Formula 1 2024 – WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

Anronelli would be a huge gamble for Merc. When was the last time a top team took on a rookie? (Well, before Bearman) Hamilton at McLaren? They weren’t really a top team when they signed Piastri, Norris, Vandoorne. Are Merc still a top team?

Surely Albon on a short contract at Merc and Antontelli to Williams would make more sense?

My thinking is that you want to sign the two best drivers available, leaving out Alonso who is just too disruptive to be worth it. For Red Bull and Merc, that would be Sainz alongside Max or George, with Albon getting the other seat. Red Bull need to find a seat for Lawson next year, so just let DR and Yuki scrap it out and drop whichever one comes second (which, sadly, I think is going to be DR). Sargeant just doesn’t look like he’s ever going to be a top driver so hoof him and give Antonelli a chance at Williams alongside someone experienced like Perez, Magnussen, Hulkenberg etc,

AML need to get shot of Stroll. I would like to think that Alonso may have had a caveat in his contract to that effect, but he has such an ego that it suits him not to have a competitive team mate.

“Surely Albon on a short contract at Merc and Antontelli to Williams would make more sense?”

This would make sense for Mercedes, Albon may even do well and beat Russell.

Albon has a Williams contract for 2025

Albon has a Williams contract for 2025

Yes, but do they have a car for him?

simondbarnesFull Member
Albon has a Williams contract for 2025

and he could probably pick which release clause to use to head to Mercedes

“Surely Albon on a short contract at Merc and Antontelli to Williams would make more sense?”

Problem with that is Albon may find himself without a drive after only one season if Kimi did a stellar job in a Williams.

That Merc place is slightly tarnished. Any driver looking at Merc will see it as a one year only deal, with the new hot-shot lined up to take your seat. And Toto’s best buddy George is going nowhere soon.

Sainz needs to sign with Audi now and play the long game, or he could be without a seat altogether.

Or Aston need to hoof Lance out and place Sainz there (but that’s not going to happen).

It would be a risk for Albon but if he beats Russell and Antonelli fails to live up to the hype he could be there as long as he likes. If he doesn’t beat Russell and Antonelli is indeed the next big thing then he would probably be out, certainly of the team, and maybe without a drive altogether.

I can’t see what Audi can offer Sainz, he’s probably getting a bit old to take on a long term project like that, and there’s absolutely no guarantee they’ll be quick (the BMW project was underwhelming for instance), if he wants a shot at a title he needs the second RB or Aston seat (and to beat a highly rated team-mate, but if he’s genuine championship-material then he needs to be able to mix it with them, and he’s doing ok against Leclerc) Personally I’d love to see Verstappen to Merc next year, them to still struggle and then a seven way title fight between Sainz and Perez in the RBs, the Ferraris, McLarens and Alonso, not sure how realistic that is though.

Sainz is only 29! 🙂

Just feels like he’s been around forever.

lol wtf happened there with norris, usual fia shitshow

I struggle to get excited by anything Sprint Race related.

the-muffin-man
I struggle to get excited by anything Sprint Race related.

Same, it was quite a good session though.  Looks like the highlights are up on the f1 YT channel now.

YT Highlights of the last Sprint in the rain looked fun for the drivers :

1) Can you avoid crashing?
If no then No Time Recorded
If Yes then:
2) Can you keep all 4 wheels on the track?
If no then No Time Recorded
If Yes then:
3) You made it? Blimey, I guess we better record the time*.

*Oh hang on, someone reckons the saw you off the track, time deleted**.

**Nah, you are all right, they were thinking about the previous lap, time reinstated.

I’ve never watched F1 highlights on YT, but OMG who are those two commentating!!!! Think they’ve had too much fizzy pop! 🙂

 AND another win for Verstappen.  Hamilton second, good result for him. Perez third, think he’s trying to keep his job.

13 second gap in ten laps! ☹️

after starting 4th

Russel once again highlighted the gulf in talent he needs to close to his team mate

Russell still finished closer to Hamilton than Hamilton did to Verstappen 😂

Russell once again highlighted the gulf in talent he needs to close to his team mate

Erm id wait till you watch qualy before saying that!

Great to see Hamilton take second, at one point I thought it might look like a win

Erm id wait till you watch qualy before saying that!

Well, they were running divergent setups for quali because Merc still don’t understand their car. That’s their biggest problem: not that they don’t have a good enough car, but that they’ve just been pissing in the wind for three years.

Interesting race so far! 😀

We need more Rosberg commentating! He’s great!

Good race that.

Well, they were running divergent setups for quali because Merc still don’t understand their car. That’s their biggest problem: not that they don’t have a good enough car, but that they’ve just been pissing in the wind for three years.

Yes i know but why? they should of left Hamilton’s car set up as it was for the sprint race, it was good enough to take provisonal pole for the sprint (till Norris’s time was reinstated) i know the rain played a part of this and then it came 2nd in the sprint race only being beaten by Max in dry conditions

So why the hell would you change anything for the normal qualy and race? thats the best result Hamilton’s had in years and then they change things and screw up their chances!

