Lawson in then. Let's see what he can do in the VCARB.
Here's Danny's post on insta:
Some are saying this could be a test to see if Lawson is suitable to replace Perez in '25.
Its a shame for Danny, but for some reason he didnt seem able to adapt to the current generation of cars.
Always seemed like a decent bloke, and when he had the feeling for the car he was great & his late braking ability was superb, but sadly he's never really found that feeling in recent years. Hope he finds happiness and whatever success means to him in the future.
Noticed that there was no mention of a 2025 seat for Lawson, expect he's been given some clear targets for the next couple of races to secure that.
The first season ever with no driver changes compared to last year, and this is already the fourth in-season one!
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It's a shame, I always cheered for Riccardo, and Checo too, but for some reason these current cars just don't seem to suit them.
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Some are saying this could be a test to see if Lawson is suitable to replace Perez in ’25.
That would be 11 races into his career. Gasly and Albon clearly needed longer before going to play with the big boys. Good luck to Antonelli! Although the only other obvious choice for RB is Hadjar and he's done even less time in an F1 car...
andrewh
Free Member
The first season ever with no driver changes compared to last year, and this is already the fourth in-season one!
but for some reason these current cars just don’t seem to suit them.
I think all the drivers are finding that these cars are very knife edged. I don't think there's been one driver (including Max) who hasn't at some point complained about them. With hindsight, I don't think these set of regs have produced the close racing they were hoping for, and certainly for the "late brakers" like Ricciardo who need the back end (at the very least) to co-operate, have suffered - and that's spoiled the racing IMO.
[i]and that’s spoiled the racing IMO.[/i] - but upped the TV ratings. I wonder which is being prioritised?
but upped the TV ratings.
I think all the new viewers of F1 - especially the North American market, have come almost exclusively from Drive to Survive on Netflix. Even my daughter who started watching with me when she was about 5 or 6, in about 2006/7 is a long term fan by comparison.
nickc
Full Member
but for some reason these current cars just don’t seem to suit them.
I think all the drivers are finding that these cars are very knife edged. I don’t think there’s been one driver (including Max) who hasn’t at some point complained about them. With hindsight, I don’t think these set of regs have produced the close racing they were hoping for, and certainly for the “late brakers” like Ricciardo who need the back end (at the very least) to co-operate, have suffered – and that’s spoiled the racing IMO.
I think the rules overall have been quite successful, in as much that drivers can now stay within 1s for multiple laps without cooking their tyres (e.g. Perez/Alonso in Brazil the other year).
One big downside has been the lack of front downforce at low speed, plus the sheer size and heft of the cars, making moves into slow corners quite clumsy.
As you say, the other problem is the knife-edge nature of ground effect downforce. Driver 61 had a nice video on this the other day, in short, even getting the rolling road surface in your wind tunnel slightly wrong can completely Latifi your wind tunnel data.
I think the rules overall have been quite successful, in as much that drivers can now stay within 1s for multiple laps without cooking their tyres (e.g. Perez/Alonso in Brazil the other year).
Yes, the fact that cars can run closely has been successful, I agree, but as we saw in Baku, (and to misquote Murray) getting past the car in front is another thing altogether. Drivers like Riciarrdo who relied on managing a largely balanced car on entry and exit while braking later than others have found that these cars don't much like being stuffed into a corner like that, added to the fact that safety cell, plus multi-part power unit and huge fuel tank makes for a physically long car that isn't particularly nimble.
I do remember way back in 2021, Ross Brawn claiming that each race may see see the possibility of a David slaying a Goliath hasn't stood the test of time well..
I do think they need to focus on smaller lighter cars. The 2026 regulations are only a very small step in the right direction.
Am I alone in that I don't want to see lots of overtaking? If there was a pass somewhere every ten seconds it wouldn't be that exciting when one does happen. I want to see several laps with one driver right up behind another trying again and again, until finally he gets it done, oh no wait, he's come back at him, side by side for the next three corners and then finally it sticks.
