

I fancy Max for the win here if we do go racing again.

Ferrari strategy unrivalled.

Antonelli fifth. Carlos who?

Norris and Verstappen into each other at the restart, George doing the Schumacher leap on the podium.

Front 7 finishers did a great job there.

Those who didn't immediately dive in for inters as the McLarens went off, the big losers.

Incredible result for Albon and also somehow Strulovitch keeping it out of the barrier.

Hamilton washed, time to hang it up lad.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gray Fox

Those who didn't immediately dive in for inters as the McLarens went off, the big losers.

---

I know they only had seconds if that, but if Max had dived in then he'd have won.

Blah blah blah.

Norris is going to have the easiest Drivers Championship of his life

Could happen alright. He's the sort of personality that will need it to be.

They tried their best with the safety cars to level the playing field but it wasn’t to be.

Down to 8/11 to win it all :drool:

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:lol:

Ferrari up to their usual tricks. Hamilton’s head will be completely gone by Imola.

Midnight start are a no-go for me these days so I just watched the highlights. Lol at all the rookies, lol at Ferrari. Lol at the Mclaren duo almost fucking it up entirely at the exact same time. RB should have taken it, they usually make the right calls on those situations. I predict a boring season.

The Ferrari engineer trying to explain to Hamilton how to use the overtake button was another highlight.

I hate to say this but it's not looking too fresh for my boy Lewis. Might be time to spend more time with his furs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ben

Ferrari up to their usual tricks. Hamilton’s head will be completely gone by Imola.

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He’s completely past it. PR mpve

I genuinely think he should've gone after the Abu Dhabi shitshow. Although we wouldn't have got that Silverstone win.

Looks like we are getting another street circuit.

Frees up another Sunday afternoon I guess.

No more street circuits?

No! More street circuits!

I'm going to launch a rival series using the least glamorous locations possible, and a total street circuit ban. Let's go to Magny-Cours. Let's go to Fuji. Let's go to... Brno.

Oh, and the cars will be allowed to be whatever as long as they are open wheel and fit inside a certain sized box. Bring your own tyres and fuel.

Three rounds in that Korean place they built in a swamp.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

I'm going to launch a rival series using the least glamorous locations possible, and a total street circuit ban. Let's go to Magny-Cours. Let's go to Fuji. Let's go to... Brno.

Oh, and the cars will be allowed to be whatever as long as they are open wheel and fit inside a certain sized box. Bring your own tyres and fuel.

---

Formula Libre :cool:

And Sepang.

Season finale at Summit Point, West Virginia's premier Motorsports destination.

Fun fact: there is a high powered weapons/explosives facility on site. Team owners could execute underperforming drivers on the spot.

Non-championship round at Thermal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pepe

Fun fact: there is a high powered weapons/explosives facility on site. Team owners could execute underperforming drivers on the spot.

---

Easy red flag. Someone inform Briatore.

If you thought last weeks times were dodgy, good luck to whoever attempts to watch Sprint quali, Quali, sprint and the race this weekend. Tactical naps a plenty

Sprint qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix (round 2 of 24). Truly the peak of motorsport.

Turn 1/2/3 here is a war crime, amazing to think Tilke remains a free man.

I like China, the start is like Hungary on steroids. That and Malaysia were probably his best work.

Malaysia and the Red Bull Ring are good'ns. And Turkey, maybe.

He's not having Austria, Turkey I will allow.

Sure, it was a rebuild. Does the get the current Hockenheim?

He can have the blame if that's what you mean, Austria was already fine.

Just looking at his list, there's very few winners.

I'm undecided on COTA. On the one hand it is quintessential ameri-sport in that it goes on for so long you can't tell one bit apart from another but they did have the foresight to make a big hill to get at least some change in elevation. I never understood why they don't do that more often, how hard is it to pile some stuff up for a couple corners? Harder to put a hotel on a hill I suppose.

Turkey was great track. The COVID revisits showed it would have serious potential with these boats too.

But it's not a street circuit, so get that shit out of here.

Fresh tarmac Turkey was a glorious clusterfuck.

He also keeps trying to recreate that fast series of left handers that are corners but not quite in his other work, to much failure.

He loves a right angle, too.

I quite like Bahrain. Sacrilege I know. Turns 9, 10 and 11 are good corners.

Yeah, I thought Bahrain wasn't too bad. Terrible when they used the wanky infield and the 'oval' layout.

The only half decent murderdrome but as you say it needs to be the proper layout.

Eddie Jordan has died. No more flamboyant outfits turning up on the grid.

One of the biggest legends in F1 history, in the banter sense of legend. Sums up what the sport used to be about before it became Hornerised.

I'm sure Lewis has a few he'll try to sneak past Ferrari.

That new FIA rule wasn’t directed at McLaren as they passed the tests. Red Bull and Ferrari fans in tatters

Always nice to see Horny put one in his own net.

I'm only now finding out Eddie Jordan was bald.

Jordan the last team to actually come through the feeder system into F1? If someone did that now and won races it would be the biggest story ever, the fact Jordan did it on 50p and a Bertrand Gachot lawsuit is even more impressive.

There used to be some excitement and viewership over here back in those Benson days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Disco

Jordan the last team to actually come through the feeder system into F1? If someone did that now and won races it would be the biggest story ever, the fact Jordan did it on 50p and a Bertand Gachot lawsuit is even more impressive.

---

Stewart's outfit was doing F3000 before becoming a GP team. At least I think that's how that happened. Campos tried to make the jump in 2010 but couldn't get the money together.

The Bertrand Gachot/taxi incident is both amazing and also basically the origin story for all of modern F1. EJ knew he was innocent but had a business incentive to kick him out of the car so said 'Sorry, mate' and failed to defend him, resulting in Mike Shoemaker jumping in for Spa and the rest is history.

If Gachot never has fight with the taxi driver, then Schumacher probably only enters F1 the following year, probably with a worse team than Benetton, and probably rises to the top in a completely different fashion, maybe even via the Sauber-Mercedes 1993 entry and then on to McLaren. Then you don't have the Ferrari dream team, Hakkinen probably doesn't win any titles, and so on.

Imagine if he winds up in Karl Wendlinger's seat, takes the Monaco crash and exits the sport.

That's surely Perez in a Lawson costume.

I think the car is pretty bad. Clearly Verstappen is just that good that he can drive around its problems. Even still he only got to 5th and was way off Washed Up Hamilton.

It's a complete dog. Probably the 7th or 8th best car on the grid. Also a complete dog which is built purely for Verstappen.

Get in there Lewis.

It’s the 3rd fastest car that is built purely for Verstappen. He’s good but he’s not that good.

McLaren letting the wee boys enjoy their day out in the sprint before lolling past them all in the proper stuff

Lewis giggling on the radio when they told him he was pole .

If Red Bull put someone who could drive in their second seat the results would improve immeasurably. A radical tactic that seems to have escaped them.

I think Colapinto's going to be back in a seat at some point this season.

Doohan was keeping it warm for him before he even sat in it, media bods have been filming his intros/idents this week.

Ghost car comparison of Verstappen and Hamilton's laps.

One of those pieces of technology I'm surprised hasn't been done sooner.

:drool: Mario Kart.

I love stuff like that.

Basically the Red Bull is (comparatively) crap out of the corners but Verstappen is so good he (nearly) makes it all back on the brakes.

Lewis finally found the K1 button.

Verstappen's downshifts into the sector 3 hairpin are just beautiful.

Also seems Williams have been sent up to the stewards.

The scrutineers asked for camera footage of their wings while on track to check how much they flexed and they haven't provided it.

It's someone like them that could get unfairly penalised for this flexing stuff. They came out with the new standards on Monday which isn't enough time to design, lay up, finish, and transport new elements even for the biggest of teams. Someone like Mclaren or Red Bull have the resources to have developed versions for both the spirit and letter of the law, probably not the case for most of the rest who may (very reasonably) have simply assumed passing the tests would be enough. Last time this happened they gave teams (cough Red Bull cough) multiple races to put it right, seems a bit bullshit to give them basically no time on this occasion.

I'd read that like they've been pulled for failing to comply with a request from the stewards rather than anything else so far.

The request was for footage from some of the on board cameras that have to be physically retrieved, one of the things they do is monitor the rear wing flex. It may be completely unrelated but the short turnaround is still unfair on the smaller teams.

10am here, ready for this sprint. Here's hoping for a crash, fight or dog on track.

