thepurist
Full Member
I think that comment is almost as obligatory as the “contains spoilers” tag. Though usually the comment is in response to someone posting an image of some wings and calling them spoilers.
Spoil sport 😉
I *think* Max is the only World champion never to have had another world champion as a team mate (or shared the same car with another team)
James Hunt and Alan Jones are the others
Didn’t they have the same car, for different teams though?
I'm hoping that Newey drops a clanger when designing the RB20, and the rest of the field closes in together. Come the end of the season it's a 4 or 5 way battle for the championship.
It'll also be interesting to see how Verstappen reacts to the pressure, this season he led for over a thousand laps, impressive achievement, but bad for the sport.
It’ll also be interesting to see how Verstappen reacts to the pressure, this season he led for over a thousand laps, impressive achievement, but bad for the sport.
Yup – I could barely muster any enthusiasm for the season (although I do always keep up with race weekends on the BBC app) – it has been coming for a while with the lack of live racing now behind a pay wall, but when you read (yet again) about another easy pole for MV, you just know that will translate into yet another easy race win so why even bother following it or watching the race highlights? The only time I got more interested was in the last race and the contest for second-best team (which I am pleased Mercedes won).
Especially when the highlights programme on Chanel 4 is brought to us by RBTV in all but name. DC, RB employee and owner of the company making the programme
Didn’t they have the same car, for different teams though?
Top spot there.
It also depends on your definition of team mate. There are a few more who it was only for a handful of races (eg. Hakkinen - Senna/Mansell) or when one of the drivers were past their best (eg. Schumacher - Piquet/Rosberg)
jimster01
Full MemberI’m hoping that Newey drops a clanger when designing the RB20, and the rest of the field closes in together. Come the end of the season it’s a 4 or 5 way battle for the championship.
It’ll also be interesting to see how Verstappen reacts to the pressure, this season he led for over a thousand laps, impressive achievement, but bad for the sport.
Depressingly, I think they've had such a headstart that the best we can hope for is for one of the other teams to find something big over the winter and close the gap a little bit.
Aston clearly got ****ed over by one or both of the mid-season technical directives, so there's a good chance they can make a big step forward if they can sort that over the winter. Likewise Mercedes having the big chassis upgrade they should have done last winter.
I suspect that Red Bull could turn up with this year's car and still be competitive next year.
Likewise Mercedes having the big chassis upgrade they should have done last winter.
I think at least they made the decision to scrap the W13/14 design that wasn't going anywhere and start fresh. So they've had huge amounts of time on the new chassis. Mind you RB hadn't made any new bits for the RB -19 since the summer break, so they've been working on the new designs since than as well.
'23 was a dull season, I'm not sure it's worth the money that I pay Virgin for it anymore, and now that I'm having to look at what I'm doing for DH/cycling coverage as well now that CGN+ has been pulled, I might not bother with Sky and look at either Now TV and pay race by race or something else entirely.
Now TV is fine if you can watch the race live.
But there is no pause/rewind function and if you miss the race it can take days for it to be made available. For what you pay it's a really poor offering.
I predict most the teams switching to a suspension system similar to Red Bull, ie pull rod at the front promoting anti dive and push rod at the rear promoting anti squat.
I'm hoping the other teams will be a bit closer as the regulations are static and also I think the other teams understand that it was the overall holistic approach to design (aero, chassis and suspension) that created the monster that is the RB19.
For ages folks were only looking at the aero aspect of the RB19 and trying to figure out what they were doing differently and then they realised its everything working together, its the whole concept not one particular thing.
I still think Red Bull will be out at the front as they have such a huge head start on everyone but hopefully the gap is a bit closer such that on circuits or conditions that do not favour Red Bull one of the other teams can take the victory. While at the moment RB are so far out in the lead that even on a bad day they win just with a smaller gap to 2nd place.
After 35 years of avidly following F1 I've not watched f1 since the end of season 2021 debacle.
Currently harbouring exactly 0% interest in wasting my time watching the 2024 season. I wonder if I'll ever watch it again to be honest, it just feels like a total con these days.
How do you know if you've not watched it since 2021?
jairaj
Full Member
For ages folks were only looking at the aero aspect of the RB19 and trying to figure out what they were doing differently and then they realised its everything working together, its the whole concept not one particular thing.
Well it's a good overall package of course, but I still think there is some undiscovered magic on the RB19.
For example, it simultaneously warms tyres quickly for qualifying/race outlaps and doesn't cook them during the race stint. It works well on all tyre compounds. It rides the kerbs well (so has soft ARBs) yet doesn't roll under cornering (so has firm ARBs? 🤷♂️). It runs mega-low, yet doesn't wear the plank. In qualifying it often has amongst the highest top speed (so lowest drag) and the highest cornering speed (so highest downforce).
Another aspect that hasn't been mentioned much about this car is the reliability, a couple of grumbles about the gearbox but no show stoppers that i can remember.
As much as I don't care for Red Bull the team, this car is an absolute triumph, up there with the W11, MP4/4, F2002 and FW14B.
It is undoubtedly a great car. I spent most of the year waiting for some kind of slight of engineering to be revealed like when Ferrari were up to fuel tricks.
I hope it is just a great car and there are no dirty tricks.
Bruce
I hope it is just a great car and there are no dirty tricks
Other than finding inventive ways to blow the budget cap? Deep, deep pockets they have.
