Official F1 Topic

[UT1-Dot]

14 hours ago, Jason said:

Given the timezones of the first few races of the season I've only watched... one I think?

 

But going by the performances so far, I think, like a growing amount of people I imagine, that I'm very rapidly losing interest in this season.

 

Red Bull have the only great car and everyone else is miles away. There's only so long you can work your self up to get excited for a midfield battle, but as I expected that's lost any sparkle it once had.

 

As I've said before I don't really know what Liberty/FIA can do about it, I don't think it's fair to reel RB in, they've earned their success and dominance. But they do need to figure out something for the new regulations cause this is just... sh*t to watch lol.

Interesting to see Hamilton is being hugely outscored by Russell so far.

 

Also, Leclerc is only 9 points behind Perez and Red Bull are

maybe a little less dominant than you think?

[Jason]

I mean in terms of skill Perez is below probably everyone on that list but Bearman (who is a rookie) and Stroll (who is sh*te).

 

Yet he's now comfortably getting top 2/3 every race now where as least season he wasn't. Max is coasting to victory as per usual. RB are exactly as dominant as I think they are lol.

 

As for Hamilton, his head is clearly not it in this year. His qualifying pace has been disastrous for the past 2-3 years and Merc's strategy is dogsh*t, and they keep going backwards with their car, so perhaps you can't blame him for that. It will put the pressure on him to perform next year for Ferrari though, cause there will be question marks over whether he's still capable of winning races.

[Jason]

Megaton:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cmm3v9ny78eo

 

There's finally some actual consequences to the Horner drama.

 

Hope those Newey to Ferrari rumours are true cause that'd be the exact sort of excitement the sport needs - Hamilton and Leclerc in a Newey designed Ferrari vs Max. Oof.

[Stahli]

I was actually hoping that he would go to Astin Martin when he left Red Bull.

[Jason]

LANDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

SEASON SAVED

[Nico]

Magnussen's sheaningans saved us from a booooring race. He's still worthy of a race ban though.

 

Good for Norris, man just arrived with a nose bandage from partying hard in Amsterdam and now he has even more reasons to party even harder.

[Jason]

I know he got "lucky" with the safety car, though that strategy could easily have backfired, but he was quick all race, that McLaren on the straights was pulling even w/ cars behind them having DRS.

 

Max and RB seemed to struggle on the hards this week, it's nice to see a race where they aren't completely untouchable - barring mechanical faults or driver mistakes, anyhwho.

 

Massive win for McLaren and Lando though, long overdue and well deserved. Hopefully it calms him down in the pressure moments in future, he had a mistake in him when pushing for 1st in the past, as if he was trying too hard, but now hopefully he can be more composed in this situations.

[UT1-Dot]

Truly remarkable that he won in the current climate.

I didn’t see that coming.

[Jason]

We've got a reason to look forward to races again thanks to Lando and McLaren, Max actually had to work for that win.

 

Hope it stays that way all season!

[Nico]

I hope more contenders join the fight, but Ferrari today threw it again strategy-wise. They hoped to pull the luck Lando got in Miami and failed.

 

If Piastri started second...

[Jason]

If this continues, once Piastri's unlucky spell is over Perez is gonna cause Red Bull some issues. Now McLaren and Ferrari are competing on pace Perez's lack of ability relative to all of McLaren and Ferrari's drivers is showing, Max is gonna have to fight them all by him self and while he probably can, it'll probably cost him and the team some wins and points.

[Eutyphro]

So Adrian Newey leaves and in a matter of weeks all Red Bulls margins seem to evaporate into thin air. Will definitely make for more interesting racing though, and I guess Red Bull being weakened was exactly what F1 needed.

[Jason]

You know Red Bull are struggling because Perez's pace has gone gone. Verstappen is the only reason that car won last weekend, and also the main reason they're competitive with McLaren right now. Ferrari are up there too, and Merc... maybe just maybe they're on the up.

[Big Molio]

So it was the annual procession around Monaco but if ever there were a driver I would have wanted to win it, it would be local boy Charles LeClerc. Great stuff.

[Jason]

Great moment for Leclerc.

 

But yet again another fantastic example for how Monaco is an absolutely terrible advert for the race part of F1. Great for the pre-race, qualifying, all the drone shots and fantastic camera angles, but the actual race? It's by far away the worst on the calendar every year now.

[Nico]

Not every race should be a breath-taking spectacle purely because of track action. All seasons have had snooze-fests.