I suspect the Ferrari will eat its tyres here, but this is promising for the season.

Fresh air is king then. Max and Piastri absolutely cooked their tyres and went fully off the cliff.

Its good to see the newbs early on, spinning around in dirt

Poor old Doohan is on a one-way trip to Mount Panorama at the moment.

Brundle making a good point here that Verstappen could Prost his way to the championship even in a shit car.

Norris looks like he’s towing a boat around here

Lawson :lol:

Hadjar to be in the Red Bull and then fired before season's end. Keep going Helmut.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

Lawson :lol:

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Getting mugged off on out laps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waffdon

Norris looks like he’s towing a boat around here

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He found the NOS button, new lap record.

Same again in Q3, chief. No excuses

He was making a weird number of mistakes throughout that session.

Leclerc in Sir Lewis's bodybag already, French chump.

Should be a fairly routine win for Piastri tomorrow from the front

We need an indiction on the time screen, when drivers have completed their flying laps but they they havent taken the chequered flag. We know when drivers go into the box as it tells you. Its tension trying to figure our for 20 seconds, who is still on a flying lap and who has just completed one.

Should be a good race I think, certainly any of the front four could win it, maybe front six if Ferrari have any race pace, quite rare in this era.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel

We need an indiction on the time screen, when drivers have completed their flying laps but they they havent taken the chequered flag. We know when drivers go into the box as it tells you. Its tension trying to figure our for 20 seconds, who is still on a flying lap and who has just completed one.

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I think there's quite a lot they could do with modern tech to allow us to follow people's laps better on the broadcast. Have similar delta things up on screen maybe to what the drivers have in-car.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Should be a good race I think, certainly any of the front four could win it, maybe front six if Ferrari have any race pace, quite rare in this era.

---

Clean air is king, as shown by Hamilton earlier today. Unless Verstappen makes places at the start I can only seen him going backwards in the race with that horrific degradation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Brundle making a good point here that Verstappen could Prost his way to the championship even in a shit car.

---

I was thinking that as well. He doesn't really have terrible days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Leclerc in Sir Lewis's bodybag already, French chump.

---

I'm wondering how he's going to cope with this. With Sainz there was that sense that maybe he had the edge on track, but Sainz wasn't quite viewed as the same level of star as him. Now the gaffer has essentially brought in his favourite ever student, who also happens to be the last remaining mega star of F1. Oh and just so happens to be the best driver the sport has ever seen.

I've got a lot of time for Charlie boy and he along with Max are probably quite clear in being the guy you want for that one lap. However his ability to chuck a mistake is going to cost him a lot if we are seeing a return of full motivation SLH.

It's been half a weekend. Let's not get carried away just yet.

Exactly. Hamilton's motivation for a weekend could disappear very quickly if last year is anything to go by.

Quite.

I hope we continue down the path of Car X being better at Circuit Y, but not the same as it was last week, that we got at the end of last year. Could also be interesting if Max does Prost his way to many a 2nd/3rd place while the other teams yo-yo about.

Nice to have some ambiguity in a sport now that the football season is over.

What's the deal with Verstappen's team mate? Obviously there is a skill gap, but how can you be consistently last in a car that's also near the front? Aren't Red Bull meant to be the "talent ID" guys?

Car is designed for Max to drive only. Albon said that when he was his team mate, Max likes the car to feel, the same way your mouse does when your turn it to max sensitivity. It makes the car really difficult to drive for everyone else. Allegedly.

Perez did well with the car, until he didn't. As for Lawson, this is his second weekend on the car. Last weekend was a rainy one and all the rookies struggled. As much as I would enjoy to see him flop as some sort of revindication for Perez, we have to wait at least a few more races before entirely giving up on him.

It's a true one-car team. Kind of ironic as one of the best parallels from history was 1994 when Benetton made a car purely for Schumacher and the fall guy trailing around like a leper 15 places behind him was... Jos Verstappen.

And Red Bull are the talent ID guys but they also have Helmut Marko who likes to sack said talent after about 5 races. Gasly and Albon from the current grid have both been through this, Sainz got out before it happened to him, and countless careers are in the mud because of it.

Yuki has been driving round at half mast thus far this season.

Perez did ok when the car was most of a second quicker than anything else, they seem allergic to putting anyone half decent in that seat and when they did they gave them half an hour to get close to Verstappen then kicked them out the door.

Yuki's probably better off where he is, believe it or not.

A bit like when Casey Stoner was the only one that could win on the Ducati.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Yuki's probably better off where he is, believe it or not.

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At this point if I was a young driver I would be trying to avoid the Red Bull seat, at least until the new regs kick in.

I also don't want to defend Perez too much because it will sound that I am just biased for my countrymate and I couldn't really care less, but he was a 'half-decent' driver, at least until the last year and a half.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Yuki's probably better off where he is, believe it or not.

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I agree but he really wanted that RB seat so he must be loving shitting all over Lawson.

Yuki is not a great driver. He is perfectly average at best. He is Sergio Perez with ADHD. You put anyone in that second car and they will be abysmal because the entire thing is built from the ground up for Max to T-1000 his way to championships or if it's a shit car, drag it kicking and screaming onto the podium. You cannot ask people who are not Max Verstappen to drive this thing competently. It cannot be done.

We have had 6 drivers and a decades worth of evidence that has proved this time after time.

McLaren’s dominating when it really matters. Not a real surprise

Leclerc's missing front wing endplate taking all the load out of the front left, absolute cheat code around here. He could challenge Norris here.

Love that Leclerc's improvised aero modification leads to him being the fastest car on track (or so it seems).

Edit: Was a bit late with that.

Something needs to happen.

McLaren telling Norris for maximum pace a bit ago just for him to sit in dirty air was a ridiculous call. Norris needs to get rid of that engineer badly. His tyres look cooked now

Easy peasy. McLaren on their Red Bull/Mercedes arc and I’m here for it.

Imagine my shock that the C2 held together flawlessly for 40 odd laps. Haven't actually seen 'the cliff' since about 2010.

My Piastri 10/1 ticket remains in my pocket.

When was the last time a tyre genuinely went off? When Hamilton binned it here on the way into the pits to scupper that title in his debut season, in one of the worst bits of team management ever?

That was really boring.

Most extreme example I remember was Kimi in a Lotus.

You know when Russell is sitting in 3rd place that it’s been a boring race. The king of saving tyres and sneaking onto a podium. Nearly got up to 2nd in the end with Norris’ brake issues.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gray Fox

Most extreme example I remember was Kimi in a Lotus.

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There was that one epic race in Canada where everyone had to make about 6 stops.

Was that a turning point for durability?

One of the reasons 2012 was a good season was that they had clown tyres that actually fell off. If you're going to have massive aero wake (which you are) then you can't have super-durable tyres as well or there's no jeopardy for the driver in front, especially around this smogfest when there's a triple-apex nightmare leading out into the long DRS zone.

Russell doing a 1 stop at Spa and winning the race (well until it was overturned) should have been the nail in the head for these tyres. The more pit stops needed the better. 1 stop is fine if there’s an element of risk but the V Carbs were on for an easy P7 and P9 before going for a second stop today which ends up royally fucking them. Same with Hamilton - was never catching anyone after pitting

If the tyres aren't going to get less durable they need to make the races 10 laps longer.

Yeah, take the distances back to 1960s levels.

LeClerc and Gasly underweight with Hamilton having excessive plank wear. All three could be gone.

Leclerc and Hamilton both disqualified. Forza Ferrari chaps.

Albon up to P7 :cool:

That move to Ferrari will only keep looking better and better as the season progresses, won't it? Car is not bad, but the team is a joke and has been for a while.

Gasly gone now too.

What a difference 24 hours makes for Ferrari huh.

Max quietly putting solid points on the board early on too.

Haas 5th and 8th is some result after last week. Bearman drove a very good race actually. Antonelli getting driver of the day was a curious psephological phenomenon to say the least.

Ferrari are some comedy act.

Getting both cars disqualified for different reasons is some going.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gray Fox

What a difference 24 hours makes for Ferrari huh.

Max quietly putting solid points on the board early on too.

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Deserved for the embarrassing over exaggerated response from people to a sprint race

'We weren't trying to gain an advantage' is [pasta] chef's kiss.

As a life long Ferrari fan (tifosi as we say) I think it's disgraceful that Sir Lewis Hamiltons 9th world title bid is being sabotaged in this way. Obvious British favouritism.

We should do a Ferrari bingo card.

