F1 2023 season

First topic message reminder :

Chinese Grand Prix is officially cancelled again.

Ferrari trying to get the house in order.
David Sanchez left and will be joining McLaren - close relationship with Andrea Stella.
Long term members Gino Rosato and Jonathan Giacobazzi have gone.
Inaki Rueda, recently demoted head of strategy, also likely to be allowed to leave. LeClerc in particular doesn’t get on with Rueda.
Laurent Mekies also seems to be heading out off Maranello.
Simone Resta is being lined up to return to Ferrari as well.

Lastly Ferrari wants to sign Hamilton...to partner LeClerc.

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Lastly Ferrari wants to sign Hamilton...to partner LeClerc.

You could seeing this happening if Hamilton carries on past his current deal. I'm sure Hamilton has said somewhere he'd love to drive for Ferrari??

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Lastly Ferrari wants to sign Hamilton...to partner LeClerc.

You could seeing this happening if Hamilton carries on past his current deal. I'm sure Hamilton has said somewhere he'd love to drive for Ferrari??

If we can ever sort out the engine issues, there’s a package that can challenge Verstappen.
And LeClerc/Hamilton would push each other more than Sainz will ever push LeClerc.

I recall watching a great documentary about Eddie Irvine when he was at Ferrari....he had quite the time of it.

For what it is worth: Jean Todt's partner since 2004, Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng, has just won best actress award at the Oscars.   This is being reported by the BBC as the first "asian" to win such an award hence the extra media attention.

Wut

I 2nd that........wut?

Seems like McLaren are trying to cash in on Lando Norris.
Supposedly $20m to buy him out of this current deal.
Maybe Mercedes if Hamilton joins Ferrari or retires.

LeClerc will take 3rd ECU - 10 place grid penalty…Jesus…
Let’s hope Red Bull’s penalty actually makes 2024 interesting…

Toto Wolff suggests Lewis Hamilton should remain 'loyal to Mercedes' and that the current car issues may not result in a championship winning car for maybe another 1-2 years(not including 2023).
Seems absolutely far fetched to think Hamilton would stay at Mercedes until 2026 rules changes watching probably Verstappen hoover up 5 straight championships...

Meanwhile, further back on the grid, Alpha Tauri's boss has said he doesn't trust his engineers anymore.

Verstappen has a gearbox failure in Q2, will start P15

Perez pole position
Alonso
Russell
Sainz
Stroll
Ocon
Hamilton
Piastri
Gasly

LeClerc second fastest but starts 12th
Verstappen 15th

Safety car on lap 18 after Stroll breaks down.
Verstappen in fourth and now probably favourite

SC helped Max but this is an even more brutal showing than Bahrain

Sergio Perez wins Saudi Arabian GP - street circuit specialist. Masterful performance by the Mexican.
Verstappen and Alonso complete the podium.
Russell and Hamilton complete top 5.
Sainz and LeClerc 6 and 7
Ocon, Gasly and Magnussen round out points.

Alonso 100th career podium. King.

Or not

It seems a bit strange to me you can attempt to take a 5 second penalty, get it wrong for whatever reason and now it's 10 seconds. All in all Fernando takes nearly 15 seconds for one 5 second penalty

And now he gets his podium back after AM appeal

Another complete snoozer of a race. This season is gearing up to be the most boring I can remember.

At least in the Merc domination years the two fastest cars were allowed to race each other.

Also, I have no idea why a safety car was deployed. It also took them 35 laps to determine Alonso's penalty which allowed the Aramco-sponsored driver on to the podium in Saudi.

Does this feel a lot less like "sport" than ever to anyone else?

Verstappen was going for the win until he reported issues with his car in the last 8-12 laps.
Perez was slightly p!ssed when Verstappen was going 0.4sec faster despite Red Bull saying hold position…

The Mercs were allowed to race until Rosberg won and a compliant #2 was installed after he retired. F1 has had a massive issue with one team dominance since the early 2010s but we don't need to romanticize that era either.

Anyway we now have regs that in theory drag the fastest cars back to the pack by limiting their development time and hopefully preventing a Mercedes style dominance being repeated here. See if that works in the years to come

GSC wrote:The Mercs were allowed to race until Rosberg won and a compliant #2 was installed after he retired. F1 has had a massive issue with one team dominance since the early 2010s but we don't need to romanticize that era either.

