Formula 1 2024 – WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

Mercedes seem to have Driver Intentions rather than Driver Rules. Personally I think this is a good thing as it encourages stability but allows some personal freedom.

McClaren seem to have been caught by surprise by having the best car and are playing catch up on strategy and race scenarios.

Ferrari seem to use alphabet soup and a leaking spoon to plan their strategy.

Red Bull appear to be, well, Red Bull but without the best car anymore.

Toto has just been playing with RedBull around a potential Max move.

All of the top teams in recent memory have been focused around a single driver. Either Ayrton at McLaren, Michael at Ferrari or Lewis at Mercedes, and Max currently enjoys that position at RB.

If Max was to move he would have to fit in with an existing team and have accept all of the compromises, that that involves (strong teammates, Jos’s ego be reigned in)

Toto seems to be putting his eggs in the Antonelli basket

New Lollipon Man has dropped

It does make me laugh that everyone is surprised that Redbull and Vcarblowfatcreditcardcashapp whatever its called are keeping Perez and Danny till the end of the season, everyone used to moan when Redbull swapped drivers mid season and now they arent swapping drivers mid season people are still complaining

Maybe they have realised its not good for the drivers and its not a good look for the team

Personally i think its time Danny left F1, he’s driven for quite a few teams (Toro Rosso/Vcarbwhatsitcalled twice) and since leaving Redbull has never got his mojo back

HRT (debut drive, RB/Toro Rosso done a deal as he was their test driver)

Toro Rosso

RedBull

Renault

Mclaren

Vcarb whastitsname (Toro Rosso)

He’s become one of the drivers who are just filling places and not actually progressing

Perez deserves one more chance in another team, i would of said Williams but thats prob not going to happen with Sainz going there

What i would like to know is why Redbull have no interest in Tusnoda, he is never mentioned about for the Redbull seat, it cant be about his ability as he is better than Perez and Danny most of the time, im wondering if there is something else they dont like about him

What i would like to know is why Redbull have no interest in Tusnoda

Hes just part of the Honda deal

What i would like to know is why Redbull have no interest in Tusnoda

I think they think he’s too erratic. On a good day, he’s fast but he had a history of overdriving and crashing when he started out. I think he’s matured a lot since then but Red Bull just don’t seem to trust him not to bin it under pressure.

There was talk of Tsunoda going to Aston when they take the Honda engines in 2026, but that seems to have gone quiet. Not sure he’d even match Stroll though.

On the Aston front – both their drivers need to go. Stroll is mediocre at best and Alonso is treading water and seat hogging. He’s certainly built a long career on the back of two early World Championships.

everyone used to moan when Redbull swapped drivers mid season and now they arent swapping drivers mid season people are still complaining

They were swapping one young driver for another young driver. Not hanging on to two at the end of their careers.

It seemed brutal at the time but to be fair to Red Bull a lot of their rejected young F1 drivers are still Red Bull drivers but in different series. The driver development program is for all their motorsport interests not just F1.

On the Aston front – both their drivers need to go. Stroll is mediocre at best and Alonso is treading water and seat hogging. He’s certainly built a long career on the back of two early World Championships.

I think Fred’s still got it personally, but the car is not great – if you watch the onboards it often looks a right handful. I think if he was in the Merc, Mc or RB he’d be fighting to win races (IMHO).  The question is how long he can retain fitness/form I guess.

Stroll is cack though. And a dickhead to boot. Waste of a seat.

Regarding the car, they have a new wind tunnel + simulator, so hopefully they’ll make some gains soon.

im wondering if there is something else they dont like about him

Marko likes him, Karen doesn’t (I don’t know the reasons why for either) but Tsunoda is probably just a victim of internal RB politics as much as anything he’s done on track.

Alonso is treading water and seat hogging.

I think he’s still driving really well but the car just isn’t a contender. I think Stroll is underrated too – he’s not a world beater, but he’s not the hopeless pay driver that his critics make him out to be. The car just isn’t a front runner any more.

What i would like to know is why Redbull have no interest in Tusnoda, he is never mentioned about for the Redbull seat,

He can’t reach the pedals from the seat

All of the top teams in recent memory have been focused around a single driver. Either Ayrton at McLaren, Michael at Ferrari or Lewis at Mercedes, and Max currently enjoys that position at RB.

Mercedes didn’t seem to favour Hamilton over Rosberg. Nor even Bottas at first, it’s just that Hamilton was markedly better.

McLaren in particular have plenty of history of having two top drivers and letting them slug it out for race wins: Hamilton and Button, Hamilton and Alonso, Senna and Prost, Prost and Lauda…

Most of the seasons that look like teams favouring one driver aren’t a product of teams focusing on one driver, they’ve generally come about by one driver simply getting better results, at which point it’s only natural that they get preferential race strategies and get listened to a little more in terms of car development. But Schumacher at Ferrari was unprecedented in the modern era in terms of actually building a team around one driver and only Verstappen has come close to that.

McLaren in particular have plenty of history of having two top drivers and letting them slug it out for race wins: Hamilton and Button, Hamilton and Alonso, Senna and Prost, Prost and Lauda…

All of those are as relevant to today’s McLaren team as the Honda F1 team is to Merc. The team might have been called McLaren back then but there’s hardly anyone left in a senior position from those days. The current McLaren team are still learning how to win regularly and finding that it’s actually really difficult to get everything right every race.  That’s compounded by having several close competitors who may be a smidge slower on paper but have way more (current) experience at the front of the grid.  It’s nice to have some proper competition and uncertainty in F1 again.

