On The Race latest youtube, the discussion was that this year there could be a record number of changes. But also that many are moving/signing very early in the season, or even pre-season. So I would not say that all those teams are necessarily full.
There certainly is a level of get something sorted now before it's too late.
Hope it is confidence that Williams is on an upwards trend. I mean it wasn't all that long ago that McLaren were getting like 800 grid place penalties as well as qualifying last. So there's scope.
I had Albon down to partner Russell. But sainz is the one with the biggest issue. Be criminal if he's not signed for next year, even more criminal than the year that Ocon had to sit out.
WTF?!?
Williams are taking a hit now for transforming their operation. It’s very likely that by the start of next year they’ll be very much on an upward trajectory. They’re a known quantity and Albon will have seen all the work being done behind the scenes.
Whereas, the alternatives…? Haas: never going to be a top flight team by virtue of their operating model, let alone the way Gene sticks his oar in. Alpine: absolutely in crisis with no publicly visible solution to their issues. Sauber/Audi: viable as a prospect but unlikely to have Albon high on their list for the one vacant seat. VCARB: already oversubscribed and can never be more than a stepping stone to RB, which Albon knows is a toxic environment for him. McLaren, Ferrari, Aston all full (assuming Lance doesn’t spontaneously combust), RB looking elsewhere and—as mentioned—toxic anyway with Max still there. Merc also looking elsewhere and putting their long term bet on Antonelli. Williams really is the best horse in Albontown. He’s well regarded there and whatever growth the team sees he will be able to shape.
I can see that there might be no options for next year, but he already had a contract covering that.
What happens if Lewis wins the championship with Ferrari in 26 and then retires?
Hes already taken himself out of the driver market for that scenario, with the contract extension.
If Ferrari came knocking then Williams will think of a number and ask Ferrari for that as compensation.
In reality that's not going to happen - he's decent but not that good.
And we never know - Williams may have talked Newey into a part-time remote working consultancy role while he's off sailing around the world! 🙂
Aston all full (assuming Lance doesn’t spontaneously combust)
Given that Lawrence Stroll has said that he's planning for top 3 status for the team, when do we think he's going to suggest to his son that perhaps his career in racing is going to be outside F1..?
Albon will have release clauses in his contract. He's already talked to all the teams, none of the top ones want him. If they change their minds, he'll be able to buy his way out of his contract.
Given that Lawrence Stroll has said that he’s planning for top 3 status for the team, when do we think he’s going to suggest to his son that perhaps his career in racing is going to be outside F1..?
Rumours are that he'll move over to WEC once Aston join in 25
Potentially opening the door for Tsunoda to tie in with the Honda engine switch
So if Sainz really doesn't want to go to Red Bull then the seat remains Cheeco's I guess. Neither Tsunoda or Riccardo have done enough to get it IMO. I like Ricardo a lot but it's time to accept that he's well past his best, I suspect he'll be out to make way for Lawson unless by some miracle he can replicate the Miami sprint performance for the rest of the year.
If Bearman and Lawson are in, and Sergant and Ricardo are out then there's only so many permutations of where the rest can go. Antonelli in would mean one more has to drop out somewhere, probably Bottas or Zhou.
We really need Andretti
I wonder if Albon and his management actually believed he was more in demand than he actually was and that's why he has stuck with Williams.
Albon was on the Beyond the Grid podcast a few months back. To me it came across that he really fits in with the team and likes being part of that team and what they are trying to achieve.
I imagine he has a few scars from the Red Bull days and maybe now he highly values being somewhere where you are respected and treated better?
why he has stuck with Williams
My understanding is that that Williams were keen to retain him. He consistently puts that car way up the grid where it has no right to be, and their view is that (like Verstappen at RB) if they can build him a car that's actually as fast as he's [more than] capable of driving, they have a potential podium/point scoring combination.
