F1 - 2023

[MiniDave]

Brutal. I wonder what the "valuable contributions" were that DeVries gave AlphaTauri, as Tost commented?

I thought it might happen after the summer break like you said, and DannyRic has been dropping broad hints about it practically all season.

Still, is driving an underperforming car the rest of the season really going to get him in shape to challenge for Checo's seat?

I thought Verstappen's comments were pretty brutal too - he's saying in essence 'I am the team", the rest are irrelevant.

[Brit_in_TX]

This is Danny Ric's opportunity to relaunch his career.  I think his weakness is showing he can support a car that needs development, he did not show that he excelled at that at Renault or McLaren.  He probably has a couple of seasons to prove he still has it.

Verstappen's comments were what I expect from him.  He does not believe he needs the support of a second driver.  And right now he is probably correct.  The way he is out performing Checo shows that he has something special.  I do not like the guy, but he is really on another level right now. 

 

[MiniDave]

Hungary

Looking forward to this race as it's a very different track from what they've run at so far. I also want to see whether McLaren's surge forward was at the expense of Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston or just a one time thing on a track that favored their package.

And what of Aston? They went from track darlings to "where the heck are they?"

All in all, I think this will be a good weekend to sort out the run order - but a lot of teams are bringing big improvements after the summer break - so who knows? The one thing that seems fairly certain is Max's dominance......can it continue the rest of the season?

Danny Ricky Bobby had better have a great weekend, too....

One last comment - the Hamster has become pretty vocal about how Red Bull's dominance is bad for the sport.....which is just amazing considering the 7 seasons HE had when no one could touch Mercedes.

[Brit_in_TX]

One last comment - the Hamster has become pretty vocal about how Red Bull's dominance is bad for the sport.....which is just amazing considering the 7 seasons HE had when no one could touch Mercedes.

This is hilarious as Mr C Horner is now saying that he sees no need for rules about this.  3-4 years ago he was saying exactly the same thing as Hamilton!

[MiniDave]

Yep, they're all a bunch of hypocrites.

I'm reading that Red Bull has a bunch of upgrades for this weekend's race at the hungry-ring, the Hamster might be even more unhappy after this weekend. Who knows?

It will be interesting to see if Aston bounces back, and if McLaren's new form has some staying power. I've completely given up on Ferrari - so watch, they'll win this weekend or something!

I'm also reading that whether the big 10 like it or not, Andretti Cadillac and another team will be on the grid at some point......probably in '26.

I'm also reading that if by some strange chance Danny Ric comes in and lights up the field, it could spell the end of Yuki's F1 career too, in favor of Liam Lawson.

[Brit_in_TX]

Norris said that McLaren was still had problems in slow speed corners, so will not be surprised if they are lower down the order than Silverstone.  Really depends on how far down they are down.

Ferrari needs to make a change, just not sure what that change is.  Rumor mill this week is they are trying to Albon to replace Sainz in 2025.  However, not sure if Leclerc will want to stay much longer with all of the frustration he going through. 

Yuki is doing a pretty good job, I think if he does lose his drive at Red Bull/Alpha Tauri, he could get a drive with another team.  He has proven he was a match for Gasly. 

I wonder at what point Aston Martin's sponsors demand a better number two driver and Stroll Jr is forced out.  He has had some great moments, but he is very inconsistent.

[MiniDave]

He is, but I doubt the board will be able to override Daddie's wishes, and I think daddy is firmly in Jr's court. In fact, I'm pretty sure that despite what the media says he originally bought a racing team so that his son could wear racing jammies.

I'm thinking that unless the kid starts costing them either sponsors  or championships, he's safe. That's not to say Pops can't encourage his son to move to endurance racing or something like that instead.

[MiniDave]

Hungary Qually - shocker!

Hamilton beats Verstappen and gets his record breaking 9th pole at the H-ring.....

I don't know if Verstappen was just playing it cool as he had a lap deleted in Q2 and wanted to make sure he was at least at the front or if the track kept improving as the Hamster was the last man over the line, but whatever......it worked.

