Formula 1 2023 and general Motorsport

[Alph]

Looks like we might not get bored to death by RB dominance like last season. But omg McLaren are going backwards again. 

I'm thinking all Ferrari need to do to actually put some pressure on RB is just do the opposite of whatever you think is a good idea.

At least there's more cars to chip away at the points when Ferrari are busy sabotaging their own chances. So maybe Max will have to work hard

[Alph]

May have spoke too soon. 

[RadioactiveWaste]

5 hours ago, Alpha said:

May have spoke too soon. 

Not to fear, it's a long season.

Merc have apparently finally agreed their concept sucks, so hopefully they had a plan b this year.

P5 might have seemed a bit of a let down after the fred hype train, but he's deffo going to be having fun tomorrow. Probably at the expense of Sainz of Perez.

But what was really dissapointing was, how is Ocon going to put his team mate in the wall when he's that far behind? are we going to have to wait for the pitsots for that?

 

[Comrade 86]

Me when I see the no-pod design. They've cracked it, it's gonna be a flying machine...

Me when I realise, it's still as shyte as it was last season...

[Gaspode]

Oh dear Ocon - overruns his grid place so gets a 5 second penalty - the team don’t observe that properly so he then gets a 10 second penalty - and then he’s gets done for speeding in the pit lane which earns him another 5 second penalty….

Edited March 5, 2023 by Gaspode

[Comrade 86]

Oh dear! Verstappen could have won that by a minute ? Had a feeling this season was over before it even started and so it seems. Given Perez will be cannon fodder on the odd occasions Ferrari might get within hailing distance, I can see another record number of wins for the man child. The irony of all this is that in order to end Merc's dominance using the more complex hybrid engines, the FIA have simply created an even more dominant team, though one whose drivers are not even racing each other. 

Nice to see the Grumpy Spaniard is happy, but that aside, this was a total non-event in motorsport terms. Watching the Ferrari which was not running at 100% pull away from Hamilton despite the latter having DRS means the only possible interest lies in whether Leclerc or Alonso takes the third slot on the podium. 

Still, a little light relief was provided by Ocon racking up an additional 35 seconds in the pits. Also, a nice 'recovery' drive from the back by Gasly about the only point of interest for the neutrals. 

[RadioactiveWaste]

yeah not a classic, Alonso being on the podium being the only real feelgood factor. And Williams got a point (yey).

Still, it's a long season, things will happen.

Maybe Danny Ric will at least enjoy "The Passion of the McLaren" from the red bull hospitality area.

[Comrade 86]

39 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

yeah not a classic, Alonso being on the podium being the only real feelgood factor. And Williams got a point (yey).

Still, it's a long season, things will happen.

Maybe Danny Ric will at least enjoy "The Passion of the McLaren" from the red bull hospitality area.

Love your optimism RAW, but barring a horrible accident, which even I wouldn't wish upon Verstappen, he and RB wins the trophies in a hack canter. Alonso will mix it with the Ferraris and Hammy will race against his teammate, but I can't see much beyond that in terms of intrigue. 

[RadioactiveWaste]

10 minutes ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

Love your optimism RAW, but barring a horrible accident, which even I wouldn't wish upon Verstappen, he and RB wins the trophies in a hack canter. Alonso will mix it with the Ferraris and Hammy will race against his teammate, but I can't see much beyond that in terms of intrigue. 

We're 1 race in.

I know, rationality is a dull season of red bull domination but I normally give it at least until Spain before I truly resign myself.

Alpine, McLaren, sauberaudiromeo should at least be entertaining, and hopefully Haas, alpha tauri (Yuki!) And Williams is a good fight.

But yeah. Checo isn't good enough to to Nico Roseberg it and even if he tried red bull would slap that down hard.

[Comrade 86]

11 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

We're 1 race in.

I know, rationality is a dull season of red bull domination but I normally give it at least until Spain before I truly resign myself.

Alpine, McLaren, sauberaudiromeo should at least be entertaining, and hopefully Haas, alpha tauri (Yuki!) And Williams is a good fight.

But yeah. Checo isn't good enough to to Nico Roseberg it and even if he tried red bull would slap that down hard.

I'm not telling you how to think mate, I'm telling you what I think. Verstappen was just shy of 40 seconds ahead of Checo before he realised he could spend the last 3rd of the race lapping two seconds slower. Race 1 or otherwise, that is not standard fare. Anyway, enough from me! I'm just pissy because I'd managed to convince myself that the gap to RB might actually have closed a little this year.

Edited March 5, 2023 by 86 Hair Islands
Writing gibberish

[Rambam]

It’s absolutely astonishing that Mercedes have persevered with the non side pod design. I’m lost for words. Lewis will probably feel like quitting. 

[BucksRam]

Got to say, I really hoped RB's domination, and therefore Verstappen's would have been reduced.  Sadly not.  He could have reversed around the last couple of laps and still won.  Considering the struggles of last year I was amazed Merc have continued with this car concept. I think Wolff has now said they're going for radical change going forward.  Does that include fitting rocket boosters?  When Hamilton, with full DRS is still out-paced then what hope? They're comfortably behind RB, Ferrari and AM now. 