I look forward to seeing which way they manage to fuck it up in Japan.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gray Fox

We should do a Ferrari bingo card.

I look forward to seeing which way they manage to fuck it up in Japan.

---

I'm going for a double stack fucking one of the drivers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thommo

Leclerc and Hamilton both disqualified. Forza Ferrari chaps.

Albon up to P7 :cool:

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No doubt in my mind that Albon is one of the best drivers on the grid at this point. He consistently gets every last drop of performance out of that car. All the more sweeter that he was (wrongly) fired by Red Bull by those wankers Horner and Marko.

Ferrari giving Lewis a stroke already.

View Tweet

Biden-like.

Word is that Red Bull are already thinking about bringing in Yuki to replace Lawson, lol.

At what point do they think of making their car work for more than one person.

Yuki, the whiny little bitch, will last 2 races before being smacked in the face by Jos or the Horndog.

I'm not so sure Red Bull will want to put Tsunoda in that seat. He's a total hot head who will be no better than those that went before him. I reckon Lawson's less-combative nature was what give him the nod initially.

Unsurprisingly, Alpine are already making moves to get Colapinto into Doohan's car before Red Bull come knocking. Not signing Sainz will look extra-retarded when they have to go back to Perez.

Although Ralf Schumacher has said Tsunoda and Lawson are definitely swapping cars in Suzuka, and he's supposedly got sources in the Racing Bulls team.

Hard to see Tsunoda being the solution to anything.

Red Bull want that HUGE fan pop in Japan.

Yuki coming out in the car like Cody Rhodes at Mania 38.

Colapinto is just the same as the rest of them. Desperately inexperienced. None of these guys have driven F1 cars enough to know what they're doing. Yuki might have the best chance on qualifying pace, but he has other weaknesses.

I don't think Tsunoda is brilliant. But, with the experience he was surely worth promoting this year and seeing how it pans out. I don't think he does any worse and even if he is no better he's had his chance and you move on. Sticking someone in the seat who has 9 Grand Prix under their belt was always going to be an issue even Max did a season and a bit at a junior team before moving to Red Bull and let's face it he will have genuine claims to be seen as one of the best drivers ever none of these guys will be in that same conversation even if they are very good drivers in their own rights so all you are doing is burying them.

Unless he starts crashing, I would give Lawson the season.

Yuki would be a fool to take that seat.

Marko and Horner are the issues. Doesn't matter who gets in that second seat, they're fucked.

The Vettel-Webber relationship was farcical at times. You couldn't imagine Ross Brawn letting it play out like it did, that's for sure. Then they ran Ricciardo out of town when Verstappen came in, and that's despite Ricciardo actually beating him in 2017. The long line of rookies after that was just a disasterclass of how to manage a team. Early days Perez (until he chucked the towel in at Suzuka 2023, seemingly along with his driving ability) was the best they'll see as a two-car outfit until there's change at the top.

Ricciardo left town knowing Max was better than him and proved to be absolute dog shit forever more.

Agreed. Ricciardo knew that a life as a number 2 driver awaited him in Red Bull and decided to instead trust the French to give him a competitive car, for some reason.

A number two can still be successful in the right environment. He saw that Red Bull were focusing 100% on Verstappen even after beating him and that any second driver would be on a hiding to nothing because of the way Marko and Horner were going about running the place.

I'm not disputing Ricciardo didn't do himself any favours afterwards but it was weird team management at the time and massively foreshadowed the shit show the team constantly found themselves in after that.

What will they do if Max breaks his legs at Suzuka or is strangled by a killer tulip / hit on the head by a windmill sail when he next goes home? Anything can happen in motor racing.

Could they just swap the Toro Rosso (whatever it is called today) cars?

How attached is he to the Red Bull team? The rumours of him going to Mercedes aren't going away, and we saw with Hamilton how anything is possible. If he fucked off it'd be back to the days of Coulthard and Klein in a real hurry.

Same as any of them, if he thinks he stands a better chance of winning somewhere else he's gone.

He'll go at the end of 2026, unless the Red Bull is the fastest car, to whoever does have the fastest car. Imagine there's a reasonable chance that Red Bull might sell up at that point as well.

Will fizzy drink suddenly not need selling any more?

All that stuff was pushed for by the bloke who’s now dead. I think that kind of ‘expenses we don’t need’ will slowly die off as hedge fund types take over that company.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Disco

Will fizzy drink suddenly not need selling any more?

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Someone might decide they can sell it via other means than spending a billion quid on sending various hapless Mexicans and New Zealanders to their eternal ridiculd.

Seems a bit rash, they've got a factory and hats and stuff. People act as if Verstappen is the last good driver, just get another one.

You'd swear reading here that they're banned from signing anyone up.

Sources saying that Yuki is IN with Lawson OUT.

Can't wait for Lawson, a super formula veteran of course, to rinse him at Suzuka.

Comes to something that we're only giving a youth two races, in a known to be shit car now.

Plus the 11 he had before that.

Sounds ridiculous to me but maybe THE DATA shows truly tragic levels of performance.

If you're being hard on him then you can't really be parking a car P20, but two weekends is a pretty quick trigger. You could tell though in his interview after qualifying that he had been told he had to deliver immediately.

How many did Luca Badoer get in the Ferrari that time?

Two before Fisichella went in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Disco

Plus the 11 he had before that.

---

He did more than fine in that car though.

Liz Truss had a longer stint than Lawson. :facepalm:

Tsunoda-Lawson swap official.

Who comes in when Tsunoda struggles because the car is obviously a huge issue? Jos Verstappen?

Tsunoda to shit all over Max :drool:

I fear the weebs of the F1 world are about to be sorely disappointed.

Tsunoda will still be at least 4-5 tenths off Verstappen at Suzuka. Even more if the transition between the teams isn't at all smooth.

If he gets to Q3 in that car he'll have done extraordinarily well.

He only needs to not be 20th at this point though in all fairness in qualifying. At the end even on newer tyres he was a second a lap behind Max on Sunday. He was I'm sure I saw 3 seconds a lap off Max in Melbourne. The car isn't great but it isn't as bad as the Sauber which is about where Lawson has had it. Get him out, a full season in the junior team and you might still be able to make something of him as a driver. Leave him in and you just end up with the next Perez.

Why are we pretending the Red Bull car is a tractor. It’s not any worse than the Ferrari.

It's been developed around Verstappen's driving style for 8 years, a style which is very specific. Trying to ask a rookie or mid driver to adapt to that without being given any grace is always going to backfire.

I don't know if you watch MotoGP but Honda did exactly the same thing. They got a once-in-a-generation talent (Marc Marquez) in 2013 and coupled with a good bike he won immediately. Then it started getting developed around him 100% and by 2016 when the sport switched to Michelin tyres, they'd probably already jumped the shark. However, Marquez was that good that he pretty much hid the flaws and kept winning (particularly in 2019 which was just total genius on his part). Then he almost killed himself in 2020 and never really rode for the team again. And guess what, Honda went straight to the bottom of the standings because it became apparent the bike was impossible to ride for anyone else.

I guess my point is, the Verstappen factor cannot be understated. I'd say he's got 2-3 tenths on the whole field (all else being equal). He's massively quick in qualifying but his consistency is mesmerising. If the driver wasn't a factor, he'd be 7th every race at the moment.

Exactly as above. If Verstappen is dragging a car to 4th it's because it's an appallingly slow car. He's even been saying himself that it is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Luke Emia

He only needs to not be 20th at this point though.

---

Surely for red bull 20th or 11th are the same, no? They need points or they risk finishing fourth in the constructors championship, which would be traffic for them.

I wonder what the biggest difference in finishing positions between team mates has ever been.

Lawson more likely to shit all over Tsunoda.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pepe

Surely for red bull 20th or 11th are the same, no? They need points or they risk finishing fourth in the constructors championship, which would be traffic for them.

---

Yes, I meant from the viewpoint of he just needs to do that to be an improvement on Lawson at the minute. Long-term if he's finishing 14th all season he won't be in the car any longer either. The car isn't great but the second driver in the team should still be able to finish in and around the top 10 and pick up points. It's not a fucking Minardi.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel

I wonder what the biggest difference in finishing positions between team mates has ever been.

---

Ayrton Senna 4th / Johnny Dumfries 13th
Michael Schumacher 1st / Jos Verstappen 10th although both missed quite a few races

Can't think of any bigger than that.

No one called Johnny Dumfries should be good at anything.

