Formula 1 2024 – WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

Honestly I don’t think any ‘rule clarifications’ will change Max’s approach to over taking or defending

With only 4 races left max won’t care. If he takes Norris out then he gains. Even with a penalty he can still get back to close enough defend his title

With only 4 races left max won’t care.

Getting a race ban would be a major concern.

I remember Jerez in 97 and Schumacher being disqualified for the entire season retrospectively for trying to punt Villeneuve off the track in not a massively dissimilar fashion to what Verstappen attempted on Sunday. It’s up to the FIA to take action if they want to put a stop to it.

Previously dominant team run by unlikeable individuals who has just lost the creative genius and now starting to wane……..time for Jim Ratcliffe to step in.  Except he has already made one poor bet with Mercedes.

I’ve just received a spam email at work from someone called Max Norris, I wonder whether they’re an F1 fan?!

It looks like 2021 again, Max looks really desperate. He only stopped driving like a **** when the RB was so far ahead that he didn’t need to. We all thought he’d grown up, but no, turns out he’s still a ****

Difference is that in 2021 he was desperate but had to get across the finish line to collect points; this year that margin is still sufficient he can effectively dare goad Norris into something rash knowing full well that it is Norris who needs to guarantee to cross the finish line.  So, even more of **** than before.

Lewis’s Ferrari move is looking inspired/lucky*.

Red Bull – on the way down.

Mercedes – clueless

Aston – won’t be anywhere till 2026 at the earliest.

The rest of the grid – not even close.

Only McLaren are looking like consistent challengers to Ferrari.

…but even new Ferrari are always capable of quickly going back to old Ferrari ways! 🙂

(*depending on your view of Lewis!)

Lewis’s Ferrari move is looking inspired/lucky*.

He has history on this, leaving McLaren for Merc seemed like a major gamble at the time.

Mercedes – clueless

18 months ago, this was McLaren.

Mercedes have been clueless since the start of these regs and just when you think they’ve cracked it they go backwards again.

Mercedes have been clueless since the start of these regs and just when you think they’ve cracked it they go backwards again.

They’ve outscored Red Bull at 10 of the last 12 races and won 3 races out of the last 10, versus 0 out of 10 for Red Bull.  Next year really is anyone’s guess. Only thing I’d bet on is that Perez doesn’t win any races next year.

But won 3 of the last 4 races before the summer break, and are routinely 4th/5th on the starting grid where just about everyone seems to think they are in the pecking order anyway. I don’t think for a second Merc think they’re doing OK, but calling them clueless is a bit OTT I think.

Remember that the Ferrari is still ‘quite’ bad in high speed corners, I doubt they’ll do as well in Brazil as they did in Mexico and Texas, no one’s going to claim they’re suddenly clueless.

£1 say’s they still be as inconsistent as they’ll switch focus to 2026 regs as soon as they’re allowed. 🙂

£1 say’s they still be as inconsistent as they’ll switch focus to 2026 regs as soon as they’re allowed.

I’ll take that bet, but I just want to clarify if you’re talking about Red Bull, Aston Marten, Merc, Renault, Audi, or one of the others.

£1 that Mercedes are still inconsistent! 🙂

They’ve outscored Red Bull at 10 of the last 12 races and won 3 races out of the last 10, versus 0 out of 10 for Red Bull.

The point is more that they’re all over the shop. They’ll turn up on Friday and blow everyone away, then be nowhere on Saturday and just slog away at it for anything between fourth and seventh on Sunday. Their early summer run of form didn’t hold up at all after the break, and they’re still having to A-B test their upgrades on race day because they just can’t model them reliably. They’re a lot of very smart and high-performing people who are probably doing everything right except, it would seem, for one single but crucial thing: they presumably just haven’t unlocked correlation and are having to work almost blind.

Red Bull are on a downturn for sure, but the comparison is a little skewed if you pick a number of races that just stretches to the start of Mercedes’ good spell and overlook the fact that while Merc have two high-performing drivers Red Bull have one and a lame duck.

I don’t think for a second Merc think they’re doing OK, but calling them clueless is a bit OTT I think.

They’re 200 points behind a customer team. From their giddy heights of domination that’s quite a fall.

And this will be their lowest constructors placing in years. They’re going backwards not forwards.

When was the last race weekend you followed them thinking – yeah Mercedes have got this one in the bag?

The FIA has revealed two engine manufacturers have entered into accepted breach agreements over the 2023 Financial Regulations.

