Formula 1 2023 and general Motorsport

[Gaspode]

You can’t make up the incompetence of the FIA - they didn’t declare a wet track during sprint qualifying (despite having to delay the start by 35 minutes due to the heavy rain) so that Aston had to follow the normal rules and go out on Mediums rather than Softs as the track dried out - increasing the likelihood of an accident and putting both Astons out of Q3 - and then the FIA announced they’d done it deliberately to stop the teams from choosing the best tyres when they stopped using Inters!

Edited July 29, 2023 by Gaspode

[RadioactiveWaste]

10 minutes ago, Gaspode said:

You can’t make up the incompetence of the FIA - they didn’t declare a wet track during sprint qualifying (despite having to delay the start by 35 minutes due to the heavy rain) so that Aston had to follow the normal rules and go out on Mediums rather than Softs as the track dried out - increasing the likelihood of an accident and putting both Astons out of Q3 - and then the FIA announced they’d done it deliberately to stop the teams from choosing the best tyres when they stopped using Inters!

In the quest to gain ratings via entertainment, the FIA/Liberty media don't care about it being a sport.

"oh lets throw in a new rule to spice up qualifying, the bit of the weekend that worked fine and didn't need looking at"

[Comrade 86]

This is what happens when you serll sports to the Americans. There'll be mid-race 'time-out' for a monster-trucks sprint race soon, mark my words! In all seriousness, come on FIA, WTAF!

Not fit for purpose these days, but they've mostly been a dubious outfit right from the off. Wouldn't trust them further than I can spit. hate to say it, but Charlie Whiting's passing sadly removed the last barrier to this kind of nonsense. 

[RadioactiveWaste]

2 hours ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

This is what happens when you serll sports to the Americans. There'll be mid-race 'time-out' for a monster-trucks sprint race soon, mark my words! In all seriousness, come on FIA, WTAF!

Not fit for purpose these days, but they've mostly been a dubious outfit right from the off. Wouldn't trust them further than I can spit. hate to say it, but Charlie Whiting's passing sadly removed the last barrier to this kind of nonsense. 

In NASCAR they have a "competition caution" i.e. if someone gets too far ahead they just throw that flag out and close the feild up to stop it being boring. A very firm demarcation that it's not a sport.

Obviously they have to be a little less obvious in F1 but they're working towards that.

Sometimes sports are boring if someone is just better than everyone else, that's in the nature of things, they're sports not a movie.

[RadioactiveWaste]

Sprint start delayed because it's raining.

No time given yet.

[RadioactiveWaste]

Update starting at 12 past.

So just getting wet tyres on.

[RadioactiveWaste]

16.35....i5s sunny now but probably be raining again by then...

[RadioactiveWaste]

Well, there was some entertainment at least and for a few laps Max wasn't leading.

Perez has got to be in "You have failed me for the last time." territory after that. He'd better hope there was something wrong with the car.

Feel good podium for Alpine though.

Genuinly surprised which Aston had BLE (Big Latifi Energy) today, i'd have almost put someone else's money on it being baby stroll to bin it.

[RadioactiveWaste]

Another day, another Max Verstappen easy win. SO easy that Perez finished P2 without any fuss.

Good day for Ferrari (well, Leclerc, but they looked to have pace this weekend)

Bit meh for Mclaren, Merc and Aston.

A point for Yuki Tsunoda I'm sure he'll find very welcome after the initial Ricciardo is back hypefest.

As lovely as Spa is, it doesn't give too many chances for an upset without rain interfering.

And if you're not satisfied........

There is also, British Touring cars on ITV4 and Formula E on youtube to catch up on.

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by RadioactiveWaste

[Comrade 86]

3 hours ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Another day, another Max Verstappen easy win. SO easy that Perez finished P2 without any fuss.

Good day for Ferrari (well, Leclerc, but they looked to have pace this weekend)

Bit meh for Mclaren, Merc and Aston.

A point for Yuki Tsunoda I'm sure he'll find very welcome after the initial Ricciardo is back hypefest.

As lovely as Spa is, it doesn't give too many chances for an upset without rain interfering.

And if you're not satisfied........

There is also, British Touring cars on ITV4 and Formula E on youtube to catch up on.

 

Bit of a something and nothing race, I thought. Very briefly, it appeared Max might get held up, which might have made things interesting, but he's won from 6th, managing his tyres yet still scooting 20 seconds clear off the front. 

Love BTCC, though Ash Sutton is doing a passable Verstappen impression in recent weeks. Croft this week and I'm just sitting down to catch the race on ITVx. It all feels so stripped down and I love the way that they go about levelling th field, even if the 'handicapper' has not yet quite caught up with the Nappa cars. Brilliant little circuit, excellent crowds for practice andf race day and I'm hoping for an end-to-end dice at the sharp end and plenty of mid-field 'squabbles' to boot. Only very slight downer is the track limits issue, but them's the rules I guess.

[RadioactiveWaste]

1 minute ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

Bit of a something and nothing race, I thought. Very briefly, it appeared Max might get held up, which might have made things interesting, but he's won from 6th, managing his tyres yet still scooting 20 seconds clear off the front. 