Oh, I agree, but I was replying directly to a point that cited examples stretching back to Senna at McLaren…

Alonso thought he was defacto No.1 at McLaren until that pesky rookie turned up!! 🙂

they have a new wind tunnel + simulator

Not online yet

and only Verstappen has come close to that.

Thing that surprises me, is that RB had what? 3 years to actually sort this out now. They knew the car was strong enough to let a driver like Verstappen disappear over the horizon, so that’s 3 years to get the no.2 driver (who ever that ended up being) and the car to be the best combo they can while they figured that in the meantime else everyone would eventually catch up, and by year 3 they’d have two really good drivers in a car that’s now average.

I’m surprised Red Bull haven’t changed Sergio Perez for Valtteri Bottas, who is also experienced enough to handle the volatile dynamics of the team and has a proven track record of being a very reliable number two and regularly bringing in a valuable points score while at Mercedes

Alonso thought he was defacto No.1 at McLaren

I suspect Alonso has thought he’s de facto number 1 at every team he’s ever signed for 🙂

Rumours that liberty want checo in the seat fearing a drop in mexico ticket sales.

Stinks, that does

What have liberty promised RB in return…?

…to shield Horny Horner’s harassment case from the media maybe?

…to shield Horny Horner’s harassment case from the media maybe?

No repeat of 2021 if it is Max defending his championship lead?

There were rumours of a Ferrari-style ‘cease & desist’ order mentioned a couple of pages back for an unspecified technical infringement. Maybe no further action on that? Or would that be an FIA decision rather than a Liberty one?

There were rumours of a Ferrari-style ‘cease & desist’ order mentioned a couple of pages back for an unspecified technical infringement. Maybe no further action on that?

If there was, we won’t hear about it for many years, if ever. The giveaway would be if there was a clarification of technical regulations and one team suddenly dropped off the pace. Red Bull’s struggles seem more to do with Merc and McLaren improving rather than Red Bull suddenly going slower.

thols2

Red Bull’s struggles seem more to do with Merc and McLaren improving rather than Red Bull suddenly going slower.

Mclaren and Merc have both improved, Red Bull were actually slower at some races this year than last year.

This is the data for Hungary courtesy of @FDataAnalysis on The Site Formerly Known As Twitter

That data is from Hungary, it’s not across the complete season. You can’t read anything into the data from a single race.

You can’t read anything into the data from a single race.

[pedant mode]

Actually you can read an enormous amount into the data from a single race, however you cannot use data from a single race to give a trend or a valid comparison for this season against  last season.

[/pedant]

[/pedant]

I think you meant [/pedant mode]

And another senior member of staff leaves Red Bull!…

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/jonathan-wheatley-red-bull-sporting-director-f1-joining-audi-team-principal/

I’m confused…..I thought Binotti was going to be team principal?

(At this rate Red Bull Racing might become Rich Energy Racing!)

Binotto is COO and CTO (chief operating officer and chief technical officer) – No, I don’t know the difference either.

Audi is currently undergoing a change in management structure, as CEO Andreas Seidl and chief representative Oliver Hoffmann were both relieved of their duties in preparing the manufacturer’s entry into F1.

Ex-Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto thus assumed the roles of chief operating officer and chief technical officer this week, with one of his first ports of call being to decide the identity of the team’s second driver alongside Nico Hulkenberg. The team’s number one target, Carlos Sainz, was signed by Williams on Monday as he rejected offers from Audi and Alpine.

Wheatley will thus report to Binotto when he assumes the team principal role at the Hinwil team, while the future of current team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi remains unknown.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/wheatley-to-leave-red-bull-will-become-audi-f1-team-principal/10641053/

What  a mess they seem to be in

Genuinely unsure whether you’re referring to Red Bull or Audi 🙂

That’s probably why Sainz chose Williams.

Genuinely unsure whether you’re referring to Red Bull or Audi 🙂

Me too!

I did originally mean Audi, but yes, Red Bull too

Reports of Doohen  for Alpine next year

“The giveaway would be if there was a clarification of technical regulations and one team suddenly dropped off the pace.”

Well the first part of that happened yesterday with the introduction of some new regulations around brake force distribution. Hmmm….

https://www.planetf1.com/news/fia-sign-off-f1-regulation-changes-2024-wmschttps://www.planetf1.com/news/fia-sign-off-f1-regulation-changes-2024-wmsc

From the link above:

FIA confirms technical regulation update
An intriguing change made on the technical side has been to Article 11.1.2, related to braking systems.

“The brake system must be designed so that within each circuit, the forces applied to the brake pads are the same magnitude and act as opposing pairs on a given brake disc,” says the unchanged text before the new wording is confirmed with the following sentence: “Any system or mechanism which can produce systematically or intentionally, asymmetric braking torques for a given axle is forbidden.”

This tightening of the wording doesn’t suggest a team has already engaged such a system, but the governing body has spotted a potential loophole in the wording of the regulation.

This may have been due to an audit of its own rules, or could have been pointed out by a team that may have spotted a grey area in the regulations and sought clarification.

I fail to see what benefit that would bring and I doubt that any benefit would be of the magnitude of the advantage Red Bull had before McLaren and Merc brought upgrades to their cars. Red Bull’s problem seems to be the interaction of the aero and the suspension, McLaren and Mercedes seem to have both made big steps forward in that area.