LOL – Alonso gets his podium back now. 10s penalty overturned.

**** yeah!

2/3rds of the race to get it right – they get it wrong. It’s almost impressive

Hamilton seems to be having a bit of a dip, needs a good result to get his head back in the right place.

Yeah, Hamilton’s always been a bit inconsistent. He spends a few months looking a bit ordinary, then he suddenly gets his shit together and looks unbeatable. As things stand, Merc have pretty much maximized their possible points haul so it doesn’t matter much for the team which order Russell and Hamilton finish in. I suspect we’d be seeing a different Hamilton if they were fighting for victories instead of hoping to get lucky and put one car on the podium. I can see Hamilton tolerating another year off the pace if their mid-season updates show big improvements and next year’s car is competitive, but I can’t see him sticking around if next year’s car turns out as disappointing as this one. Same with Leclerc and Norris, they must have lawyers working on escape clauses in the hope that Hamilton quits and a seat at Merc opens up.

I was listening on the radio while driving up the M40, so not fully concentrating but thought the snap decision to tell Stroll to stop on track was brilliant. Was the yellow flag the only way to ensure Alonso could pit and not lose position?

Sounded like a genuinely urgent call to me, and use of safety car unnecessary given Stroll’s parking

Yeah, Jeddah is a ridiculously dangerous/fast/un-sighted street circuit run in the dark, you don’t mess about, any thoughts that Stroll’s car might be in the way, get the safety car out. Better to say, “Oh didn’t really need that” and look a bit daft, than have to explain why you didn’t after a massive shunt.

The speed of that RB with the rear wing open was astonishing on the big DRS drags. Not a thing any other race car on the grid could do about it. Think someone said it further up thread, but wouldn’t be surprised if a RB wins every race this season!

Yeah, I think the interest is going to come from the fact that Perez seems to be able to drive this one just as fast as Verstappen this year. A proper rivalry between those two will pull that team apart.

Himilton’s race was ruined by both his poor qualifying and where the safety car appeared. Yes, he got a cheap pitstop, but he also ran the Hards first which were slow and then had to ditch them for Mediums after only 20 laps which meant he had to manage them to the end.

nickc
Full Member

Yeah, I think the interest is going to come from the fact that Perez seems to be able to drive this one just as fast as Verstappen this year. A proper rivalry between those two will pull that team apart.

Lol, did you see Jos at the end? everyones high-fiving and congratulating checo, he’s just standing there like a lemon

The alonso penalty being overturned is a strange one. I’ve always thought the rule was that you must not touch the car at all, guess that needs to be written into the rules now. But anyway I’m glad he kept his podium after all.

Hope another team makes progress cos it’s looking like a red bull flavoured washout otherwise. 😑

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12838137/saudi-arabian-grand-prix-max-verstappen-not-happy-finishing-second-as-sergio-perez-wins-in-jeddah

did you see Jos at the end? everyones high-fiving and congratulating checo, he’s just standing there like a lemon

Standing there like a lemon means that he’s learned some self control, getting a punching is what you risk if you piss him off.

Jos and Max cut from the same cloth, neither of them have the graciousness to be happy for someone else.

 I’ve always thought the rule was that you must not touch the car at all

I think the accepted “rule” was that you could put the front jack on the car as a safety thing, but it turns out that the rules don’t specify which jack, so AM – with a podium at stake put in a complaint, apparently had 7 video and times when rear/front jacks had been touching, turns out that they were right, the rules don’t say, and as they had loads of evidence, they got the place back.

neither of them have the graciousness to be happy for someone else.

There’s an obvious argument that you want your no1 driver to be unhappy with 2nd place. But there’s a streak in Verstappen that’s just on the wrong side of “what’s best for the team, vs what’s best for me” that puts unnecessary strain on a team that has a history of not being able to manage it’s drivers very well. If Perez keeps it up, it’s going to be a matter of when not if  that it comes spilling out. It’ll be messy I reckon

neither of them have the graciousness to be happy for someone else.

DRS needs to go. That was embarrassing to watch. There wasn’t even any pretence at “overtaking” from MV it was just pull out an drive by.

Checo a bit naïve to think that Max wouldn’t nail it on the final lap though for the bonus point, especially after they’d both ignored the delta time request.

dooosuk
Free Member
Checco a bit naïve to think that Max wouldn’t nail it on the final lap though for the bonus point, especially after they’d both ignored the delta time request be a d!ck as usual.

