Official F1 Topic

[Eutyphro]

1 minute ago, Nico said:

I can't understand the mentality of some people who are excited for Max having a perfect season.

They are known as 'Dutch people'.
 

Quote

F*ck no, I don't want to know who is going to win from the get go EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND.

But yeah, I can relate to it, and even Max fans like me think this is too boring, but sadly noone of the new gen is anywhere close to him in ability. I wish Max would have a rival such as a peak Alonso or like Senna, but there is noone around to challenge him to be honest, and he is way better than Hamilton ever was.

The most exciting prospect would be just like when he won his first championship, Max in a car that is slightly below his best competitor. Max in the best car demolishes the field in never before seen ways.

[Jason]

I mean worse thing is I think RB are sandbagging. I think they were sandbagging for basically the entire second half of last season too. When a team is so far ahead what usually happens is the FIA pull them back and I think RB are smart enough not to show the full card. So I don't think it matters what any team does during the season, RB likely already have enough in the car today to win the season comfortably.

 

Would love to be wrong but I don't see it.

 

It's a problem for the sport, like I know the Merc era wasn't great either, but RB won all but one race last year. That's not good for the sport if it happens again. 

 

No idea what the solution is, RB have just nailed the rules and regs and I'm not sure it's fair to punish them for that. But yea, not a great sign for the neutrals. Would love to see some Ferrari and McLaren wins this year, especially for Lando.

[smokeless6]

Whilst I believe Red Bull are the class of the division, I don't expect a repeat of last year. Ferrari are in much better position to challenge week in and week out I think. Their car is a challenger, they just have to get it right on the pit wall more often.

 

And I think there's little chance of Red Bull having so little go wrong. At some point they'll have a double DNF or something. Get taken out in a pile up. Terminal malfunction. Spin in to a trap. Last year was an outlier. Don't get me wrong, they have the car to repeat it, but I don't think they will avoid all drama two years running.

 

And I think the three main rivals -- Ferrari, Merc and McLaren -- are all in better position coming out of the 2024 test than they were in 2023. So it's concievable that Red Bull run the table, but I think we will see a more competitive season.

 

Bold predictions

 

Four teams will win races this year

 

One of Piastri or Norris will win (I hope both, honestly)

[Margot Robbed Me]

I'm betting on Williams or Haas to win it all.

[Nico]

5 hours ago, Eutyphro said:

They are known as 'Dutch people'.

I wasn't thinking of Max fans when writing that lol. There is a small amount of people with a stat-focused mindset, who are excited to see if Max is capable of winning the 24 races straight. People who came from other sports through Drive to Survive and haven't seen a truly competitive F1 season from beginning to end. 2021 doesn't count.

[Jason]

Dominance makes good statistics, it does not make for excitement, especially in motorsport IMO.

 

F1 with multiple drivers and teams competing for wins will always be the best thing for the sport. 

[Jason]

The Horner stuff looked like it was over, the case was dismissed by RB, Horner essentially cleared... and then someone emailed a load of images of WhatsApp conversations between Horner and the woman who filed the complaint to basically every big journalist and team boss in F1.

 

The legitimacy of the images is still TBD and Horner reiterated that he denies it all in response.

 

Seriously, what the f*ck? Seems like someone wants him out.

[Stahli]

Perhaps the person who may have been harmed was responsible for making the chat histories public. But it was also to be expected that this topic was far from over. The result was not transparent enough for that.

[Jason]

It would be risky if she has, cause if she has a real case that RB wrongly dismissed then she could have potentially just f*cked her self.

 

It does really look like someone at RB wants Horner out though, so yea, it does look like this is far from over.

[Stahli]

Yes, if she set this up and it's somehow attributable to her, then it would be pretty stupid for her. There could also be someone at Red Bull supporting her. Someone who disagrees with the results of the investigation.

Or as you say. Someone just wants him out of the RB team.

 

If the screenshots aren't real, Horner's reputation will still be lost. There were so many negative reports. Even if all the media keep saying that the presumption of innocence applies. The title line and more than half of the text still contain the negative. I'm curious to see whether he'll actually be sitting on the pit wall tomorrow.

[Emmi]

Max should move to Mercedes for next season. He can't waste his career at RB.

[smokeless6]

Waste his career? What do you mean? He's just won three titles on the bounce.

[Jason]

wat

 

Drama aside, RB is the best team on the grid at the moment, and he has the rule of the roost there.

 

While I hope we'll see change this season, we'll only most likely see a good chance of RB being challenged with the next regulations which are... 2026 I believe?

 

Edit: on the race its self, RB on quali pace alone pretty close to Ferrari, but last year they set up every weekend for race pace, so we'll see how that goes. Midfield looks competitive though. Hamilton and to a lesser extent Perez... oof.

[smokeless6]

What a waste, taking another pole. I fail to see what is being wasted, maybe an explanation, if it wasn't just snark.