Plus for Albon, why go to another mid-pack team to be maybe a No2 and have to start all over again with a new crew, when the changes that James Vowles has already bought to the team are going to only wash out next year and beyond? If he goes now, he'll have put in all the hard work just for some other driver to potentially pick up all the glory.
Newey is saying that he would rather change F1 team rather than retire. It would be so exciting if he ends up at Ferrari!
Newey to Andretti!!!
Only joking 🙂
Given that Lawrence Stroll has said that he’s planning for top 3 status
He'd struggle to make top 3 driver within the team, so he might as well **** off now.
I think you’re mixing up Lawrence and Lance! Lawrence definitely has the money and determination to get Aston there, Lance definitely doesn’t have the driving talent!
Jason, Jason, Jason, It's so old but it's still true...
Seb organised a run/cycle/scoot round the track for the F1/F2/F3 drivers to pay homage to Roland and Ayrton.
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Mercedes lose another key member of staff...
https://www.planetf1.com/news/gioacchino-vino-mercedes-exit-aero-chief-leaves
...Hamilton jumping ship is looking like an inspired move as each day goes by.
And interesting FP1 - Max isn't happy with his car which is always a good thing! Lets hope it stays that way. 🙂
Two Ferraris and a Merc in the top three. Feels like old times. The McLaren's are no where to be seen though, let's hope they pick it up a bit in 2nd practice
Mercedes lose another key member of staff…
Hard to know how much of this churn is down to good people leaving a lost team vs the people who have overseen the recent lack of performance being "managed out" (as an ex employer of mine used to call it)
According to Benson on the chequered flag podcast, 2 personnel are going from Ferrari to Mercedes, they just haven't announced it yet.
It's only tomorrow afternoon when it really counts Verstappen will put it on pole, then romp off.
All very tight in FP2 - we might have a race on!! 🤞🤞
McLaren and Ferrari are looking quick, should be a good qualifying
Business as usual then. The McLarens look close though!
Should be a good race tomorrow - sounds like Max only got pole because he got a massive tow off Hulk.
and Lando promoted to second now with Piastri getting a penalty for impeding.
And Yuki is making a strong case for that second Red Bull seat next season.
Should be a good race tomorrow – sounds like Max only got pole because he got a massive tow off Hulk.
Not really as he lost time on the final corner which probably evened it out.
And Yuki is making a strong case for that second Red Bull seat next season.
He's had an amazing weekend so far, it's hard to see him at Red Bull tho.
And Yuki is making a strong case for that second Red Bull seat next season.
Not sure why anyone thinks Tsonoda would do any better than Perez at Red Bull (not saying he'd be worse but.....)
Feel sorry for Piastri given KMag's wilful obstruction and dodgy driving in Miami to preserve Hulks points - I know quali obstruction rules are there for a reason, but if I was a steward I'd have seen the incident as just balancing the karma bank.
Piastri got in the way and disrupted Magnusson’s lap as the evidence the stewards found confirmed, the team just didn’t give him enough notice. It’s a slam dunk sadly. If its practice you can get away with it but not a competitive session.
Looking forward to the race. Much prefer these older proper circuits to the newer ones, might look at going to Imola or Monza next year.
Well this is dull!
Looks like zero chance of anyone being able to do an overtake.
Yep, shaping up to be a snoozefest
Well, it looks like McLaren really are right there with RB. 0.7s over a full race distance, no damage, no SC, no thing to confuse things. Max also got the B&W flag for not being able to keep the car on track early on, so hard was he pushing. Norris may not win the Championship, but could start to win a few races. Ferrari weren’t too far behind either.
McLaren's upgrade is pretty convincing, I'm pleased to see the gap to Red Bull being much closer over the last two races. What a finish!
I enjoyed watching Vettel drive Senna's '93 McLaren Ford round the circuit too. Nice tribute to Senna & Ratzenberger.
Having been curious for a while, I decided to watch the full race from Norris’ car as I thought it might be interesting.
