Formula 1 2024 – WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

18yr old lad (with admitted talent – though only came 6th in F2 last year as he settled in) sits in actual car for first time 24hrs before race, drives around a bit and 11 other drivers with a shed ton more experience are not in a position to beat him through a combination of lack of talent, lack of machinery and lack of overtaking opportunity within the track and race design. Meanwhile at the front, a bloke who has previously won 36 out of the last 45 races won again without being challenged in any way whatsoever. Remind me again why this is a series worth following right now?

F1 – the pinnacle of unwatchable motorsport.

I enjoyed todays race – some good battles going on. I try and ignore Max now and I think he got about 2 mins of airtime today! 🤣
And F1 has always been more than just the race for me – the politics and tech are an equal part of the appeal.
For racing you can’t be a club meet at Donington – full pit access too!

Not a bad race even if it never bubbled over into its full potential. A year ago you could have bet big on Sargeant sticking it in the wall to bring out a second safety car, which would have spiced it up a lot, but I guess you can’t have everything.

Bearman’s drive was impressive on multiple fronts. Obviously it was a solid weekend off the back of no testing, and his first few laps were a real statement of competence in terms of being punchy but never overstepping the line of risk—a real quality job on the pure racing front—but also it implies that the Ferrari is a car that a rookie can get into and not only put decent laps in but fight wheel-to-wheel with confidence and then manage on a longer run to the flag. That bodes well for the season, and I reckon Lewis is feeling pretty happy about his move right now.

Ricciardo is sadly looking quite lacklustre these days. A couple more races like that and Lawson will—or at least should—have his second bite at the cherry.

convert
Full Member

18yr old lad (with admitted talent – though only came 6th in F2 last year as he settled in) sits in actual car for first time 24hrs before race, drives around a bit and 11 other drivers with a shed ton more experience are not in a position to beat him through a combination of lack of talent, lack of machinery and lack of overtaking opportunity within the track and race design. Meanwhile at the front, a bloke who has previously won 36 out of the last 45 races won again without being challenged in any way whatsoever. Remind me again why this is a series worth following right now?

Oliver had almost no practice time, the track is very difficult and fast, and he not only kept it out of the wall but actually started putting moves on people and finished ahead of a 7 times WDC! If you’re a fan of racing and that doesn’t impress/entertain you, I don’t know what would!

If you want non-stop action without having to think, watch Stadium Super Cars. It’s great fun.

Oliver had almost no practice time, the track is very difficult and fast, and he not only kept it out of the wall but actually started putting moves on people and finished ahead of a 7 times WDC! If you’re a fan of racing and that doesn’t impress/entertain you, I don’t know what would!

Well, we’re think about this from completely different ends. I’m seeing that him being able to do this is evidence of why it (the whole thing, not his performance) is dull! You have to go to Luke Littler in the darts decently to find something similar – I can’t think of an actual sport where someone that green would be able to hold their own. And when you need to hold up darts as a comparator, you know you are in trouble!

Jackson Goldstone?

He’s not new to the sport though, just new to that level, he’s a decent F2 driver.

A better comparison might be Mo Farah trying his hand at half marathons, yes he was new to that but hardly a novice runner.

There have been other rookies who have impressed immediately, Lawson most recently.

Hamilton and Villeneuve especially spring to mind as being at the front from day one. And Bambrilla if anyone can remember that far back! How many rookies get to make their debut in a potentially race-winning car? I can add Coulthard and maybe Magnussen to those above. And Michael Andretti but he didn’t impress. Not trying to take anything away from Bearman, he did a fantastic job, but rookies being really good does happen.

convert<br style=”box-sizing: border-box; –tw-border-spacing-x: 0; –tw-border-spacing-y: 0; –tw-translate-x: 0; –tw-translate-y: 0; –tw-rotate: 0; –tw-skew-x: 0; –tw-skew-y: 0; –tw-scale-x: 1; –tw-scale-y: 1; –tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; –tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; –tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; –tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); –tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;” />Full Member

18yr old lad (with admitted talent – though only came 6th in F2 last year as he settled in) sits in actual car for first time 24hrs before race, drives around a bit and 11 other drivers with a shed ton more experience are not in a position to beat him through a combination of lack of talent, lack of machinery and lack of overtaking opportunity within the track and race design. Meanwhile at the front, a bloke who has previously won 36 out of the last 45 races won again without being challenged in any way whatsoever. Remind me again why this is a series worth following right now?

It’s not quite as tough for the rookies as it once was , previously the only way for stand-in young drivers to even work out how the buttons worked was actual car seat time.  But now with the incredible simulators they have he’s probably already done hundreds of laps of this circuit which explains much of how he can be on a reasonable pace straight away.

I do completely agree with the question is it worth following, I’ve watched F1 for 30 odd years and I can’t remember having this lack of enthusiasm. Pretty sure it’s three things; this generation of cars are quite boring to watch in isolation, they sound unstressed and like they’re operating on half throttle, they look heavy and docile to drive. The absolute domination of Max and Red Bull creates so little jeopardy.  At least in many of the Hamilton champ years there was some sort of internal challenge and you could argue 17,18 Ferrari’s were actually superior for at least part of the season. And when you have 24 races plus sprints watching every race is almost impossible for most so the engagement suffers.

I very rarely miss a race but I’ve not watched the either of the first two live and really don’t feel like I’ve missed, well, anything of consequence.

https://x.com/roblmyers/status/1766874532227203329?s=46&t=EQoHg-RGok071Fjc15ZHKw

Well the most distressing news from that tweet is that U2 are possibly releasing a song about Horner.  Please let it be resolved one way or another before that is inflicted on us.

So U2 are going to release a song about Horner because the brother of the complainant is married to the guitarist’s daughter? This has to be a joke…..

Is the joke that if your career falls off a cliff, you’ve only got yourself to blame for going too close to the edge?

Found this amusing about the retirement rumors

[convert]

convert

Full Member

Oliver had almost no practice time, the track is very difficult and fast, and he not only kept it out of the wall but actually started putting moves on people and finished ahead of a 7 times WDC! If you’re a fan of racing and that doesn’t impress/entertain you, I don’t know what would!

Well, we’re think about this from completely different ends. I’m seeing that him being able to do this is evidence of why it (the whole thing, not his performance) is dull! You have to go to Luke Littler in the darts decently to find something similar – I can’t think of an actual sport where someone that green would be able to hold their own. And when you need to hold up darts as a comparator, you know you are in trouble!

Struggling a bit because I don’t follow that much other sport, but Emma Raducanu? Ronnie O’Sullivan?

It’s closer to football or something though where most of the performance comes from the rest of the team.

None of those team sports send you through a wall lines street at 200+ MPH AFAIK though 😉

Like I said though, if you’re not feeling it, there’s tonnes of other motorsport. I dipped out a bit in the Schumacher years and followed touring cars and rally.

[convert]

Oliver had almost no practice time, the track is very difficult and fast, and he not only kept it out of the wall but actually started putting moves on people and finished ahead of a 7 times WDC! If you’re a fan of racing and that doesn’t impress/entertain you, I don’t know what would!

Well, we’re think about this from completely different ends. I’m seeing that him being able to do this is evidence of why it (the whole thing, not his performance) is dull! You have to go to Luke Littler in the darts decently to find something similar – I can’t think of an actual sport where someone that green would be able to hold their own. And when you need to hold up darts as a comparator, you know you are in trouble!

I have no idea what is going on with this year’s season, so far.

Well, I kinda get what’s going on, on the track. It’s just the rest of it that is a bit bonkers.

Red Bull imploding.
Sainz almost exploding with appendicitis.
Young bloke in the Ferrari does pretty well.
KMag gets ridiculous penalties for what appeared to be racing incidents/argy bargy at worst.

And yesterday I read that RB (no, not that RB – the cashappVisaMastercard RB) are threatening to go to the FIA over KMags unsportsmanlike behaviour for slowing everyone down, so the Hulk could pit & stay in front. 😆
Everyone praised Perez when he managed to slow down Hamilton a few years back, and it was great racing craft and tactical play……but KMag does it, and it’s boo hoo we’re telling Mummy.

The whole thing is turning into a bit of a shit show.

…and Merc have screwed up again!… 🤦‍♂️

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-battling-fundamental-issue-with-new-w15-f1-design/10585868/

I think the thing with Haas was because there was an illegal pass involved before the slow driving. Without the illegal pass, Haas would not have scored the point. Does seem a bit unsporting to me.

[thols2]

thols2

Full Member

I think the thing with Haas was because there was an illegal pass involved before the slow driving. Without the illegal pass, Haas would not have scored the point. Does seem a bit unsporting to me.

<small class=”bbp-reply-post-date”>Posted 14 minutes ago</small>

I saw it as a cheeky but smart bit of tactical play myself, and nice defending by KM.

If they don’t want drivers to do that kind of thing, then the FIA need to make the penalty a drive-through or stop/go.

I think the thing with Haas was because there was an illegal pass involved before the slow driving. Without the illegal pass, Haas would not have scored the point. Does seem a bit unsporting to me.

[the-muffin-man]

the-muffin-man

Full Member

…and Merc have screwed up again!… 🤦‍♂️

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-battling-fundamental-issue-with-new-w15-f1-design/10585868/

Hamilton’s move is looking smarter by the day!

One of the commentators pointed out that the drivers were having to lift in the high speed sections again where Ferrari and RB weren’t. Seems like since the clever hydraulic suspension they were using got banned, they haven’t been able to get the car working quite right.

[the-muffin-man]

…and Merc have screwed up again!… 🤦‍♂️

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-battling-fundamental-issue-with-new-w15-f1-design/10585868/

If they don’t want drivers to do that kind of thing, then the FIA need to make the penalty a drive-through or stop/go.

Agree. If a place isn’t given back IMMEDIATELY bring back the drive through penalty. Ths=ese random 5 or 10 second penalties aren’t harsh enough.

Yanks in charge

Too many races

Night Races

Too many oil countries

Max

Jos

Horner

DRS

900kgs

Too much aero

– all reasons not to GAF about F1 any more.

Whilst F1 has always been about money as well as sport, the willing nexus of sports washing hosts and profit maximising owners who just want to increase the number of races is turning the whole thing into an anodyne “product”.  And the relatively locked in technical regulations in the name of cost caps means it’s the same procession for even longer than the previous periods of one team domination so you can’t tell one race from another.  I’m out.

I saw it as a cheeky but smart bit of tactical play myself,

It’s like underarm bowling in cricket. It didn’t used to be illegal, but it’s pretty lousy sportsmanship.

[thols2]

thols2

Full Member

I saw it as a cheeky but smart bit of tactical play myself,

It’s like underarm bowling in cricket. It didn’t used to be illegal, but it’s pretty lousy sportsmanship.

We all have our own lines in the sand I guess.  To me this kind of stuff is cheeky but basically okay. Whereas I find running people off the track during overtakes, blocking people on outlaps/leaving the pitlane in quali and so on totally unfair.

Mag did an absolutely perfect job of it,  he was basically slowing right down in the exact parts of the track you can’t overtake in, then going balls out on the bits where you can. Think I read they were losing 1.5s / lap to Hulk yet nobody had a chance at overtaking. Masterful driving really, and great thinking from Haas to maximise their chances of a point.

[thols2]

I saw it as a cheeky but smart bit of tactical play myself,

It’s like underarm bowling in cricket. It didn’t used to be illegal, but it’s pretty lousy sportsmanship.

Speeder
Full Member
Yanks in charge

Too many races

Night Races

Too many oil countries

Max

Jos

Horner

DRS

900kgs

Too much aero

I’ll add copy and paste street circuits.

Felipe Massa’s going for it!… 🙂

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/massa-files-lawsuit-against-fia-fom-over-2008-f1-singapore-gp/10586538/

[the-muffin-man]

the-muffin-man

Full Member

Felipe Massa’s going for it!… 🙂

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/massa-files-lawsuit-against-fia-fom-over-2008-f1-singapore-gp/10586538/

Again he’s saying the “race would have been cancelled” … surely Renault would have been DQ’d.

[the-muffin-man]

Felipe Massa’s going for it!… 🙂

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/massa-files-lawsuit-against-fia-fom-over-2008-f1-singapore-gp/10586538/

I’ll add copy and paste street circuits.

I don’t understand Jeddah at all, it doesn’t look like a street circuit, it looks like a track but the visuals mood board was all UFC octagons. Holding the race and night doesn’t help either as you can’t see where they are on track as there’s no points of reference.