I want the possibility of an overtake, especially for the lead, and a few of them, but not all the time.
What I don't want to see is race-long tyre-management, if they aren't pushing there's less chance of an error, which is an opportunity for someone to get by
Am I alone in that I don’t want to see lots of overtaking?.
Amen! In all the time I've been watching F1 there has never been a lot of overtaking. Even Murray used to say "catching is one thing, passing is another" so what we need is cars that can run close together for sustained periods but which need a well executed move to actually pass.
Controversially I also think there should be some element of conservation in the driving. There's should be a trade off between tyre grip and longevity, and between lap time and fuel load - but the current tyres are a bit too delicate so we end up with comparatively slow race pace. For instance Danny Rics fastest lap in Singapore was a 1:34.4, the slowest lap in P1 when the track was green, the conditions weren't representative and cars weren't fully set up was 1:33.8. So everyone in the race was slower than the slowest car was at the start of the weekend.
Am I alone in that I don’t want to see lots of overtaking?
The thing with most motorsport is that due to qualifying, the fastest cars start at the front.
So typically those behind dont have the pace to overtake. Its only when one car starts out of position, or the cars are of a similar speed then overtaking is possible.
I'd rather have quality over quantity too
The current regulations seem to have helped with this.
Although unsure if its the car concept or Wind tunnel/CFD limits which have helped close up the field
At Baku the top 7 cars were within one second of each other (would have been 8 without Landos incident)
In the past that could have been just 2 cars from the same team
I personally wonder how much the performance is restricted by Pirelli ?
I personally wonder how much the performance is restricted by Pirelli ?
Keep in mind that Pirelli were asked to make tyres that degrade so that strategy plays a bigger role. What the drivers mostly complain about is thermal degradation, so if they put in more than one or two fast laps, the tyres just get cooked and lose pace. What the drivers want is tyres that lose pace as they wear, but are able to be pushed to the limit the whole time. Whether that's actually possible, I don't know, those cars crank out 1,000 BHP at maximum deployment and generate tonnes of downforce so all of that has to be transferred to the road through a few inches of rubber.
Alpine confirms it will no longer produce it's own engines...
How can a works team **** up so badly? Just sell the team already and have done with it. Pointless half-arsing it.
Just sell the team already
Isn't that what Flavio is there to do?
...not officially! 🙂
How can a works team **** up so badly? Just sell the team already and have done with it. Pointless half-arsing it.
I get the impression that they're a bit like Mclaren-Honda a few years back. Officially a works team, but the chassis and engine sides were both half-assed and blaming each other. At least that was so uncompetitive that it was obvious that both sides needed a complete restructuring. Problem with Renault is that they looked like they were becoming competitive a few years back, but that just gave them cover for not actually fixing the problems.
Rumours that Perez is going to announce his "retirement" at Mexico. Horner saying something like "ideal scenario is Perez in Red Bull next year" but that "2 weeks is a long time in f1"
So Lawson into an RB 11 races into his career? Explains the mid-season change. Hadjar in whatever VCARB decide to call themselves next year? And Yuki staying where he is?
Bottas to RB/RBR in case Lawson doesn't come up with the goods...
Is Bottas going to be better than Perez? They were both very decent second-tier drivers in their day (and I don't mean that disparagingly, I mean not quite Hamilton/Alonso level, but still better than most - regular, dependable race-winners, easily as good as Webber, Barachello, Coulthard, etc)
I've not seen any flashes of brilliance from Bottas lately which leads me to think he'll be better than Checo. I think both have had their day unfortunately, and Riccardo too.
I think Bottas would be a good replacement for Perez, he'd be a good number 2 driver for next season alongside Verstappen. Not as quick as Max, but quicker than most. Take your point that he hasn't shown any brilliance recently, but he is in the slowest car on the grid.