It was ok and I kept with it to the end, but was quite strange with next to no information and pretty much no idea what was happening until quickly catching Max up to what turned out to be 2 laps from the end when a radio message confirmed it.
Would much prefer to have at least a lap indicator and maybe gap behind/ahead, plus the overall positions to get an idea of what’s happening elsewhere. But otherwise ok and the race flew by.
so hard was he pushing
You are Yoda and I claim my £5 😁
Anyone else disappointed with Ferrari?
They've been the No.2 team behind Red Bull since the start of these new regs but can't find that last few tenths. And now dropping behind McLaren.
And Aston are proving the point that you can't buy success in F1 (as BMW and Toyota found out). Dismal weekend for them and they are way behind their 2023 form.
Anyone else disappointed with Ferrari?
I think gaining an advantage this year is getting harder and harder, as all 3 of the top teams are demonstrating it's more important than ever now to have a strong driver line-up and while max is clearly still the driver to beat Perez was nowhere this weekend, I still think that Ferrari have the strongest driver line up, although it's a close thing to Piastri and Norris, and this weekend McLaren took the most points away at the race, next weekend it's just qualifying that counts, and I'd still give Leclerc the upper hand there.
Its not often Max looks like this at the end of a race, Norris must've been pushing them hard. 'nother couple of laps, and who knows...
the-muffin-man
Full Member
Anyone else disappointed with Ferrari?They’ve been the No.2 team behind Red Bull since the start of these new regs but can’t find that last few tenths. And now dropping behind McLaren.
And Aston are proving the point that you can’t buy success in F1 (as BMW and Toyota found out). Dismal weekend for them and they are way behind their 2023 form.
Yeah, a little bit. The car looked good overall, clearly it's still a way off the front. Hats off to Mclaren though, the confidence Lando had in those last few laps was brilliant to watch.
My biggest disappointment this weekend was (once again) Mercedes. Didn't seem like there was much improvement at all from their update. Balance still seems to be all over the place and setup looks tricky. As usual George got it right for qualifying and Lewis for the race. Waste of two good drivers at the moment.
Anyone else disappointed with Ferrari?
They’ve been the No.2 team behind Red Bull since the start of these new regs but can’t find that last few tenths. And now dropping behind McLaren.
I think they've improved their car more than it appears. Leclerc is an amazing qualifier and he flattered the car in previous years. Red Bull had a car that struggled to warm up its tyres in qualifying, but was easy on the tyres in the race and could just cruise off into the distance once the Ferrari chewed its tyres up. This year's Ferrari is much closer to the Red Bull in races, with much better tyre life, it's just that McLaren have done a spectacular job considering how bad their car was at the start of last year.
the-muffin-man
Anyone else disappointed with Ferrari?
A bit, but they were explaining on The Race podcast that something to do with their engine layout/set-up didn't suit the Imola circuit, so the track was probably a tough one for them compared to some others coming up.
There's an article about Ferrari's performance here:
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/where-ferrari-really-stands-now-after-mclaren-beatings/
with this little snippet explaining the engine/power-unit deficiency:
"This is not necessarily the best layout for the Ferrari engine given its turbo arrangement provides good power delivery off corners and is perhaps lacking at the very top end. But Leclerc was also adamant that Ferrari was missing something with its engine strategy at Imola compared to McLaren and Red Bull.
He felt that its battery deployment was slightly off, as he lost time on the start-finish straight beginning his qualifying laps that he could not make up. Maybe that was a hint at a need to better compensate the engine’s characteristics on a track like this.
“We basically lost everything at the launch,” he said post-race."
Towards the end of the race, a graphic representing "battery use" was being displayed, with Norris at something like 60% and Verstappen at something like 30%, with the emphasis that this was good for Norris, bad for Verstappen First time I've seen it. I though batteries were recharged each lap? Have I got that wrong? Can someone more knowledgeable explain please?