 

Good quali, everything kinda shook out how I'd expect, with the exception being Hulk's Q3 appearance. Alpine look even worse than I expected too. Russell put in a real nice lap at the end to start third which will give the team a lift. I was hoping to see a better result out of RB (VCARB), who impressed in every session so far this season, including the test, but came up just short of Q3 today. They were priced nicely in our fantasy league so I loaded my team down with both drivers and the constructor, so it was a little disappointing not to get at least one car in to Q3. I do have Max and Leclerc though so it rather evens out. I have Stroll too and he didn't put in his best effort. Fernando was too expensive and I really wanted him, just couldn't afford it. Again, he did an offset qualifying, running his lap between everyone else's first and second run. He did that often last year too. They really need Stroll to hang with Fernando this season or they're just throwing points away. Fernando is exceptional, so it's a tall order, but they need a driver to maximize their potential, and too often Stroll fails to do so. He's shown flashes,even back to his WIlliams days, and is a really good driver in the wet. But lacks consistency and I think a killer instinct that Fernando possesses in spades.

 

Looking forward to the grand prix. All to play for.

Edited March 1, 2024 by smokeless6

[Eutyphro]

Just another day of Supermax being Supermax.

[Emmi]

Not sure if it was the right decision to go this hard on a race setup from Hamilton ... starting in the middlefield is always a high risk of crashing in the first couple of corners.

[Jason]

Hamilton's excuse for slow qualifying being the car setup for race pace isn't really a great excuse tbf, Ferrari, Red Bull and even George didn't have that issue.

 

Lewis has just been awful in qualifying for a little while now, he even admitted to it last year. His race pace is still excellent, but his qualifying speeds last year cost him a podium or two for sure.

[smokeless6]

19 hours ago, Emmi said:

Not sure if it was the right decision to go this hard on a race setup from Hamilton ... starting in the middlefield is always a high risk of crashing in the first couple of corners.

 

Mercedes 'say' they opted to prioritize race pace in Hamilton's car. Is it a convenient excuse for starting ninth, or the truth? Who knows.

 

If he doesn't get past George with his race-tuned ride, it will be, well, George started six places farther up the grid.

 

I think this Merc has good race pace, and it doesn't make sense to me that they would compromise their qualifying in this way. Maybe they did, but we shouldn't take it all as fact either.

 

Emmi, this is a number of times you have made a comment I challenged and you never respond. It's poor form. Why not defend your points?  How is Max wasting his career? Do you have any reasons to say this? What are those reasons?

 

I expect a great race today. The grid top to bottom is very close indeed. I can recall when there were five seconds first to last, and it wasn't all that long ago. Now it's just over a second. And the cars chasing Max are in a much better spot. I know this thread was filled with comments about how F1 is no longer competitive, but I see it as the opposite. It's more competitive than ever.  Max is an outlier. If you only focus on him then yeah sure, he's dominant, or has been. But that ignores how compressed the rest of the field is and how jumbled the order is week to week.

 

 

[Emmi]

Man, what a snore fest ...

 

just hand the F1 WDC trophy to Max already, smh.

 

It looks like RB (Max) is even more dominant this season than the last one and that's something given he almost won every single race the last time. Welp.

[Jason]

Race isn't over yet, but 44 laps in and it's looking ominous for the rest of the season. RB look lightyears ahead.

[Nico]

I want to say something incredibly edgy, but I'll have to keep it for myself.

 

FIA and Liberty ought to do something, F1 is dying this way. Wonder how long until the Saudis own the sport.

[Jason]

Sainz is gonna be a great driver for whoever picks him up next season I think, great driver and a great character to have in a team too I think. Merc could do a lot worse than him.

 

But yea, if this race is anything to go by, from a neutral perspective, we're in for a really boring season.

 

I don't know what the solution is, RB have built the best car by a mile and Max is the best driver on the grid by a mile at the moment. How do you, for a lack of a better word, nerf them in a way that's fair to RB? It wouldn't surprise me if the FIA/Liberty try, but yea, RB and Max have earned the dominance they have, it's just a real shame no one else is anywhere near them.

[smokeless6]

On sample does not a study make. let's see how it shakes out over different circuits, but yeah, Red Bull were sandbagging a bit maybe.

[Emmi]

I want Seb to Mercedes for next season. That'd be great to see.

 

This season is bound to be boring already. I mean RB looks more dominant than they did last year and that says a lot.

[Jason]

2 minutes ago, smokeless6 said:

On sample does not a study make. let's see how it shakes out over different circuits, but yeah, Red Bull were sandbagging a bit maybe.

 

No maybe about it IMO, I've said it before, I think they were sandbagging as far as the summer break last year. Their upgrades basically stopped, allowing them to focus on this years car earlier, and they never once really looked worried in any race - Perez f*cking up repeatedly aside.

 

In practice it was clear they were holding back, and all year last year they set up for race pace over quali pace, yet still had enough to get poles most weekends. Then the race came and they slaughtered everyone.

 

Looks like it's gonna be more of the same once again. I'd love to be wrong, but I'll be surprised if I am.

[Eutyphro]

World championship number 4 here we go.

[Raavi]

 

 

 

[Nico]

3 hours ago, Eutyphro said:

World championship number 4 here we go.

You know, they say your wins are as good as your rivals are. If you are winning with such an advantage over the rest... is it really any pride to be had on that?

[Eutyphro]

I wish it were more competitive, but Max is both a lot better than everyone else, and also has a really good car. If I am truly honest, I was barely even watching, and was mostly watching Liverpool, cause indeed Max was owning too hard and there was not much to see.

[Emmi]

The worst thing is that next season might be the same ... I mean RB can literally focus on 2025 after or even before the summer break if it continues like that which means they'll have an even bigger advantage over the rest of the field.

2026 COULD be the start of a new era.