F1 - 2024

[MiniDave]

Well, the more things change the more they stay the same.......Max walks away from the crowd, Checo follows thru tho by the end he was 22 sec back of Max. Carlos Sainz made some great passes and finished only a couple of seconds behind Checo, Charles had brake problems all race long and did well to come home 4th. As usual these days, the real race to watch was from 2nd on back!

The Mercs had overheating issues, the big Macs pretty much held station and finished in the points too.

The rest don't really matter.....

So
Max
Checo
Carlos
Charles
George
Lando
Lewis
Oscar
Alonso
Stroll

Stroll actually had a tough race and did well to finish in the points after he got punted by the Hulk in the first lap and came back from dead last.

So the first race is in the books, next up Jedda - in a week......and also on Saturday.

[MiniDave]

Alpine gets some more bad news......

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/motorsports/f1-news-alpine-horror-as-technical-director-steps-down-alongside-head-of-aerodynamics/ar-BB1jdCbJ?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=33e449f30f36412fad0569ec9485e1ef&ei=18

[Brit_in_TX]

Definitely not a "classic"!

It was good to see that the gap to Red Bull has been closed in qualifying, but Max just has phenomenal race pace.  He was obviously managing the pace through the race as his fastest lap was 1.4 seconds faster than anyone else.

The other off track story was the drama around Christian Horner, with evidence against him sent to lot of F1 Paddock Pass holders and rumors that Jos Verstappen (Max's dad) was having direct meeting with Toto about the free Mercedes seat.

[Brit_in_TX]

Alpine gets some more bad news......

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/motorsports/f1-news-alpine-horror-as-technical-director-steps-down-alongside-head-of-aerodynamics/ar-BB1jdCbJ?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=33e449f30f36412fad0569ec9485e1ef&ei=18

Looks like this was coming for a while as the announced a new structure and had people already in role for the announcement. The new team principal is looking for people to blame.  In my opinion he did not come across well in the latest season of Drive to Survive as he undermined Otmar Szafnauer.

Otmar's comments after the race were to the point!

[MiniDave]

I don't know if having Max go to Mercedes is a great idea, it's clear that their car is improving, but Red Bull clearly has designed their car around him.....would he be able to just get in and go to the front the way he does now?

And......I think he supports Christian.

This summer/fall will see the greatest "silly season" in recent memory! Lots of musical chairs, it will be fun to see who's where when the music stops.

[Brit_in_TX]

Jos Verstappen has said that Horner should leave and him staying is tearing the team apart.

The rumor is that if Horner leaves it could trigger a release clause in a lot of other contracts - the main one being Adrian Newey.

Agree it will be a brilliant silly season - I think there are a couple of drivers that hold the key positions - Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon. 

[Scargo]

Jos is the one who needs to vacate the scene. In my opinion, he's probably been knock'n the hair off Horner's sexting pal, so Jos is wanting him out of the scene an off the team in order to clear the way from himself. Max has been at a point in his stellar career where he no longer needs daddy to be wiping his nose and changing his diapers. Jos needs to get out of the way so Max can get a real manager.

Enuf of the Peyton Place crap, let's get back to the rac'n.

PS: The other daddy I do not care for is Lawrence (money-bags) Stroll.

end of rant

[MiniDave]

I think you're right about both those guys, but at least Daddy Bigbucks is putting his money where his mouth is, investing billions in Aston Martin, as well as keeping his son employed.

I read there were emails and texts released but I haven't seen them - a couple of guys have and told the gist of what was in them, but I think they have since been taken back off the net. At least I can't find them anywhere......

And I agree, time to hit the track and stop with the BS. I understand this track favors the McLarens so I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do.

[Brit_in_TX]

There is definitely more drama off track at the beginning of the season than I remember!

Jos Verstappen thinks he has more influence than he really does.

Lawrence Stroll needs to fire his son to be taken seriously.  Having said that Lance had a great recovery drive after he last at the end of the first lap in Bahrain and finished 10th one place behind Alonso.

I also like that F1 has added the F1 Academy to the support races in Saudi Arabia.  Women in Saudi Arabia have only had the right to drive since 2018 and is well know for repressing women.