I often wonder how much influence Newey actually has. It must be highly demotivating for all the RB engineers to have all successes put down to him, especially when it comes to design detail.
I often wonder how much influence Newey actually has.
He hired the engineers and set up the work processes, etc. He'll oversea the major decisions. Success is highly motivating and the engineers will all know that they have contributed to that success. I'm sure Newey makes everyone who works for him know that their contributions are essential to the success of the team.
I've gone from watching all BBC coverage to channel 4 to youtube 7 minutes and the BBC review
Its not the same
It's not my favourite sport and my knowledge of is...basic.
I think that Mercedes will deliver a massive step change in car performance, McLaren will continue improving and RB will manage incremental improvements.
As for the other teams - no idea.
If Mercedes do have a much improved car, it will be interesting to see if Hamilton still has what it takes to beat Verstappen.
Williams have signed Logan Sargeant for another year.
[i]Williams have signed Logan Sargeant for another year.[/i]
also
[i]Sargeant was chasing all year. He chased from day one, and simply just didn't get better.[/i]
I wonder just how much money he brings the team?
Got to agree with Bennyboy - not been interested enough to watch since the 2021 cheating / ridiculous debacle. Used to love it, but just briefly check the results since then - rather than watching / supporting like I used to. <br />My hope for 2024 is that:
A - a team, ideally McLaren or Mercedes, actually challenges Red Bull to make it vaguely interesting. I personally feel Hamilton deserves the chance to legitimately go for the 8th title that was robbed from him. I’d also like Norris to do well.
B - RB employ a driver actually capable of challenging Verstappen - the guy couldn’t take it and it would make it interesting to see him froth, moan, make mistakes and struggle rather than just drive round miles ahead of everyone else. <br /><br />C - ideally there would be at least 3-4 competitive teams - not just 1 or maybe 2
If all the above happened it could be a great season. Sadly, I suspect until the rule changes in 2026 it may remain the same for a couple more seasons. At least Max will probably not get to 7 titles because of the 2026 future changes - sincerely hope that does shake up the current status quo.
WorldClassAccident
Sargeant was chasing all year. He chased from day one, and simply just didn’t get better.
I wonder just how much money he brings the team?
A wheelbarrow-full I reckon, his family are loaded. That said although he's under delivered compared to Albon this year, I don't think he's actually too bad. He came 4th in F2 just 1 point behind Lawson in 3rd and he won a couple of races.
Also it looks like from '26 onward we'll be racing in Madrid instead of Barcelona. Joe says it'll be a track along the lines of Canada.
https://twitter.com/joesaward/status/1731947948961870153
The race will take place on a semi-permanent track around the IFEMA convention centre, close to Barajas Airport.
Another interesting aspect is that it has somehow united all the teams in releasing an identically worded statement denying involvement!
https://twitter.com/fiagirly/status/1732468796902830241
WTF is actually going on with that? There's obviously something more going on behind the scenes than just the official version that Suzie Wolff is suspected of leaking information to Toto. Did the FIA decide they wanted to teach Toto a lesson and now it's blown up in their faces?
That went well for the FIA then
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/fia-drops-investigation-into-toto-and-susie-wolff/10556097/?
Well that de-escalated quickly
Back in Bernie's day I'm sure he used to spend the winter making up daft rumours or suggestions about F1 to generate some sort of interest. You know, stupid stuff that nobody really wants like sprinklers on tracks or changing the whole weekend format for a pointless new sprint race.
Mark Hughes' explanation.
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/mph-the-f1-power-struggle-behind-toto-susie-wolff-double-agent-probe/
thols2
Full MemberMark Hughes’ explanation.> https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/mph-the-f1-power-struggle-behind-toto-susie-wolff-double-agent-probe/ <
Nice article, thanks
Well that
dere-escalated quickly
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-active-legal-exchange-fia-inquiry-controversy/
So as much as I dislike Max..
He did the awards yesterday and is currently on a charity sim endurance race for mind.
Even donated to one of the streamers.
What chance is there that the ex Sauber team run into ride height problems next year and lose performance? Then we can all say "the Stakes were too high".
I’m looking forward to it as usual, I’m an avid watcher and love the strategy/tactical element.
I just find it frustrating that loads of folk are moaning that Max is winning everything with ease yet most didn’t when Hamilton was doing the same. There is so much partisan support these days, its really hard for folk to sit back and just enjoy it.
I just find it frustrating that loads of folk are moaning that Max is winning everything with ease yet most didn’t when Hamilton was doing the same.
Hamilton had much more competitive teammates. Also, Max is a very difficult person to like, he comes across as very nasty a lot of the time.
As said with Hamilton's dominace there was inter team rivalry with Nico and to a lesser extent Bottas battling each other, along with other teams getting in the mix now and again
With Max there really hasnt been that, he hasnt had a team mate who could push him or another team really mixing it with him since Ricarrdo so hes just been at the front on his own, if anyone got close he just made the gap bigger
Im not a Max fan (prefer Sainz) part of it his his attitude and his driving style i.e forcing his way through and people off track but he has been pretty much flawless in 23 and its not his fault his team mate cant bring the challenge to him same as the other teams need to up thier game
There is so much partisan support these days, its really hard for folk to sit back and just enjoy it.
I think you're missing the whole point of sport if you think "partisan" is wrong/bad! 😄
