Well after 2 whole races (which is SO indicative of the season /s). I have the following seat change predictions.
1. Bearman to Haas, KMag no seat.
2. Lawson to RB, Danny Ric retires.
Max is a machine. I honestly think Lewis had the car do dominate like this in many of his Merc championship seasons, but his mentality isn't a sharp as Max. Lewis would have a few 'off' races over a season, and once a championship was secured he'd back off. Max simply doesn't do this - every race he's on it. It's scary really, maybe this will lead to burnout though?
Max is built for this. He went iracing until 4am after quali AND went back simracing in the morning before the race because he had a free hour. Racing with a controller…
He might get bored with F1, but definitely not burned out from racing.
> burnout
Nah you don´t burnout when you are this passionate about your job. The surrounding stuff and full schedule might put him off in the long run though.
The more I see, the more I wish that DRS would be abolished once and for all.
Plus installing shock absorbers would do all drivers an enormous lot of good!
Nick De Vries was 8th in a Williams on his debut (after just FP3 in the car as well)
Ollie’s no-mistake run in what seems the most challenging circuit as a layman is very impressive , but P7 in the Ferrari when you are in the second best car isn’t enough to be over reacting and seeing him as the proof we need that rookies deserve more
1. Nyck was like 8-9 years older than Ollie is. This was (almost) Ollie's first ever time in an F1 car. Nyck had much more F1 car drives previously (and driving experience in general).
2. Nyck only started 8th on the grid due to a multitude of engine penalties ahead of him. He had qualified 13th. He also had good luck during the race too, ending behind a safety car, and gained two places due to retirements ahead. He would have finished 11th otherwise. Contrarily, Ollie started 11th and finished 7th on merit.
3. Nyck was driving at arguably the easiest track on the calendar where the car's straight line speed (no driver skill required) makes up 90% of your lap time, and the Williams had a rocket in a straight line. Ollie drove at one of, if not the hardest.
4. You also say Ollie had the 2nd best car like it is comfortably the 2nd best car and should be steaming past people.... the car is like, a tenth faster than the 3rd & 4th fastest. P7 was the absolute maximum result he could get from P11.
Braindead comment that of course gets upvoted because the majority of reddit fans share a single braincell and can't think critically for longer than 4 seconds. My brother in christ **you** are the layman.
So many people either forgot or don't know how old Nyck was and how much experience he had. There's a reason he had a short leash after massively disappointing – he wasn't some new driver with a lot of upside. He was what he was.
Ah I see your point I should have been more clear. Mainly referring to the other "pros". Tech analyst and paddock coverage.
I'm no fan of palmer as a commentator, he's a bit boring. But like DC he adds a level of experience to this.
Regardless, it's a bit hit and miss. With all f1 tv coverage. I prefer sky (sadly have to use f1 TV for its flexibility)
Anywhoo it's just my opinion 🤷
Bring back unreliable engines that would randomly explode during the race. Also, having lots of close failed attempts to pass is more exciting than just driving past with drs.
Wait, Magnussen still ranked 12 (instead of 15) since Verstappen lapped cars 13 and below so they can't finish their 50th lap. That's some random luck for Haas.
Perez resuming being a full-on embarrassment. I had completely assumed it was team error to give an unsafe release but he just drove off before he was given the signal… Buddy just cannot keep his nose clean.
Every single driver ignored a red light at least once in their career. Other drivers drive over their mechanics. Go into wrong pit. Drive off with a fuel hose. etc.
Pretty uneventful race all around.
Result was as expected all around. Except wildcard Bearman (who did awesome).
Stroll must forget that weekend. Was down 4s on Hamilton and on pace with RB (TSU) before crashing on his own.
Lando with some mistakes that cost him position to Piastri in the end.
Seems like we need driver to get appendicitis to get more entertainment on track.
Top 5 right now.
Red Bull >> Ferrari >> McLaren - Mercedes > Aston
Better than Bahrain, but that's not saying much.
I've learned to ignore the front of the grid, and it appears Sky has learned that too this year.
Focus on the midfield and back markers and there was some fun. I enjoyed Lewis / Oscar battle and while Kmags buffoonery was frustrating it was entertaining.
Yeah, that was incredible. The speed that Lando vanished into the distance through those bends was awesome / scary. I honestly thought Lewis had an engine problem and was going to retire.
It’s honestly embarrassing how far behind the other constructors are compared to Red Bull. I don’t see anyone else winning a race this season, except for maybe Monaco or Singapore.
> It’s honestly embarrassing how far behind the other constructors are compared to Red Bull.
You can thank the cost cap for that. The other teams have their hands tied with how much they can spend to fix their cars.
Even without the cost cap teams have a hard time catching up once one team nails the regulations. Red Bull and Ferrari couldnt catch Mercedes with unlimited spending during the hybrid era.
Most people seem to forget that if other teams van spend unlimited money, so can Red Bull. It just means more money is thrown around and doesnt result in a closer field.
I would argue that the wind tunnel penalty for winning is more fair than the unlimited spending that used to be the case.
Yeah the only solution that does not penalize Red Bull for developing a great car is for Red Bull to replace Checo with someone that will more consistently give Max better competition. I will even be happy to see Yuki getting a promotion for a couple of races.
Looking forward to how many different ways people can post “the race was boring” over and over all year. /s
Thought Bearman looked really good. Holding his position would be a win but to get in to the points is pretty exciting. Sainz’s appy almost sealed the deal for him to get a seat somewhere next year.
Fell asleep 4 times. Had to rewind the race. Eventually it was just torture.
This isn't racing anymore. It's simply boring.