[MiniDave]

Very interesting perspective in this article, written by a female journalist who covers bicycle racing (Tour De France sort of stuff) and how she viewed the incredible display of wealth involved in F1 at last year's Austiin race. It was a bit preachy but I thought she had a point......


https://web.archive.org/web/20240301170542/https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a46975496/behind-f1-velvet-curtain/

[Brit_in_TX]

And the Horner scandal rumbles on.  Today there has been stories in the media that Red Bull has suspended the complainant against Horner, who has been widely reported to be one of his PAs.  There was also the release of a bunch of text messages that are meant to be from Horner to this person.

The reason this is big is that in the UK it is being reported on the front page of mainstream media.  It has moved from a sport based drama to a full on mainstream. 

The UK has some strict employment laws about retaliation against employees that raise good faith concerns.  So this could run and run.

[Brit_in_TX]

Carlos Sainz will not be taking part in the Saudi GP this weekend as he has appendicitis.  He is being replaced by Oliver Bearman who is an 18 year old Briton who is part of the Ferrari Academy and was named as the Ferrari reserve driver this weekend.

[MiniDave]

It's always sumthin at Ferrari, isn't it? I thought Swartzman was their backup driver? Talk about being thrown right into the fire - no practice, straight to quallifying!

And speaking of Qually.....Alonso on top in Practice 2? Who expected that? Or the Al pee-ings up from dead last like last week? Qually in about 30 minutes.....

Ooops....my bad.....Olly did get to practice in P3

[MiniDave]

So, qually went pretty much as expected with Max easily on pole, Charles chasing him but still a half second back (which is a lot these days in F1), Pez third, Alonso 4th and feeling pretty good about his chances for a podium tomorrow.

Bearman did pretty well for his first time in an F1 car in anger, finishing 11th and only 7/100s of a second behind Stroll in 10th in Q2, well above 9 other drivers who aren't rookies!

I think this could be a fun race - certainly for 2nd on back, and if Max gets away well that's where the race will be. I hope The Bear man doesn't take anyone out in the first corner and has a good, even if unspectacular, first F1 race. If he can finish in the top 10 that will really cement Ferrari's faith in him as a future prospect. I don't know how quickly Sainz can come back from his appendectomy, and whether he'll miss any more races or not.

I don't know what to think about DannyRickyBobby......Tsunoda (9th to DRB's 14th) has been out-qualifying and out-racing him. I think with every race his chances of moving back up  to the varsity team grow dimmer.

Alpeeen fell back into their new normal, the only folks they beat were the Sarge and a guy who DNF'd before he even got to qually. Well, that's not fair to the team, they did get him on track and only missed getting to try in Q1 by  seconds.

In Q2 only .4 sec between Max in 1st and 10th place, in Q3 there was a whole second.......

[Brit_in_TX]

It's always sumthin at Ferrari, isn't it? I thought Swartzman was their backup driver?

They have 3 named reserve drivers for the season Antonio Giovinazzi, Schwartzman and Bearman. Just depends which one of them is nominated/present at the track that weekend.  Bearman was the nominated reserve driver this weekend, he was already present for the F2 race (which he qualified on pole position for and had to withdraw as there is a regulation that prevents drivers competing in both on the same weekend).

[MiniDave]

Well, once again Max makes it look easy, and Perez did his part too to come home second, 8 sec  behind Max. Charles came 3rd and well done to him.

It was interesting to see Carlos in the pits watching the race after having his appendix out the night before!

Lots of interesting tactics in the rest of the pack including Kmag holding the pack back so that the Hulk could take 10th.

And the real story - Ollie Bearman taking 7th in his debut for Ferrari. It was a bit of a nail biter with both Norris and Hamster chasing him down hard on the last 10 laps, but he held them off!

Alonso did a masterful job holding off Russel too.

All in all a fun race to watch, if not for the winner. Charles also got fastest lap on the last lap of the race, so well done to him too!

Stroll had his usual race, clipping the wall, breaking his front end and driving straight into the wall.The safety car he caused made a number of teams go for different tire strategies, Hamster was not happy with the choice they made for him, but given the fact that he's leaving the team at the end of the season, they're going to maximize George's chances at his expense.

[MiniDave]

Australia:

Well, after Max took pole again I expected more of the same, but it was not to be. 2 of the "names" out with mechanical issues early in the race left it all to play for.

Carlos was uncertain for this race due to having his appendix out two weeks ago, but he suited up and ran strong all weekend. He even beat Charles in Q3.

Checo got a penalty for impeding and started in 6th instead of 3rd.

The McLarens looked strong all weekend, and at times the Mercedes looked pretty good too.

I won't spoil the finish, but it was nice to hear a different anthem being played on the podium!