The fact cars are so reliable and so close together now in terms of speed is a huge detriment to the "inferior" teammate. Previously they'd make up for their lack of guile just by simply breezing past the slower cars, or be propelled up the leaderboard by cars blowing up ahead of them.

Now everyone finishes a race and we've even seen the likes of Hamilton, Leclerc and Norris get stuck behind "much slower" cars when they qualify out of position because they really aren't that much slower anymore. I'd argue only Verstappen has really mastered the art of how to overtake quickly and consistently in these cruise liners, and even he regularly has to bend the rules to do it.

If you hit up an early 90s race on Youtube (which I do more often than is necessarily healthy) it's almost like a different sport, the cars are so twitchy and a nightmare to drive, huge gaps open up in the opening laps (but can also be closed again), and more than anything there are shit tons of random retirements, bizarre stop-go penalties and also a weight of shit backmarkers getting in the way that you just don't have now.

Today's races are so optimised in comparison that someone who normally finishes 16th finishing 9th is cause for hugs all round and a massive team celebration. Similarly, anyone (hi Logan Sargent) who is particularly off the pace of the field turns into a massive burden on the sport rather than just part of the game as it used to be.

The cars looked much better too.

My favourite genre of motorsport photo is shots taken down the start finish straight seconds after the race start in that era. Like so, I think this is 1991 at Suzuka:

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https://storage.googleapis.com/the-r...-2048x1365.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ben

Tsunoda-Lawson swap official.

Who comes in when Tsunoda struggles because the car is obviously a huge issue? Jos Verstappen?

---

We must continue to find the most average of drivers for what we have, for no good reason, made the hardest seat in F1.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

If you hit up an early 90s race on Youtube (which I do more often than is necessarily healthy) it's almost like a different sport, the cars are so twitchy and a nightmare to drive, huge gaps open up in the opening laps (but can also be closed again), and more than anything there are shit tons of random retirements, bizarre stop-go penalties and also a weight of shit backmarkers getting in the way that you just don't have now.

Today's races are so optimised in comparison that someone who normally finishes 16th finishing 9th is cause for hugs all round and a massive team celebration. Similarly, anyone (hi Logan Sargent) who is particularly off the pace of the field turns into a massive burden on the sport rather than just part of the game as it used to be.

---

Sport was better when it was worse etc.

As for watching old races the guy I use is up to 2010 now but this might be the best thing he's posted so far, some incredible foreshadowing here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_2bkps7uBY

https://rumble.com/c/BigZeddie
https://www.youtube.com/@bigzeddie76/featured

As for hiring average team mates, there's a reason that Schumacher and Senna in particular always had crap team mates, which was because they vetoed the hiring of good ones, and it's hard to believe Max wouldn't do the same.

I also just remembered Red Bull are switching to Ford engines next year. I hope they don’t bring their disastrous wet belt with them.

Btw not sure if I shared it in here but having visited a friend who worked for Williams and knows the paddock, the Jos mention reminded me.

The whole Horner sexual harassment thing last year was an intentional leak because Jos was hanging out the back of the same bird and she told Verstappen Snr that she was no longer interested.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

My favourite genre of motorsport photo is shots taken down the start finish straight seconds after the race start in that era. Like so, I think this is 1991 at Suzuka:

---

There's a beauty to this picture that 8 sponsors are clearly visible

1 no longer exists
1 isn't legally allowed to advertise anymore
1 fashion company that sponsors lewis hamilton not the sport
2 are the sole remaining companies of a dead print industry
2 are petroleum companies

The front 6 cars (if we take the Jordan on the right to be narrowly leading what I guess must be one of those Dallara / Scuderia Italia shitboxes) all sporting a different main colour, and not a centimetre of naked carbon fibre in sight. Take me back there.

I believe it's Hitachi on the rear wing of said Jordan who I can report are still going strong and one of their competitors Komatsu are on the side of the current day Williams. Some shred of continuity to cling onto.

I'm wrong, Hitachi was on the Lotus, not the Jordan, and not until the following year. I'm a day late and a dollar short, as Brundle (driving some nightmare Brabham at the back of shot) would say.

I've long advocated for Livery paint not counting towards the weight limit. Similar to how they changed it so drivers weren't sweating themselves to death to make the car lighter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

I'm wrong, Hitachi was on the Lotus, not the Jordan, and not until the following year. I'm a day late and a dollar short, as Brundle (driving some nightmare Brabham at the back of shot) would say.

---

There’s a joke for the most famous modern Hitachi device being a vibrating dildo and you attaching their 90s branding to Jordan’s Lotus that would absolutely kill on the after dinner circuit of a mid level insurance company.

He's saving it for his retirement speech at Komatsu.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phonics

I've long advocated for Livery paint not counting towards the weight limit. Similar to how they changed it so drivers weren't sweating themselves to death to make the car lighter.

---

The paint should be irrelevant. The rules need completely re-writing. Haggling over a bit of paint to save a few grams when you've got 800kg to play with is ridiculous.

I thought the issue with paint was the aero effect rather than the weight? Could be wrong, or could be both.

Given nobody has ever claimed their car was quick because they found lighter paint we can immediately disregard any talk about heavy paint as code for 'our car is crap'. Won't be a problem soon as they'll be swimming in weight capacity once the hybrids go.

A couple of cars could have used an extra kilo or two of paint very recently.

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Me likey.

Special liveries are so tinpot. Going to paint a bulldog on the side for Silverstone or a cheeseburger for Miami? Thought not.

Are the F1 cars going to be caught by the new US tariffs when they have to go and race there?

They already ruined helmets, now liveries are the bleeding edge of pointless crap to keep the marketing department busy. Deduct a point for every alteration throughout the season.

I do feel a bit for the makers of DTS when they sit down with the six new rookies to try and churn out some sort of episode for series 100 next year, and the most charismatic thing they can find is that Ollie Bearman has a very camp-looking bear on his helmet.

Doohan lost it during the start of turn one. Big impact.

https://x.com/extremecars__/status/1...EhNxUgKtg&s=19

Those "Colapinto in the seat by Europe" rumours won't be simmering down after that one.

Villeneuve at Suzuka for us this weekend. :cool:

Colapinto of course not crashy at all. Why isn't, say, Kevin Magnussen in the seat?

I know FP2 was largely a waste of time and Racing Bulls had fortunate track position in between red flags, but them both only being 0.4s off McLaren (with Lawson in 5th) isn't really a good look for Red Bull.

I saw a wag suggest that rather than worry about who is in the second Red Bull seat, they should just put Max in the RB. Get it done.

World Champions switching seats mid-season like it's the 50's. :cool:

I see we have grass randomly catching fire on an Asian circuit again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Colapinto of course not crashy at all. Why isn't, say, Kevin Magnussen in the seat?

---

I do think this. Colapinto did well at Williams last season by virtue of not being as completely fucking useless as Sargent and Latifi. He made quite a few mistakes(which is to be expected), but I don't think he's going into that car and getting points consistently or anything and seems just as likely to be chucking it into the wall as Doohan is as well.

I think this impatience by teams seems to be getting worse partly because there are no real 'backmarkers' on the grid anymore who are content to pootle around and get zero points every season. I know Alpine are French, Haas are a bit shit and the Sauber is terrible(but even they are being bought out). In a previous life the likes of Doohan, Lawson etcetera would have had a year in a shitbag at the back of the grid being a lap or 2 laps behind the leaders and if they showed any talent at all they would have been picked up by a bigger team. Now the teams at the back are parachuting these guys in and can't fathom why they aren't automatically in the points after 2 or 3 races and why they are making mistakes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Luke Emia

I think this impatience by teams seems to be getting worse partly because there are no real 'backmarkers' on the grid anymore who are content to pootle around and get zero points every season..

---

This is it. No team gets consistently lapped every week anymore, so they all believe they have a shot of points.

Sauber were the only team to get lapped in China and that was because of mistakes, not just outright slow pace. They got a 7th place the race before.

Even looking back to the first Chinese GP 20 years ago. Everyone up to 10th got lapped, with the Minardi getting the privilege three times.

The Concorde Agreement (don't know which one it was) that give top teams ultimate power and essentially made the barriers to entry impossible for independents really started the ultra-reliability and competitiveness we see now.

It wasnt that long ago that Hamilton and Mercedas on a weekly basis, lapped the whole field up 6th place.

I'm talking more recent than that. Probably post-COVID (or maybe just before, when everyone started to close the huge gap on Mercedes).

