Expect Gunther to be back in the paddock before the start of the season with a new book deal. Otherwise would be hilarious to see him as the team principal at Andretti
Another good article from The Race about the Haas situation...
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gene-haas-mistaken-modern-f1-steiner-firing/
2024 Livery launch for McLaren yesterday - I predict this livery will last 2 races before they announce a new 'special' livery - and then a dozen more special liveries through the season!... 🤣
https://www.racefans.net/2024/01/16/mclaren-present-livery-for-their-2024-f1-car-mcl38/
Yes not much new there.
I guess the biggest thing it shows is they're still struggling to reach the weight limit (given the bare carbon on show).
This is an interesting insight into what it's like being second driver to Max, interview with Albon.
“What ended up happening was, especially during my year, you start off being a little bit behind, but not by much, and then as the season goes on, Max wants this front-end in the car, he wants his car to be sharper, sharper,” the Thai-British racer commented.<br /> <br /> “As it goes sharper and sharper, he goes quicker and quicker, and for you to catch up you have to start taking a little bit more risk. You might be a couple of tenths behind one session, just try a little bit more, ‘OK, I’ve gone off, I’ve had a crash’, and you’ve got to restart.
“Then you’ve lost a little bit of confidence, it takes a little bit more time, that gap is growing a little bit, and the next time you try and go out and do another job, [it’s] another spin or another whatever – it just starts to snowball. Every time the car becomes sharper and sharper, you start to become more tense.
“It’s like any sport, if you start to not be in that flow state, and you’re having to really think about it, and every time you go into a corner, you don’t know how it’s going to react, you don’t have that kind of… It’s purely the confidence in the car, the flow. It doesn’t work, it never works.”
Will you be at Silverstone waving your flag for team Visa CashApp RB!!!???... 🤦♂️ 🤦♂️
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/visa-cashapp-rb-worst-f1-name-red-bull/
Looking forward to seeing you all at the F1 opener in Melbourne.
Missing the first two rounds then!!? 🤣🤣🤣
[i]Looking forward to seeing you all at the F1 opener in Melbourne.
Missing the first two rounds then!!? 🤣🤣🤣[/i]
They will probably be on hold waiting for customer service for the start of the season
Are McLaren sponsored by Hasbro this year then? Simon Says maybe.
Oh joy, another street circuit
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Can't say I'll miss Barcelona though.
simondbarnes
Full MemberOh joy, another street circuit
Looks crap
Also now I have this Monkey Dust sketch stuck in my head...Madrid. Barcelona. Madrid. Barcelona. MADRID. BAR-CEL-OOOO-NA
The last thing the sport needs are more street circuits. At this rate the cars will be designed not to work on a race track
Yep, couldn't agree more. Ok, Barcelona wasn't great, but street tracks are almost unremittingly awful (and i include Monaco in that)
Twodogs
Full MemberYep, couldn’t agree more. Ok, Barcelona wasn’t great, but street tracks are almost unremittingly awful (and i include Monaco in that)
Obviously we need to reserve judgement a little, until the cars get on track.
But it doesn't look very flowy, there are a lot of 90 deg corners.
chrismac
Full MemberThe last thing the sport needs are more street circuits. At this rate the cars will be designed not to work on a race track
That's a very good point, especially as these cars are particularly ill suited to bumpy tracks...
Its just disappointing where they are saying to classic tracks that they need to spend millions to bring them up to standard, inherently dangerous with zero run-off and concreate walls.
I actually quite like Baku and Jedah🤷
Obviously I'd rather see Spa, Monza, Silverstone, Imola but at least Baku and Jedah give interesting races, much better than most of the new circuits
Makes me laugh that F1 says they are heading towards net zero carbon offset yet they keep adding street circuits that need permament buildings built
Then they have to have the circuit's fencing, stands and everything else needed to keep everyone safe built for 3 days before being stripped back down and stored until the following year, think how much machinary, man power and disruption this causes when they could just use the perfectly good circuit thats been built for decades, has all the infrastructure there permanently and can be used all year round by other catagories of racing and track days etc....
