Formula 1 2024 – WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

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Another FIA departee takes a swipe at Ben…

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/sacked-f1-race-steward-mayer-takes-aim-at-fia-president/10677275/

…is Ben modelling his approach on Jean-Marie Balestre! 🙂

Is Balestre the one who changed the rules to stop Senna from winning?

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/sacked-f1-race-steward-mayer-takes-aim-at-fia-president/10677275/

I only follow F1 very loosely these days but seeing that link took me back to when I occasionally used to meet with his dad, Teddy Mayer, over at McLaren’s at the trading estate at Colnbrook where they used to run the odd racing car up and down the road. Very different from their headquarters now in Woking.

FFS Perez again!

multi21
FFS Perez again!

and again

its sad to see Hamilton reflecting on his lack of speed. His normal upbeat approach seems to have gone. Not sure how much is down to leaving and sidelined if so by Mercedes. I hope he get back to his best but looking at Schumacher, Vettel and somewhat Alonso in their later years it seems things move on.

So the four contenders for the second Red Bull seat finished 16th, 17th, 18th, and 20th. Carlos Slim’s going to have to pony up some serious cash if he wants Perez to stay on the grid next year.

I don’t think there’s any amount of money that would make RB keep Perez. He just looks done and they really need an effective number 2 driver. They should be at least in with a shout for the constructors championship.

Verstappen has been given a penalty for obstructing Russell, so Russell is back on pole (source: BBC)

Bit of an odd penalty. I think the key bit in the stewards document is the bit about Max cooling his tyres.  I.e. they think he was outside the delta for selfish reasons opposed to avoiding traffic.

I don’t recall anybody getting a penalty point and a grid drop for doing that though.

I thought the key bit was checking his mirrors several times then parking it on the racing line anyway. Still a weird penalty though

Ruddy ‘ell – is it the end of season Formula Ford festival!? 🙂

What an absolute farce. Is there any point in watching this sport any more?

Feels like Abu Dhabi 2021 all over again

Well that was bonkers!!

It really looks like the mass exodus of top people from the FIA is really starting to affect the smooth running of the grand prix. I’m expecting Mohammed Ben Sulayem to go over the winter

So Ocon is being replaced by Doohan for final race!

Interesting protest by Hamilton.  Threatened to quit, then when Mercedes accepted(?) that, he stays out.   Is that an FU?  With the questions regarding the lap time delta and statements he’s made to state that the car handling is perfect, does Lewis think he knows they’ve turned his cars performance down?

As the commentators said, I think he’s close to not turning up next week, but he will for the fans and undoubtably be at least vocal about that very reasoning above all else.

Threatened to quit, then when Mercedes accepted(?) that, he stays out.

I thought he asked to come in and they said no, so he stayed out.

They then said yes and he then stayed out and overtook some cars!

Kinda feel for him, he was on the end of some tough calls.

Looking forward to seeing him in red.

Max calling out Woody!!… 🙂

https://x.com/roblmyers/status/1863299276945678378?s=46&t=EQoHg-RGok071Fjc15ZHKw

After watching that, I’m really glad I don’t pay specifically for F1 anymore. CBA to go through it but that was awful.

Found that whole weekend thoroughly bizarre. A track that barely has one overtaking spot, a sprint race that was just a train, driver errors all over the shop, debris that was always going to end in a puncture but they couldn’t be arsed to clear up before it did, penalties everywhere, Hamilton fully throwing the towel in, Red Bull gloating about karma on the radio after the race… ok, nothing bizarre about the last one. But at one point I did wonder how long I’ll keep watching F1.

Lando showed how beaten he is by MV. Twice he had his car alongside and fully backed out. He can’t a fight to him, so he’s done.

I let my sub for F1 lapse this year and can’t see me getting it back for next year.

Oh hang on – Lewis at Ferrari…

Even after a year, the prospect is still tantalising.

Max moaning about woody is funny when he was the one that whining about Lando not lifting in the yellow. Prick!

Losail really does feel like the wrong circuit for these cars. I know some of the drivers (Piastri for instance) has siad that he really enjoys it, an I can imagine that Qualis here must be quite a lot of fun, but the ‘race’ is just dull, and I wonder how much of the antics, and mistakes is just borne out of frustration. Plus I think it shows that the season is just a bit too long now, and everyone just wants it to stop.