Love BTCC, though Ash Sutton is doing a passable Verstappen impression in recent weeks. Croft this week and I'm just sitting down to catch the race on ITVx. It all feels so stripped down and I love the way that they go about levelling th field, even if the 'handicapper' has not yet quite caught up with the Nappa cars. Brilliant little circuit, excellent crowds for practice andf race day and I'm hoping for an end-to-end dice at the sharp end and plenty of mid-field 'squabbles' to boot. Only very slight downer is the track limits issue, but them's the rules I guess.

I've had chance to catch up the touring cars yet, but I will do. After F1 and MotoGP BTCC is probably my favourite motorsports series.

It's like going from an Olympic fencing match to watching a local boxing night - yes the technical arguments etc, but in terms of entertainment BTCC delivers.

Track limits, well, it sucks but racing drivers "give em an inch" - got to be enforced and it's the driver's job to stay in them.

 

[Alph]

Massive respect to all Verstappen fans who power through and continue to support him even though he's pathetic, foot stamping crybaby. 

"He's got dry humour"

No. He's got virtually no humour. He's not Raikkonen. It's not that people don't know how to take him. It's that he's only nice when every single little thing is going his way. 

I don't really see what other drivers like about him so much

[RadioactiveWaste]

28 minutes ago, Alpha said:

Massive respect to all Verstappen fans who power through and continue to support him even though he's pathetic, foot stamping crybaby. 

"He's got dry humour"

No. He's got virtually no humour. He's not Raikkonen. It's not that people don't know how to take him. It's that he's only nice when every single little thing is going his way. 

I don't really see what other drivers like about him so much

I'd guess that away from the media he's fine with the other drivers? Either that or he sets his dad on them.

TBH they're all a bit crybaby when things don't go their way, I did pmsl when Toto had to go on the radio to Lewis in Austria to say "shut up and drive"

I don't love max, respect his ability, but the whole Jos/Marko/Horner/piquet "vibes" combined with his mantrums and nothing is ever his fault makes him a lot less lovable.

 

[Jubbs]

34 minutes ago, Alpha said:

"He's got dry humour"

No. He's got virtually no humour. He's not Raikkonen. It's not that people don't know how to take him. It's that he's only nice when every single little thing is going his way. 

I don't really see what other drivers like about him so much

Not sure about that, I'm not a Verstappen "fanboy" yet I find him quite funny. You ever thought the other drivers like him so much for a reason? Seeing as they spend a lot of time around him, maybe there's a reason people like him?

[Alph]

31 minutes ago, Jubbs said:

Not sure about that, I'm not a Verstappen "fanboy" yet I find him quite funny. You ever thought the other drivers like him so much for a reason? Seeing as they spend a lot of time around him, maybe there's a reason people like him?

That's why I said "I don't really see what other drivers like about him so much"

Because even in esports he's not particularly charismatic or funny. In fact more tantrums. 

But the "it's his humour" when he's blatantly being a bell defence is weak. 

Raikkonen was dry. He was actually much more of a dick but had the deadpan delivery instead of the high pitch bitching. 

[Comrade 86]

20 hours ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

I've had chance to catch up the touring cars yet, but I will do. After F1 and MotoGP BTCC is probably my favourite motorsports series.

It's like going from an Olympic fencing match to watching a local boxing night - yes the technical arguments etc, but in terms of entertainment BTCC delivers.

Track limits, well, it sucks but racing drivers "give em an inch" - got to be enforced and it's the driver's job to stay in them.

 

As I'm sure you know, the whole thing with all the other racing is on Youtube. I love the Porsche Sprint Series too, even the Mini racing produced some great tussles, including a young lady who was putting up to the boys until they ganged up on her. Great stuff.

EDUT: The Legends series!!! Holy moly, them old boys went for it. Carnage! 🙂

2 hours ago, Alpha said:

Massive respect to all Verstappen fans who power through and continue to support him even though he's pathetic, foot stamping crybaby. 

"He's got dry humour"

No. He's got virtually no humour. He's not Raikkonen. It's not that people don't know how to take him. It's that he's only nice when every single little thing is going his way. 

I don't really see what other drivers like about him so much

Not really sure the drivers really like him that much. A lot of the support seems to be F1 'fans' who resent Hamilton. Make of that what you will.

As for his sense of humour, he's as funny as a house brick. Raikkonen was hilarious though. He didn't give AF and never tried to hide it. Nipping off for an ice cream and a dump mid-race really summed up how seriously he took what at the end of the day, is all a bit of a pantomime. The Dutch love Verstropon and that's understandable, but all the English fans just seem to want Lewis to fail as much as they want the Manbaby to win.

Edited July 31, 2023 by 86 Hair Islands

[RadioactiveWaste]

It's probably off everyone's radar with the season opening, F1 gone on holiday and ITV dropping it's option to cover live (to have the charity shield match on) but this weekend is the British round of MotoGP.

And it's wet.

Sprint could be carnage.

[Gaspode]

On 05/08/2023 at 12:19, RadioactiveWaste said:

It's probably off everyone's radar with the season opening, F1 gone on holiday and ITV dropping it's option to cover live (to have the charity shield match on) but this weekend is the British round of MotoGP.

And it's wet.

Sprint could be carnage.

Missed the sprint, but the main race was excellent...

[RadioactiveWaste]

2 hours ago, Gaspode said:

Missed the sprint, but the main race was excellent...

Not seen any of it due to "life".....will catch the highlights tomorrow

[RadioactiveWaste]

On 06/08/2023 at 13:50, Gaspode said:

Missed the sprint, but the main race was excellent...

There was some great racing - I always liked Aprillia as well.