The F1 thread

[Raid]

Thing is I don't have an issue with... Americaness. Remember the crazily over-the-top pre-race stuff at Austin a few years back, when they were getting the drivers to emerge onto the track tour one by one, then interviewing them, like they were about to enter a boxing ring? That was, well, a bit much, but at least it was fun. In Miami it was like they didn't really care about the F1, that it was just taking up the space of their precious football stadium car park. There's nothing wrong with local flavour (well, maybe the Putin stuff), but at least put the stuff people are tuning in for front and centre.

[DjchunKfunK]

I didn't catch the race because after watching qualifying and hearing them talk about how important track position was I felt it was going to be a bit of a procession. The hype was very real for the track beforehand, Sky went all out but much like Valencia where people "loved it" at the start I think once the newness of it has worn out it will be seen in a similar light. Just looks really boring and seems to have made for a fairly uninteresting race.

[Raid]

Not satisfied with crashing his 2022 Ferrari, LeClerc has just crashed a Ferrari that's twice as old as he is; Lauda's 1974 challenger.



Not exactly a wreck, but I'm willing to bet they don't exactly have a lot of spares for the thing.

[Snowy]

Let's hope he doesn't do it again tomorrow, Forza Ferrari

[Raid]

I heard a terrible stat about Leclerc the other day; he's never finished a race at Monaco, which is, let's not forget, his home race. Not in F1, not even in the lower formulae. So yeah, it'd be nice for him to get a win tomorrow.

[Drarok]

Oof.

[Raid]

I think it was a perfect sunday to describe why I don't enjoy Monaco as a race. Perez fucked his tyres right at the start of that final stint and Sainz couldn't pass him. Alonso was 4 seconds slower than the leader at one point and Lewis Hamilton couldn't pass him. I seem to remember someone (Ricciardo?) winning without a working MGU-H one year. There's barely an ounce of excitement that comes from driver skill or car performance, and everything from driver and strategy failures. I don't think that makes for a satisfying Grand Prix, and I'm glad I just watched the highlights tonight.

Just what happened with Ferrari? Did Leclerc come in for those slicks by mistake? Were they talking to Sainz to come in for slicks and then accidentally transmitted to Leclerc too? Did they give him inters first by mistake?

And I've never seen an F1 car split in half from contact with a relatively soft barrier like that.

[Wrathbone]

It wasn’t LeClerc’s fault - he was given the order to box for hards, then told to stay out when he was already in the pit lane. Whether it was a last minute strategy change or a mistake in the first place, it’s a total shambles.

[Raid]

Yeah, I figured it wasn't Leclerc's own fault by his radio outburst (censored on the broadcast, but pretty clear regardless), I was assuming it was the team's mistake (I should have worded that better).

Thing is, even if he'd received the message to stay out in time, he'd still have been at a massive disadvantage being on inters. And if they'd waited to switch to hards when they eventually did, he'd still have been screwed because of how insanely fast Perez was on his in and out laps (I think he took 7 seconds out of the lead). As much as Ferrari are saying they lost their own race (and don't get me wrong, they did make mistakes), I'm not actually sure they had a chance of winning once they'd made the decision to give Leclerc inters on his first stop. I'm assuming they had information that said they were the best choice, I'd be interested to know whether that came from the driver or the pit wall.

[DjchunKfunK]

I think it was a perfect sunday to describe why I don't enjoy Monaco as a race. Perez fucked his tyres right at the start of that final stint and Sainz couldn't pass him. Alonso was 4 seconds slower than the leader at one point and Lewis Hamilton couldn't pass him. I seem to remember someone (Ricciardo?) winning without a working MGU-H one year. There's barely an ounce of excitement that comes from driver skill or car performance, and everything from driver and strategy failures. I don't think that makes for a satisfying Grand Prix, and I'm glad I just watched the highlights tonight.

Just what happened with Ferrari? Did Leclerc come in for those slicks by mistake? Were they talking to Sainz to come in for slicks and then accidentally transmitted to Leclerc too? Did they give him inters first by mistake?

And I've never seen an F1 car split in half from contact with a relatively soft barrier like that.

Every year that they make a big deal of Monaco it just reminds me that the F1 media and authorities care more about money and pomp than spectacle.

[Raid]

I certainly roll my eyes a lot when hearing it described as the "jewel in the crown" and such. I don't see a Monaco GP win as the huge achievement the media circus does; qualifying on pole is the achievement because it shows bravery and skill. Winning just means the driver knows where to defend, and it's more about strategists getting them into the lead by the end of the pitstops. I'm being massively reductionist, I know, but the race just isn't the spectacle it's made out to be.

I've been a Perez supporter ever since his first podium in a rubbish Sauber, but I find it difficult to be enthusiastic about him now having won in Monaco, because on any other track he'd have ruined his chance of winning the second he flat-spotted that final set of tyres.

[Snowy]

Man being a Ferrari fan, 2000 to 2005 excepted, is a thankless occupation. How the bloody hell do they keep snatching defeat from the jaws of victory? Sainz called slicks and the team dithered for two laps before bringing him in. If they had done as asked it would have meant the win. They really are hopeless - you just don't see the same quantity of team errors and bad strategy calls from the other top teams.

The race stewards were a fucking disgrace today. Delays that needn't have been made, a virtual safety car when Mick Schumacher's car is sat in two halves on the track, ignoring Verstappen clearly crossing the yellow line exiting the pits...

But OK, congratulations to Checo, I agree with most on here that it was a terrible race in every sense but F1 drivers think Monaco is special so it is a nice highlight for the sunset of his career. He is a good guy and a great driver who has never ever given up, I can enjoy his happiness even if it does mean I have to listen to that vile oily turd Horner into the bargain.

[Raid]

Ferrari did protest the Verstappen pit lane exit move, and the evidence from Sainz' onboard (which I've not been able to find) suggests that the entire wheel did not cross the line, and so it was not considered illegal. Seemingly there was some confusion which lead to the protest, as the move *would* have been illegal last year (as in 2021 only part of the tyre had to cross the line, not the entire thing).

Do you want to guess why Ferrari thought it was illegal when it wasn't? Because the notes from last year were copied and pasted into a document for this year's race. So still a governance fuckup, just not the one you thought.

[eny]

This pit-line issue is a farce. If it is there for safety then the outside (racing) edge of the line should not be the part that triggers the penalty. If safety is your concern then the line should absolutely be a no-man's land, and the contrast it offers against tarmac and wheel makes it easy to detect if it is breached, not to mention the driver would have no way to see if they were breaching it. If the racing side has to have a whole wheel before being guilty how can you possibly be 100% sure? The chassis is in the way. It is nonsense yet again. If you touch the line you trigger the penalty, that is how it should be, you should be nowhere near the racing side else it is an accident waiting to happen. Diabolical.

[Raid]

Agreed. If you look at the onboard from Verstappen, he makes an absolutely blatant move across the track to block the Ferrari, and he starts that move well before the line ends. I know there has to be a line drawn somewhere (heh), but I'd argue that Verstappen was really pushing his luck.