Formula 1 2023

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

I suppose it’s the difference between what happened in Brazil (which was a fair fight) and what happened in Singapore (which was manipulated by what security agencies now refer to as a bad actor - and no, I’m not referring to Sylvester Stallone).

[37114]

2 hours ago, Andrew P said:

And one has to ask the question = Why now, after so many years? And after saying so many times that he has no hard feelings about the outcome on the day.

I believe Ecclestone only made the comment (about knowing there was something fishy at the time) earlier this year which is why it has come up now.

 

[didcot]

10 hours ago, Obi-Jiff Kenobi said:

Well, ol’ Bernie Ecclescake is fast approaching his 93rd birthday

And looking more like Davros every time I see him!

He became a father again a while ago! I pity the mother, just hope for her sake a turkey baster was involved. 🤢

[didcot]

9 minutes ago, 37114 said:

I believe Ecclestone only made the comment (about knowing there was something fishy at the time) earlier this year which is why it has come up now.

 

As one team principal has said, only Bernie could lob a grenade from half way round the world to have it land in the F1 paddock.

Edited August 20, 2023 by didcot

[Bulleidboy100]

Perhaps he is short of money?

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

1 hour ago, didcot said:

And looking more like Davros every time I see him!

He became a father again a while ago! I pity the mother, just hope for her sake a turkey baster was involved. 🤢

Oh to be so rich that you can afford to employ a man simply to baste turkeys.

[didcot]

Danny Ric to be replaced by Liam Lawson after a suspected broken wrist. Piastri span on the banking and Danny Ric had nowhere to go and joined him in the barrier. The backlash on the steering wheel was pretty violent. 

[The Lurker]

I would have seen the irony if they’d asked de Vries to drive in what would have been his home Grand Prix 

[37114]

Hope Danny R has a speedy recovery. Will be really interesting if Lawson does well, more pressure on Perez and I guess Tsunoda will be getting nervous as well.

[ess1uk]

Stroll drove with 2 broken wrists but Ricciardo will miss at least 2 races?

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

Well, qually was interesting. If the predicted rain arrives today, the race might be worth watching too.

[njee20]

17 hours ago, ess1uk said:

Stroll drove with 2 broken wrists but Ricciardo will miss at least 2 races?

Stroll raced nearly 2 weeks after breaking his wrist and having it pinned. Ricciardo has broken a metacarpal, which is an entirely different injury, simply in the same area. First race 2 days after the injury, second race next week, so it’s not really comparable. He’ll be acutely aware of the pressure he’s under, so i imagine he’ll be keen to race next week.

 

Let’s hope for some rain today to try and spice it up. Particularly as Max was whinging about the car being a handful in the wet.  

[Gareth Collier]

The F1 will be interesting if it's as slippery as the current F2. No intermediate tyres, just slicks or full wet so they're trying on slicks.

Even more fun was Vesti leaving the pits and reaching his first turn. On occasion a wheel hasn't been put on properly and comes off but to have both of your rear tyres overtake you!

[Gareth Collier]

Commentator- how did Max undercut Sergio when Sergio was ahead and should have first choice over pitstops?

Sergio on radio - how did Max undercut me?

I think we all know the answer to that one 😉

[Oldddudders]

6 hours ago, Gareth Collier said:

Commentator- how did Max undercut Sergio when Sergio was ahead and should have first choice over pitstops?

Sergio on radio - how did Max undercut me?

I think we all know the answer to that one 😉

It's Red Bull, it's Max, it's Holland. QED.

 

[newbryford]

2 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

It's Red Bull, it's Max, it's Holland. QED.

 

 

There. FIFY

[LNERandBR]

Yeah, it's clear as day why they pitted Verstappen first even though Perez had track position. They wanted their golden boy to get the advantage.

 

They had more than enough time to double stop but they left Perez out for an extra lap on the wrong tyres. Verstappen wouldn't have been impeded as they had enough time to get Perez out of the way.

[Hobby]

Didn't they change the rules on car regulations a couple of years ago so that one team wouldn't dominate? It's even worse now than before!

 

Or did I miss something!

Edited August 28, 2023 by Hobby

[PhilJ W]

19 minutes ago, Hobby said:

Didn't they change the rules on car regulations a couple of years ago so that one team wouldn't dominate? It's even worse now than before!

