The F1 thread

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

I've taken the policy for the last 2 seasons of just ignoring the front of the race and focussing on the racing throughout the pack and thankfully the TV directors seem to have done he same for he last couple of races. 

I quite enjoyed that, some really decent wheel to wheel stuff up and down the field. Plus some occasional shitty driving from Stroll and KMag.

boogieman said:

Well that was kinda interesting, but for all the wrong reasons. Stroll really needs to take up his rumoured tennis career soon.  

Is it just me who absolutely cannot stand his whiney little voice over the radio, blaming all his stupid errors on everyone else? Like fingernails on a blackboard...

stickyfiddle

F1.5 remains the interesting thing to watch, though to be fair I think this year the F1.5 grid is just "everyone except Max". 

Gutted for both RBs - DR in particular finally having a decent run then they both get punted off on the same lap. 

sweepy

F1 is getting increasingly dull, st least with the Schumacher era there was real competition and tbh also with the Hamilton era, especially from Rosberg and the odd interloper

Cols

No idea what Aston Martin were playing at sticking Alonso on the soft tyres mid-race, it resigned him to an extra stop.  Still, it did make for the interesting late-race spectacle of Alonso on his new mediums carving his way back through the field.

Encouraging signs for Ricciardo, shame he lost a bunch of places off the start line and got terminally nerfed by Stroll.

skullfunkerry

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

I've taken the policy for the last 2 seasons of just ignoring the front of the race and focussing on the racing throughout the pack and thankfully the TV directors seem to have done he same for he last couple of races. 

I quite enjoyed that, some really decent wheel to wheel stuff up and down the field. Plus some occasional shitty driving from Stroll and KMag.

boogieman said:

Well that was kinda interesting, but for all the wrong reasons. Stroll really needs to take up his rumoured tennis career soon.  

Is it just me who absolutely cannot stand his whiney little voice over the radio, blaming all his stupid errors on everyone else? Like fingernails on a blackboard...

I've always thought he sounds like a petulant spoilt brat almost every time he speaks. I quite often think about the Bahrain restart after Romain Grosjean's big fiery crash and Stroll on the radio "Err, I'm upside down here"  

boogieman

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

I've taken the policy for the last 2 seasons of just ignoring the front of the race and focussing on the racing throughout the pack and thankfully the TV directors seem to have done he same for he last couple of races. 

I quite enjoyed that, some really decent wheel to wheel stuff up and down the field. Plus some occasional shitty driving from Stroll and KMag.

boogieman said:

Well that was kinda interesting, but for all the wrong reasons. Stroll really needs to take up his rumoured tennis career soon.  

Is it just me who absolutely cannot stand his whiney little voice over the radio, blaming all his stupid errors on everyone else? Like fingernails on a blackboard...

No, I hate it too. “It wasn’t me Daddy! Some big boys did it and ran away” 

sinbaadi

sweepy said:

F1 is getting increasingly dull, st least with the Schumacher era there was real competition and tbh also with the Hamilton era, especially from Rosberg and the odd interloper

Ferrari and Schumacher got plenty of criticism for dominating so much.  People don't like people being too good at something.

Unfortunately unless F1 completely changes the way drivers are selected for teams, then there will always be teams like RBR that don't need two drivers fighting it out. 

Mercedes were unusual in that they let Hamilton and Rosberg race.  Although their dominance was such that they could afford them that freedom. 

RBR would also still win everything if we had another Max in car two, and maybe we'd get some good scraps, but it's still just two cars fighting when the team allow it and following when they don't. 

Anyway, Stroll's mere presence on the grid sums up how F1 is not about putting the world's best in the best cars and letting them race hard to see who's best.

TimmyO

I thought it was an entertaining race - I agree with what someone said above about how it's better these days that TV directors don't feel the need to follow the lone leader -there was lots of interesting stuff going on to cover - including lots of multi-corner tussles that the track layout seemed to make possible. 

Great result for me as a McLaren and Lando fan and plenty of entertainment elsewhere. I just hope that them being wrong about expected pace doesn't also mean they are slower where they think they will be faster. 

Dodge

Blimey - Newey leaving Red Bull:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cmm3v9ny78eo

fretmeister

Ferrari, McLaren, or Aston?

They all want him and can afford him.

Well - Merc can as well but he won't go there.

stickyfiddle

WOW!

I think he wants a quiet life and RB has given him that for 15 years, but it ain't giving him that any more. Also frankly when they're this far ahead where's the fun? 

fretmeister said:

Ferrari, McLaren, or Aston?

They all want him and can afford him.

Well - Merc can as well but he won't go there.

I'd LOVE for him to go to Ferrari and I bet that's what his family would tell him to do if the "Lewis & Ferrari" regrets are really how he feels. So that's my absolute hope. Given Lewis is already going you can imagine that's a serious arrow to dangle and you can bet Elkann & Vasseur will offer him literally whatever he wants to get him to join. 

If he can't face leaving the UK then McLaren would be glorious - give Lando a proper car finally. Failing that I wouldn't mind seeing Alonso get in a Newey car by any means, but Stroll doesn't deserve it... (also Lance is far more likely to stick with F1 if Newey is coming, which is just such an exhausting position at this point...)

Otherwise.... Williams? 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Wowsers! I know these was rumoured by some as being on the cards during the Horner investigations, but didn't really give it any credence. Shows what I know! 

Given that the actual competition at the pointy end of the grid has been pretty non-existent for the past couple of years, the off-track drama has at least given us some great stuff to talk about! 

dazzajl

Since he doesn't really need any more money, he can chose pretty much any team on the grid. Go big and be the last part of the puzzle? Or perhaps pick Williams and be the sole saviour?

He will presumably have been contacted by every team by now and can sift though the offers at his leisure. I believe they say it's good to be the King.

stickyfiddle

dazzajl said:

Since he doesn't really need any more money, he can chose pretty much any team on the grid. Go big and be the last part of the puzzle? Or perhaps pick Williams and be the sole saviour?

He will presumably have been contacted by every team by now and can sift though the offers at his leisure. I believe they say it's good to be the King.

My bet is he's already been talking to whoever he wants to since the Horner shit kicked off and has already agreed terms. 

You don't quit a job without another one lined up, right?

Given the timing of that shitstorm coinciding with the Hamilton announcement I bet that was just the push he needed to start a conversation. 

euan

i think Newey is someone who can happy quit a job with nothing lined up 

Boromedic

I knew he was going! Wonder if that was causing the initial ructions that led to the power struggle. My bet is Ferrari because he can fulfill two ambitions, the team and a hypercar. Aston and Merc make fast cars but Ferrari have the real heritage in that arena. 

RiftAmps

Well, it's Autosport official

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/newey-set-to-leave-red-bull-f1-team/10603196/

He's 65 years old and will probably leave at the end of the season, serving a 9-month gardening leave before starting wherever he goes in September 2025. I suspect it will be Aston Martin (Alonso's new contract decision now makes more sense) but his influence won't be felt there until the 2026 car, which is when the new regs come in.

fretmeister

I wonder if he'll have the balls to tell Stroll Snr that he's only going there if Lance gets binned.

He won't want to be building a car for only 1 person who deserves to be in F1.

stickyfiddle

I love that we're all just casually ignoring the other obvious option that Toto has got the chequebook out...  

sweepy

Newey leaving RedeBull was leaked last yr, once again the press late to the party, why do you think Lewis went to Ferrari ?