Topic: Formula 1 2024 season

[Ray K]

Alonso gets a 20s penalty for causing the crash with Russell, dropping him from 6th to 8th.

[voodoo ray]

sounded like some pretty big cheers when verstappen started going backwards.

[gazzalfc]

I bet bookies are taking bets on Max Verstappen to win every single race this season

Well that bet didn't last long

Power unit failures after 3 races is not a good look. Especially when you're trying to do a 24 race season.

But if you're in Maranello right now you're going to break out a bottle of Ferrari vintage wine today.

[Darren G]

Oh well, maybe I should have recorded that race to watch after all. No matter

Nah, it was still boring as hell for the most part. Nice to see somebody other than Max win, but still about as exciting as a bowel movement. Feels really odd that Max is only leading the championship by 4 points as of now. Charles now has been fourth, then third and then second, so I think that it's pretty clear what's going to happen next race. That's right, he'll either stick it in a wall or the Ferrari will have an engine failure with him leading.

[Graeme]

Power unit failures after 3 races is not a good look. Especially when you're trying to do a 24 race season.

It was a brake issue for Max? Unless you mean Lewis?

[sminp]

Well that bet didn't last long

Power unit failures after 3 races is not a good look. Especially when you're trying to do a 24 race season.

But if you're in Maranello right now you're going to break out a bottle of Ferrari vintage wine today.

Wasn’t a power unit failure. His brake on the right rear stayed on and overheated.

[gazzalfc]

I more meant Lewis but year Max was brakes. Still unreliability after 3 races from 'top' teams isn't great

[Darren G]

SO what does everybody think about the Alonso penalty?

[voodoo ray]

SO what does everybody think about the Alonso penalty?

probably better than charlie adam's.

[Funky_Gibbons]

SO what does everybody think about the Alonso penalty?

I’ve never been an admirer of Alonso, I think he’s dirty, conniving and sly and it’s not the first time he’s pulled stuff like this (even to his own team-mate). He’s tried to disrupt Russell going through that section so Russell doesn’t have a run at him on the long fast section straight after but I don’t believe he expected the outcome to turn out like it did.

BUT……at the same time I’m sorry but Russell has to handle that situation much better, there’s no way he should be binning it from that far back. This isn’t the first time Russell has choked when chasing down another driver in the final few laps and he needs to take a look at himself there.   

[gazzalfc]

SO what does everybody think about the Alonso penalty?

Not even the FIA president could dispute that penalty

20 seconds was the most they could have given him without disqualifying him and the telemetry doesn't lie.

Doesn't make it equal to Russell crashing out.

[boots]

People still watch this farce? Its almost as rigged as wrestling.

[jillcwhomever]

People still watch this farce? Its almost as rigged as wrestling.

We get it, you don't like it.

[clinical]

Really want to see Max go to Mercedes to see how good he really is. He could go either way. Bit like Vettel did.

It's how Albon said it a few months ago. Max has a unique driving style and they design the car around that. And then you have the best designer on the grid doing that job for him too.

Can't see George standing for that.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/its-eye-watering-albon-shares-the-secrets-of-verstappens-unique-driving.3Dlce2QkRGzUDLMtDf3dOs

[Graeme]

The only person who knows if that was intentional or not is Alonso, but as others have said George probably should have still kept it between the white lines fairly comfortably.

[Elzar]

People still watch this farce? Its almost as rigged as wrestling.

Wrestling isn’t rigged, it’s scripted. That’s like saying Eastenders is rigged.

[sminp]

SO what does everybody think about the Alonso penalty?

Think he should’ve been disqualified. Aston and Merc are direct competitors at the moment and they’ve gained points over Merc because of Alonso endangering a fellow driver.

The information about Alonso braking 100m early is pretty damning, that’s a very long way in F1. Bernie Collins provided some context for it by saying they used to tell their drivers if they were braking more than 10m away from what others were doing.

[Wild Romany Boy]

Really want to see Max go to Mercedes to see how good he really is. He could go either way. Bit like Vettel did.

It's how Albon said it a few months ago. Max has a unique driving style and they design the car around that. And then you have the best designer on the grid doing that job for him too.

Can't see George standing for that.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/its-eye-watering-albon-shares-the-secrets-of-verstappens-unique-driving.3Dlce2QkRGzUDLMtDf3dOs

Think Max is a level above Vettel and comparable with anyone, but I would like to see this and I'd like to see him struggle. It's a perfect set up for him at Red Bull, you're more than right.

[jillcwhomever]

It would appear that Aston Martin have made Adrien Newey a huge offer to leave Red Bull.

[west_london_red]

People still watch this farce? Its almost as rigged as wrestling.

As rigged as a sport where the domestic champions for four of the last five years and current European and World champions have been cheating for the last 15 odd years?

[west_london_red]

It would appear that Aston Martin have made Adrien Newey a huge offer to leave Red Bull.

It’s always been this way. Jaguar had made a huge bid for him back in the day if I recall correctly but then something happened because he was still in contract to McLaren or Ron Dennis did something that stopped him from going, Ferrari were always trying to recruit him but he refused because it meant moving to Italy which he didn’t want to. Reports are that he earns $10 million a year, personally I think that will be a huge underestimate considering he’s more valuable then any driver

[Persephone]

It would appear that Aston Martin have made Adrien Newey a huge offer to leave Red Bull.