Looks like the McLarens are definitely in the mix too as Lando and Oscar are P3 and P4, and now an even bigger shocker - Zhou in P5 for Alfa, and backing him up P7 for Bottas, P8 for the Hulk who is def having a better year than Kmag, especially where qually is concerned as he's P19.

More shocker - Russell not having a good time as he couldn't get out of Q1 and landed in P18. Hamster in 1st and his teammate in 18th.

Checo couldn't do much, only able to get to P9, Leclerc in P6 a little better for Ferrari, but Sainz way down in P11.

So, a real mixed grid on a difficult to pass on track and no love lost between the top 2. I expect Hammy to get away and keep 1st, but I think DRS will get Max by at some point, then it will be up to tire strategy, and the woman who runs Red Bull's strategy has been really sharp the last few years.

DannyRickyBobby did out qualify Tsunoda 13th vs 17th, so a decent start for him with AlphaToroTauriRosso....

The race tomorrow should be interesting - as is the usual for this race, they expect it to be HOT and dry.

OH, I almost forgot - the big change for qually - everyone on the same tire - Hards in Q1, Mediums in Q2 and Softs in Q3......I'm not sure yet but I think that may be a good idea - although some cars may be better on one tire than the other (the Macs are really good on mediums at this track) it does even things out a bit. Oh, and they get 2 sets fewer this race, maybe that will have some effect on strategy too?

[MiniDave]

Well......that didn't go as planned, at least for Mercedes. Still they can take comfort in the improvements they've made since the first of the year.....same for McLaren.

So, at the start, Lewis went from 1st to 4th, then proceeded to work his way backward for a while.....

Red Bull set a record for the most wins in a row, Perez had a stormer of a race and the McLarens made a terrific start and held on to finish 2nd and 5th

Verstappen had his usual race, got in front by the first turn and never looked back. At some point the team was "just checking in" as they hadn't heard a word out of him....his reponse "everything's OK"

Zhou had a miserable race, starting 5th but getting a horrible start and was in 15th by the first corner and finishing well down the order in 17th. Only Kmag was slower. I don't understand what has happened to the HAAS and why they haven't been able to make progress on their tire issues.

Margin of victory P1 - P2, around 33 seconds. If Red Bull (and Max) win in Monza they will have clinched both championships - just past the halfway point in the season! Not so good for the sport, but good for Red Bull!

[MiniDave]

Spa

Last race before the summer break.....and this has been an interesting weekend. It rained a bunch.....1st practice practically rained out. Sprint qually a complete mess as it rained, then the sun came out and dried the track - teams were scrambling to change tires and take advantage of a rapidly improving track.

The Sprint race was more of the same, tho once the track started drying out Max was gone, gaining 1 sec a lap! Piastri finished 2nd for his best result of his F1 career.

Today's race looked like it would be dry, which in a way also threw a wrench into the teams plans as they didn't have hardly any dry running to calculate fuel use and tire wear....and then about half way thru the race it rained! The forecast called for heavy rain but it didn't, just light rain and enough that teams could still run slicks....but tire degradation was a factor, some teams pitting three times, most twice and only a couple of runners able to do it on one stop.

McLaren thought it might rain all weekend so they set their car up for maximum downforce, which worked great when it was raining, but not so much when the track dried out, leaving them slow on the long straights.

At the end Max was ahead of 2nd place Checo by 22 sec, and 3rd place LeClerc by 10 more, so it was business as usual for him.

The Red Bull/Max train rolls on!

The team points standings have changed quite a bit....Red Bull so far out in front that only some sort of major catastrophe can keep them from winning both championships now.

Mercedes has come on strong - benefitting from getting both drivers into the points on almost every race. Aston has dropped back after the strong start, hampered in part by Stroll's (lack of) performance.

Ferrari only a few points behind Aston in 4th, but suffering from the same issue, only seeming able to get one car in the points in each race.

McLaren way back and kind of alone in 5th...I'm not sure they can bridge the gap to Ferrari in 4th and Aston in 3rd, tho if Ferrari can start getting both drivers in the points consistently I think they can take third from Aston.

Alpine so disappointed  in their lack of performance this season that they fired their top 2 team managers after Spa.....they are a long way back from McLaren in 6th after finishing 4th last year.

The other 4 teams are so far back as to not be a factor.

