Slight tangent…
Anyone got any advice for buying tickets? I need to get some grandstand tickets for a race later this year but I think they’re now only available via resellers. Never bought tickets before, Any sites that I should use or not use? Any related pearls of wisdom?
Nice little BBC thing here that's worth a scroll through on your lunch break:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/extra/v7yykmbyey/f1-at-75-by-bbc-sport-and-getty-images
I just spotted that, it's great.
I like the 60s style helmet cam.
Slight tangent…
Anyone got any advice for buying tickets? I need to get some grandstand tickets for a race later this year but I think they’re now only available via resellers. Never bought tickets before, Any sites that I should use or not use? Any related pearls of wisdom?
I got a lot of good info about Suzuka from F1destinations group on Facebook. There might be some info on there about buying used tickets.
Cheers. I’ve got tickets now 🙂 (Well… I’ve paid for tickets…) Monza, baby! Even bought a car to drive there in 😀
Nice! Where did Aston pull that performance out of!!
Cheers. I’ve got tickets now 🙂 (Well… I’ve paid for tickets…) Monza, baby! Even bought a car to drive there in 😀
Amazing! What kind of tickets and what kind of car?!
They've brought quite a a major upgrade this weekend, which Andy Cowell says predates Adrian Newey's arrival. Also surprised to see how close Stroll has got to Alonso.
And Albon sounding disappointed about qualifying seventh. Williams have come a long way! Sainz must be loving outqualifying the Ferraris
Amazing! What kind of tickets and what kind of car?!
Grandstand 8 overlooking the Rettifilo, and an MX-5. I’ll be pootling along behind my mate’s 911 🙂
Went all in by ordering a Ferrari shirt and hat as well and evidently that’s put the curse on them this weekend!
Amazing! What kind of tickets and what kind of car?!
Grandstand 8 overlooking the Rettifilo, and an MX-5. I’ll be pootling along behind my mate’s 911 🙂
Went all in by ordering a Ferrari shirt and hat as well and evidently that’s put the curse on them this weekend!
Fantastico!
Decent race today, not a max fan but that was perfect. Bit of luck with the SC timing and Oscar's long stop but still utterly owned it.
Also not a Max fan but watched the start - he seemed slow away from the line but STILL led out of turn one. Don't like him, but he's bloody good! 🙂
Pretty good result by Albon as well. I wonder whether we could have finished 4th if he hadn't been forced wide by LeClerc...
Also not a Max fan but watched the start - he seemed slow away from the line but STILL led out of turn one. Don't like him, but he's bloody good! 🙂
Watching the replay from Russell's onboard, I think Piastri got wheelspin or made a mistake or something in the second part of the launch. He got away well initially, then Russell and Verstappen just seemed to gain a tonne of speed on him. It looked like Piastri then covered George and in doing so left the door wide open for Max. Great move though, really nicely done.
So Monaco this weekend, can't wait for qualifying today, not sure that the compulsory 2 stopper will spice things up tho.
Nice to see Lando at the front again
not sure that the compulsory 2 stopper will spice things up tho.
It'll be interesting to see. One of the strategies that has been suggested is that the backmarkers make their required pitstops on lap 2 and 3, then hope for yellow flags. Nobody seems quite sure what the best strategy will be for the front runners.
Nice to see Lando at the front again
I just hope he can stay there.
I’m enjoying this 2 pit stop rule! 😀
I also like the way race control have kept the race running to avoid a red flag, which would have negated the the 2 stop rule.
I wish Brundle would stop moaning about it not being pure - it’s adding ‘wet race’ type interest to what is normally a procession.
…perhaps it is turning into a farce now!! 🤣
Max doesn’t even have to stop as the penalty is only 30s. Even Gran Turismo has a more sorted penalty system than that!
edit: Brundle just corrected himself, would be a DQ for deliberately skipping a stop
The race at the front has been as it should
Its the shenanigans in the lower half of the field which is causing the issues
Max doesn’t even have to stop as the penalty is only 30s. Even Gran Turismo has a more sorted penalty system than that!
Sounds like its a DQ if you dont stop twice
They are holding out in case theres a red flag (free pitstop)
It was worth a try and it has created a bit more intrigue, but its a similar situation as it would have been with the old system.
