The F1 thread

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Barcelona binned from 2026, replaced with a street style circuit in Madrid instead. 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/jan/23/f1-reveals-madrid-to-replace-barcelona-as-host-of-spanish-grand-prix-from-2026

Barcelona isn't the greatest circuit in the world, but not convinced a street circuit will be any better. Let's hope it's more like Singapore than it is like the old Valencia circuit....

stickyfiddle

Le sigh. 

Is that 9 now?! Monaco, Montreal, Miami, Vegas, Baku, Singapore, Jeddah, Melbourne and now Madrid? 

 Out of those we get reasonably consistently good racing at maybe 2 of them - Baku and Montreal. 

Meh

boogieman

Meh indeed. I don’t like street circuits much, most are not really that conducive to overtaking. 

Cols

I won’t mourn the loss of Barcelona; it’s not a bad track, but it seldom produces a decent race.  Hopefully Madrid will be an improvement.

That said, it’s difficult to get excited about yet another street circuit.  They used to be something interesting and unusual - 30 years ago, you basically just had Monaco and Adelaide.  I’m not sure Montreal really counts; sure, it’s penned in with barriers, but in reality it’s a permanent race track.  

Now, as @stickyfiddle has noted, they’re everywhere.  And they don’t lead to good racing.  It might occasionally feel exciting, but that’s invariably because someone’s stuck it in the wall and, in today’s safety conscious F1, that means a safety car to bunch the field up.

The (previously) exciting bit about street circuits was seeing a Formula One car flat out in a place it should not be, cannoning down a boulevard past grand hotels and the yachts bobbing in the marina,  
the car and driver constantly seconds from disaster.  F1 cars haven’t really fit in Monaco for decades, Nelson Piquet once memorably describing driving around Monaco like “riding a bike round your living room”.  With the cars having ballooned to their current elephantine proportions, it’s more like driving a truck around your living room these days.

But at least it was wildly different.  Now, it’s difficult to summon enthusiasm for another round of watching cars navigate their way past Tecpro barriers and crowd fencing.

It certainly suits Liberty Media’s desire to turn every race weekend into a city festival with fanzones, big name concerts, premium hospitality and lucrative merchandising.  But the circuits themselves are seldom memorable, constrained as they are by the existing pragmatic city layout.  City streets wide enough to accommodate F1 cars seldom tend to meander and swoop; on a street circuit you’re never going to get anything like Eau Rouge leading into Raidillon, or Suzuka’s Esses leading into the fearsome Degner curves.

So I do hope we don’t see the loss of genuine classic tracks because it suits Liberty’s business model.  While I don’t mind swapping Barcelona for whatever Madrid comes up with, I would be dismayed if we lost, say, Suzuka.

And it could happen.  Suzuka’s contract is up this year, and the Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau have announced plans to bid to hold the Japanese Grand Prix on a street track.  And I’d honestly rather see F1 cars at the limit of adhesion through 
130R than buzzing around a man made island in Osaka Bay past a conference centre.

euan

From what I remember, the Madrid street circuit is more akin to Melbourne and Montreal street circuits. 

stickyfiddle

The Visa Cashapp rename is confirmed. 

So it’s “Toro Rosso” and “Sauber” confirmed in the lower midfield again! 

Cols

At least the commentators can just refer to ‘Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber’ as plain old Sauber.  ‘Visa Cash App RB’ has no good abbreviation.  Unless you go for VCARB, which is a bit better than RB but still sounds like a dietary supplement.

It’s almost as if the Red Bull marketing department have deliberately gone for a crap name to generate media interest.

euan

The Visa Cash App press release refers to sponsor all four cars.

It couldn’t be more transparent. 

stickyfiddle

Lando extends with "multi year deal"

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula-1/2024/mclaren-racing-announce-multi-year-contract-renewal-with-lando-norris/?fbclid=IwAR1rtDssPxI8DVeSXamtoKc0GitR3NyoFWrupGpINOK6zELNN5UaOz0qbNk 

Leclerc extends with "multi year deal"

https://www.ferrari.com/en-AE/formula1/articles/scuderia-ferrari-and-charles-leclerc-moving-forward-together 

Both sensible choices by all parties. I hope Ferrari also keep Sainz because I don't think there's a better option right now. Maybe Albon but no hurry there

Cols

stickyfiddle said:

Lando extends with "multi year deal"

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula-1/2024/mclaren-racing-announce-multi-year-contract-renewal-with-lando-norris/?fbclid=IwAR1rtDssPxI8DVeSXamtoKc0GitR3NyoFWrupGpINOK6zELNN5UaOz0qbNk 

Leclerc extends with "multi year deal"

https://www.ferrari.com/en-AE/formula1/articles/scuderia-ferrari-and-charles-leclerc-moving-forward-together 

Both sensible choices by all parties. I hope Ferrari also keep Sainz because I don't think there's a better option right now. Maybe Albon but no hurry there

That’ll annoy Red Bull, they’ve had their eye on Norris.  And anything which annoys Red Bull is alright by me.

I think Ferrari will be keen to keep Sainz.  He’s fast enough to annoy Leclerc and push him without destabilising matters.

Cols

Andretti’s F1 bid rejected by Liberty Media.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-rejects-andretti-entry-for-now-but-door-open-for-2028/10571064/

TLDR: they don’t see the commercial benefit for themselves.

stickyfiddle

Fucking lol. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Wouldn't be suprised if Andretti took legal steps this time. Seems they're forever just stringing him along. "Sorry, we're going to have to reject your application (again) but feel free to (waste your time) applying again in 2028 (when we'll probably just reject it again)."

No idea what legal step they could take, but they must be royally pissed off at this point.

fretmeister

Cols said:

Andretti’s F1 bid rejected by Liberty Media.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-rejects-andretti-entry-for-now-but-door-open-for-2028/10571064/

TLDR: they don’t see the commercial benefit for themselves.

with the amount of new American tracks being proposed having a famous American name is surely in their best interests.

Not that I agree with Liberty’s obvious attempt to make F1 an American series.

euan

Andretti could conceivably take Liberty Media to court in the EU.  

Cols

I’d expect a legal challenge since Liberty’s statement is peppered with “we believe” or “we do not believe”, for example:

We do not believe that there is a basis for any new applicant to be admitted in 2025 given that this would involve a novice entrant building two completely different cars in its first two years of existence.“

”we do not believe that the Applicant would be a competitive participant”

“we do not believe that the Applicant has shown that it would add value to the Championship”

Additionally, they attack Andretti’s plan to first enter with a customer engine before switching to GM, stating:

“ Applicant proposes to attempt this with a dependency on a compulsory supply from a rival PU manufacturer that will inevitably be reticent to extend its collaboration with the Applicant beyond the minimum required”

It’s written as if Andretti would be compelling one of the existing suppliers to give them an engine against their will (a la Red Bull).  In reality, Renault have already signalled they’d be happy to supply Andretti.

stickyfiddle

Aaaand twitter saying Ferrari is about to announce a Hamilton contract for 2025... Buxton and Cinchero both talking about a "bombshell" annoucement this week... 

Can you imagine?!! 

https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-hamilton-verso-una-clamorosa-last-dance-in-ferrari-nel-2025/10571205/ ;

euan

He will have given up on an 8th then. 

dazzajl

I really can’t see him doing this. Red would not suit his colouring at all. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Hamilton and Ferrari - he two most recognisable, "bankable" brands in the world of motorsport combining forces. It would be a veritable merch-selling, money printing machine!