 

I agree that there are things that should be done in order to improve the racing at Monaco, and they don't necessarily go through smaller cars (would be a very welcome change, though) or changing the circuit. I insist that Monaco should never leave the calendar. This race already has an exception for a shorter race distance than the rest of the calendar, it should have more exceptions like demanding at least two stops, forcing all tire compounds to be used, or red flag periods not counting as a mandatory stop. I'm happy for Charles to finally have achieved his dream and sort of broken the curse, but yeah aside from that there's not much. F*cking KMag, man should be banned for the next race. Ocon too is a liability, he already has a grid penatly for Canada.

[Jason]

F1's always been part spectacle, part sport, and that's one of the things that makes it F1. But the problem with Monaco is it's now all spectacle and almost no sport. One driver can intentionally dry slow as f*ck and not get overtaken because there is no where to overtake.

 

And yea, KMag is incredibly lucky not to get points for that, which would result in a race ban for him. Stupid decision to make that move and it put two other drivers at risk, Perez's car was smashed to smithereens, one of the worst crashes I've seen in a while in terms of damage. It's a testament to the safety of the cars that he simply hopped out and strolled back to the garage lol. The Ocon one was also just as stupid, on your own team mate on that corner... Drivers are so desperate to over on lap 1 cause they might not get another chance I guess.

 

The season has took a good turn though, Ferrari and McLaren are now competing with Max and it's making for a good watch. Some fantastic tracks coming up before the summer break too, should be some good races and it's nice to look forward to them for the first time in a while!

[Jason]

Was half watching it cause I was watching the Xbox show and then the footy at the same time but f*cking hell that was madness lmao.

 

Russell did well to get 3rd but man he still makes so many mistakes.

 

And while I don't think that Red Bull is slow, it's clear now that Max is dragging that car to victory at the moment.

[Stahli]

The last few races were pretty difficult for Max. But all the better for us as this season will be very interesting. Norris was also very fast again. And if he had made his stop earlier, he might even have ended up in P1. Nice race.

[UT1-Dot]

It’s great to see so many teams capable of taking a win now.

Norris is clearly maxes most consistent challenger now which is interesting.

Are Red Bull going to lose the constructors now?

Perez is having a torrid time.

[Jason]

It was a fun race. Max led much of it, but he won on skill and team strategy. No mistakes beyond 1 wobble which didn't cost him, took his chance to overtake Russell at the first oppurtunity and managed his tyres well in the last stint. His team also nailed it, a 1.9 pit stop and a good strategy especially to keep a set of fresh softs for the last stint.

 

Lando lost it at the start really, if he doesn't drop to the 3rd he's much closer at the end, if not leading.

 

But still plenty of action and some really good overtakes and racing all across the grid. Red Bull are definitely there for the taking, Max is the reason they're winning and not the car now, so hopefully it continues for the rest of the year.

[Emmi]

This season is over - doesn't matter if RB aren't the fastest anymore, especially because Max keeps winning nonetheless ... and on top of that just look at the points gap Max already has. I mean he probably mustn't win any more race this season and still win the WDC. It's sad. Also what the f*ck is going on with Ferrari again. I already feel like Lewis may regret his team change now that Mercedes seems to be on the right path for once.

[Jason]

Max winning the WDC has always been a near certainty, it's too late to change that, but the WCC is up in the air right now.

 

But while WDC might be decided, the races are becoming increasingly competitive and that creates individually exciting races which is the most important thing in F1 by far. It's a massively positive sign for a sport that was in a bit of a downwards spiral because of RB's dominance.

[Emmi]

No, the most important thing is at least two drivers fighting for the WDC and nothing else. 2021 was peak and this is what F1 fans want.

[Jason]

Yes, that is what you want over a season. But for that to happen you need individually competitive races. You can't have a WDC battle without competitive races.

 

Hence, that's the most important thing in F1 by far because it's ultimately what makes it entertaining.

[Emmi]

Also as a fan from day one I say reduce the amount of races to 16-18 again and scrap these stupid sprint 'races'.

[Jason]

Sprints need to go, they're just an effort to try and brute force more entertainment out of the sport by a media company who owns them. I think 18-20 races a season is exciting but also probably the upper limit. 24 or w/e it is now is bonkers. A Formula 1 race averaging every two weeks is absolutely ridiculous, hundreds if not thousands of people and tons of bespoke equipment all having to move that often is crazy and exhausting.

[Emmi]

From a fan perspective it's not even exciting anymore if there's so many races. It's just like having an annual release from your favorite franchise, eventually you'll get bored. 16-18 races it should be again.

[Stahli]

There are too many races a year for me too. I once commented on a Facebook post. That I would like fewer races. But the other people really turned on me. Many people think it's good that there are so many races.

[Jason]

If drivers who absolutely live for this stuff are saying there's too many, there's probably too many. Couple that with just how much stuff you have to go move, set up, take down, move, set up, take down etc every single race it's absurd. Back to back weekends must be absolute hell for teams, just non-stop work.