[MiniDave]

LeClerc agrees to a new 5 year deal with Farrari, said to be worth $200 million!

https://www.gpfans.com/en/f1-news/1001325/charles-leclerc-ferrari-new-deal-f1-record-breaking/#:~:text=According%20to%20Sportune%2C%20the%20new,all%2Dtime%20record%20for%20F1.

[Brit_in_TX]

F1 is back this weekend in the Netherlands. 

Danny Ric crashed in FP2 and broke a bone in his hand/wrist and will not be taking part in the rest of the weekend. Red Bull junior Liam Lawson is going to take over for the rest of the weekend.

[MiniDave]

They've been talking about getting him in a car since last season, so it will be interesting to see how he does......Yuki was going well tho. Really bad timing for DannyRickyBobby tho.....

[MiniDave]

Well, that was a corker! Nothing like a little rain to spice things up - tho it appears there is no stopping Verstappen this season!

Lawson did well in his first race, staying out of trouble and off the walls to finish 13th, we'll see how he does at Monza as I doubt Danny Ric will be able to drive by then, but who knows? Look what Stroll did in the first race this year.....

The Red Bull train keeps rolling on, can they win every race this year?

[Brit_in_TX]

Lawson will be in the Alpha Tauri at Monza. 

Red Bull also favored Max this weekend when the pitted him first and he undercut Checo. Also Checo is continuing to make too many mistakes, it probably will not be an issue this year as Max is running away with everything, but if the constructors title fight was closer it would be bigger issue for his future with the team.

McLaren had a really good race and if their luck had run differently they could have been on the podium.

Hamilton felt he had the pace at the end where he could have challenged Verstappen, the issue was he was no where near him!  However, he did have a good race from where he started.  It does seem that the Mercedes are making incremental gains that are adding up to a decent improvement in performance.

Gasly lucked on to the podium with Checo's penalty, but he had a good race overall.

Albon was a contender for driver of the day in my opinion, he stayed on slicks through the first part of the race and was doing pretty well until some others had better tires and a slow stop if I remember correctly (there was so many I may be wrong).  He is really outperforming Sargeant, Albon deserves a drive with a better team, I am sure he has a clause in his contract that would release him if a faster team came knocking.  Not sure who that would be, but Sainz is reported to have signed a letter of intent with Audi so maybe a Ferrari seat could be available.

[MiniDave]

Albon should replace Checho, but that might be a hard one for him to consider.....isn't he on loan from Mercedes? Seems like the Hamster's seat is the one he should shoot for. He's been punching well above his weight all season long....

I think it's encouraging how many constructors are tightening up the fight at the front now.

I'm not convinced Vasseur is the right fit for Ferrari.....if they keep having such a dismal performance, I can't see them keeping him. Not having the right tires out AGAIN speaks poorly to their organization as whole. I mean, who's driving this bus? LeClerc tried to rally the troops during the race, then they screwed up his stop......not that it would have mattered in the end as he clearly had damage. Meanwhile Sainz just keeps doing the best he can with what he has, and at least finishes races.

After last year's successes, it's a hard pill to swallow for George this season, to see all these mistakes and poor strategy decisions. I hope they get on the same page before the season gets too much further along.

[Brit_in_TX]

Ferrari just seem so good at dropping the ball.  And there has been no noticeable improvement with the arrival of Vasseur.

In the commentary they mentioned the reason the tires were not ready is because LeClerc just came in and only told the team he was coming in when he was already entering the pit lane.  Rumor has it LeClerc is close to signing a long term deal which is going to put him on the same level of money as Hamilton and Verstappen, but he must be having second thoughts with all of the issues they have with strategy. 

I would like to see Albon somewhere else than Red Bull, I think he could be a good fit for Ferrari as Sainz is meant to be going to the new Audi team. 

[Brit_in_TX]

George and Lewis have signed to stay with Mercedes until the end of the 2025 season. A large chuck of the grid is settled for next season, with only 4 seats remain at Sauber, Alpha Tauri (2) and Williams.

I predict that Williams will retain Sargeant for 2024, James Vowles has indicated they are happy with his performance.  The only wrench I see in that is if Mercedes work to put Mick Schumacher in the race seat there.

