The F1 thread

sinbaadi

RBR will find a way to maintain their dominance, which btw is still nowhere near some of the Vettel championship winning seasons, we just conveniently forget that at least 9 out of 10 seasons are pretty one-sided.  But that's F1!  If you're a fan you need to embrace that aspect of it.

Is there any data to prove that cars are following closer?  That was the main point of the changes to the regulations.

Also, Hamilton's first season without a win?  George has outperformed him across the season quite impressively.

Boromedic

I see the cheaters were classy again, zero attempt to help Perez when Max already has the title. I guess he figured he'd just drive off into the distance and try and avoid the controversy. Nice that he's shown his true colours again. Still at least he won this one on merit even though they cheated on the budget, let's hope the penalty is enough to dissuade others from doing the same.

Fingers crossed Ferrari come back fighting, would love to see either of their drivers take the title. Hopefully Merc can improve, Norris was my driver of the season, he's the best Brit after Lewis for me, would've preferred to see him in the Merc over Russell. Hopefully McLaren can build a better car too.

Cols

Boromedic said:

I see the cheaters were classy again, zero attempt to help Perez when Max already has the title. I guess he figured he'd just drive off into the distance and try and avoid the controversy. Nice that he's shown his true colours again. Still at least he won this one on merit even though they cheated on the budget, let's hope the penalty is enough to dissuade others from doing the same.

Red Bull cunning avoided the potential pitfall of having to ask Max to give Perez a hand by putting them on different strategies.

They could have asked Verstappen to let Perez (on his two stop strategy compared to Max's one stopper) through in order to charge off into the distance while Max ran interference against Leclerc, as Sergio has done for Max so many times in the past.  I can understand why they didn't though:

a) it would have left Max vulnerable to being leapfrogged by Leclerc, and;
b) "Open and honest team player" Max would have undoubtedly just told them to piss off

Ultimately, Perez was never really close enough to Verstappen to make a scene of it, even on fresher tyres; it would have needed Verstappen to intentionally slow his pace before then waving him by.  And if he really wanted 2nd in the championship, perhaps he shouldn't have nodded off mid-season after securing a contract extension. 

Boromedic

Yeah, fortunately despite Alonso's claims, Max doesn't have to battle his teammate because they've not picked someone near his level. 

The PR fallout if they'd had radio chatter again would've been embarrassing, their social media is pretty toxic still, which is good. 

sinbaadi

Bizarrely RBR don't seem to give a shit about negative PR.  

chillidoggy

Cols said:

Boromedic said:

I see the cheaters were classy again, zero attempt to help Perez when Max already has the title. I guess he figured he'd just drive off into the distance and try and avoid the controversy. Nice that he's shown his true colours again. Still at least he won this one on merit even though they cheated on the budget, let's hope the penalty is enough to dissuade others from doing the same.

Red Bull cunning avoided the potential pitfall of having to ask Max to give Perez a hand by putting them on different strategies.

They could have asked Verstappen to let Perez (on his two stop strategy compared to Max's one stopper) through in order to charge off into the distance while Max ran interference against Leclerc, as Sergio has done for Max so many times in the past.  I can understand why they didn't though:

a) it would have left Max vulnerable to being leapfrogged by Leclerc, and;
b) "Open and honest team player" Max would have undoubtedly just told them to piss off

Ultimately, Perez was never really close enough to Verstappen to make a scene of it, even on fresher tyres; it would have needed Verstappen to intentionally slow his pace before then waving him by.  And if he really wanted 2nd in the championship, perhaps he shouldn't have nodded off mid-season after securing a contract extension. 

I too, don't understand all the "move over" nonsense. If Perez wants to win, he damn sure has to fight, and fight hard for it. It's dog eat dog on the track, not a Sunday afternoon drive to the beach, and he's the architect of his own failure, which, as Cols said, was down to his less than stellar performances.

roundthebend

What was the Haas issue with Mick doing some donuts? Are they that strapped for cash that they need the tyres?

Cols

sinbaadi said:

Bizarrely RBR don't seem to give a shit about negative PR.  

They're used to it.  Red Bull have always been unpopular among the other teams since they bought the old Jaguar team and arrived in the paddock with a blaze of marketing and loud music.  Over the years they've maintained a consistently arrogant attitude and a sense that the rules and norms which apply to others don't apply to them.  Almost like the F1 equivalent of Trump.

Horner increasingly revels in his Drive to Survive-inspired role of F1's Bastard-In-Chief, but he's always been an unpleasant character.  During the glory years of Vettel's 4 titles on the trot, I don't remember Horner ever saying anything complementary about Renault, even though their expertise at maximising the blown exhaust technology was key to Red Bull's title success.  After the turbo-hybrid era began and the wins dried up, the public criticism from Horner and Marko towards Renault came thick and fast.  Win together, lose together?  Not a chance.

