Formula 1 2023 and general Motorsport

[Andicis]

Well still not quite sure what happened this race! Seemed to be very very dramatic in the end. A real shame for Russell who was having a brilliant weekend and racing amazingly well. Good result for Lewis. I think Hulkenberg and Haas got screwed! Awful weekend for Ferrari.

[RadioactiveWaste]

Well, at least we finally got the Alpine on Alpine action the sport has been craving.

Real shame for Georgey boy.

I would say it seems harsh on Carlos Sainz, but he did cause the collision and thems the rules.

Good result in the end for McLaren.

Nice to see Yuki get a point - the 2 p11s in a car that is borderline the worst in the grid in the previous races mean I don't begrudge him getting some luck here, and showing everyone who thought NDV was going to blow him into the weeds that he's still got something.

 

[RadioactiveWaste]

I see the famous for never squeezing an opponent max verstappen didn't like being overtaken today.

"The rule is clear, it's ok when I do it, not when anyone does it to me"

 

[Alph]

1 hour ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

I see the famous for never squeezing an opponent max verstappen didn't like being overtaken today.

"The rule is clear, it's ok when I do it, not when anyone does it to me"

 

There's definitely still that immature whiny baby at the center of a great racer. He just needs some pressure piling on him and the illusion that he's "matured" will come crashing down imo. 

 

[I am Ram]

I love F1 but yesterday.......  was a bit of a shambles.

[RadioactiveWaste]

 

[RadioactiveWaste]

In keeping with the other Motorsport part of the thread as F1 ducks the Chinese GP not wanting to get stuck in covid restrictions for a three week holiday instead, there's a few things on this week.

British superbike gets underway on the Silverstone national circuit, the British GT championship starts at Oulton park and from further afield there's super formula from Fuji and more GT racing from Bathurst (seriously love that track). 

As April continues over the next few weeks there's the BTCC (plus GB3, the replacement of British formula 3) to look forward to, MotoGP at COTA, WEC at Portimao and a whole host of other events. I'm looking forward to rally Croatia, a fast technical tarmac rally in a beautiful setting.

[RadioactiveWaste]

In none F1 motorsport, there is he sad news that WRC driver Craig Breen has died in a testing accident.

No matter what precautions are taken, motorsports are dengerous.

Craig was a super-likable guy and a charmer in that unmistakable irish manner as well a seriously talented driver and starting to look like a fixture in the series for years. RIP Craig.

In other series,

WEC 6 Hours of Portimao starts tomorrow at 12.

MotoGP is at COAT tomorrow evening.

Next weekend sees the return of British Touring cars and WRC Croatia.

[Comrade 86]

James Allison returns as technical director at Merc. Might have been an idea to keep him in situ in the first place, but at least Merc seem to be responding to the RB dominance. I'm sure he designs a nice boat, but surely this is the role within the Merc organisation that sees him to best light. Then again, I might be clutching at straws again as I still don't see anything getting near Verstappen in the current RBR machine.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/65347368

[Andicis]

1 hour ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

James Allison returns as technical director at Merc. Might have been an idea to keep him in situ in the first place, but at least Merc seem to be responding to the RB dominance. I'm sure he designs a nice boat, but surely this is the role within the Merc organisation that sees him to best light. Then again, I might be clutching at straws again as I still don't see anything getting near Verstappen in the current RBR machine.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/65347368

If anyone can build a car to stop Redbull, it's Allison. I don't think it's a coincidence that Mercedes got worse when he was no longer in control of the car. Hugely promising, probably too far gone this year (maybe he can help oversee some upgrades) but it's good news going forwards. 

[RadioactiveWaste]

Positive move by Mercedes.

I think 23 is just going to be the Max Verstappen show, but hopefully 24 and 25 the field pull them back in.

In other motorsports, British touring cars, Formula E are both available on free to air TV and WRC Croatia is running with many tributes to the sadly departed driver Craig Breen. There's GT racing from Monza on youtube as well if that takes yer fancy.

Edited April 22, 2023 by RadioactiveWaste

[ziggyram59]

On 22/04/2023 at 12:14, RadioactiveWaste said:

Positive move by Mercedes.

I think 23 is just going to be the Max Verstappen show, but hopefully 24 and 25 the field pull them back in.

In other motorsports, British touring cars, Formula E are both available on free to air TV and WRC Croatia is running with many tributes to the sadly departed driver Craig Breen. There's GT racing from Monza on youtube as well if that takes yer fancy.

Seen a great joke on Red Bull on one of the BBC's motor sport sites where that idiot Horner says that they have no number 1 driver and Verstappen and Perez are free to fight for the world championship. What a load of BS. It's obvious Verstappen is the blue eyed boy and will always be there top driver. 