Just looked it up. 2018 to 2019 the mechanical retirement rate almost halved overnight, and it's only getting lower. Once everyone kept their cars on track for the full race, it was a matter of time before they made more performance gains.

Doohan forgetting to disable DRS on a flat out corner and smashing the car into 14,000 pieces :D

Isn't it supposed to disengage itself when you touch the brake [no idea if that is applicable here]?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niko_cee

Isn't it supposed to disengage itself when you touch the brake [no idea if that is applicable here]?

---

This is correct.

There is also talk the 2026 cars will have a kind of motor for the rear wing that flattens it out on straights but brings up the angle on it through corners. So that could lead to some similar kinds of failures.

The first part of turn one is flat out, he was supposedly trying something that worked in the sim. Might be some correlation issues to sort out there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niko_cee

Isn't it supposed to disengage itself when you touch the brake [no idea if that is applicable here]?

---

It does, but with the first part of the corner taken flat out, he needed to disengage manually.

I did think it was weird how the rear swapped on him. I feel sorry for the lad, to be honest.

Its a good thing. Shows things are not all that cute and sweet. The cars should be tricky to drive. Ive even saw Alonso make several mistakes during the first three events.

Alonso is in danger of being washed. Is Max going there for 26 or will Papa Stroll bring Hideki Noda out of retirement to try and make his boy look good?

Merc have the edge in the new regs don't they [according to THE GRAPEVINE]? So he'll be off there if he has any sense.

Said grapevine also suggests Cadillac have Russell and Perez(lol) lined up as their preferred driver pairing. So it could all work out.

The conspiracy theory around dumping Lawson was that Red Bull need two cars scoring points in order to reach the performance threshold in Verstappen's contract and stop him jumping to Mercedes too easily. Not sure I buy that but he can't stay there forever.

Then why not sign Carlos Sainz.

The paddock talk was that was a veto by camp Verstappen as the two dads would kill each other.

Quite a good set up if you have a get out of contract clause if the other driver is a retard and also a veto over whoever gets said driver position.

God I love JV. Just the right balance between autism and entertainment.

Hadjar got his penis stuck in his zipper or something?

Bearman Q3 in that van is incredibly impressive, no matter how unnerving his whole vibe is.

Lawson outqualifying Tsunoda :D. Although both of them getting donned by Hadjar and his torture pants.

I get the whole "he needs more time" thing with Doohan and I do agree, but you can't deny he's looking a bit like Sargeant out there.

Offft, that front 3 were tight in qualifying. P1 tends to always win here but the two mclarens should eat Verstappen alive on track

Also, surely everyone P4 and under will be starting on hards and going long due to the inevitable fire on track and getting a free tyre change

Missed another one. When do we get to the races that aren't at stupid times?

Next weekend. Nothing but reasonable times until Las Vegas in November.

Forgot we’ve already got a triple header. The scheduling is so dumb

Lando lol.

I don't understand why McLaren didn't leave one of their drivers out in clean air and try an overcut. Completely botched their advantage of having two runners up against Red Bull's one.

They did the same in Monza last year with that Leclerc win.

It's been noticeable over the second half of last year and start of this year how bad the TV direction is. Think they have someone with really no talent in the job.

Utter snooze this race, these cars are useless.

Croft desperate to introduce some jeopardy, shot down by JV at every opportunity. :drool:

They really should have let Piastri have a go at Max a couple of laps back.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Disco

Croft desperate to introduce some jeopardy, shot down by JV at every opportunity. :drool:

---

His race-long campaign for McLaren to swap Norris and Piastri is genuinely insane.

Also genuinely impressed how Stroll has managed to drop 23 seconds off the back here. Not sure what's happened there.

I reckon you could have put the cars in more or less any order at the start of that race and they would have stayed more or less in that order. Very little pace difference, just dirty air.

Absolute guff that.

Not even an attempt at overtaking anywhere in the top ten.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Disco

Not even an attempt at overtaking anywhere in the top ten.

---

L Hamilton went by Hadjar early on, that was the only time position changed in the top ten between qualifying and the flag.

Agent Piastri giving the game away in the drivers room.

This era of being unable to follow cars due to dirty air is utterly boring

Yeah they got rid of that well with the regulation changes, but those pesky engineers have undone all of the good work.

It was only three years ago when these regulations came in that they were bragging about how the ground effect will eliminate dirty air and they had the scope to introduce sweeping changes at the drop of a hat when engineers inevitably find loopholes. What a fucking laugh.

Also Croft is a complete knob these days. He was always annoying via his basic errors and ridiculous enthusiasm when it wasn’t called for, but now he’s a cocky, contradicting prick. Nice to see Autistic JV having none of it.

I'm not sure 'dirty air' is a problem you can really solve, especially in F1 where there are zero people with even the slightest interest in trying.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Also genuinely impressed how Stroll has managed to drop 23 seconds off the back here. Not sure what's happened there.

---

He started the season very well (for his standards). Was due a drop off

Pitting Norris the same time of Verstappen was another amazing McLaren pit wall call

Antonelli and Hadjar looking like genuine prospects.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Disco

Agent Piastri giving the game away in the drivers room.

---

What did he say? Absolutely baffling that they sat both their cars in the dirty air all day and made no effort to change that.

Bearman too, he was great yesterday in what turned out to be the most important session.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ben

What did he say? Absolutely baffling that they sat both their cars in the dirty air all day and made no effort to change that.

---

His response to the highlights was 'Is that all that happened'.

Man, that was a waste of a race. Lando driving onto the grass probably made little difference but it was still stupid.

I'm cynical enough to think they pitted Norris the same lap as Verstappen to create that very scenario so Norris could over-egg it on the grass and push for a penalty.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ben

Antonelli and Hadjar looking like genuine prospects.

---

Antonelli is ludicrously raw but you can see the pace is there. I will for now withdraw my De Cesaris allegations.

I think I like Bearman most from the set though, at least until he opens his mouth.

Hopefully he Hamiltons his dad before long so we don't have to endure 27 different shots of him in the pits per race.

Also apply that to Norris's dad in his down-with-the-kids clobber.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Clunge

I'm cynical enough to think they pitted Norris the same lap as Verstappen to create that very scenario so Norris could over-egg it on the grass and push for a penalty.

---

They only got that opportunity because Red Bull fucked up the pit stop - think it was a second longer than McLaren's.

Great weekend from Verstappen overall, amazing pole lap. Hilarious that there are still people crying that Norris didn't let Piastri through to chase Max down when that would actively hurt him in the WDC in the long run.

It would be utterly insane in that scenario to step off the gas and let your team mate through. They all did the right thing, the cars just restricted the window of possibility to basically zero, which I think a lot of people struggle to grasp.

What McLaren got wrong was not taking a punt on the fact that Verstappen might be held up in traffic with new tyres (he was behind Hamilton on the hards I think) and try to overcut him with one of their cars. Might not have worked but it would have been 2-3 finish anyway so why not try it. I suspect that inter-team politics held up the chance to do that and they thought they'd just be conservative, take the 2-3 and move on. Not great for the viewing public.

Drivers behind claiming they have to pace to do x, y and z and should be let through is always bollocks and should be discounted.

I still don't think McLaren give an arse about the drivers title. Constructors is where the money is and the two drivers are good enough to podium the whole season.

I woke up at 6:30 and fell asleep by around 7:30.

Other than the Lando/Max pitstop thing literally nothing happened.

Good to see Tsunoda bringing the zero points Red Bull really needed. Enjoy your next and last race, lad.

View Tweet

Yuki :cool:

Weebs out in force on the multivote. Antonelli probably actually deserved it this time but didn't get it, democracy remains enigmatic in the F1 fanbase. Need John Curtice on the case.

Why do the weebs obsess about Tsunoda? Because he’s cute and cuddly? The hoops his fans jump through to champion/defend him are wild.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ben

Why do the weebs obsess about Tsunoda? Because he’s cute and cuddly? The hoops his fans jump through to champion/defend him are wild.

---

I don't know where they get that from. To be the most petulant little prick in a field of F1 drivers is some going.

I like him (not to the Weeb level) because he's so tiny.

He's basically pocket sized.

Albon was giving him some rivarly in the spoiled brat stakes on the radio earlier.

The driver of the day graphic was quite funny, it outlined not only his rip-roaring drive from 15th-12th but also got his number wrong. Nine different angles of Leclerc's dog though so production budget is well spent.

I’d love Verstappen to shithouse his way to the title this year. McLaren don’t seem to have the killer instinct he does.