BREAKING: FIA take action over F1 cost cap rules breaches with punishments announced

the-muffin-manFull Member

When was the last race weekend you followed them thinking – yeah Mercedes have got this one in the bag?

Yeah I mean that actually illustrates the problem nicely!

A few times now in FP3/quali they’ve looked brilliant, then they’ve been absolutely nowhere in the following session.

From watching the Merc Debrief YT vids etc, it feels like they now know some of the variables that define their car’s small operating window, but not all of them.

I think it was the most recent episode where James was asked why there was such a performance drop off after sprint quali, and he said something like “that’s the million dollar question”.  An earlier episode they seemed equally perplexed by how quick they were!

 two engine manufacturers

Honda and Alpine – can understand Honda, after all they’ve probably been buying all the sandwiches for Red Bull, but it’s hard to see what Alpine have been spending money on.

The press release suggests that these were “procedural” discrepancies – more to do with documentation and paperwork than engine development.

Here’s a thought. If you get a 5 second penalty you should also get a 5 point deduction.

@slowoldman Magnusson would never stand a chance of getting into positive figures ?

Honda are making the sandwiches now?

So…

We’ve had a budget cap for three years.

RB Honda exceeded it in the first year.

It appears that they might have done so again in the second.

They won all four titles in those two years and are leading one of them in the third year in which we don’t yet know how much they’ve spent on sarnies.

Here’s a thought. If you get a 5 second penalty you should also get a 5 point deduction.

If you pick up multiple penalties a race maybe an idea, a bit harsh if you have a minor infringement like track limits because of the nature of the circuit.

No one gets a 5 sec penalty any more, they’re all 10 sec. Last year they decided that the 5 sec penalty wasn’t enough of a deterrent. Lando’s 5 sec penalty was a 10 sec that was halved: Because Max.

andrewh

Free Member

So…

We’ve had a budget cap for three years.

RB Honda exceeded it in the first year.

It appears that they might have done so again in the second.

They won all four titles in those two years and are leading one of them in the third year in which we don’t yet know how much they’ve spent on sarnies.

Believe this breach relates to spending for the 2026 regs. Therefore nothing to do with red bull (who will be with rbpt/ford)

Here’s a thought. If you get a 5 second penalty you should also get a 5 point deduction.

Magnussen would be on -48 for the season then! 🙂

They’ve outscored Red Bull at 10 of the last 12 races

RB can thank Perez for that. Whilst I don’t expect him to be hounding max he should be in the mix and not languishing in midfield at best

neither Honda nor Alpine were in breach of the cost cap imposed upon the manufacturers.

Just for those who can’t read the linked article.

So what doe Sergio have on Horner?

Sergio Perez clearly believes he’s not going anywhere

Sergio Perez clearly believes he’s not going anywhere – After his recent performance I don’t think anyone thinks he is going anywhere. Keeping a seat at RB is a different question.

delusional

So what doe Sergio have on Horner?

Sergio Perez clearly believes he’s not going anywhere

This must be as a result of the internal power struggles at Red Bull

Helmut Marko is traditionally pretty brutal at getting rid of under-performing drivers, so the fact that Perez has survived so long this year is also curious

I think they pretty much decided that swapping drivers at the mid point wasn’t going to do much for their Championship points haul, and that “better the devil you know” was a wiser decision that trying to start from a lower point with a younger driver who didn’t have the years of experience that Perez does, and the years of team-work/understanding/ set-up and comms shortcuts that he has his side of the garage.

I don’t believe for a second that he thinks that seat is his next year, despite what he might say in interviews.

So what doe Sergio have on Horner?

I think it’s just that Perez has Carlos Slim backing him and that’s worth a lot of money to Red Bull. However, it’s a bit like McLaren with Ricciardo – it cost them a lot to pay him off, but if they are serious about winning titles, they can’t afford to keep deadwood around. They really need to put either Lawson or Colapinto in to partner Max next year.

I think it’s just that Perez has Carlos Slim backing him and that’s worth a lot of money to Red Bull.

Horner seems very keen to swap Mexican money for Argentinian money! 🙂

Lawson is the only choice (within the Red Bull driver pool) to go alongside Max next season. I think they really wanted it to be Ricciardo but that didn’t work out.

They really need to put either Lawson or Colapinto in to partner Max next year.

it would be an absolutely mental decision to put Colapinto in a Red Bull car next year, so that’s probably a yes then