The F1 thread

[Wrathbone]

I do prefer the black Mercedes to the silver livery.

[Raid]

I do also prefer the black Merc admittedly, but then the rest of the field in previous years had enough colour in it to balance it out. It's not something that really makes any difference to my enjoyment of the sport, I just think it's noteworthy because it's indicative of the cost pressure that teams are under.

[Raid]

https://www.racefans.net/2023/02/27/spa ... -approval/

I wasn't watching F1 prior to 2007 so I don't remember the original layout, but having done some fairly recent sim racing at the circuit using the chicane, it's not difficult to see why it's unpopular. It's just *so* slow and unsatisfying. It's going to make getting a good exit out of 10, 11 and 12 so incredibly important as you'll be carrying that speed for an age on the run to 1, and I reckon it's going to be a good test of whether the major aero change from last year is still working.

[Wrathbone]

I don’t recall what the old layout was like, but the chicane is bloody awful. I’ve driven it on many F1 games and it’s just awkward.

Abu Dhabi and Singapore feel like entire circuits built around that concept.

[Raid]

Some exciting stuff happened in this first race...

Spoiler

...it's just a shame that it was for third position. The championships almost feel like foregone conclusions even at this stage. Ferrari haven't improved relative to Red Bull, and now their driver's championship contender is 25 points down. Mercedes appear to have actually gone backwards. Aston Martin are absolutely the stars of the weekend, with Alonso looking like a rock star, and Stroll managing to beat one of the Mercs despite his usual lack of talent and having broken his wrist just two weeks ago.

[Snowy]

The closest Stroll would have got to an F1 car if it wasn't for his dad owning the team are about the same as Maldonado making a comeback.

Fair summary, not a race to make me look forward to the season. Having to watch Christian Horner's smug shit-eating face is reason enough for Red Bull to be docked double the points they score.

[Raid]

Wow. Ferrari are speedrunning losing the championship it seems. LeClerc will have an engine penalty. In the second race of the year.

https://www.formu1a.uno/en/charles-lecl ... -saudi-gp/

Basically they broke both sets of control electronics that they're allowed for the entire year in the first event.

[Sly Boots]

Lol.

Is there anyone else who can challenge Red Bull, or is that basically title race over?

[Wrathbone]

The optimist in me wants to say it's early days and challengers may yet emerge, but realistically... nope, I don't think anyone will come close to them this year. If they lose races, I expect it'll be because they've crashed or they have an issue, not because someone has beaten them on track.

[Raid]

I suspect it's the latter. I know we've only had one race, but it feels like Red Bull are starting from such a superior position to everyone else that even if the other teams could out-develop them, RB will have a massive points advantage. Mercedes were six tenths down in qualifying, Ferrari just don't have the strategic chops to fight for a championship and I don't expect Aston Martin to keep pace with development. Maybe if the Red Bull turns out to be supremely unreliable it'll be different, but I don't tend to expect unreliability from front-running teams these days.

Incidentally I drove the Jeddah circuit for the first time in F1 '22 a couple of days ago, and it's a surprisingly fun circuit to drive. There's no way I can really get into the event in real life because of the litany of problems with holding a GP in Saudi Arabia, as well as the dangers the real track held, but I take back some of the comments I made about the track when it first debuted. Granted, that first race was an absolute farce (it was the one where Max brake-tested Lewis when trying to give a position back), but it's not the mockery of a circuit I first thought it was.

[Drarok]

Maybe if the Red Bull turns out to be supremely unreliable it'll be different, but I don't tend to expect unreliability from front-running teams these days.

Ferrari: Am I a joke to you?!
Everyone: Yes.

[Raid]

I mean that I don't anticipate it happening. Obviously failures do happen, they did so with Red Bull and Ferrari a few times last year, but when it does happen it's a surprise rather than the norm.

Although yes, Ferrari are also still a joke to me. Vasseur has a lot of work ahead of him to right that ship.

[Snowy]

Well today really underlined that the Red Bull this season is in a different class. Verstappen's moving up through the field, once that DRS opened it was insane how much faster they were.

Some idiotic decisions though. Alonso being slightly to the left of his pit box but not an inch ahead of it gives him no advantage whatsoever. Quite the reverse in fact, it would put him out of the start position burnouts that he will have done in preparation for the race, giving him less traction. It is an irrelevance and to get a 5 second penalty took the piss frankly.

The safety car was the worst though. What the fuck was that about? Stroll is told to retire and drives straight off the track across a run-off to the access roads. Not on the track, a bloody long way from it. Absolutely no need for it, and then it stayed out too.

McLaren are hopeless this season. Might teach Norris a bit of humility which would benefit him.

Enjoyed the race though for all that. Plenty of action, and I was rooting for Alonso to do well. Ferrari were nowhere, but I was expecting it tbh.

[Raid]

Not a bad race, but it's marred once again by FIA stuff. The retirement leading to a full safety car was incredibly marginal - I suppose Stroll's car *was* sticking out from behind the barrier he stopped behind, meaning marshalls might have had to be behind it to push, but there was a recovery vehicle parked two feet in front of Stroll's wing. The worst bit though is that Alonso lost his podium because he allegedly didn't serve his penalty correctly. Why in the hell did it take that long for the decision to be made? It happened with 35 or so laps left, and yet they let him into the podium celebration. Also, I can't recall any incident where a pit time penalty was incorrectly served, and now we've had two in two subsequent weekends. I can't say I remember such pitbox infringements either, and again it's been two in two races.

[Wrathbone]

And yet the Red Bulls both cutting the same corner to gain 1-2 seconds (not that they needed it) was ‘noted’.

I agree that the Alonso post-race penalty was the worst. It’s a dubious penalty as it is, but it should really be a team penalty rather than one against the driver, since Alonso had no control over it.

The FIA need to rethink the ethos of some of these rules they’re becoming militant about. If things like corner cutting can have warnings before penalties, things like Alonso’s two penalties where the rule is technically breached but no tangible advantage is gained should be treated similarly.