I'd much rather he won it than the other Belgian, to be fair.

The state of this 'Grid vs Finishing Spot' table.

https://i.imgur.com/TvaP53B.png

Get in there Lewis.

Suzuka is a great track but these cars are way too big for it.

These cars are too big for almost anything that isn't a six-lane motorway.

https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...g?format=1500w

Vehicle imports to the US today

:D

If there’s no safety cars, this could be 2010s Merc level of dominance this weekend from McLaren

Those gaps are huge. However I think it'll all come back to the other teams when the temperatures drop later.

It's probably still beyond Verstappen to plonk it amongst the McLarens though. Russell might be the top contender actually.

Norris is always dog shit in his first run in Q3. I’m not sure he’s been ahead of Piastri once this season after the first run. Just puts so much pressure on himself for the final run.

Russell is mega. 1 second ahead of the rest :D

These time deletions coming in 40 minutes late is pathetic. Shambles.

Okay, I’m all aboard Norris is a bottling shitebag. My god, what the fuck was that. Easiest top 2 of your life and he’s out done by a French car

He’ll probably still finish P2 tomorrow as it’s easy to overtake here and their race pace is monstrous but he’s given Piastri another easy win

Just clocked he’s next to max as well on the starting grid. Forget that P2 shout, DNF for days.

Is Hamilton washed?

Toggle Spoiler

Probably

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/...eg?imwidth=680

Ferrari are washed.

A couple of weekends ago he seemingly won the sprint race quite easily. I think he was always going to be 2nd best to Leclerc over a single lap.

In his older days he seems to be what a footballer would be described as a confidence player. That said the car seems honking for the most part this year. Very small window it actually works well in.

Didn't they also being some 'upgrades' to this race too?

Decent start. We haven't had one of those for a while, have we?

Surprised Lando got such a great start from 6th.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel

Surprised Lando got such a great start from 6th.

---

Now we know why.

I assume that's a stop-go for it?

It used to be a drive through for it I believe. But they seem to be gone these days. I suspect 10s or a stop/go.

Alonso got a 5 second for something similar recently, so not surprised it's the same here, but he most definitely will take that trade.

5s seems a bit too lenient there for me. He gains much more with those 2/3 places.

It's definitely too lenient. For something as black and white as that I think they need to be more strict.

Trial races where you must drive on all tyres

I do like these new wider onboard cameras with camera shake. You get more sense of ths speed

As usual, the fuck are Ferrari doing not 1 stopping?

Max the only man on hards is struggling. I would have liked to see Leclerc on the the one stop. He has won several races with that gamble.

I missed it but he’s got a 5 second penalty for jumping three spots off the line?

What a laughable penalty. I’d be jump starting every week in that case.

5 seconds makes it worth jumping.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ben

I missed it but he’s got a 5 second penalty for jumping three spots off the line?

What a laughable penalty. I’d be jump starting every week in that case.

---

He was only a foot or two, too far forwards, but he rocketed off the line and got up to 3rd.

Tyres seem to be melting here, which is nice too see. 2 stops could even prove problematic for some drivers.

That's just a safety car for the sake of entertainment surely?

No way they needed a full safety car just to clear some debris.

Pathetic.

That was all set up nicely behind Piastri there too.

Both Ferrari boys are getting toasted off the restart here.

Both red cars on hards

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel

Trial races where you must drive on all tyres

---

Or we can just run it now :drool:

Interesting strategy from Mercedes.

Sainz and Norris not having the cleanest of races.

Scruffy again from Norris. Should have been a straightforward run to 2nd.

Norris getting P3 with that horrendous performance is hilarious. Ferrari absolutely threw it away putting hards on.

For a rocket ship, that McLaren’s DRS is fucking dreadful

Russell sneakily going into stealth mode to make DRS'ing behind him harder.

Norris got fucked by LeClerc forcing him off on the outside and lol if that was also one of his track limit violations, also Hamilton seemed a bit slovenly taking that place back allowing the other red car to scamper a bit firther up the road. All somewhat self-inflicted mind.

I think the set up for the finish was more interesting, pre-entertainment Safety Car. The timing of it forced Ferrari to choose soft or hard. They obviously felt they couldn't do softs.

Piastri pulling out a 15s gap after the safety car was dominant as it could be really. Driver of the day again a pointless thing. How isn't Bearman getting it? I've been quite impressed with how well he's done since the opening weekend disaster.

Bit of a shambles of a race. Fine drive from Piastri.

Russell keeps his 2nd but those pesky planks again see Hulkenberg DQ'd.

Useless stewards everywhere.

MotoGP just let Vinales go to the podium and celebrate with his kids then slapped him with a 16 second penalty afterwards.

Thanks for making me feel old. I remember him winning his first 125 race as a teenager.

Just found out about Jorge Martin's comeback. Man is cursed.

So sad. Six broken ribs. Slid down the giant cheese grater kerb. :(

Lando :(

Waff has cursed him.

Was bound to happen but didn't think it would have been him.

Triple weekends are cursed. He’s always dog shit during them.

I wasn’t expecting much this weekend - hasn’t been good at this track ever. Piastri beat him in qualifying both times in past two years (which says a lot because Norris has battered him past two years in qualifying H2H)

Also, the third straight qualifying he’s absolutely shit the bed and made a mistake in the first run in Q3. I don’t get it. He has always been incredible in quantifying.

He does keep reiterating how hard the car is to drive and piastri the opposite

World Champion Oscar Piastri would bookend this as the absolute worst period of F1 by regulation eras.

Can he please just fuck off?

Pretty handy this Max lad.

The greatest to ever do it

Piastri Russell Verstappen front 3 could be tasty

Awful news. Stroll is now the driver with the most Q1 exists in F1 history. Richie Rich letting me down.

Sainz in a Williams ahead of Ferrari's Hamilton. Love to see it.

Told him to check his tone. Fuck off

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Is it mandatory to speak English on the radio? Surely those two people should be speaking French to each other. Wouldn't have a 'tone' problem then.

I think it is, but its silly.

Norris comes across as so defeatist in his interviews. Can't believe someone that quick lacks confidence.

Still top of the WDC driving at 50% :cool:

I always get nervous before this race that someone's going to get hurt. Awful track.

Verstappen a cheat in turn one as always.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

I always get nervous before this race that someone's going to get hurt. Awful track.

---

Yep, genuinely shocked nobody has ever died round here. They go far too quickly

That’s surely a 5 second penalty if he doesn’t give the place back (which I don’t think he will because you’ll want track position)

They've figured out the 5s penalty is worth doing the crime. It needs to get harsher.

I don't know why they don't all jump the start for a 5s penalty. If you get a penalty it should ruin your race.

I bet if you turned that into a drive through/stop-go, you'd soon see them stop doing it. Or get rid of the nice smooth flat run off area.

Tuned in late. That kind of 1st corner is just shit, especially with the current rules. What is either of the drivers supposed to do?

I think that if there was a wall there, we would be saying that Piastri should have left space for the other car, no?

You have to be in there 1st, basically. If you're second you have to back off.

The TV direction is so bad.

Well Max is supposed to stick inside the white lines that define the track. If that was all gravel he wouldn't be touching it.

And if Piastri left no room, they would have crashed.

The F1 way of 'if you are 1 millimeter ahead the turn belongs to you' is nonsense. In any other series, if you are side by side, you are supposed to leave space. As is, Verstappen is supposed to brake way too hard and get behind him in line before the corner. That is some lame racing.

Problem is in this instance Max has clearly lost that corner quite some way before they get there.

This race could use Lando clearing Leclerc and then Stroll deciding he wants it in the wall.

Current rules incentivize both drivers to overcook the corner. I think rules that incentivized making sure that both drivers can make it through a turn within track limits would be better. As is, both did the correct thing.

The rules are like that because Verstappen refuses to be passed ever and forced them to change the rules because otherwise they'd have to penalise him every time someone tries to overtake him.

Safety car within next ten mins would be sound

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

The rules are like that because Verstappen refuses to be passed ever and forced them to change the rules because otherwise they'd have to penalise him every time someone tries to overtake him.

---

The rules were like that for a while. They should have penalized him every time. They could at least start now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waffdon

Safety car within next ten mins would be sound

---

Bortoleto tried his best.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pepe

The rules were like that for a while. They should have penalized him every time. They could at least start now.

---

Yeah but they don't want to, which is why they changed.

Yes and it is shit, as is this race and this track.