I’m expecting Mohammed Ben Sulayem to go over the winter

He’s another 2 years yet before re-election comes around, and listening to some of the FIA officials (that haven’t been sacked) speaking about the GPDA accusations and questions and so forth, I get the impression that they don’t really care much about what the folks outside of who they think are their audience, think about how they’re doing.

boomerlives

Free Member
Lando showed how beaten he is by MV. Twice he had his car alongside and fully backed out. He can’t a fight to him, so he’s done.

Yeah I thought that too, it was the perfect opportunity to show Max that he wasn’t always going to back out.

Agree with the above about the circuit, it’s just not a great track for F1 at all.

boomerlives

Free Member
Lando showed how beaten he is by MV. Twice he had his car alongside and fully backed out. He can’t a fight to him, so he’s done.

Yeah I thought that too, it was the perfect opportunity to show Max that he wasn’t always going to back out.

Agree with the above about the circuit, it’s just not a great track for F1 at all.

Yeah I thought that too, it was the perfect opportunity to show Max that he wasn’t always going to back out.

But McLaren need the points so need to finish the race, Max/RB don’t.

Does show that the Lando challenge was a small glitch in the matrix, Max controlling it all again. Was sad to hear Lewis so downbeat, seems like the towel is thrown in now. Will Ferrari have raised an eyebrow at his attitude?

bails

But McLaren need the points so need to finish the race, Max/RB don’t.

Oh yeah good point, I forgot about that little detail 🙂 presume they will have told him not to dnf under any circumstances.

But McLaren need the points so need to finish the race

But they did not get them. (Well, they got 2, but not 15)

And they won’t next race or next year if LN keeps backing out.

I would bet £5 that Pastry wouldn’t in the same situation, because he’s not yet broken.

 it was the perfect opportunity to show Max that he wasn’t always going to back out.

Max is always going to push whoever trying to overtake him on the outside of any corner, it’s pretty much SOP for him. I think Lando did the smart thing, McLaren need the points for constructors and the driver’s champ is done, why get into a tangle now? Next year will probs be a whole different thing. I’ll expect it’ll be gloves off again. 50p says that at some point some-one will let the crash happen.

Will Ferrari have raised an eyebrow at his attitude?

Lewis is back on “Team” almost immediately after the race, in that regard he’s exceptional.    I bet his friendliness with Toto is being pushed to the limits after he’s shown the level of respect he’s prepared to give to an 8 x world champ (yes 8, I’m including the one he was robbed of) by hobnailing his car to pay for his disloyalty.

Looks like the hype for Colapinto is cooling. The cost of buying him from Williams and the car rebuild costs must have the bean counters worried! 🙂

hobnailing his car to pay for his disloyalty.

I don’t for a second believe that Merc would do this, I’m absolutely certain that everyone in the team is disappointed that they haven’t been able to give Hamilton a car capable of winning races consistently. Hamilton has always had a bad habit of saying silly things when he gets frustrated, then he cools off and it’s all forgotten. The Merc seems to be a very tricky car to get set up and to drive and Hamilton just hasn’t managed to get the most out of it the way Russell has.

No chance Merc are hobbling Hamilton.

Russel may be privy to some information regarding future plans for it which Hamilton is no longer told about but I suspect that is where any bias stops.  It’s just not in their interest to damage their chances as a whole.

The Merc seems to be a very tricky car to get set up and to drive and Hamilton just hasn’t managed to get the most out of it the way Russell has.

It will be so interesting to see if the Ferrari is ‘easier’.  I was concerned he’s made a bad move but they’re fairly consistently there now (ignoring the odd pit wall decisions) …. he’s probably going to do better than in the Merc.

It will be so interesting to see if the Ferrari is ‘easier’.

I think this year’s car is much easier than the previous ones. The old ones warmed up their tyres fast and were quick in qualifying, Leclerc took a lot of poles, but they just ate their tyres in races. My feeling is that Leclerc will probably have an edge in qualifying but Hamilton will match him in race pace if the car is well balanced. If the car’s a dog, I can see it ending up like Prost and Ferrari.

I thought Hamiltons “I’m just slow now” comment was just a sign that he’d mentally checked out of Mercedes a couple of races ago. I can’t blame him. Why push yourself to the edge in what remains a very risky occupation when you know you’re moving on anyway? Given where Mercedes are in the Constructors championship maybe they should have done an Alpine and got someone else into the car for a couple of races.