Formula 1 2024 – WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

Well that’s all right then – the FIA are fine upstanding people with no history of burying technical infringements when it suits them! 🙂

Yes, replicating the McLaren brake steer functionality without checking that it was legal first would be pretty dumb, especially for Red Bull who had an utterly dominant car last year.

I dunno… it’s nothing like the McLaren system in its implementation, and if you were confident that it was legal, or at least that it wasn’t unambiguously illegal, then you’d go for it. And while they may have been dominant, stable regs inevitably mean convergence: other teams would have only had to figure out their suspension and some aero details over the winter and a clear advantage could dissolve immediately. Any team worth their salt is going to be chasing loopholes, obviously.

More stories about today re Merc hoping to sign Max for 2026 (they’ve apparently given up on getting him for 2025).

So, assuming they sign Antonelli for 25, if they do get Max for 26, who do they get rid of?

Would be a kick in the teeth for GR, who was probably expecting to be golden boy for a few years when Lewis leaves

GR to Redbull?

And a little light relief : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm2vC2Jzjt0

Doohan confirmed for Alpine next season…

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-promotes-jack-doohan-2025-f1-race-seat/

Another Williams car fit for the scrap heap. Touching the grass in the wet isn’t a great idea.

https://youtu.be/NyySHlpYOZk?si=q5KQgSJTCZ26npVk

ooof.  I imagine they can’t wait for Carlos to arrive

So why aren’t they allowed T-cars any more?

It (almost) made sense pre-budget cap but I really can’t understand it now. That’s Sargent mid season, imagine if that happened to one of the title contenders at the deciding race.

Jesus wept, expected it to be on the outside on corner exit or something. Not cutting a corner. That’s like something I would do

I know it’s easy to be an armchair expert but christ, that’s absolutely amateur hour.

Fun fact: all of us here are closer to Pérez in world championship points than Pérez is to Verstappen… 

Saw this on PH.   3m 10s in lip read the Williams mechanic watching Sergeant bin it for the umpteenth time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQp9NafvR7Y

Just seen the onboard. Turns out he can put it on the grass coming out of the previous turn

Albon qualifies 8th!!

Norris on pole, ahead of Verstappen, Piastri, Woody.

Albon qualifies 8th!!

Looks like he could be disqualified as their new floor doesn’t appear to be legal.

Confirmed…

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/albon-disqualified-from-dutch-gp-qualifying-over-technical-infringement/10647444/

3 place penalty for Lewis too.

Sounds like Williams are phoning round to see who’s free to pop in that seat asap!

So, assuming they sign Antonelli for 25, if they do get Max for 26, who do they get rid of?

That’s going to be one of totos easiest decisions. He will get rid of George in a heartbeat. It’s not as if he is covering himself in glory at the moment.

chrismac

Full Member

So, assuming they sign Antonelli for 25, if they do get Max for 26, who do they get rid of?

That’s going to be one of totos easiest decisions. He will get rid of George in a heartbeat. It’s not as if he is covering himself in glory at the moment.

This again lol. He’s matching/beating the greatest driver of all time and that’s not enough..?

simondbarnes

Full Member

Albon qualifies 8th!!

Looks like he could be disqualified as their new floor doesn’t appear to be legal

Bit weird that , usually the new parts are checked by the FIA on the computer models beforehand and then checked again to make sure the physical part matches the CAD before they’re first used on the car.  I don’t understand how it happened. Maybe an installation issue?

Bit weird that , usually the new parts are checked by the FIA on the computer models beforehand and then checked again to make sure the physical part matches the CAD before they’re first used on the car.

I don’t think they do now, cars are all self certified. Looks like Williams’ ruler was a bit out.

This again lol. He’s matching/beating the greatest driver of all time and that’s not enough..?

No he isn’t. He is 2 places and 34 point behind Hamilton at the moment. Hamilton has won twice and been on the podium 4 times compared to George who has won one and made the podium twice. He is doing a good second driver role and nothing more.

simondbarnes

I don’t think they do now, cars are all self certified. Looks like Williams’ ruler was a bit out 

Well, shit, that makes more sense then.

chrismac

No he isn’t. He is 2 places and 34 point behind Hamilton at the moment. Hamilton has won twice and been on the podium 4 times compared to George who has won one and made the podium twice. He is doing a good second driver role and nothing more.

He’s 11-4 up in qualifying and it would in normal circumstances have been a win last race.  As for points he lost 8 points getting taken out by Alonso and 25 for the DQ, so basically matching Lewis.

He’s 11-4 up in qualifying and it would in normal circumstances have been a win last race.  As for points he lost 8 points getting taken out by Alonso and 25 for the DQ, so basically matching Lewis.

There is no prize for qualifying only race results matter. If he is beating him so convincingly in qualifying then why can’t he win in the race.  In normal circumstances he would have not tried to 1 stop. He would have then still not won but would have scored some points. These are just excuses.