Lando always cuts the pit limiter close.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

Lando always cuts the pit limiter close.

---

And also the white line.

Or did he cut it?!?!?

Who pointlessly wins driver of the day today then?

It should really be Norris. About as good a recovery drive as he could have had today.

McLaren dominance may bore fans. :cool:

Bit of a slow burner race-wise, but the championship is set up well. Very hard to have a proper title fight over this many races, mind.

I dont think we get much longer before SLH starts getting the question.

The break should do Norris the world of good. He just needs to sort his qualifying out and he’ll be right there. Back to happy place in Miami next time

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Go_9ct4X...g&name=900x900

Getting to the stage the team orders swing now.

Yeah, it could be an interesting season if they raced each other, but we will probably get a bunch of radio racing for the entire year.

Just seen the Madrid circuit layout. It’s the kind of shape I’d expect my one year old to make when he’s scribbling on paper.

Tally ho

As if the humiliation of not being able to set up a red car wasn't enough Ferrari are making Hamilton wear this warcrime in Miami.

https://i.imgur.com/xzFszzu.jpeg

Genuinely thought he'd joined Racing Bulls for a second.

We are severely lacking blue cars so this is a good move.

There was a year not that long back, maybe 2018 or 2019, where the grid was properly technicolour. Has looked dull af last couple of years.

Don't make me post one of my 1991 start line shots again.

The Aston is the one that offends me. How do you fuck up British Racing Green every year so that it looks exactly like the black Mercedes.

I think you should post one for prosperity.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ben

We are severely lacking blue cars so this is a good move.

---

Having now seen the livery, you're going to wish the whole car was blue.

Shambles from start to finish.

Jesus that is bad. Like one of those half and half scarf abominations.

Oh my lord that is awful. :D

Everything about that screams boardroom compromise.

Clearly the HP Ink deal is rubbing off on them.

I wont even disgrace the thread with that Ferrari 'effort.'

This from VCARB however is up there as potentially my favourite of any modern livery:

View Tweet

Absolutely stunning.

I assume they had a suitable WOKE launch for that livery.

They should run with that all year.

Good reminder of that Jaguar commercial :D

Trying to remember if I've seen a Miami race, maybe the first one. Seems like the perfect weekend to catch up on some of my racing backlog.

The greatest track on earth. Lando Norris’ maiden win :cool:

No2 drivers need their moment in the sun every now and again I suppose.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waffdon

The greatest track on earth. Lando Norris’ maiden win :cool:

---

LL Cool J doing driver intros.

I don't think there's a single good thing about the Miami Grand Prix. At least in Jeddah you might catch a beheading in the background to liven things up.

Or a Houthi air strike on an oil terminal.

Miami GP extended through to 2041.

MBS needs taking out at this point.

Doohan just properly chimped out at his team over the radio.

Colapinto intensifies.

Kimi Antonelli with a cracking lap.

The sprints really are completely random this year. Hamilton and now Antonelli.

Sprint quali throwing up another surprise pole. Keep that up, please.

I suppose it makes sense with the lack of practice and having to use medium medium soft.

Shame they have sprints at tracks like here. Silverstone, Interlagos, Bahrain and Vegas should probably be the only places that should be hosting them

The amount of shit tracks we have popping onto the calendar now we'd be much better buying out Interlagos and hosting 24 rounds there.

The tv direction was an utter shambles again btw. It’s getting worse. Watching Hamilton plod round there and seeing the last 5 seconds of everyone else’s lap just about summed it up

Just trying to think what my ultimate 24-race calendar would be (within the bounds of what's still realistic).

Melbourne, Sepang, Suzuka, Shanghai, Singapore, Bahrain, Portimao, Imola, Interlagos, Monza, Baku, Monaco, Spa, Silverstone, Austria, Catalunya, Montreal, Nurburgring, Hungaroring, Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, COTA, Mexico City and Abu Dhabi.

In a better order.

Leclerc out of the sprint after smashing into the wall on the way to the grid :D

Bit of rain might make this sprint fun.

Bring more rain.

Just a little bit of spray.

Based off this spray, Antonelli should really piss this assuming he keeps it on track. He’s the only cat now getting absolutely blasted

This is going to be red flagged if it even starts.

If only there was some kind of tyre that would help with this rain.

Or not. Pussies

The sport is for complete pussies now. They can’t handle anything beyond drizzle.

Predictable and boring.

It’s not like it was that wet. Australia was worse earlier in the year. Is it just because of the narrow circuit?

I’ve just seen that Leclerc replay. What the fuck is wrong with this guy? He’s obviously rapid but he makes far too many ridiculous mistakes. As much as I like him and want him to win, I just don’t see him as a WDC.

Be about 15 mins max of racing at this rate

Oh dear Kimi.

How has Max escaped punishment there?

He's clearly over the line.

A bit of inexperience from Antonelli there.

He'll learn.

Surely someone is gonna put slicks on here. It looks bone dry

Someone needs to gamble and get the softs on.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Waffdon

The tv direction was an utter shambles again btw. It’s getting worse. Watching Hamilton plod round there and seeing the last 5 seconds of everyone else’s lap just about summed it up

---

It's bafflingly bad, not in an 'old man yells at cloud' way, but just in the sense that unqualified people are clearly doing it.

Max and the Red Bulls :lol:

There's a lot of debris when you're first and haven't pitted yet.

Norris very lucky with the timing of the SC.

Hahah let’s goooo

Agent Alonso

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

Norris very lucky with the timing of the SC.

---

Deserved it. Was much faster than Piastri on the inters

That Red Bull release is criminal, but big gainers from the situation are Norris and Hamilton.

That release could have been deadly, all those mechanics could have been fucked.

Not really Verstappen’s fault but he’s lucky with a 10 second there. Could have been a lot worse overall there considering Antonelli was going to the next garage for a pit and couldn’t

Yeah I don't know what the rulebook says, but docking constructors points wouldn't seem harsh to me.

Also, not sure FIA are going to be happy with Toto calling it a "mini race" on that radio call to Antonelli. :D

Zak Brown is such a troll :lol:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waffdon

Deserved it. Was much faster than Piastri on the inters

---

Not sure how that works in your mind. Piastri deserved it more by getting a better lap yesterday and a better launch today.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Adramelch

Not sure how that works in your mind. Piastri deserved it more by getting a better lap yesterday and a better launch today.

---

Norris was overtaking him if he didn’t pit. Suck on these balls. Norris is back.

Liam Lawson won’t last long in F1 at this rate. He’s being beaten for pace by Hadjar and seems hell bent on pissing everyone off.

I definitely think if we didnt have to do qualifying in a few hours, this would have been a red flag and not a doss home under the safety car.

10s to Verstappen isn't really the fitting punishment though. He didn't do anything wrong and his team did quite a lot wrong.

Stroll still has all Aston Martin’s points lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

It's bafflingly bad, not in an 'old man yells at cloud' way, but just in the sense that unqualified people are clearly doing it.

---

They absolutely love a pan and zoom on random people in the paddock who are then just watching themselves on the live feed.

First time Verstappen hasn’t scored points when finishing a race since 2016 apparently. Jesus

Looking forward to Norris cocking up his first run in Q3 as he’s done ever since the opening GP

This has to be one of the worst all time tracks. Does it have anything to commend it? I expect Madrid will have a similar shitfest in a [Walmart] car park feel to it.

But it's in Miami. Did you also see it's right next to the big stadium?

Yeah, but unless they are literally racing down the beach / the road that goes by the beach, then Miami [like almost everywhere in America] is an absolute shithole / convergence of 5 lane highways / strip mall with nothing to commend its existence.

But it's in Miami and next to the big stadium.

These 3 have been so close together in so many qualifying.

If Norris sorts out his sector 1 he should get P1. He’s consistently smashed the middle sector throughout

Verstappen might be the greatest sportsman of all time never mind f1 driver.

I’ll take a P2 though. P1 never wins here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gray Fox

But it's 40 minutes away from Miami and next to the big stadium.

---

Fixed that for you.

I hope Ferrari are working on the new regs because they are absolutely nowhere right now.

To be more serious, this is what Liberty/MBS want. The race is based on location, not on quality of track. See how a lot of the dedicated tracks are being told they're at risk of falling off the calendar.

This one used to be right in front of the sea in Miami proper. Became a sketchy park. I would fly my RC planes (and sometimes ride my motorbike on the few corners remaining) there. It is now an overpriced art museum.

Never realised George Russell played bass for The Commitments (BBC 2 now).