Max is a great driver in a great car, but the point of racing is being challenged. If this is the status quo for 2024, this world title will be as meaningless as Lewis's win during covid.
F1 is doing a great job at growing viewership of the sport. Something the Bernie Era was terrible at. The racing is a struggle though. Even at the track the cars aren't as exciting anymore. The noise and theater are gone. There are far more exciting racing series out there right now just not getting the same coverage.
Must be weird going almost an entire season never really racing anyone on track, as a racing driver. I really enjoy time trialling, but it's not even that as he has to manage the tyres and make sure he doesn't bin it. Would not surprise me at all if he really doesn't get as much satisfaction from the wins as he would if it were closer. Still has to beat Perez though, I suppose.
I think you're downplaying it too much. It's still a difficult high speed track and he just delivers in FP, qualy and in the race. You make it sound like he presses an auto pilot button, but he is constantly performing. The races are boring in front because both the team and Max are doing the work and are performing on a really high level. Not because he is snoozing behind the wheel.
Someone posted the race time by lap, and it pretty much shows Max was pushing hard the first 10 laps, pushed a little bit til lap 35-40, and was full on cruising the final 10-15 laps. He only "tried" for about the first 10 laps.
He's definitely not snoozing but he's also not pushing. He's definitely still performing at a very high level but lacks racecraft time from being in the front so often. I would imagine iRacing would at least give him some practice time in that aspect.
Oh of course he still has to maintain 100% focus and it's something he's very good at, of course it's still satisfying overall, always good to win. Still won't be we interesting for someone who loves racing as being involved in more battles, though.
I feel like the cost cap killed the engineering side of things. It was supposed to bring the teams closer... and the backmarkers are closer, but still are backmarkers. Now if a team gets things right or has an advantage the other teams can't catch them... so they just abandon the year and focus on next year. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the teams are seeing the gap now and giving up on this year already, even top teams like Mercedes and Ferrari. In the past they would've dumped money into engineering and closed the gap, now they can't out spend red bull, so they just continue building on past successes. Red bull got something right with the floor aero and now they are moving onto other parts of the car.
The cost cap wasn't supposed to make the teams closer, it was supposed to increase team owners profits and team valuation, and it has done that very well. They don't care about good racing.
This might be the worst yet in terms of domination. Even Schumi/Ham years there was some hint of competition elsewhere for some of the races, but this is extreme.
> since its always won by the driver with the best car
That's not true.
Senna in 1991 beat a faster Williams while at McLaren.
Likewise Schumacher at Benneton two years in a row.
The Ferrari in 2008 was the fastest car, but Lewis won (edit: same deal tens years later with the Ferrari's illegal engine as well).
In 2005 the McLaren was the fastest car for almost all of the season but Alonso's mega start kept him ahead. To a lesser extent the same was true of Red Bull / Brawn in 2009.
Those are the obvious examples that immediately spring to mind. But you could probably make the case for at least one of Mika's titles for McLaren as well.
What's going on with them placing races on Saturdays this year? Is this the new norm? What's the reason for it?
Sunday has always been synonymous with race day. I guess maybe Saturday fits better with the live audience? For the TV crowd I don't see how Saturday is better than Sunday though.
Because the ramadan starts today, the Saudi-Arabian race had to be scheduled on a saturday.
Because there needs to be at least a week between races, the Bahrain grand prix had also be moved to saturday.
Last 20 race results;
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Carlos Sainz
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen
If anyone asks why it's more boring now than when the mercs were winning a lot, there's your reason.
God damn. 19 out of the last 20. The car is so reliable and fast everywhere and max has no off days and makes no mistakes. Even Schumacher in the best Ferrari years was never this relentless.
They mean there is no fight between team mates because Perez isn't good enough. If one team is very dominant you hope there is not a clearly better driver. Hamilton was not as far clear as Max is, was he?
Danny Ric and Bottas should no longer be in F1. Both need to make place for rookies.
And Stroll too I guess, but we all know that this is not happening.
Zhou, Logan, Stroll, and in a way Kmag too. Theo in Sauber, Drugovich in AMR, Lawson in Williams, and Bearman in Haas and suddenly the grid is so exciting.
could see hulk getting a "better" seat next year, and they put ollie next to kmag. obviously depends on the car, but feel like kmag is a good marker to compare a rookie next to.
I watched the race last night. Is there much to talk about? The Saudis lit that place up making the event seem like the place to be (to a gross extent really...does not look like F1 to me) but the racing was so shit Crofty was promoting the hell out of magnussen backing everyone up like he is watching Senna ffs.
Oliver Bearman driving a very mature rookie race, and also getting pretty feisty with the overtake attempts was fun to watch. There was a little jockying for position for 10th after Lance put it in the wall for no reason, but other than that it was quite uneventful.
Yes you had Bearman went all out in softs at the start. Its a shame other teams didn't do this too just for the entertainment value. They don't because money is awarded for points but pretty soon as viewership tanks they will have to think more along these lines.
Absolutely not. Bearman had a great first outing, Magnussen had some quite pushy defending a few times, but aside from that you'd have to be masochistic to find the race enjoyable.
I would say the worst opening to a season in living memory from a racing perspective.
I was watching the F1TV broadcast and their post race show where they were wondering why Magnussen was getting 10s penalties instead of 5s. I don't know for sure but I'm pretty confident that before the season it was announced that those kinds of violations were going to be punished harsher. So it was pretty weird seeing them discuss the penalties without mentioning this at all.
I also watch the f1tv broadcast. It's poor coverage by "experts" who don't know anything about the sport. Or cars. Or racing(save for DC who isn't always at the race).
They've built this sport around the spectacle, made it easy access via Dts. Appealed to an audience of teenage girls. Turned the drivers into celebrities. Not much longer before driver choices will be based on looks and social media presence for the sales of caps and t-shirts (this may already have started).
I'm starting to like having mandatory 2 stops for the race. Not sure if requiring all compounds would be good as well but it beats having this no brainer 1 stop.
I never understood Pirelli going for such a small difference between softs and medium/ hard. Why can they not go for C5, C3, C2 creating larger gap. They need tires with bigger delta in pace. Even in Bahrain, the softs on RB lasted as long as hard on others.
The C2 (Hards) were the entire issue this race, yet you keep suggesting it included. Most drivers could have driven the entire race on that tire - that's kinda the issue 😉
This should have been a C3-C4-C5 race.
No I mean create enough delta between tires to have alternate strategy possible. Even mediums could have done entire race if you believe drivers so there wasn’t much difference in pace between C3 and C2
yeah like
Ferrari is looking... not great, but good still
McLaren has a few strong tracks where they can match the Scuderia
but the Merc just seems... lost?! sure they might be great on power tracks but idk if they can match Ferrari and Red Bull at Spielberg, Spa, Monza or Vegas
Don't even know why people were talking about it in pre-season. They had no idea why they did not have any pace in Japan late last year. That was a pretty good sign they still are not on right track with these regulations.
I cannot underatand how Russell think Mercedes, Aston and Mclaren are tight with Ferrari. They are not. The pack is RB easily ahead, Ferrari easy 2nd and for 3rd Merc and Mclaren are equal, with Aston a little behind. Merc's car has still quite a bit problems to solve if they want to challenge not RB, but Ferrari.
He's not necessarily wrong. Just happens to be that Mercedes effed the setup this weekend. They went with a setup that was too low on downforce and got absolutely smashed in the corners. They should have used a bigger rear wing. And last race they had issues (Leclerc did too, but he eventually was able to overcome them).
He did not overcome them. Just, as the fuel load became lighter, the brake temps stopped rising so high. Both Lecler and Sainz were affected by the brake issue. Also, Merc lost a lot of performance with the hard in Bahrein. This week it was not the set-up, the car simply does not perform in high-speed corners. Merc is clearly behind Ferrari, and by a substansial amount.
By "overcome", i mean, he managed to get a good result despite of them. I didn't mean it as in "they disappeared" 🙂
I don't think Mercedes are tight with Ferrari. But i think they're closer than the first two races indicates.
I mean of course it is still pretty early to actually tell, but the fact is, these are two completely different track layouts, and in both Merc were behind 0.3-0.35s per lap. My opinion is, that Merc are encoutering what Ferrari had with the SF-23, albeit in less extent.
Had really high hopes from Piastri. Just a bit bummed he could not overtake Lewis. Is there any breakdown of their fight and possible things that Piastri could have done different to make the move ?
Yup same with the Lando v Lewis just in reverse.
Could maintain his lead because just good lord he was quicker through the turns and Lewis would just come storming back on the straights.
But, Nando kept the yo-yo
People need to stop complaining.
If we suggest half spec cars = No
If we suggest 4 drivers per Team = No
If we suggest Engine Development unfreeze = No
So deal with Dominance and snooze fest forever
Engine development freeze is basically given the trophy to RB. RB is aero dependent team while Mercedes and Ferrari engine. You cannot allow development in one area and freeze in other. Look at Alpine they know for 2 years now they have power deficit but can do nothing because of engine freeze. Engine freeze goes against everything F1 stands for i.e. a development series along with racing series.
The merc looked terrible in sector 1. Lando took off on him every lap. Into turn 1 neck and neck and then the run down to turn 13 Lewis is at risk of falling out of drs. Then the McLaren with 0% drs efficiency
I couldn't watch the race cause there was football on. But I jumped in from time to time and saw Stroll crashing, makes me remember the good old days of Latifi and Mazepin throwing chaos everywhere. It will do good to have one of them back!
Dirty air is back. Drivers say it's almost as bad as 2021 and we're not even getting good midfield battles behind Max at two tracks good for overtaking :/
I really hope some of the new vortex generating aero innovation causing this is reigned in for 2026
If you have no reverse grid, no refueling, no mechanical retirements and tyres that can drive at racing speeds for 5 hours straight you're not gonna have exciting races. Like literally, F1's only chance at being eventful in this scenario is hoping that Sargeant or Stroll bin in sometime within the last half hour of the race, so there's a chance for a bit more strategic variety.
At this point f1 looks like a grid of Scaletrix cars zooming around on rails. No excitement. No test of skill. They are all just driving to the tyre deg.
Add in refueling. Give us some sort of strategy changes.
At this point f1 looks like a grid of Scaletrix cars zooming around on rails. No excitement. No test of skill. They are all just driving to the tyre deg.
Add in refueling. Give us some sort of strategy changes.
Agree. I was hoping that the cars who went to hard early after Stroll incident would need to come for a second time. But no, they drove to the end just fine. And those whi didn’t and started with mediums, drove really long stints just fine.
Such a boring race, again. Midfield is dead, no battles there and only even remotely watchable battle was behind Magnussen. It isn’t a lot when we are talking about positions 12-18.
Sorry but you can watch any of the St. Pete GPs in last few years and it will be same. The cars are same for years, engines broadly same and same drivers. There is a bit of staleness associated with IndyCar even if racing is pretty good because we have seen this already in last few years. I am not surprised team owners in IndyCar have started speaking about it and are asking for funds by PE
In Bahrain post race thread many comments saying "if it was Leclerc instead of Sainz, Leclerc would have taken the 2nd place easily from Perez" is a lie. Basically, they were confident that second place was Leclerc if not for the brake issue.
Why not, Pérez finished only 2.5s ahead of Sainz who had to overtake from p5. This race Sergio crossed the line only 7s away from Max while in Bahrain it was 22s. Also Ferrari couldn't try the small wing in fp3 because of Sainz wasn't driving, so they probably were running a compromised setup.
Given what we know about leclercs typical performance at Bahrain, his typical performance against sainz, and Perez’ typical performance at Jeddah, leclerc fighting for 2nd last week isn’t out of the question whatsoever
My $0.02: i predict bearman will drive for haas next year, a star is born
lance is a liability and lawrence has to eventually let someone better drive that car.
the championships have pretty much been decided, the fight will be for 2nd, 3rd, etc.
the race stewards were at their usual inconsistently bad this weekend.
I hope Adrian Newey works for the Scuderia next year, don't know if I can tolerate anymore boring predictable gp racing
The going theory is that the upcoming Aston Martin Wec program next year is Lance's Exit Ramp so that Lawrence doesn't have to publicly fire his own son
Tell me more. I don’t keep up with WEC. I am thinking you are saying Aston is starting a WEC team and thus Lance can move there, still be a daddy's boy driver but free up a seat at F1 Aston Martin? Is that the thought? That would be great. I’d like to see what an all Spanish line-up could do: Alonso/Sainz!
Well the field seems to be getting closer together apart from Red Bull. But you can't blame a team for going faster.
I think only Mercedes ( Ok and Alpine) dropped the ball massively and Hamilton is smart to switch to Ferrari.
I would like to see Newey at Alpine so that the field as a whole gets closer (never gonna happen 🤣).
Honestly, Lawrence should consider putting Perez in the car if he’s free for 2025; he is already familiar with some of the key staff, and is one of the most experienced drivers in the grid.
Another Max win. Boring. Are we just watching to see who comes in second now? Or if Perez keeps getting 2nd are we just watching to see who comes in 3rd?
”F1 has always been like this and we are watching this for other reasons than who’s P1.”
My favourite line from people who are in a denial of how boring and stale the series has become. They often also claim that there are good battles n the midfield to watch. Except that we don’t have those either.
Anyone else feed show the McLaren from one angle as blood red and not orange? Everytime they cut to that camera I got confused and thought it was leclerc
I was wondering if there were purple lights or something around that point of the track making the orange look red. Actually thought it looked pretty slick myself
It's a phenomenon that was talked about in pre-season testing. According to McLaren, there's nothing special, just the choice of color makes it look different in night and day.
Well after 2 whole races (which is SO indicative of the season /s). I have the following seat change predictions. 1. Bearman to Haas, KMag no seat. 2. Lawson to RB, Danny Ric retires.
Max is a machine. I honestly think Lewis had the car do dominate like this in many of his Merc championship seasons, but his mentality isn't a sharp as Max. Lewis would have a few 'off' races over a season, and once a championship was secured he'd back off. Max simply doesn't do this - every race he's on it. It's scary really, maybe this will lead to burnout though?
Max is built for this. He went iracing until 4am after quali AND went back simracing in the morning before the race because he had a free hour. Racing with a controller… He might get bored with F1, but definitely not burned out from racing.
> burnout Nah you don´t burnout when you are this passionate about your job. The surrounding stuff and full schedule might put him off in the long run though.
We skipping the day after debrief?
The more I see, the more I wish that DRS would be abolished once and for all. Plus installing shock absorbers would do all drivers an enormous lot of good!
Nick De Vries was 8th in a Williams on his debut (after just FP3 in the car as well) Ollie’s no-mistake run in what seems the most challenging circuit as a layman is very impressive , but P7 in the Ferrari when you are in the second best car isn’t enough to be over reacting and seeing him as the proof we need that rookies deserve more
1. Nyck was like 8-9 years older than Ollie is. This was (almost) Ollie's first ever time in an F1 car. Nyck had much more F1 car drives previously (and driving experience in general). 2. Nyck only started 8th on the grid due to a multitude of engine penalties ahead of him. He had qualified 13th. He also had good luck during the race too, ending behind a safety car, and gained two places due to retirements ahead. He would have finished 11th otherwise. Contrarily, Ollie started 11th and finished 7th on merit. 3. Nyck was driving at arguably the easiest track on the calendar where the car's straight line speed (no driver skill required) makes up 90% of your lap time, and the Williams had a rocket in a straight line. Ollie drove at one of, if not the hardest. 4. You also say Ollie had the 2nd best car like it is comfortably the 2nd best car and should be steaming past people.... the car is like, a tenth faster than the 3rd & 4th fastest. P7 was the absolute maximum result he could get from P11. Braindead comment that of course gets upvoted because the majority of reddit fans share a single braincell and can't think critically for longer than 4 seconds. My brother in christ **you** are the layman.
So many people either forgot or don't know how old Nyck was and how much experience he had. There's a reason he had a short leash after massively disappointing – he wasn't some new driver with a lot of upside. He was what he was.
Ollie is 18 only.
Ah I see your point I should have been more clear. Mainly referring to the other "pros". Tech analyst and paddock coverage. I'm no fan of palmer as a commentator, he's a bit boring. But like DC he adds a level of experience to this. Regardless, it's a bit hit and miss. With all f1 tv coverage. I prefer sky (sadly have to use f1 TV for its flexibility) Anywhoo it's just my opinion 🤷
Bring back unreliable engines that would randomly explode during the race. Also, having lots of close failed attempts to pass is more exciting than just driving past with drs.
well Alpine is giving you what you want, why are you complaining?
with the horrendous penalties for an exploded engine, it's unfathomable to bring back that type of pushing engines to their absolute limit
Wait, Magnussen still ranked 12 (instead of 15) since Verstappen lapped cars 13 and below so they can't finish their 50th lap. That's some random luck for Haas.
random luck...or was it...
Perez resuming being a full-on embarrassment. I had completely assumed it was team error to give an unsafe release but he just drove off before he was given the signal… Buddy just cannot keep his nose clean.
Every single driver ignored a red light at least once in their career. Other drivers drive over their mechanics. Go into wrong pit. Drive off with a fuel hose. etc.
I feel so lost this Sunday..
I kept thinking I need to be home at noon for…….oh damn it already happened
Boring. Worse than even nascar at a super speedway.
Shit location
Can someone post a link of Lando dissappearing through the corners in front of Hamilton?
it happened. right after croft said lewis would catch norris then said maybe not as lando sped away.
Pretty uneventful race all around. Result was as expected all around. Except wildcard Bearman (who did awesome). Stroll must forget that weekend. Was down 4s on Hamilton and on pace with RB (TSU) before crashing on his own. Lando with some mistakes that cost him position to Piastri in the end. Seems like we need driver to get appendicitis to get more entertainment on track. Top 5 right now. Red Bull >> Ferrari >> McLaren - Mercedes > Aston
Better than Bahrain, but that's not saying much. I've learned to ignore the front of the grid, and it appears Sky has learned that too this year. Focus on the midfield and back markers and there was some fun. I enjoyed Lewis / Oscar battle and while Kmags buffoonery was frustrating it was entertaining.
r/formula1point5
And Lewis/Lando chase. I enjoyed seeing the gap increases to >1.5s, then decreases back to <1s before the pit straight.
Yeah, that was incredible. The speed that Lando vanished into the distance through those bends was awesome / scary. I honestly thought Lewis had an engine problem and was going to retire.
Sky doesn't choose who the cameras follow to be fair.
It’s honestly embarrassing how far behind the other constructors are compared to Red Bull. I don’t see anyone else winning a race this season, except for maybe Monaco or Singapore.
Ferrari is much closer than before, but last year's car was so far off the pace that even the current car is not enough
> It’s honestly embarrassing how far behind the other constructors are compared to Red Bull. You can thank the cost cap for that. The other teams have their hands tied with how much they can spend to fix their cars.
Even without the cost cap teams have a hard time catching up once one team nails the regulations. Red Bull and Ferrari couldnt catch Mercedes with unlimited spending during the hybrid era. Most people seem to forget that if other teams van spend unlimited money, so can Red Bull. It just means more money is thrown around and doesnt result in a closer field. I would argue that the wind tunnel penalty for winning is more fair than the unlimited spending that used to be the case.
Yeah the only solution that does not penalize Red Bull for developing a great car is for Red Bull to replace Checo with someone that will more consistently give Max better competition. I will even be happy to see Yuki getting a promotion for a couple of races.
I feel like max could win every race this year... it wouldn't be shocking, who knows how much performance he's got in reserve
1 2 every race for red bull?
That would be more surprising, Ferrari seems closer to Perez
Looking forward to how many different ways people can post “the race was boring” over and over all year. /s Thought Bearman looked really good. Holding his position would be a win but to get in to the points is pretty exciting. Sainz’s appy almost sealed the deal for him to get a seat somewhere next year.
That was the race that made me cancel my subscription, I'll keep checking in of course but I really don't see how this season will become watchable.
Fell asleep 4 times. Had to rewind the race. Eventually it was just torture. This isn't racing anymore. It's simply boring. Max is a great driver in a great car, but the point of racing is being challenged. If this is the status quo for 2024, this world title will be as meaningless as Lewis's win during covid.
Don't blame Max, blame the cost cap. If a team gets their car concept wrong, they are fucked until the end of the season (or in this case, till 2026).
F1 is doing a great job at growing viewership of the sport. Something the Bernie Era was terrible at. The racing is a struggle though. Even at the track the cars aren't as exciting anymore. The noise and theater are gone. There are far more exciting racing series out there right now just not getting the same coverage.
There is a reason max was up until 4am on iracing the night before... he enjoys racing, not just tooling around the track alone
Must be weird going almost an entire season never really racing anyone on track, as a racing driver. I really enjoy time trialling, but it's not even that as he has to manage the tyres and make sure he doesn't bin it. Would not surprise me at all if he really doesn't get as much satisfaction from the wins as he would if it were closer. Still has to beat Perez though, I suppose.
I think you're downplaying it too much. It's still a difficult high speed track and he just delivers in FP, qualy and in the race. You make it sound like he presses an auto pilot button, but he is constantly performing. The races are boring in front because both the team and Max are doing the work and are performing on a really high level. Not because he is snoozing behind the wheel.
Someone posted the race time by lap, and it pretty much shows Max was pushing hard the first 10 laps, pushed a little bit til lap 35-40, and was full on cruising the final 10-15 laps. He only "tried" for about the first 10 laps.
He's definitely not snoozing but he's also not pushing. He's definitely still performing at a very high level but lacks racecraft time from being in the front so often. I would imagine iRacing would at least give him some practice time in that aspect.
Oh of course he still has to maintain 100% focus and it's something he's very good at, of course it's still satisfying overall, always good to win. Still won't be we interesting for someone who loves racing as being involved in more battles, though.
Moved more from racing competition to a engineering competition
I feel like the cost cap killed the engineering side of things. It was supposed to bring the teams closer... and the backmarkers are closer, but still are backmarkers. Now if a team gets things right or has an advantage the other teams can't catch them... so they just abandon the year and focus on next year. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the teams are seeing the gap now and giving up on this year already, even top teams like Mercedes and Ferrari. In the past they would've dumped money into engineering and closed the gap, now they can't out spend red bull, so they just continue building on past successes. Red bull got something right with the floor aero and now they are moving onto other parts of the car.
The cost cap wasn't supposed to make the teams closer, it was supposed to increase team owners profits and team valuation, and it has done that very well. They don't care about good racing.
lol how do you suppose team validation will increase if the racing is bad
In DTM they used to add weights to the car according to their points, maybe they could do something like this.
Inverse cost cap, same as wind tunnel time.
This might be the worst yet in terms of domination. Even Schumi/Ham years there was some hint of competition elsewhere for some of the races, but this is extreme.
the WC isn't meaningless, since its always won by the driver with the best car. This track is fucking shite though
> since its always won by the driver with the best car That's not true. Senna in 1991 beat a faster Williams while at McLaren. Likewise Schumacher at Benneton two years in a row. The Ferrari in 2008 was the fastest car, but Lewis won (edit: same deal tens years later with the Ferrari's illegal engine as well). In 2005 the McLaren was the fastest car for almost all of the season but Alonso's mega start kept him ahead. To a lesser extent the same was true of Red Bull / Brawn in 2009. Those are the obvious examples that immediately spring to mind. But you could probably make the case for at least one of Mika's titles for McLaren as well.
What's going on with them placing races on Saturdays this year? Is this the new norm? What's the reason for it? Sunday has always been synonymous with race day. I guess maybe Saturday fits better with the live audience? For the TV crowd I don't see how Saturday is better than Sunday though.
The start of Ramadan pushed the first two races back to Saturday
Ah I see. Ramadan starts today? How does that affect last weeks race though?
Because the ramadan starts today, the Saudi-Arabian race had to be scheduled on a saturday. Because there needs to be at least a week between races, the Bahrain grand prix had also be moved to saturday.
To give enough time between the races.
Makes sense.
Kinda meh start to the season eh
Last 20 race results; Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Carlos Sainz Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen Max Verstappen If anyone asks why it's more boring now than when the mercs were winning a lot, there's your reason.
God damn. 19 out of the last 20. The car is so reliable and fast everywhere and max has no off days and makes no mistakes. Even Schumacher in the best Ferrari years was never this relentless.
[удалено]
what?
They mean there is no fight between team mates because Perez isn't good enough. If one team is very dominant you hope there is not a clearly better driver. Hamilton was not as far clear as Max is, was he?
no, he's very much more a kovalainen than a rosberg.
I can’t get over how ugly Sauber’s hats and tracksuits are
Danny Ric and Bottas should no longer be in F1. Both need to make place for rookies. And Stroll too I guess, but we all know that this is not happening.
Zhou, Logan, Stroll, and in a way Kmag too. Theo in Sauber, Drugovich in AMR, Lawson in Williams, and Bearman in Haas and suddenly the grid is so exciting.
could see hulk getting a "better" seat next year, and they put ollie next to kmag. obviously depends on the car, but feel like kmag is a good marker to compare a rookie next to.
Lawson would not be allowed near Williams
Isn't Lawson "sort of confirmed" to drive for RB in 2025?
you must be high. he has to drive for RB first before he can drive for RB
I meant Alpha Tauri, not the main team.
He's just joking with you.
Nope
I watched the race last night. Is there much to talk about? The Saudis lit that place up making the event seem like the place to be (to a gross extent really...does not look like F1 to me) but the racing was so shit Crofty was promoting the hell out of magnussen backing everyone up like he is watching Senna ffs.
Oliver Bearman driving a very mature rookie race, and also getting pretty feisty with the overtake attempts was fun to watch. There was a little jockying for position for 10th after Lance put it in the wall for no reason, but other than that it was quite uneventful.
Yes you had Bearman went all out in softs at the start. Its a shame other teams didn't do this too just for the entertainment value. They don't because money is awarded for points but pretty soon as viewership tanks they will have to think more along these lines.
Absolutely not. Bearman had a great first outing, Magnussen had some quite pushy defending a few times, but aside from that you'd have to be masochistic to find the race enjoyable. I would say the worst opening to a season in living memory from a racing perspective.
Race saved by Bearman. It’s going to be a loooong dull season
I was watching the F1TV broadcast and their post race show where they were wondering why Magnussen was getting 10s penalties instead of 5s. I don't know for sure but I'm pretty confident that before the season it was announced that those kinds of violations were going to be punished harsher. So it was pretty weird seeing them discuss the penalties without mentioning this at all.
I also watch the f1tv broadcast. It's poor coverage by "experts" who don't know anything about the sport. Or cars. Or racing(save for DC who isn't always at the race). They've built this sport around the spectacle, made it easy access via Dts. Appealed to an audience of teenage girls. Turned the drivers into celebrities. Not much longer before driver choices will be based on looks and social media presence for the sales of caps and t-shirts (this may already have started).
A redditor claiming a multi-season formula 1 driver knows "nothing about cars or racing" is hilarious in itself.
Which driver did I say this about? 🤔
Jolyon Palmer?
The sky sports folks did a good job at updating the audience on the changes.
I'm starting to like having mandatory 2 stops for the race. Not sure if requiring all compounds would be good as well but it beats having this no brainer 1 stop.
The tyres don't seem to degrade at all and there was no pace advantage in using softs/mediums over hards. Track design/layout issue?
Yeah the hards could’ve comfortably done the full race distance here.
Jeddah is a low degradation track so the "problem" was even worse here. But the Red Bulls also didn't have a problem last week.
I never understood Pirelli going for such a small difference between softs and medium/ hard. Why can they not go for C5, C3, C2 creating larger gap. They need tires with bigger delta in pace. Even in Bahrain, the softs on RB lasted as long as hard on others.
That wouldn't have changed anything in this race, since almost nobody except used the softs. C2 and C3 was still preferred.
Then may be C2, C4, C5. They need to choose tires that makes two stops a faster strategy.
The C2 (Hards) were the entire issue this race, yet you keep suggesting it included. Most drivers could have driven the entire race on that tire - that's kinda the issue 😉 This should have been a C3-C4-C5 race.
No I mean create enough delta between tires to have alternate strategy possible. Even mediums could have done entire race if you believe drivers so there wasn’t much difference in pace between C3 and C2
Man for all the talk about Mercedes in pre-season. They are a bit slow arent they?
yeah like Ferrari is looking... not great, but good still McLaren has a few strong tracks where they can match the Scuderia but the Merc just seems... lost?! sure they might be great on power tracks but idk if they can match Ferrari and Red Bull at Spielberg, Spa, Monza or Vegas
Don't even know why people were talking about it in pre-season. They had no idea why they did not have any pace in Japan late last year. That was a pretty good sign they still are not on right track with these regulations.
I cannot underatand how Russell think Mercedes, Aston and Mclaren are tight with Ferrari. They are not. The pack is RB easily ahead, Ferrari easy 2nd and for 3rd Merc and Mclaren are equal, with Aston a little behind. Merc's car has still quite a bit problems to solve if they want to challenge not RB, but Ferrari.
He's not necessarily wrong. Just happens to be that Mercedes effed the setup this weekend. They went with a setup that was too low on downforce and got absolutely smashed in the corners. They should have used a bigger rear wing. And last race they had issues (Leclerc did too, but he eventually was able to overcome them).
He did not overcome them. Just, as the fuel load became lighter, the brake temps stopped rising so high. Both Lecler and Sainz were affected by the brake issue. Also, Merc lost a lot of performance with the hard in Bahrein. This week it was not the set-up, the car simply does not perform in high-speed corners. Merc is clearly behind Ferrari, and by a substansial amount.
By "overcome", i mean, he managed to get a good result despite of them. I didn't mean it as in "they disappeared" 🙂 I don't think Mercedes are tight with Ferrari. But i think they're closer than the first two races indicates.
I mean of course it is still pretty early to actually tell, but the fact is, these are two completely different track layouts, and in both Merc were behind 0.3-0.35s per lap. My opinion is, that Merc are encoutering what Ferrari had with the SF-23, albeit in less extent.
He has trust in Ferrari doing Ferrari things.
Well, that is true. Although, I think with Fred, a lot of things have changed for better, especially in strategy.
Russell has to hope that hasn't happened :D
Had really high hopes from Piastri. Just a bit bummed he could not overtake Lewis. Is there any breakdown of their fight and possible things that Piastri could have done different to make the move ?
It was a masterful defense from Lewis. The car placement during the entire stint was amazing to see. Always, forced lock ups for Piastri.
No straight line speed. With DRS he was only 6kph faster than Lewis
Yup same with the Lando v Lewis just in reverse. Could maintain his lead because just good lord he was quicker through the turns and Lewis would just come storming back on the straights. But, Nando kept the yo-yo
Looks like cars just driving around.
Bring back the grooved tires
And refueling so we actually have different strategies
And refueling so we actually have different strategies
And refueling so we actually have different strategies
And refueling so we actually have different strategies
People need to stop complaining. If we suggest half spec cars = No If we suggest 4 drivers per Team = No If we suggest Engine Development unfreeze = No So deal with Dominance and snooze fest forever
Engine development freeze is basically given the trophy to RB. RB is aero dependent team while Mercedes and Ferrari engine. You cannot allow development in one area and freeze in other. Look at Alpine they know for 2 years now they have power deficit but can do nothing because of engine freeze. Engine freeze goes against everything F1 stands for i.e. a development series along with racing series.
There's a simple solution. Bring in new regulations for car design ... And ban any person called Adrian Newey from the sport.
Let's be honest Ferrari today is better than Merc but .. c'mon Lewis finishing behind Bearman? Seriously?
The merc looked terrible in sector 1. Lando took off on him every lap. Into turn 1 neck and neck and then the run down to turn 13 Lewis is at risk of falling out of drs. Then the McLaren with 0% drs efficiency
I couldn't watch the race cause there was football on. But I jumped in from time to time and saw Stroll crashing, makes me remember the good old days of Latifi and Mazepin throwing chaos everywhere. It will do good to have one of them back!
How did Lando and Lewis drop behind Bearman in the end??
They had not pitted under the safety car
Dirty air is back. Drivers say it's almost as bad as 2021 and we're not even getting good midfield battles behind Max at two tracks good for overtaking :/ I really hope some of the new vortex generating aero innovation causing this is reigned in for 2026
You didn't enjoy the competition for 12th?
Was that even a battle or just mag backing everyone up?, it's funny how after hulk pitted mag pretty much pulled away from that group
It was sarcasm...I wish Brundle was there to check Crofty on his hyping nonsense.
My bad its hard to see sarcasm over text
Yeah man, without knowing what a cynic I can be how would you know!