If he’s claiming lost earnings and compensation, that could be more of a go-er than “I want to be listed as 2008 world champ” That’s if he can prove that FIA did know at the time, and that what? The hose pipe wouldn’t have stuck to his car during the pit stop? How does that bit work then?

Could we give Massa the 2008 title and Hamilton 2021?

Also Hill should have 1994 and Senna and Prost should swap 1989 and 1990.

Not quite sure what point I’m trying to make but he’s not alone in being wronged.

Seems to me that the whole thing hangs on “Bernie said it would have meant that race would have been void” (because, as far as I recall, Bernie’s comment is the only thing that implies a scenario where Massa wins); the problem being that the sentence starts with “Bernie said”, which makes it about as watertight as a tea bag, partly because Bernie isn’t actually the rule book and partly because Bernie always chooses what “Bernie said” means based on who’s asking, why they’re asking, and which colour Y-fronts he’s wearing today.

Hopefully they’ll throw it out once and for all and we’ll have no more tedious column inches about it.

Mag did an absolutely perfect job of it,  he was basically slowing right down in the exact parts of the track you can’t overtake in, then going balls out on the bits where you can. Think I read they were losing 1.5s / lap to Hulk yet nobody had a chance at overtaking. Masterful driving really, and great thinking from Haas to maximize their chances of a point.

The blocking wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he went off track to pass Tsunoda (an illegal pass), then blocked Tsunoda to let his teammate make a pitstop without losing position. He should have immediately given the position back. IMO, off-track passes should be penalized by either giving the place back immediately or being served a drive through penalty on the next lap. If they let this go, it’s setting a precedent for professional fouls and teams will just add it to their bag of tactics.

[thols2]

thols2

Full Member

Mag did an absolutely perfect job of it,  he was basically slowing right down in the exact parts of the track you can’t overtake in, then going balls out on the bits where you can. Think I read they were losing 1.5s / lap to Hulk yet nobody had a chance at overtaking. Masterful driving really, and great thinking from Haas to maximize their chances of a point.

The blocking wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he went off track to pass Tsunoda (an illegal pass), then blocked Tsunoda to let his teammate make a pitstop without losing position. He should have immediately given the position back. IMO, off-track passes should be penalized by either giving the place back immediately or being served a drive through penalty on the next lap. If they let this go, it’s setting a precedent for professional fouls and teams will just add it to their bag of tactics.

Totally agree that’s what the rules should be.  There are plenty of rules I’d change…

-You should be required to leave space on the exit when overtaking.

-You should not be able to back people up during qualifying.

-You should not be able to cause a red or yellow flag in qualifying and keep your time.

-You shouldn’t be able to force one of your drivers to take a gearbox penalty to shuffle the starting lineup and get your other driver onto the cleaner side of the grid.

-You should not be able to under-fuel your second driver so they can act as a blocker to protect your no. 1 driver against their rival.

…But everyone has to work within the rules that we have, as annoying as they are.

[thols2]

Mag did an absolutely perfect job of it,  he was basically slowing right down in the exact parts of the track you can’t overtake in, then going balls out on the bits where you can. Think I read they were losing 1.5s / lap to Hulk yet nobody had a chance at overtaking. Masterful driving really, and great thinking from Haas to maximize their chances of a point.

The blocking wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he went off track to pass Tsunoda (an illegal pass), then blocked Tsunoda to let his teammate make a pitstop without losing position. He should have immediately given the position back. IMO, off-track passes should be penalized by either giving the place back immediately or being served a drive through penalty on the next lap. If they let this go, it’s setting a precedent for professional fouls and teams will just add it to their bag of tactics.

Wow – La Gazetta are reporting that a whole bunch of senior Red Bull people could be on their way to Maranello soon….

If it comes true, as was the case in 2013, Lewis could have once again pulled off a masterful team swap!

https://t.co/tWNEtun2Yd

— Karun Chandhok (@karunchandhok) March 12, 2024

That could be very interesting!

It seems weird that they would leave such a successful team for one with such a patchy record, though

Unless the atmosphere at Red Bull is unbearable.

And the company car will be superior.

And the company car will be superior.

fiat 500?

While Toto chases Max to drive his shit-box – Fred chases the cream of the paddock to build him a Red Bull beater!