Just makes no sense to me! street circuits should be only used in countries where they have no space or demand for a full time circuit
The Montjuic circuit often used in the Vuelta would have been much better.
Makes me laugh that F1 says they are heading towards net zero carbon offset
Makes me laugh that anyone takes the zero carbon offset thing seriously. FFS, there are tens of thousands of fans flying around the world to watch. At the European races, there are hundreds of trucks hauling equipment back and forth from the UK bases to the race circuits, at the fly-away races, all that gear is airfreighted. Honestly, setting up a temporary street circuit is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall carbon footprint of the sport.
Can’t help thinking that “Visa CashApp” rhymes with “squeeze the cost cap”.
Oh, and street circuits are shit. Right angled corners have no place on a race track. Even when the Americans lost the run of themselves and decided that for some reason corners were rubbish, they built ovals instead of rectangles.
It's just depressing the way F1 is going, street circuits , the pantomime continues grrrr.
Lol it's official, Minardi/Torro Rosso/Alpha Tauri is now "Visa Cash App RB"
https://twitter.com/wearetherace/status/1750129356062503169
Half the problem is that “Cash App” is itself an utterly shit name for a product. (And why a product anyway? We never had “Marlboro Pack of 20 Lights McLaren” or “Benetton Cargo Pants”.) Then stick “RB” after it?
Quite what would have been wrong with “Visa Toro Rosso” I’ve no idea.
Also if Max gets demoted someone would be compelled to take a Sharpie to all the “Cash App” stickers on his car and add four letters to make them say “Crashtappen” 😉
Because they are wanting to push that particular product. It’s the same reason those McLarens were Marlboro rather than Philip Morris.
Fully agree it’s a shit name though
Quite what would have been wrong with “Visa Toro Rosso” I’ve no idea.
Visa and Cash App are 2 separate sponsors.
Not much of a surprise here...
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/leclerc-signs-ferrari-f1-contract-extension/10569077/
Quite what would have been wrong with “Visa Toro Rosso” I’ve no idea.
They are gradually shifting all the team to the UK. They may just want to break the Italian connection.
**** not another street circuit. 😴
Rolex 24hr at Daytona this weekend! 👍🥳
Norris signs long term deal with McLaren...
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/lando-norris-mclaren-f1-contract-new-long-term-deal/
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/lando-norris-new-mclaren-f1-deal-red-bull-speculation/
Never understand all these long term deals.
What happens if a title contender seat becomes available?
Remember Mick Doohan, only signing single year deals, so he knew most teams on the grid would welcome him and then he could pick the best bike on the grid.
I would imagine (hope!) that a driver such as Norris would have sufficient leverage to insert various "get out" clauses in any contract if he wanted them. In his case, I suspect he holds more aces than McLaren...
LeClerc seems to have signed an open ended deal with Ferrari too.
Still some big names out of contract at the end of this season so I imagine they are being nailed down early or drivers don’t want to be left out and have to downgrade.
No idea what Red Bull will do if Checo, Ricciardo and Tsunoda are all a bit lame this season.
No idea what Red Bull will do if Checo, Ricciardo and Tsunoda are all a bit lame this season.
Ask Lawson to do it. He started pretty well.last year...
Daytona was epic! What a race 🥳
A great article here for those of us with rose-tinted F1 specs! Personally I loved the pre-qualifying, added an extra will-they-won't-they element to the weekend. And some iconic and beautiful looking cars too!...
Is it just me or do those 1989 cars look fantastic? Possibly helped by the colour schemes and fewer sponsors?
Is it just me or do those 1989 cars look fantastic? Possibly helped by the colour schemes and fewer sponsors?
And much simpler aerodynamic surfaces.
Is it just me or do those 1989 cars look fantastic? Possibly helped by the colour schemes and fewer sponsors?
Golden era of F1 for me. Even the Onyx is a great looking car...
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