Touching on Marko, I have no idea why the Red Bull PR department would ever let him in front of a microphone unless you want to deliberately upset people.  I suspect their PR approach might be "any publicity is good publicity".

Cols

roundthebend said:

What was the Haas issue with Mick doing some donuts? Are they that strapped for cash that they need the tyres?

Apparently it’s not as spontaneous as it might appear.

There was an official FIA-approved “celebratory doughnut” area, and only the top 3 finishers and the retiring Vettel were permitted to let their hair down in it.

Boromedic

chillidoggy said:

Cols said:

Boromedic said:

I see the cheaters were classy again, zero attempt to help Perez when Max already has the title. I guess he figured he'd just drive off into the distance and try and avoid the controversy. Nice that he's shown his true colours again. Still at least he won this one on merit even though they cheated on the budget, let's hope the penalty is enough to dissuade others from doing the same.

Red Bull cunning avoided the potential pitfall of having to ask Max to give Perez a hand by putting them on different strategies.

They could have asked Verstappen to let Perez (on his two stop strategy compared to Max's one stopper) through in order to charge off into the distance while Max ran interference against Leclerc, as Sergio has done for Max so many times in the past.  I can understand why they didn't though:

a) it would have left Max vulnerable to being leapfrogged by Leclerc, and;
b) "Open and honest team player" Max would have undoubtedly just told them to piss off

Ultimately, Perez was never really close enough to Verstappen to make a scene of it, even on fresher tyres; it would have needed Verstappen to intentionally slow his pace before then waving him by.  And if he really wanted 2nd in the championship, perhaps he shouldn't have nodded off mid-season after securing a contract extension. 

I too, don't understand all the "move over" nonsense. If Perez wants to win, he damn sure has to fight, and fight hard for it. It's dog eat dog on the track, not a Sunday afternoon drive to the beach, and he's the architect of his own failure, which, as Cols said, was down to his less than stellar performances.

And yet, he let Max by in the previous race and tailed him with the promise of being allowed back past if Max couldn't progress, only downside is a certain person wouldn't let him. So he was able to keep up and fight in that race, yes it's dog eat dog on the track, but all the other teams and drivers help each other. There again wouldn't expect a cheat to help anyone out would you. 

Boromedic

skullfunkerry

Can't find any news articles about it yet, but on Daniel Ricciardo's Instagram it looks like he's confirmed his return to Red Bull

boogieman

skullfunkerry said:

Can't find any news articles about it yet, but on Daniel Ricciardo's Instagram it looks like he's confirmed his return to Red Bull

I thought that was already a done deal? He was talking about it at the last race wasn’t he? 

goldtop

Marko blurted it out last week, and Horner had to say "er, well, it's not actually signed yet, but..."

Cols

Yup, confirmed.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ricciardo-returns-to-red-bull-as-third-driver-for-f1-2023/10404249/

His duties seem to involve "simulator work, testing sessions and commercial activities"; he's already indicated that he won't be at every race next year, so it looks like he's Red Bull's PR bitch rather than the official reserve driver.

On the other hand, Hill has opined that Ricciardo could end up replacing Perez mid-year if Sergio ever dares to suggest that he's anything other than Max's footrest.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/damon-hill-daniel-ricciardo-starting-seat-red-bull/ ;

TimmyO

It would be sad if part of Ricciardo's job becomes spouting RB PR bile with a big grin. 

Cols

TimmyO said:

It would be sad if part of Ricciardo's job becomes spouting RB PR bile with a big grin. 

Wouldn’t imagine so; he’s conscious of the value of his own image.  I’d say it means turning up to Red Bull promo events, waving to the crowd, flashing that trademark grin and doing doughnuts in an old F1 car.

fretmeister

The Express were "reporting" that Max has apparently demanded a new team mate.

Whether there is any truth in that, I have no idea (I do really - it is the Express after all). Still, it's nice to start the Silly Season off so early for a change. [headdesk]

Cols

fretmeister said:

The Express were "reporting" that Max has apparently demanded a new team mate.

Whether there is any truth in that, I have no idea (I do really - it is the Express after all). Still, it's nice to start the Silly Season off so early for a change. [headdesk]

That’s story comes from one of Ralf Schumacher’s theories.  He talks almost as much shite as Eddie Jordan.

stickyfiddle

Yeah, you can well imagine DR is now the boogeyman that they threaten Checo with every time he says anything against Max.