Anyway we now have regs that in theory drag the fastest cars back to the pack by limiting their development time and hopefully preventing a Mercedes style dominance being repeated here. See if that works in the years to come

It is disappointing that RB are so far ahead in terms of the overall wins, but behind that it appears to be super close between AM/Ferrari/Merc and then the midfield behind that too. Has made for some entertaining midfield battles for sure, but appreciate folk like to see the title and wins be more competitive

GSC wrote:... we now have regs that in theory drag the fastest cars back to the pack by limiting their development time and hopefully preventing a Mercedes style dominance being repeated here. See if that works in the years to come

The Green Bulls I mean the Pink Mercedes I mean Aston Martin have shown the advance that can be made in a single year, while McLaren have gone the other way.   The spend cap certainly evens up the field between the big teams with huge backing and the smaller teams, while wind tunnel penalties should even up the field through research and development.  The one consistency seems to be that Williams will always be towards the back struggling to win points.  With regard Ferrari I wonder whether they are missing the engineering expertise of Binotto.

Ted Kravitz claims Red Bull are cheating…no evidence or proof. But trust me bro. Dude seems like a moron.
Newey has just designed two insane cars.

Ferrari will switch to the Red Bull side pods for 2024.

James Key has left McLaren. His replacement is David Sanchez, recently left Ferrari. Sanchez will start work on January 1, 2024.

Sky Sports F1 seems nothing but a clown show...
‘Sergio Perez is out of contract at the end of the season’
Come on ffs, he signed a deal until the end of 2024.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Sky Sports F1 seems nothing but a clown show...
‘Sergio Perez is out of contract at the end of the season’
Come on ffs, he signed a deal until the end of 2024.

It's even on their website https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12624771/sergio-perez-red-bull-driver-signs-contract-extension-with-formula-one-team-to-2024

A somewhat bizarre statement was released by Stefano Domenicali, where the Italian suggested removing all free practice sessions ‘to improve the show with unpredictability’. Unsurprisingly it went down like a lead balloon. Non starter.

Also Daniel Ricciardo seems content that his F1 career is over. He’s doing little to no work to find a seat for 2024.

Grid boxes will be widened by 20cm to avoid future incidents suffered by Ocon(Bahrain) and Alonso(Jeddah)

Jeff Navarro wrote:Grid boxes will be widened by 20cm to avoid future incidents suffered by Ocon(Bahrain) and Alonso(Jeddah)

From what Ocon has said, it appears that visibility out of the cockpit was an issue, so he wasn't aware that he was out of position - the modifications to the track markings seem sensible in that case.

These are the best drivers in the world and Alonso is a double world champion. I heard that these cars are wider. However why this wasn't identified last year when these cars were first introduced I do not know. The grid boxes should have been widened last year.

Well as always with F1, most advanced sport but over looking the basics…

Anyway the FIA has now banned pit crews from hanging off the pit fencing at the end of races…priorities…

Verstappen says his health issues made breathing difficult during the Saudi GP. Seems bizarre he was allowed to race in such condition.

And Hamilton says he plans on ending career at Mercedes - Ferrari can’t/won’t match Hamilton’s salary at Mercedes.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Verstappen says his health issues made breathing difficult during the Saudi GP. Seems bizarre he was allowed to race in such condition.

And Hamilton says he plans on ending career at Mercedes - Ferrari can’t/won’t match Hamilton’s salary at Mercedes.

As someone who occasionally struggles with asthma and has had pneumonia in the past, I read such a quote with a touch of cynicism. Either he didn't speak to the Doctors about it, or he is blowing something out of proportion.

Verstappen quickest in FP1 by nearly half a second
Alonso quickest in FP2 by nearly half a second - rain spoilt the later half of FP2

The old boy definitely has a win in him still.

Haas and Alfa Romeo are using fresh ICE for Melbourne. Ferrari engine is a dud...

Verstappen pole crushed his final lap.
Russell once again out qualified Hamilton as Mercedes 2 and 3.
Alonso fourth.

Perez last after spinning out in Q1

Mercedes 2/3 has certainly peeked my interest somewhat....looking forward to the race now.

So the cool conditions and smooth surface seemingly masks Mercedes’ issues at Albert Park.

Both Mercedes jumped Verstappen at the start. Just as the race was heading up with DRS - top 3 covered around 1.1secs, race gets red flagged after massive crash for Alex Albon.
Russell pitted prior to the red flag so it should be a Hamilton vs Verstappen shootout for the win.

Russell’s went from leading to DNF as his Mercedes PU gives up on him.

Another red flag with 3 laps to go.

2 lap shootout

This does seem more of an entertainment red flag

And that is probably why entertainment red flags are not a great idea. Sainz overcooks it into T1, wipes out Fernando and carnage ensues. We'll be past the 2 hour limit so Max takes it

No idea what the order will be eventually. Probably a time penalty coming for Sainz regardless

Verstappen 37th win for Red Bull when it’s all confirms. 1 behind Vettel now.