A handy interim whilst Red Bull sort the mess they've created with the driver line up. Tsunodo will never get the chance whilst Horny is drawing breath for whatever reason.
Planet F1 is currently unreadable.
80% of the 'stories' are puff pieces for Danny Ric that ignore the speed of his decline since he left RB.
I know they're on a break, but some actual news would be lovely.
I’ve not seen any flashes of brilliance from Bottas lately
Of course not: he’s driving a shitbox. But I agree, I can’t see any reason to put him into a RB over Perez. And I don’t think that the issue is even just one of whether he’s better than Perez, it’s what’s going on at Red Bull Towers. As far as I can see from my armchair, Horner has been defending both Ricciardo and Perez and trying to keep some stability because he knows that it didn’t work when they were chewing through Gasly, Albon, Hartley etc and spitting them out. But Ricciardo and Perez simply haven’t been delivering consistently, which means Horner’s now on the back foot in terms of driver management. Marko wants to throw the young pups in at the deep end and wants drivers to prove themselves immediately. They need some balance: they need the young talent but they also need to nurture it better than they used to. I think the pendulum is swinging Marko’s way and he presumably wants to use the remainder of 2024, and quite possibly 2025, as a mass audition—who they choose and how they handle them after that remains to be seen.
Of course not: he’s driving a shitbox
Either he's not as good as he used to be or we have all underestimated Zhou, which is of course possible, he could be brilliant and the car even worse than we think. But Bottas isn't miles ahead of him, in the way that say Albon was compared to Sargent in a slow car.
In light of recent events I think Lando only has 4 races left to take the title. I can easily see Qatar and UAE being cancelled.
I’ve not seen any flashes of brilliance from Bottas lately
Much as I like him as a person, I think his recent performances are those of a man who 1. knows that this (up until these rumours started circulating) is going to be his last year in F1, and 2. is driving a car that is woeful, I think even just being on the same lap as the leaders at the finish would be 'flashes of brilliance' right now.
andrewh
Either he’s not as good as he used to be or we have all underestimated Zhou, which is of course possible, he could be brilliant and the car even worse than we think. But Bottas isn’t miles ahead of him, in the way that say Albon was compared to Sargent in a slow car.
Hard to tell in that shitbox, but if you look at the quali h2h, it's 17-1 in Bottas' favour.
Toyota dip their toe back in F1 with Haas...
In light of recent events I think Lando only has 4 races left to take the title. I can easily see Qatar and UAE being cancelled.
No chance. Too much money involved. Anyway despite Qatar hosting hamas they are coming to see the king so they must be decent folk
The-muffin-man
Full Member
Toyota dip their toe back in F1 with Haas…
Didn't see that coming! Bit of a result for Ollie
There's been the usual rumours going around about Haas selling to Andretti for ages. I guess that's off the table now, Toyota won't a tie in with GM will they? Or vice versa.
Andretti won't buy a team. They were too tight to buy one when teams were "cheap" - no chance now.
There’s been the usual rumours going around about Haas selling to Andretti for ages.
Haas were never for sale. Gene Haas is happy to do things on the cheap and trundle around in the mid-field. He uses the team to promote his company, it doesn't need to be a front-runner to do that.
Andretti won’t buy a team. They were too tight to buy one when teams were “cheap” – no chance now.
Michael Andretti has been shown the door, they are under new management. I'm sure Flav would happily sell Alpine if anyone turned up with enough money.
Woke up to this story too - why is the team 'unidentified' - going to be another bulge under the FIA carpet...
...we can only see who goes backwards this weekend and guess.
I'm surprised it's only one team, as I noticed a long while ago that some teams are running complicated looking mechanisms in that area.
Interesting that it mentions the adjustment being made from a settings change in the cockpit, quite specific.
I suppose the reason for it is getting a mega-low ride height in quali without wearing the plank too much in the race? Or maybe just keeping the floor entrace height consistent as the fuel load changes?