[RadioactiveWaste]

1 hour ago, ziggyram59 said:

Seen a great joke on Red Bull on one of the BBC's motor sport sites where that idiot Horner says that they have no number 1 driver and Verstappen and Perez are free to fight for the world championship. What a load of BS. It's obvious Verstappen is the blue eyed boy and will always be there top driver. 

We have no number 1 driver for as long as Checo isn't a threat to Max. And if he ever is, we'll wave Danny Ricciardo at him.

[RadioactiveWaste]

And so, F1 returns this weekend after a pretty long break due to China's cancellation.

Baku, a track I actually quite like.

Revised sprint format which I'm cautiously optimistic about.

Lots of teams bringing upgrades.

It's at least going to be interesting to see who made a step forward and who hasn't in the development.

Perez Stan that I am,I hope he has one of his "Checo is actually really good" days and not one of his "Checo is a bit meh, get Danny ric in the car" days - he does usually run well at Baku and given he's the only one with a car fast enough to keep up with Mad Max Vercrashen/Double World GOAT, Slayer of mercedes and leader of the second glorious Dutch revolution*

*Delete as appropriate.

 

[RadioactiveWaste]

FP1 update:

Make Flambe Alpine your dish of the day.

Won't read anything too much into the times/order in FP1, the only interesting bit is that they're right into quali next session at 14.00 bst, so we'll see then who has actually managed to upgrade their car and how much everyone is trailing Max by this week.

1 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing 1:42.315 [soft]
2 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +0.037 [soft]
3 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing +0.139 [soft]
4 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari +0.584 [soft]
5 Lando NORRIS McLaren +0.810 [soft]
6 Nyck DE VRIES AlphaTauri +1.099 [soft]
7 Lance STROLL Aston Martin +1.140 [hard]
8 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +1.245 [medium]
9 Alexander ALBON Williams +1.313 [soft]
10 Guanyu ZHOU Alfa Romeo +1.433 [soft]
11 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +1.483 [medium]
12 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +1.665 [soft]
13 Valtteri BOTTAS Alfa Romeo +1.695 [soft]
14 Yuki TSUNODA AlphaTauri +1.822 [soft]
15 Nico HULKENBERG Haas F1 Team +2.008 [soft]
16 Logan SARGEANT Williams +2.585 [soft]
17 George RUSSELL Mercedes +2.767 [medium]
18 Esteban OCON Alpine +3.640 [medium]
19 Pierre GASLY Alpine +4.006 [medium]
20 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas F1 Team +5.183 [hard]

[Comrade 86]

Verstappen at even money to win both the sprint and the Grand Prix. Short as it sounds, it's not the worst value I've ever seen and also has the added benefit of in a small way offsetting the likely event that he leads start to finish in both events. 

Hmmm...

[RadioactiveWaste]

Well well well, Leclerc gets pole. Very impressive lap ahead of both red bulls then Sainz, Lewis, Fernando, Lando!,YUKI!!!, Stroll and Piastri.

Now, usually this means the ferrari is set up in "eat it's tyres to death" mode but given there's this revamped sprint race format, they might be looking good for the sprint and just hoping for the grand prix.

Other things to note:

McLaren seem to have actually improved their car a lot. Mercedes and Alpine haven't.

Haas are probably going to suck for the rest of the year now.

Formula E is maybe not the F1 driver creche that it was perhaps thought.

Gasly's pit crew are almost certainly the most annoyed in the entire paddock.

[Gaspode]

I'm not sure about this new sprint format - lots more qualifying, but less practice time for the teams to get their cars set up - random changes to tyre pessures and yet again there are more silly rules to mess with the racing. Lando into the final 10 but can't take part becuase he doesn't have any new soft tyres left - how the hell does that make sense? Getting to the point where I'll stick to watching MotoGP if the FIA can't find a way to have the best drivers racing each other fairly without the regs  and new formats buggering things up....

[RadioactiveWaste]

55 minutes ago, Gaspode said:

I'm not sure about this new sprint format - lots more qualifying, but less practice time for the teams to get their cars set up - random changes to tyre pessures and yet again there are more silly rules to mess with the racing. Lando into the final 10 but can't take part becuase he doesn't have any new soft tyres left - how the hell does that make sense? Getting to the point where I'll stick to watching MotoGP if the FIA can't find a way to have the best drivers racing each other fairly without the regs  and new formats buggering things up....

There's some things to work out. The key thing for me was not having the sprint set the GP grid which makes the sprint an actual race and not "the first stint of the GP" - they worked really hard on always calling it sprint qualifying the first year it came in.

I do join you in thinking the tyres rules are dumb and there needs to be actual free practice for the teams.

MotoGP brought in sprint races this season, which I know got a lot of pushback, but considering a motoGP race is 45 minutes not 2 hours, adding more value to the event made sense, superbikes has always had 2 races on a weekend.

[Gaspode]

Just caught up with the sprint race - full on whingey little bitch from Max again - it can’t be healthy for me to spend every race hoping he crashes or breaks down…..