Good to see Aston Martin up there courtesy of a great drive from Alonso.  Oh and a shout out to Albon for securing a point for Williams.  Always had a soft spot from them, probably going back to the Mansell era.  If the RB dominance continues though, I may well sign off out of sheer boredom. 

[Alph]

Feel deflated after one race. 

How tf do the other teams make up that kinda difference. 

[Comrade 86]

2 hours ago, Rambam said:

It’s absolutely astonishing that Mercedes have persevered with the non side pod design. I’m lost for words. Lewis will probably feel like quitting. 

It's weird one isn't it? They looked pretty racy in the last few GPs last season and I figured that if they could really nail the porpoising issue, they'd have a car to compete. Well they achieved that, but now they have a car that just doesn't like bends. It's a beautiful looking machine, but aero is such a huge factor in modern race cars and it seems that in that regard, they've stood still while everyone else has moved forwards.

1 hour ago, BucksRam said:

Got to say, I really hoped RB's domination, and therefore Verstappen's would have been reduced.  Sadly not.  He could have reversed around the last couple of laps and still won.  Considering the struggles of last year I was amazed Merc have continued with this car concept. I think Wolff has now said they're going for radical change going forward.  Does that include fitting rocket boosters?  When Hamilton, with full DRS is still out-paced then what hope? They're comfortably behind RB, Ferrari and AM now. 

This was perhaps the most worrying aspect. He closed to within a half second of Sainz at one point and yet when Ferrari cranked up the power, the latter simply drove off into the distance. Lewis did not look like he had confidence in the car enough to make a dart up the inside either. I think he was probably driving the ears off the bugger yesterday, with nothing more to give. He did drop Russel like a bad habit, which sadly seems to confirm the visual impression.

1 hour ago, Alpha said:

Feel deflated after one race. 

How tf do the other teams make up that kinda difference. 

Me too mate. If it was Leclerc or Sainz, or even Checo, it'd be a pill I could swallow, but Verstappen and Karen take smugness to a whole new level. F|ingers crossed that merc have a plan B. In the interim, we were deprived of Ocon and Gasly playing whacky racers yesterday, so let's hope that provides some entertainment at least! 

[RadioactiveWaste]

On the positive side, err...

WEC, WRC, MotoGP, BTCC, WSB, sod it even Formula E and GT racing. Never really got into Nascar or indi. I think most of the IMSA races (american endurance racing) are going to be viewable in the UK free to air (the Daytona 24 was).

But yes, when it's a season of sub-plots down the order that's where the main entertaininment is, it can be a reach at times with F1.

It's not even like the red bulls have got something trick on them that everyone is going to say is ilegal and protest over.

Basically, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are pinning a lot on that reduced red bull catering budget crippling max. "Verstappen out of 4 races after being given inferior chesse toastie"

[Comrade 86]

41 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Basically, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are pinning a lot on that reduced red bull catering budget crippling max. "Verstappen out of 4 races after being given inferior chesse toastie"

Haha. Love this ? 

[RadioactiveWaste]

19 minutes ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

Haha. Love this ? 

Or Perez invites Max and Danny over for some "rare" chicken fajitas? 

[Alty_Ram]

6 hours ago, Alpha said:

Feel deflated after one race. 

How tf do the other teams make up that kinda difference. 

Exactly, same here. I've been looking forward to this for weeks but in the end, if it hadn't been for Alonso and the AM I've probably have wandered off and done some chores.

Don't get me wrong, I love F1 but without even vaguely competitive racing at the top, its just a noisy spectacle and currently not a very interesting one at that. It's just deja vu... RB fastest by a country mile, Perez not in the same league as Verstappen, Ferraris going pop (which at least saved them the bother of making a catastrophic tactical decision to destroy Leclerc's chances) and Mercedes just nowhere near being competitive (again).

I'll no doubt tune in to every race as usual but I think the sheer amount of time taken browsing my phone is usually an indicator with how engaged with it all I am.

Just hope that someone can come up with some meaningful upgrades or magic a decent car out of somewhere, There's only so much entertainment to be had watching the 'Battle for 10th'.

[BucksRam]

5 hours ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

This was perhaps the most worrying aspect. He closed to within a half second of Sainz at one point and yet when Ferrari cranked up the power, the latter simply drove off into the distance. Lewis did not look like he had confidence in the car enough to make a dart up the inside either. I think he was probably driving the ears off the bugger yesterday, with nothing more to give. He did drop Russel like a bad habit, which sadly seems to confirm the visual impression.

Agree - one thing we do know is Hamilton is top drawer, so if he couldn't keep up pretty sure no-one could.  Imagine how he felt absolutely ragging the guts out of it only to watch Sainz effortlessly pull away. Surprised Sainz didn't give him a little wave and toodle pip over the radio.  

13 minutes ago, Alty_Ram said:

Just hope that someone can come up with some meaningful upgrades or magic a decent car out of somewhere, There's only so much entertainment to be had watching the 'Battle for 10th'.

 This - I'll give it 3, maybe 4 races (if I'm feeling generous) and if it's the same, then I'm turning it over to something more exciting, maybe A Place in the Sun or something.   

[Alph]

I'm sure a team will improve a lot as the seasons goes on. Probably Red Bull