If the weather report is anything to go by, I wouldn’t be shocked if we get no racing later today

If there's one thing a shit track in the US guarantees in this sport it's a cancelled or near-cancelled race.

Bring it forward 90 mins and they’d be fine

They just canned the womens race as it's hammering it down.

Rain may well miss the circuit as is. We might get started at the least, but any lightning within 8 miles red flags the race.

Brundle congratulating Conor Benn on his result. :D

Bloke really knows nothing about any other sport. What a legend.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gray Fox

Rain may well miss the circuit as is. We might get started at the least, but any lightning within 8 miles red flags the race.

---

Is that an actual rule?

For Miami at least, yes.

They stop the NFL games in the area the same way.

I actually can’t watch Martin’s grid walk anymore. It’s just so awkward and shit. I don’t care about some E-list actor’s straight-to-DVD movie. I’m here for motor racing, you fucks.

Americans go crazy about lightning.

I’m ready for Norris to get clipped by Verstappen to ruin his race whilst the latter gets 10 seconds and still finishes top 4

Lando gets fucked by Max again.

Lmao

Near enough. Amazing

That should be a penalty but they wont do shit.

Verstappen to get a penalty to benefit Piastri. :happycry:

I think Max hit Norris too.

Just get behind and pass him in the pitstop at this point.

He'll say he 'slid' but it was 100% intentional.

Just drives into him :D

If they keep dishing out silly 5-10 second penalties then he will keep doing stuff like this. Drive through penalties will stop it soon enough.

They wont even punish him for that, they'll just chalk it up as a racing incident at the start.

Max has been doing this for years. It’s his MO. You back out or we crash. Yet nobody punishes it properly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ben

If they keep dishing out silly 5-10 second penalties then he will keep doing stuff like this. Drive through penalties will stop it soon enough.

---

Bring out the black flag.

No penalty is my guess.

They're such cowards.

I'll go for lap 1 racing incident.

What a shambles :D

He gets fucked over far too often

It is the "own the corner" rule shite again. Only F1 does that and it is stupid.

Taking over 2 people in a drs train at this track. That’s my driver

Looks like he's moving under braking again too.

Norris was a pussy in t1/2, but it was still a cunt move by Max.

Get fucked Max you twat.

Someone will eventually come along and think, "Fine. We'll crash." Piastri would probably fancy doing that once.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

Looks like he's moving under braking again too.

---

Ye he for sure moved under braking at least a couple times.

Difference between Piastri and Norris never better demonstrated.

Piastri's pace is bonkers.

They fucking missed that overtake ffs.

Yeah that was horrendous. Like you clearly gave the live feed on the smaller screen because you noticed something was about to happen yet left it on the small screen for far too long.

Missed that pass. :face:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Difference between Piastri and Norris never better demonstrated.

---

Lando really is not learning the lesson he needs to learn, is he?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Difference between Piastri and Norris never better demonstrated.

---

Piastri took longer to take over lol what

1 second faster than everyone. What a team

How’s piastri gained 3 seconds on Norris during a VSC then

That was beautiful from Hamilton.

Ferrari strategy :drool:

Ferrari :clap:

Just waiting for the swappee back the positions Lewis message.

Someone needs to go into a wall or it needs to rain or something.

Hamilton SEETHING :lol:

I thought we’d make it back to Europe before Hamilton lost his shit with Ferrari.

Please tell them to swap again.

Tell you what, Max is saving the racing this season by chucking in these pole laps with a dirt car. We at least get to see how the McLarens manage to haul their way around him in the first 20 laps.

Swap back once we're both past Antonelli.

:D

Planet Ferrari.

:drool:

Thank you Ferrari.

:lol:

Ferrari lol

:D

Amazing.

They really are the gift that keeps on giving.

Sainz getting past them on the last lap would be glorious.

Piastri actually has more career wins now than Norris, which is a bit wild.

Hamilton gonna be dropping some truth bombs in the post race interviews

It's not that wild, he's the better grand prix driver. Norris is quick but soft as fuck.

Why is the FIA president watching the driver weigh ins? Bet he cracks one out at night over young men in race suits.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Why is the FIA president watching the driver weigh ins? Bet he cracks one out at night over young men in race suits.

---

He just can't stay behind the camera can he? Odious little man.

Red Bull have officially protested Russell for not slowing enough under yellows. Seems a little desperate.

Every single team would do the exact same thing. They’re all extremely petty so lets not try paint that picture.

Only rumours at the moment but it's being reported by the more reputable journalists: Colapinto replacing Doohan for Imola.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Giggles

Every single team would do the exact same thing. They’re all extremely petty so lets not try paint that picture.

---

Oh absolutely so, but 'Ant' had a 10 second look at it on broadcast and wasn't worried for Russell at all so I can't think what RB saw.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ben

Only rumours at the moment but it's being reported by the more reputable journalists: Colapinto replacing Doohan for Imola.

---

This has been on the cards since Lawson was dumped out of Red Bull. They know that Red Bull are sniffing around him so want to fast track him into the car. This explains why Doohan has had chimpouts whenever anything has gone wrong.

Norris shown up as the big fanny he his yesterday, Piastri very much the real deal on that evidence.

The turn 1/2 incident was odd on Norris's part. I didn't think he needed to bail out onto the blue shit. Could have just backed out and lived to fight another day with his massively faster car.

Watching Verstappen race is becoming quite tiresome. Hog the inside, miss the apex, go running to teacher. In his own way he's quite soft himself. Reacts emotionally to every little incident.

He’s a blamer. Can’t remember the last time he held his hands up.

I had a little chuckle when Piastri baited him into doing his one move, run deep and shove the other bloke off, and just scooted back up the inside instead. Absolutely played, he seems to understand much better than Norris how to race with a faster car.

And Norris's mega-lame attempt at doing the same a lap or two later.

The start was a microcosm of his issues. Put his car in a place that was unlikely to get him past handing Verstappen an ideal opportunity to shove him off, then whinged about it on the radio from 6th.

As I said earlier:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pepe

Just get behind and pass him in the pitstop at this point.

---

Just don't fight him on lap 1. Over an entire race, both McLarens will end up ahead the vast majority of time. Norris needs to forget about Max and understand that his battle is with Piastri now.

Flav still repping the piranha club I see. It's what EJ would have wanted.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pepe

As I said earlier:



Just don't fight him on lap 1. Over an entire race, both McLarens will end up ahead the vast majority of time. Norris needs to forget about Max and understand that his battle is with Piastri now.

---

Fighting your teammate is worse than fighting another driver and team?

This season desperately needs some Papaya cars hitting each other. Or else on current form, Piastri is just going to ease himself away into the distance.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SincereTheRebel

Fighting your teammate is worse than fighting another driver and team?

---

Nah, the point is he shouldn't worry about Max. If he is ahead, then so be it, as long as Piastri is behind.

Starts are tricky things, and obviously Norris has form for being a bit shit at them. You can say he shouldn't have been out there, but he probably had the pace to get around if Verstappen hadn't veered into him. In the first corner melee it is better to be away from a slow starting Max but he was P2 so what could he do? At least he realised he was about to be taken out and bailed, lived to fight another day etc. He needs to sort his qualifying out really. That's where the title will eventually be decided.

View Tweet

We knew it was coming. Doohan never had a chance, poor bloke.

Given that Oakes has quit as team principal at the same time, seems to have been a factional power struggle rather than anything to do with the drivers.

I can't believe they're dumping a driver fresh off a race win.

Briatore man :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by niko_cee

Starts are tricky things, and obviously Norris has form for being a bit shit at them. You can say he shouldn't have been out there, but he probably had the pace to get around if Verstappen hadn't veered into him. In the first corner melee it is better to be away from a slow starting Max but he was P2 so what could he do? At least he realised he was about to be taken out and bailed, lived to fight another day etc. He needs to sort his qualifying out really. That's where the title will eventually be decided.

---

He was quality in qualifying last year. Not sure what’s happened this year. McLaren seem to have sacrificed 1 lap pace for race pace this year - even when they have got p1 it’s hardly been by a landslide. Most races so far have been under 0.1 seconds if not closer.

I’m still holding faith. Imola next where he’s quality. Easy first place assuming terrorist Verstappen doesn’t ruin his race (I make that 4 times in 12 months)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Why is the FIA president watching the driver weigh ins? Bet he cracks one out at night over young men in race suits.

---

Señor Sainz Sr emerges as a stalking horse. :cool: