The F1 thread

Cols

Cols said:

euan said:

MVs race pace was a second faster than Sainz!

Shit.  He’s just going to walk it again, isn’t he?

What was Perez’s race pace like?  He’s been making a habit this year of qualifying badly but clawing it back on Sunday.

Yikes.  Wrong again.

Cols

Sick burn of the day award goes to Motorsport Magazine:

”Perez’s race was so bad he had to retire from it twice”.

dazzajl

Cols said:

Sick burn of the day award goes to Motorsport Magazine:

”Perez’s race was so bad he had to retire from it twice”.

OUCH!!

I did really feel sorry for him. Can you imagine a worse day at work when on the other side of the garage, your team mate is imperious, goes from lights to flag out front by miles and brings home the constructors championship and that huge staff bonus everyone will get. 

sweepy

I wonder what odds you'd get of Lawson dropping in to replace him as he has back pains etc etc

Cols

Lawson’s undoubtedly disappointed to be sitting on the reserve bench next year.  However, of all the reserve drivers he’s got the best chance of being called up.  

If Perez doesn’t dig himself out of his rut soon, I could well see Ricciardo stepping in early and Lawson getting a more permanent berth at AT.  Or alternatively, Ricciardo might not come back well from his injury.

Red Bull could probably easily farm Lawson out to Williams for a year; the fact they haven’t (yet) indicates they’re still not sure that their driver choices for 2024 will stick.

skullfunkerry

Cols said:

Lawson’s undoubtedly disappointed to be sitting on the reserve bench next year.  However, of all the reserve drivers he’s got the best chance of being called up.  

If Perez doesn’t dig himself out of his rut soon, I could well see Ricciardo stepping in early and Lawson getting a more permanent berth at AT.  Or alternatively, Ricciardo might not come back well from his injury.

Red Bull could probably easily farm Lawson out to Williams for a year; the fact they haven’t (yet) indicates they’re still not sure that their driver choices for 2024 will stick.

I've literally two minutes ago read a story (on planetf1, admittedly) saying that a few pundits have Liam Lawson down for Red Bull next year, unless Perez has a cracking end to the season. It's not madly unlikely; they've put youngsters in the car a few times before.

stickyfiddle

Given how many young guys have utterly floundered when put against Max too early I think it'd be insane to put Lawson in the RB unless it was just a trial for ~4 races when DR is back. 

If they're minded to drop Perez early it's be a safer bet to put DR in as a cool head who is relatively lower risk and give Lawson a year to shine in the AT. 

But it's RB so whatever we think is reasonable is highly unlikely to happen

Boromedic

stickyfiddle said:

Given how many young guys have utterly floundered when put against Max too early I think it'd be insane to put Lawson in the RB unless it was just a trial for ~4 races when DR is back. 

If they're minded to drop Perez early it's be a safer bet to put DR in as a cool head who is relatively lower risk and give Lawson a year to shine in the AT. 

But it's RB so whatever we think is reasonable is highly unlikely to happen

If DR can find his form and get the RB seat he may actually get second in every race, he's not a Verstappen level driver but definitely an improvement on Sergio.

fretmeister

sinbaadi

Perez will always do whatever his wealthy backers want him to do.  I think it's interesting that people discuss driver moves as though money sponsorship is all fairly distributed.

Not all F1 drivers were created equally.

RBR took Perez's money, gave him a seat and won everything.  They don't need anyone better, honestly.  So it's a big call to give up millions in sponsorship.

Maybe Perez will lose some or all of that sometime.  He can't go on forever.

Cols

skullfunkerry said:

I've literally two minutes ago read a story (on planetf1, admittedly) saying that a few pundits have Liam Lawson down for Red Bull next year, unless Perez has a cracking end to the season. It's not madly unlikely; they've put youngsters in the car a few times before.

It would be utterly mental to put Lawson in the Red Bull next year.  It’s one thing to acquit yourself well against Tsunoda, but another thing entirely to be thrown in against a driver who’s currently absolutely at the top of his game, in a car which is notoriously difficult to extract the ultimate performance from.  Lawson would get pulverised.

TimmyO

Cols said:

skullfunkerry said:

I've literally two minutes ago read a story (on planetf1, admittedly) saying that a few pundits have Liam Lawson down for Red Bull next year, unless Perez has a cracking end to the season. It's not madly unlikely; they've put youngsters in the car a few times before.

It would be utterly mental to put Lawson in the Red Bull next year.  It’s one thing to acquit yourself well against Tsunoda, but another thing entirely to be thrown in against a driver who’s currently absolutely at the top of his game, in a car which is notoriously difficult to extract the ultimate performance from.  Lawson would get pulverised.

You’ve convinced me - they’ll definitely do that then 

RandallFlagg

stickyfiddle said:

Given how many young guys have utterly floundered when put against Max too early I think it'd be insane to put Lawson in the RB unless it was just a trial for ~4 races when DR is back. 

If they're minded to drop Perez early it's be a safer bet to put DR in as a cool head who is relatively lower risk and give Lawson a year to shine in the AT. 

But it's RB so whatever we think is reasonable is highly unlikely to happen

Verstappen is only 25 himself

fretmeister

Cols

Andretti's application to enter F1 from 2025 approved by the FIA.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fia-approves-andretti-entry-as-11th-f1-team-from-2025-26/10527930/

Which doesn't automatically mean they'll be on the grid.  They have yet to agree commercial terms with Liberty F1, who gave a rather lukewarm reaction: 

 "We note the FIA's conclusions in relation to the first and second phases of their process and will now conduct our own assessment of the merits of the remaining application."

stickyfiddle

It would insanely stupid if FOM/Liberty do what some of the teams want and say no at this stage because it would mean no-one rational would ever want to try and enter again. So you can guess what I'm expecting them to do... 

stickyfiddle

ONE-TWO FOR MCLAREN IN THE SPRING QUALI! Super cool from Oscar and you can tell he's really pushing Norris at this point, which is fantastic to see

That feels good! How long's it been? 2012..? 

Bodes well for tomorrow and the rest of the year

thumpingrug

Great win for Oscar on a very challenging track.  It was good to see the different tyres working so differently throughout the race leading to action all over the circuit.  The full race will be interesting esp with the tyre limits in place.

Max has been utterly dominant this season so deserved the championship.  I just hope that others come forward to challenge for next season.

stickyfiddle

Cracking sprint that. Fantastic win for Oscar and a good recovery for Lando in the end. 

Funny how we get a good race every time Max isn’t at the front for whatever reason. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Cracking little race. Just hope a similar tyre discrepancy plays out in the main race too. 

I fear the DRS zone is gonna be a bit too generous and allow a lot of 'candy from baby' type overtaking.