Entirely understandable that Max went for the fastest lap point but it was pretty risky considering he’d been reporting strange noises from the engine/gearbox/whatever.

I’d want my driver to be not happy with second if P1 was a rival team but on race 2 of the season when the other car is also your team I’d be unhappy.

But Horner/Max/Jos 🤷‍♂️

Checo a bit naïve to think that Max wouldn’t nail it on the final lap though for the bonus point, especially after they’d both ignored the delta time request.

Pretty sure I read he went for it too but stuffed up sector one and cruised home.

reporting strange noises from the engine/gearbox/whatever

They (the drivers) were reportedly making unhappy noises about the cars transmission reliability in Bahrain as well. I think both drivers have said that had they needed to push super hard – say; like you’d do in qualifying, they’d likely as not failed to finish.

There’s something not quite right in the car anyway.

There’s something not quite right in the car anyway.

My suspicion is that they pushed the packaging of the rear suspension and gearbox very aggressively for aerodynamic benefit. If that is the case, it won’t be a simple thing to fix and they may end up with multiple gearbox change penalties.

My suspicion is that they pushed the packaging of the rear suspension and gearbox very aggressively for aerodynamic benefit. If that is the case, it won’t be a simple thing to fix and they may end up with multiple gearbox change penalties

Adrian Newey has previous history of doing just this, I remember the Red Bulls struggling with overheating during their previous hey day because the rear of the car was shrink wrapped so hard to benefit the aero

DRS needs to go. That was embarrassing to watch. There wasn’t even any pretence at “overtaking” from MV it was just pull out an drive by.

It differs from track to track of course, but now that it’s easier for cars to follow it def doesn’t feel as necessary as it used to be. Hopefully it’s under review!

If Perez keeps it up, it’s going to be a matter of when not if  that it comes spilling out. It’ll be messy I reckon

Hope so!

Hope another team makes progress cos it’s looking like a red bull flavoured washout otherwise. 😑

That’s how it looks to me too

they may end up with multiple gearbox change penalties

And as we saw this weekend they will probably still finish on the podium even if they start from the pit lane. At the moment that car is so much quicker than the rest of the field that they don’t have to worry too much about the odd penalty because their bad weekends won’t be that bad and will be offset by the rest of the good weekends. (as long as they can manage any in-race problems of course)

I wonder if Max would have made it to 2nd if there was no DRS. There may have been more robust defence from some drivers, rather than just accepting it’s a done deal so why bother defending at all.

And as we saw this weekend they will probably still finish on the podium even if they start from the pit lane. At the moment that car is so much quicker than the rest of the field that they don’t have to worry too much about the odd penalty because their bad weekends won’t be that bad and will be offset by the rest of the good weekends.

It’ll depend on the circuits where they have to take penalties. Monaco or Hungary probably won’t give RB the same huge advantage, for example. The RB seems to generate very efficient downforce, so they take care of their tyres but also have good straight line speed. Aston Martin went for downforce, so they are easy on tyres but lack speed. Merc and Ferrari went the other way. At slow circuits, it’ll just come down to cranking on downforce, straight line speed won’t matter, but having a fragile transmission will cost lap time if drivers have to avoid curbs to stop the gearbox exploding.

Thanks 🤣 Can’t un see that now!!

Photoshop, surely?!?

Nope

Oh god that’s horrific

Nico was known Britney.

Henceforth Max should be known as Jackie.

Hope this gets picked up in the paddock! 🙂

Nico was known Britney.

Henceforth Max should be known as Jackie.

Hope this gets picked up in the paddock! 🙂

Someone needs to tell Mark Webber

So fewer practice sessions are the topic this weekend – to be replaced by whatever convoluted wacky races points winning thing they come up with.

I don’t mind practice sessions as you can dip in and out as time allows. Add points into the mix and it becomes another thing fighting for your viewing time.

So with 23 races already + another 23 points events + 23 qualifying sessions = a LOT of commitment from fans. To me it devalues the sport even more.

“One session is enough”: F1 drivers back Domenicali’s call to cut practice

the-muffin-man
Full Member

So fewer practice sessions are the topic this weekend – to be replaced by whatever convoluted wacky races points winning thing they come up with.

I don’t mind practice sessions as you can dip in and out as time allows. Add points into the mix and it becomes another thing fighting for your viewing time.

So with 23 races already + another 23 points events + 23 qualifying sessions = a LOT of commitment from fans. To me it devalues the sport even more.

lol, how long till we get F1 playoffs.

It’s starting to remind me of the “football football football” sketch on Mitchell and Webb.

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