 

Or did I miss something!

No, Ferrari couldn't build a car capable of winning even with help.

[Pete the Elaner]

21 minutes ago, Hobby said:

Didn't they change the rules on car regulations a couple of years ago so that one team wouldn't dominate? It's even worse now than before!

 

Or did I miss something!

 

They changed the rules to peg back the leaders. The intention was to do a reset & to make the teams at the front more even, but this has been done many times before regardless of who the leaders are & has always simply shifted the balance of power from 1 team to another.

[Pete the Elaner]

12 hours ago, LNERandBR said:

Yeah, it's clear as day why they pitted Verstappen first even though Perez had track position. They wanted their golden boy to get the advantage.

 

They had more than enough time to double stop but they left Perez out for an extra lap on the wrong tyres. Verstappen wouldn't have been impeded as they had enough time to get Perez out of the way.

 

I do not have a problem with favouring the driver most likely to win the title & apart from an occasional good race from Perez, Verstappen is consistently the faster of the 2.

What I do find annoying is the constant lies from the team & fans arguing that the 2 RB drivers get completely equal treatment. This is clearly not the case.

Regarding Zandevoort:

They pitted Perez first for inters because they were still hoping for the rain to clear & did not want to risk losing Verstappen's lead. Once they saw how much faster the inters were & that the rain was not going to clear as fast as expected, they pitted Verstappen too. The net effect of this was that Perez gained several places including the lead. So the lead was one which was given to him by team strategy & not that he had driven amazingly well to get there.

At the next lot of pit stops, they were too close to pit on the same lap. 1 must therefore be in front of the other, so only 1 can pit at the best time. They chose they team leader. As above, I have no problem with this. This allowed Verstappen to undercut Perez. But from a team point of view, their cars are 1 & 2, with the championship leader first.

 

When the second lot of rain came, none of the teams predicted how heavy it would be. They can only make decisions according to their forecast & most were expecting it to be a short, light shower in which they could lose less time by driving more slowly on slick tyres than pitting for inters then pitting again for slicks.

They chose to hesitate with Perez. Was this again to decide on the best time to switch Verstappen back in order to ensure nobody could make a better decision? It then became apparent that Perez's tyres definitely needed to be changed. But the red flag was shown again while he was in the pit lane.

 

Then he sped in the pit lane. Sorry, but an error like that indicates someone trying too hard.

[Oldddudders]

3 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

Then he sped in the pit lane. Sorry, but an error like that indicates someone trying too hard.

Or incensed at yet another stitch-up?

[30368]

I vote for Charles Leclerc going to RB next year to give Max a run for his money - Charles has been a patient and very honest driver and is very telented. He deserves better than the bunch of clowns that Ferarri have become in GP racing. I should add that I am a dedicated Ferrari fan and have been so since 1966. Over that period there have been long periods of uncompetative Ferrari GP cars and, joy, the delights of the MS years of great success. The problem now seems to be the teams seemingly total inability to know what to do to improve things. Some years ago, there was a great debate about which was the best approach - make everything yourself like Ferrari (and BRM etc) or focus on the chassis and aero and buy in your engine and gearbox. The latter seems to have it in trumps at the moment and in the modern era, usually does*.

 

Fortunately, for a Ferrari nutter like myself, we have the teams return to Endurance Racing bringing victory at the Le Mans 24 hour race in June. As I have mentioned before, I have always preferred Sports Car Racing, watch it, it is totally absorbing.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

* I don't count RB's adopted Honda engine as their own nor Mercedes - who bought Ilmore Engines to power their cars.

Edited August 28, 2023 by 30368

[woodenhead]

@30368 What about Carlos Sainz - he has been pretty equal with LeClerc this year, they are both deserving of better team support if you ask me.

 

Mercedes seem to be able falling into the same territory as Ferrari and making strategy mistakes that cost them dearly with points.

[PeterStiles]

15 minutes ago, 30368 said:

I vote for Charles Leclerc going to RB next year to give Max a run for his money

But RB don't *want* someone to give Max a "run for his money". Historically they are happiest having one driver dominate and a second driver to pick up 2nd or 3rd place behind the latest Golden Boy..