Sauber (not Alfa Romeo after this season) is a little more complicated with Audi now having a stake in the team.  And there were rumors that Sainz had signed a pre-contract to race for them in 2025 after his deal with Ferrari is done.  I think their are two options, they stick with Zhou for consistency or they run a Ferrari junior as part of a deal to reduce their engine bill and allow Ferrari to prep for when Sainz leaves.

Alpha Tauri, Toro Rosso, Minardi or what ever they will be called next year.  Although Yuki has done a good job, I am not convinced he is a prospect for a promotion to the main Red Bull team.  I would like to see Riccardo and Lawson there as a battle for the 2nd Red Bull seat in 2025 (Checo's contract is up at the end of 2024).

[BruceK]

Wow! That was some race at Monza.  Too bad Carlos could not maintain the lead after starting on pole but I guess that was inevitable. 

I thought for sure the inter-team rivalry between Charles and Carlos would result in the teammates running each other off the track in the manner of Lewis and Nico. Or Prost and Senna.

[Brit_in_TX]

The race was great.  I think Liam Lawson did a great job subbing for Riccardo after the chaos that was the race in Zandvort.

The other driver that did a great job was Albon, he managed to hang on and keep Norris behind him after the team pitted him early.

Hamilton showed that the strategy of putting the faster tire on towards the end worked to allow him to climb up the leaderboard a little, even if he did drive into Piastri on the way!

Singapore next, which I always enjoy.

[MiniDave]

What in the world has happened to Aston Martin, and in particular Alonso? After such an incredible start to the season they have dropped off the map, with Stroll unable to even get out of Q1......

First Mercedes passed them, and now Ferrari has gone by in the constructor's standings. While they still could beat Ferrari, it's looking more and more like they'll be lucky to finish 4th after being 2nd thru the early part of the season, and looking like they might even get lucky and win one or two.

Mercedes has a pretty strong grip on 2nd, being almost 50 points ahead of Ferrari, but a few more weekends like this one and it could get pretty tight for 2nd in the championship.

The only question left now is can Red Bull run the table this season?

Alpha Tauri has signed a deal with Hugo Boss for the next couple of seasons, so I guess they'll be the "Boss" team?

[Brit_in_TX]

Aston Martin has seemed to be a car that works or simply doesn't, no in between.  Only Alonso's skill is dragging it along, and they need a decent driver in the second seat, although Stroll is going to retain that because Daddy owns the team. Are they suffering from lack of resources for in season development?  I know they are investing in new technology at home base, wondering if that not being available yet is hurting them.

The championship run for second is pretty interesting.  If Verstappen was excluded from all results it would be a super interesting season.

The only way Red Bull are not going to when everything this season, they are going to have to screw up.  I cannot see anyone beating Max and Red Bull in a straight fight.

Interesting on Alpha Tauri, wonder if this is the beginning of the end of the second Red Bull team.

[MiniDave]

I think it's very possible that Alpha Tauri/Hugo Boss will become Andretti Global/Cadillac F1, that sidesteps all the mess about dilution of earnings the big 10 are worried about, and lets them hit the track running, with the major pieces already in place.

[MiniDave]

Well, isn't that an interesting change of events? Red Bull having an absolutely miserable weekend, qually and - I'm betting - race tomorrow.

I think Lawson is doing a stellar job, and if he finishes well here and at Suzuka, will there be any reason to put DannyRickyBobby back in the car this season?

A real conundrum at RedBull/Tauro Rossi/Alpha/Boss for the end of the season......

I wonder if old man Stroll will pull his son out of the car at the end of this season over concerns about his life being at risk? Good excuse to send him to the tennis courts and get someone stronger in the car?

Carlos has been on a tear lately, I'm really pleased to see him killing it like this, and a win would really put the exclamation point on this part of his season with Ferrari....as well as put him in serious contention for a seat at Audi, if he wants it. Although, everyone is excited for Audi coming into the championship, but I don't really expect them in the front row right off the bat.

Plus, too and also, it's looking more and more like Andretti Global will be on track in 2026 too.

[MiniDave]

Wow!!!

What a race !!!!

Amazing how the racing improves when a Red Bull isn't in front.....