Follow up: the stewards decided that Russel's crash on the last lap was due to Alonso braking and slowing down erratically, so he got a 20 sec penalty, which moved him back two places on the final grid, promoting his teammate and Tsunoda forward.

HAAS has now scored 4 points, finishing this race in 9th and 10th, and are NOT in last place!

Alpine had another miserable qually, Albon took Sargeant's car for the race and Liam Lawson may find himself on the grid yet if Ricciardo can't improve quickly.

Sauber and Alpine just seem lost, RB V-card seem like they can fight for points at least, with Yuki finishing 7th and DannyRickyBobby down in 12th

[Brit_in_TX]

Riccardo is not having a good time.  Perhaps it was not the McLaren after all. 

William's giving Albon Sargent's car was a bit of a gut punch for him.  I am still surprised that he got a second year.  There gamble did not work out though as Albon did not score points.

[MiniDave]

It was interesting that Checo said he thought the two Ferraris would have finished ahead of him and Max both in this race even if Max's brakes hadn't locked up on him.

Encouraging to see that at least on some tracks other cars are competitive with the Red Bulls, and like I said - it was nice to hear some new anthems played at the podium ceremony. Fun to hear the Italians singing theirs with real gusto too!

Fred Vasseur is getting a lot of credit for the improvement this season, and that may be justified, but then I wonder why he couldn't do any better at Alfa when he was running them?

Max thinks they'll be back in front at Suzuka, but then so does Sainz - we'll see. By then he should be fully healed up at least. Norris joked that he was going to have his appendix out for the next race, to make him "lighter" 

[Brit_in_TX]

Liberty Media (the owners of Formula 1) have bought MotoGP.  I wonder if this will finally result in a joint F1 and MotoGP weekend, it has been talked about on and off for years.

[MiniDave]

That would seem to me to dilute the market for both series.....

Rumor has it that Horner has formed a coalition with the Thais who own 51% of Red Bull to oust all of the Austrian members from F1 - so not only Marko but also young Mateshitzloadofmoney too. This will put him over both Red Bull and the RB junior F1 teams as well as RB powertrain.

I wonder how Honda is going to do in 2026 after "selling" all of their F1 engine/power unit guys to Red Bull in 2023, when Red Bull hired them all to continue their efforts for the Red Bull team only?

2025 will be a fascinating year if even a small percentage of the driver changes that have been prognosticated come to be!

[MPlayle]

Sounds like your F1 "silly season" is starting early and covering more topics.

[Brit_in_TX]

Rumor has it that Horner has formed a coalition with the Thais who own 51% of Red Bull to oust all of the Austrian members from F1 - so not only Marko but also young Mateshitzloadofmoney too. This will put him over both Red Bull and the RB junior F1 teams as well as RB powertrain.

The interesting outcome of that is that Max said that if Marko leaves Red Bull, so will he.

[MiniDave]

Yeah, I'm not buying that......

One thing that I predicted may be coming true - Alpine is taking offers for its F1 team, and the #1 buyer - Andretti. I've said all along that that's the simplest, quickest, easiest way for them to get on the grid, especially since they were planning to use Renault motors.....although Alpine say they're not for sale, the rumors just keep getting stronger that that's exactly what they are.

We'll see what happens.

Another thing that happened today......Alonso resigned with Aston. I wonder what they're going to do with the underperforming Stroll the younger? I read one suggestion that they hire Yuki to pair with Fred, since they're going to be the defacto Honda team next year, and Yuki is sponsored by Honda - seems like a good match all around.

[Brit_in_TX]

The only issue for the Andretti buying Alpine, is the deal they have with GM (Cadillac) for engines in the future.  The motorsport.com article said that any sale of the "Enstone" team would include a commitment to use Renault engines for a minimum period of time.

Alonso resigning settles one of the seats for next year.  I agree that they need to start looking for an alternative for the 2nd seat at Aston.  Whilst I could see Yuki going as part of the Honda deal, he looks like he is in the prime spot to take over for the 2nd Red Bull seat.  Pretty sure he would prefer to be the second driver at Red Bull than at Aston. 

In other Red Bull driver news, Danny Ric's seat is under pressure.  Rumor on Reddit is he has been given a timeline to get on par with Yuki, otherwise they are going to replace him with Liam Lawson.

And final Reddit rumor, that Carlos Sainz has signed with Mercedes.  The same publication that broke the Hamilton to Ferrari story is saying that it is a done deal and they are working out the best time to announce.