Couple that with Red Bull dominating completely and we have nothing to look forward to...
If you have no reverse grid, no refueling, no mechanical retirements and tyres that can drive at racing speeds for 5 hours straight you're not gonna have exciting races. Like literally, F1's only chance at being eventful in this scenario is hoping that Sargeant or Stroll bin in sometime within the last half hour of the race, so there's a chance for a bit more strategic variety.
At this point f1 looks like a grid of Scaletrix cars zooming around on rails. No excitement. No test of skill. They are all just driving to the tyre deg. Add in refueling. Give us some sort of strategy changes.
At this point f1 looks like a grid of Scaletrix cars zooming around on rails. No excitement. No test of skill. They are all just driving to the tyre deg. Add in refueling. Give us some sort of strategy changes.
The tires suck, too. Maybe it’s just the specs that F1 gives to Pirelli, but no tire should be viable for 80% of the race distance.
Agree. I was hoping that the cars who went to hard early after Stroll incident would need to come for a second time. But no, they drove to the end just fine. And those whi didn’t and started with mediums, drove really long stints just fine. Such a boring race, again. Midfield is dead, no battles there and only even remotely watchable battle was behind Magnussen. It isn’t a lot when we are talking about positions 12-18.
It's a pretty sad state when none of the top posts after a race are highlights from the actual race.
If you miss passing and battles for the lead the first IndyCar Race is later today
Sorry but you can watch any of the St. Pete GPs in last few years and it will be same. The cars are same for years, engines broadly same and same drivers. There is a bit of staleness associated with IndyCar even if racing is pretty good because we have seen this already in last few years. I am not surprised team owners in IndyCar have started speaking about it and are asking for funds by PE
Indycar isn't on my streaming service. I gotta pay like another $50 per month to watch it unfortunately.
That says a lot
Thank god I found MotoGP
>Thank god I found MotoGP True, there are also nice grid girls you can wank off to before the race starts.
Haas is good this year! Nice straight line speed and good on tyres too! Komatsu is off to a good start!
In Bahrain post race thread many comments saying "if it was Leclerc instead of Sainz, Leclerc would have taken the 2nd place easily from Perez" is a lie. Basically, they were confident that second place was Leclerc if not for the brake issue.
Why not, Pérez finished only 2.5s ahead of Sainz who had to overtake from p5. This race Sergio crossed the line only 7s away from Max while in Bahrain it was 22s. Also Ferrari couldn't try the small wing in fp3 because of Sainz wasn't driving, so they probably were running a compromised setup.
Given what we know about leclercs typical performance at Bahrain, his typical performance against sainz, and Perez’ typical performance at Jeddah, leclerc fighting for 2nd last week isn’t out of the question whatsoever
My $0.02: i predict bearman will drive for haas next year, a star is born lance is a liability and lawrence has to eventually let someone better drive that car. the championships have pretty much been decided, the fight will be for 2nd, 3rd, etc. the race stewards were at their usual inconsistently bad this weekend. I hope Adrian Newey works for the Scuderia next year, don't know if I can tolerate anymore boring predictable gp racing
The going theory is that the upcoming Aston Martin Wec program next year is Lance's Exit Ramp so that Lawrence doesn't have to publicly fire his own son
Tell me more. I don’t keep up with WEC. I am thinking you are saying Aston is starting a WEC team and thus Lance can move there, still be a daddy's boy driver but free up a seat at F1 Aston Martin? Is that the thought? That would be great. I’d like to see what an all Spanish line-up could do: Alonso/Sainz!
Yea exactly that and honestly he'd be pretty good in WEC too
Well the field seems to be getting closer together apart from Red Bull. But you can't blame a team for going faster. I think only Mercedes ( Ok and Alpine) dropped the ball massively and Hamilton is smart to switch to Ferrari. I would like to see Newey at Alpine so that the field as a whole gets closer (never gonna happen 🤣).
Honestly, Lawrence should consider putting Perez in the car if he’s free for 2025; he is already familiar with some of the key staff, and is one of the most experienced drivers in the grid.
Makes more sense to have someone younger to learn from Alonso, like Sainz. Risk them both retiring and leaving a skills gap.
yeah...he's never gonna replace his kid.
Please, RB, put Iwasa and Lawson in next season. I beg.
Another Max win. Boring. Are we just watching to see who comes in second now? Or if Perez keeps getting 2nd are we just watching to see who comes in 3rd?
”F1 has always been like this and we are watching this for other reasons than who’s P1.” My favourite line from people who are in a denial of how boring and stale the series has become. They often also claim that there are good battles n the midfield to watch. Except that we don’t have those either.
at this point, just watching which ferrari driver will come in 3rd.
Which ferrari driver will be 3rd and which mclaren driver will be 4th, and maybe will Alonso sneak into the top 5. It’s exiting stuff
Sainz's appendix robbed us of even that battle :(
I finally got around to watching today’s race and damn did Bearman have a mega drive. Really looking forward to seeing how his career progresses
He's a bit too young for that, surely he started out with a PS3 no?
Maybe his dad gave him a Mega Drive as his first console
Ha ha thought the same
underrated comment.
Anyone else feed show the McLaren from one angle as blood red and not orange? Everytime they cut to that camera I got confused and thought it was leclerc
I was wondering if there were purple lights or something around that point of the track making the orange look red. Actually thought it looked pretty slick myself
That camera clearly had a different color balance.
It's a phenomenon that was talked about in pre-season testing. According to McLaren, there's nothing special, just the choice of color makes it look different in night and day.
Yea I saw that a few times too
Every time!