If it was me i'd try (for all races):
Tyre changes under red flag conditions dont count for the rule around running 2 compounds (safety only)
Closing the pit lane in SC/VSC scenarios
Both would help the race be "on track" rather than driving around hoping for a lucky situation
I really enjoyed that! So much chaos. I know the purists will be fuming but as a spectator that was the most interesting Monaco for a while
I wonder if they’ll keep the two stop rule? That was a really enjoyable race but it did feel a little ridiculous at times. If F1 was the kind of sport where cooler heads prevailed then they’d give it about three races, with possible tweaks, to see whether it improves the show or cheapens it, but F1 is generally a dumpster fire so we all know that won’t happen
Closing the pit lane in SC/VSC scenarios
You can't do that as there could be "genuine" reasons for needing to pit, including an actual tyre change.
Would be better, imo, if they were given a spec Monaco tyre that had 30 laps life in it max. Then they’d have to pit rather than pit for the sake of it
Closing the pit lane in SC/VSC scenarios
You can't do that as there could be "genuine" reasons for needing to pit, including an actual tyre change.
You can
They did it today when Gasley parked it in the middle of the pitlane, so there must be a provision in the rules
Theres also something similar in WEC/Indycar/NASCAR
You can always close the exit to negate any advantage in case you have to stop for "genuine" reasons
I know the purists will be fuming but as a spectator that was the most interesting Monaco for a while
No fuming round here other than at the Sky commentary team - I don't often see their coverage but IMO it's not worth paying for.
I think the race was unusually lacking full safety cars after the first couple of incidents so the lower order didn't get a chance to roll the dice and see if a random strategy paid off.
And fair play to Williams et al who used the rules to their advantage - Monaco is often about driving as slow as possible without being passed and today was no exception.
Monaco tyre that had 30 laps life in it
and was a third of the standard width. What was today’s overtake count?
If you want overtaking watch the Indy500 where it happens every other lap.
However its probably not worth watching until the last 20 laps, given the amount of cautions going on.
So many errors its looking like a club level race
80 laps, 20 drivers. Each driver gets 4 laps and the driver with the lowest total time wins. The winner of qualifying gets to choose when they take their laps, then 2nd and so on.
It’s a 4 lap time trial for F1.
I think it was an interesting concept that didn't work out very well in the end. I know Monaco is an anachronism in modern F1 cars but I still love watching it.
Yeah, fair play for trying a new rule but I don’t enjoy watching drivers backing everyone up. For a moment when Hadjar was making his stops I thought he might be in for a punt at the win, but it didn’t spice things up that much. Meh.
Would be better, imo, if they were given a spec Monaco tyre that had 30 laps life in it max.
The reason everyone complains about the current tyres is they have been engineered to degrade in an attempt to improve the racing. It's turned it into a tyre management competition rather than a test of outright speed.
The reason everyone complains about the current tyres is they have been engineered to degrade in an attempt to improve the racing. It's turned it into a tyre management competition rather than a test of outright speed.
Which really takes us back to the crux of the problem - the track isn't fit for purpose. There's nowhere else you can play the games you see at Monaco (e.g. Williams yesterday), or at least certainly not to the same extent
Gunther Steiner discussed the idea some years ago that some of the traditional races would go and that Monaco isn't safe from the axe.
Maybe they could introduce a swap to a go-cart for a few laps and back to the F1 car again rather than mess with tyres; it was Verstappen who inspired the thought, "We were almost doing Mario Kart. Then we have to install bits on the car and maybe you can throw bananas around. Slippery surface."
Continuing from the TT idea mooted above, I thought of another couple of cycling related events that could be adopted and adapted. How about an elimination race, or a madison?
Williams tried the keirin yesterday, so at least we can tick that experiment off
Williams tried the keirin yesterday, so at least we can tick that experiment off
They weren't the only ones to try it.
I'd go for the "devil takes the hindmost" elimination race.
Race for say 10 laps, then every 2 or 3, whoever is last is out.
But have tyres that fall off a cliff like they used to some years ago.
Or option 2 (for Monaco only) is to reduce the race to 1 team member only. If you want to race you have to beat yer team mate in quali.
Or option 3 is time trial, keep doing just quali sessions, cos practice and quali was not that bad in comparison.
Race for say 10 laps, then every 2 or 3, whoever is last is out.
Then on a circuit where you can't pass it becomes about track position rather than pace. Maybe have a timed lap every 5 laps then the slowest driver gets eliminated - Probably eliminate 2 or 3 drivers for the first couple to keep the total lap count sensible.
The only way to make Monaco interesting is some variation on a time trial where everyone is in clean air. Anything that requires overtaking to decide positions is doomed, and evidently anything that involves contrived strategy decisions makes for similarly tedious racing, but with greater jeopardy of people driving up the back of each other.