But what exactly are you trying to say when you say “It’s not as if he is covering himself in glory at the moment”? It’s quite a euphemistic statement. I think it’s fair to say that Russell is exceptional on a Saturday and inconsistent on a Sunday, but the same could be said about Leclerc and some other drivers. You have to accept that Belgium is a tricky one: both of the Mercedes drivers turned in excellent performances, and it seems a bit of a stretch to say that zero points was Russell’s deserved result from that: the DSQ was really down to the team’s blind spot, not his. Also what do you mean by “In normal circumstances he would have not tried to 1 stop”? How is “normal” (whatever that is) relevant? In the conditions at that circuit on that day he chose to one-stop and, on the track, that paid off. From the cockpit it was a great call; the pit wall should have been more thorough. I can’t say I’m George’s greatest fan, but I think to say “He is doing a good second driver role and nothing more” is rather a distorted view. A second driver would have two-stopped in Belgium at the team’s request in order to ensure a safe victory for their first driver, they wouldn’t have convinced the team to keep them out for their own victory.

So why aren’t they allowed T-cars any more?

Obviously to cut costs. The two drivers couldn’t share a T-car because the engine and gearbox can’t be shared between the drivers so teams would have to either take two complete spare cars or openly favour one driver. At Williams, that favoured driver is not going to be the one who keeps crashing. AIUI, they take a spare tub and enough spare parts to build a car if one driver bins it, but it takes time to build that car up. Not binning it on a regular basis is probably a useful strategy if you want to succeed at that level of motorsport.

The cost cutting might have been true in the pre-cost cap era, but now it would be an allocation of costs thing rather than a total cost thing. If a team think it worth having a spare then why not, they’ll have to make cuts elsewhere. And I suspect they would be minor, they already carry enough spares to each race to be able to repair anything, why not just have them already assembled before the the start of FP1? They would even have engines and gearboxes for each driver, so using a t-car would incur a penalty if they’ve already gone over allocation but that’s it.

DSQ was really down to the team’s blind spot, not his.

Russel has now admitted he lost some weight and didn’t tell the team so whilst I agree the team should bare some of the responsibility not telling the team your lighter is pretty dumb

The cost cutting might have been true in the pre-cost cap era, but now it would be an allocation of costs thing rather than a total cost thing.

T-cars aren’t allowed because the teams agreed to ban them. They’re just a waste of money.

2nd win for Norris, ahead of Verstappen, and LeClerc.

This again lol. He’s matching/beating the greatest driver of all time and that’s not enough..?

Russel starts 4th and ends up 7th. Another day going backwards in the race. Hamilton 14th, where he should never have been due to poor qualifying, to 7th. Remind me how this is a good performance by George

Delighted to see Norris take the win and close the gap to max a bit more

Remind me how this is a good performance by George

Mercedes had the 4th quickest car this weekend. 7th & 8th was the best they could do.

George couldnt improve as he was car limited, and Lewis recovered to where he should have been.

Hamilton 14th, where he should never have been due to poor qualifying, to 7th*.

*8th, behind Russell. Giving Russell the lead in the head to head between the 2 (8-7). Merc were the 4th fastest team today, George was the better of the two team mates.

Let’s see what the final standings show shall we.

Russel starts 4th and ends up 7th. Another day going backwards in the race. Hamilton 14th, where he should never have been due to poor qualifying, to 7th.

Russell closed the gap to Hamilton in the drivers championship this weekend.

“Russell closed the gap to Hamilton in the drivers championship this weekend.”

Despite starting 10 places ahead of him.

Great job by lando, that felt like a bit of a statement being made right there. Constructors is onnnn!

chrismac

Remind me how this is a good performance by George

1 he beat the greatest driver of all time in qualifying, in the same car

2 he beat the greatest driver of all time in the race, in the same car

3 the qualifying head-to-head is now 11-4 in rus favour

4 the race head-to-head is now 8-4 in rus favour

Merc need to work out why they’ve gone from being fastest team last race to fourth fastest this race. Hopefully just bad setup with the new floor and lack of fp3 running due to Sargent’s crash.

Credit where it’s due to verstappen too, the car looked real crap, he did well to hang on to second.

I’m not a Woody fan but hes showing his ability this year. Although to be fair (apart from Silverstone) I dont think we’re seeing Lewis at 100% this year.

It wont take that many races for McLaren to overhaul Red Bull to lead the constructors championship.

We just need Piastri and others to be getting between Lando and Max to make the drivers championship interesting.

Credit where it’s due to verstappen too, the car looked real crap, he did well to hang on to second.

This is what McLaren should have realised before Hungary: even if McLaren have a car advantage, Verstappen still has the ability to finish second.

Nine races to go. If Norris wins them all and Verstappen is second then (fastest laps aside) Norris will finish seven points off the WDC. Precisely the number of points they took from him in Hungary. Now they need at least two one-two finishes, and they need them in the right order.

And still they’re doing baffling things: why would they ask Norris early in the race who he thinks he’s racing against? That’s the team’s job. They see all the data, the driver just sees what’s around them.

They’re really at risk of looking like mugs if this is The Season They Threw Away.