Great drive from Norris, possibly his best in F1. Piastri needs to sort his race pace out, he was no where even before the damage. IIRC before his first stop he was losing something like 1.5-2 seconds per lap to Norris.

RickDraper
Great drive from Norris, possibly his best in F1. Piastri needs to sort his race pace out, he was no where even before the damage. IIRC before his first stop he was losing something like 1.5-2 seconds per lap to Norris.

Yeah, i really like him but his on track performance is not quite there at the moment. Or is Norris just doing an amazing job at the moment?

The Stroll incident was absolutely gutting, DR was actually doing a pretty decent job until then. If my understanding of why he got a penalty is correct*, that’s just, wow. You think your opinion of the officials can’t get possibly any lower then they manage it.

* Hulkenberg passed him under SC after he got whacked, and Danny then retook the position. It was deemed an illegal overtake behind the SC.

So why the hell would you change anything for the normal qualy and race? thats the best result Hamilton’s had in years and then they change things and screw up their chances!

Well, quite: that’s the point, they seem to have a fundamental disconnect between their car and their understanding of it. It’s about correlation generally: not just a case of understanding why it’s slow when it’s slow, but also why it’s fast when it’s fast.

Or is Norris just doing an amazing job at the moment?

One of those weekends that shows how much of Perez’s performance is the car and how much of Norris’s isn’t.

Well, they were running divergent setups for quali because Merc still don’t understand their car.

well, that’s often what Hamilton and the team says. When folks ask Russell; he says the cars are pretty similarly set up.

I think what we’re seeing this year is really how amazing the Red Bull design (with Max driving it) actually is. Most of the teams can get near the Red Bull in terms of speed now and the grid is really tightened over quali and single flat out laps, but only at specific tracks. The Ferrari is good here, but the balance is out there, McLaren can run a one stop at this track, but this other track eats its tyres. and so on. That RB is really a thing of wonder that it is so good more or less everywhere.

Bez

Well, quite: that’s the point, they seem to have a fundamental disconnect between their car and their understanding of it. It’s about correlation generally: not just a case of understanding why it’s slow when it’s slow, but also why it’s fast when it’s fast.

Right, perfectly normal to trim the adjustments slightly to improve deg, reduce understeer or whatever but it was like they made a pretty decent car useless. It does seem to be extremely sensitive to conditions so it’s possible that played a part too 🤷‍♂️

You’re totally right though, fundamentally they still do not understand that car.

Also another stewarding/rules moan, Sargeant’s SC penalty. Come on! Here’s F1’s explanation…

During the Safety Car period, Nico Hulkenberg emerged from the pits almost side-by-side with Logan Sargeant – who was on-track on the racing line heading towards Turn 1.

Having carried more momentum into Turn 1, Sargeant swept around the outside and took the position. Replays show it was very close as to who crossed the Safety Car line first – but on review by the stewards, they could see Hulkenberg was fractionally ahead of the Williams.

They’ll let pretty major stuff slide then give him 10s and 2 penalty points for that. 🤷‍♂️

That Logan Sargeant penalty was bonkers. It was so close, and Sargeant was barrelling out of the pits.
He probably couldn’t even see Hulkenberg until it was too late.

Regarding the Merc & poor performance of Hamilton, I think that Hamilton apologised to the team afterwards as it was his insistence on driving the set-up change in that particular direction that didn’t work.

But then that itself is potentially a symptom of Hamilton losing faith in the team’s ability to make the right setup decisions. I suspect the whole disagreement over the direction they took in the concept for the current regulations meant that that aspect of the relationship would thrive or die based on results. Over two years later, no real results.

So why the hell would you change anything for the normal qualy and race? thats the best result Hamilton’s had in years and then they change things and screw up their chances!

 I think the setup changes on Hamilton’s car were at his request – he kinda apologized at the end of the race. My guess is that they dialled in some extra understeer to try and protect the rear tyres, hoping that it would improve their race pace. Whatever the case, Merc seem to have a car that can be competitive with Ferrari and McLaren when they hit the sweet spot of setup, but has a very narrow setup envelope. On top of that, I think McLaren got a bit lucky with the cooler temperatures on Sunday suiting their car, so they hit the sweet spot and Norris was able to make his tyres last. Perez killed his tyres trying to battle back to the front but Norris was able to drive conservatively and protect his.

@Bez, Wait till he gets a load of Ferrari’s decisions.

Wait till he gets a load of Ferrari’s decisions.

That skill has now started affecting the Hypercar team too (which was a really good race)

Wait till he gets a load of Ferrari’s decisions.

I think Ferrari are making better decisions under Fred though. We haven’t seen the bizarre strategy errors that plagued them for years before that. Their car is the closest to Red Bull on most tracks and they haven’t majorly dropped the ball yet.