I can't stand RB but I hope this isn't true, the Saudi's are sinking their dirty claws into everything.

[Graeme]

Stepping away from the current season for a moment, there is a hell of driver merry-go-round looming. I thought Hamilton to Ferrari might spark it off but it's still waiting get properly going. These are the drivers with contracts expiring at the end of the current season...

Sergio Perez
Carlos Sainz
Fernando Alonso
Pierre Gasly
Esteban Ocon
Alex Albon
Logan Sargeant
Daniel Ricciardo
Yuki Tsunoda
Valtteri Bottas
Zhou Guanyu
Kevin Magnussen
Nico Hulkenberg

Stroll and Leclerc don't have publicly known contract-end dates but neither will be going anywhere. Any guesses on where drivers will end up? There's hundreds of permutations, you also have up and coming drivers looking for a seat too. Gonna be lots without seats for next year.

Some initial guesses - Williams will retain Albon and drop Sargeant. Red Bull seemingly have 3-way choice between Perez, Sainz and Ricciardo for the 2nd seat. If Perez gets strong results in Japan and China there's no reason to suggest he can't stay for 2025 but Sainz represents a better longer term option being 5 years younger. You'd have to expect if Red Bull don't recruit Sainz then Mercedes will?

[bradders1011]

Joe Saward reckons Antonelli will be in the Williams for Monza, as he turns 18 the week before. Just counting out time with Sargeant now.

[Ray K]

Joe Saward reckons Antonelli will be in the Williams for Monza, as he turns 18 the week before. Just counting out time with Sargeant now.

Has he passed his driving test yet? Well maybe he can drive on a provisional licence if Sargent is beside him.

[CornerFlag]

Not a chance Ricciardo should get that Red Bull seat.  The way he's racing at the minute he's lucky to be in any F1 seat at all.

[jackh]

Ferrari might try to encourage Haas to give Bearman a seat too.

[Graeme]

Just to mix things up even more in the driver market, Vettel has said he is speaking to a number of Team Principals about a comeback.

[CornerFlag]

Just to mix things up even more in the driver market, Vettel has said he is speaking to a number of Team Principals about a comeback.

Has to be Mercedes you'd think. He'd be perfect in that role.

[Graeme]

You’d expect so. It’s all very interesting. You’d expect the top teams to make the early moves to secure the drivers they want.

[Lisan Al Gaib]

Has to be Mercedes you'd think. He'd be perfect in that role.

Would be a stop gap to see if Antonelli is ready for the seat in a few years time you'd assume?

[CornerFlag]

Would be a stop gap to see if Antonelli is ready for the seat in a few years time you'd assume?

Possibly, but I think Mercedes has really been keen to have/keep a German ambassador at the team such as Schumacher and Rosberg.  I can bet that the higher-ups are fairly relieved to see Hamilton go to Maranello given his wage and the relative doldrums him and the car are in.

On another subject, looking back at the way Red Bull were given penalties on their wind tunnel time, are we saying that this probably wasn't as effective as it could have been?

[Persephone]

Possibly, but I think Mercedes has really been keen to have/keep a German ambassador at the team such as Schumacher and Rosberg.  I can bet that the higher-ups are fairly relieved to see Hamilton go to Maranello given his wage and the relative doldrums him and the car are in.

On another subject, looking back at the way Red Bull were given penalties on their wind tunnel time, are we saying that this probably wasn't as effective as it could have been?

The higher ups are the reason they're letting the most successful driver leave to their rivals. Leaving with him are a few engineers and mechanics, and now recently it's come to light that advertisers are also reconsidering their relationship with Merc.

Mercedes ruined themselves by refusing to pay for the best engineers and designers, instead they let them all be poached and lazily assumed they could fill in the gaps. Instead they're now at best, a mid table team and are about to lose one of the greats.

[Darren G]

The higher ups are the reason they're letting the most successful driver leave to their rivals. Leaving with him are a few engineers and mechanics, and now recently it's come to light that advertisers are also reconsidering their relationship with Merc.

Mercedes ruined themselves by refusing to pay for the best engineers and designers, instead they let them all be poached and lazily assumed they could fill in the gaps.Instead they're now at best, a mid table team  and are about to lose one of the greats.

Like who?

[voodoo ray]

Didn't watch. Seen the result, not arsed. Yawn.

[bradders1011]

Danny might be finished. Logan definitely is, it's a case of Antonelli turning 18.

[jillcwhomever]

McLaren screwed up again by the sounds of it. 

[Darren G]

McLaren screwed up again by the sounds of it. 

Not really. They just had issues with pace and tyre deg.

[paulrazor]

Not a chance Ricciardo should get that Red Bull seat.  The way he's racing at the minute he's lucky to be in any F1 seat at all.

This, he is done imo

[Graeme]

Agreed, looks to me like RB seat will be between Checo/Sainz. 4 races in and Checo has finished 2nd in 3 of them. The only one he didn't finish 2nd was down to a grid drop caused by the team not telling him Hulkenberg was on a fast lap behind him in qualifying. So from Checo's perspective he's doing exactly what's required. Down to whether RB want to pass up the opportunity to get Sainz in on a long term contract.