The F1 thread

fretmeister

The track should be 10ft higher than the surrounding land. No barriers. Just a load of crash mats underneath and a system that returns the cars to the pits like under the slate on a pool table. 

Undamaged cars allowed to re-join, but the 'back to pits' process to take a minimum of 2 minutes.

stickyfiddle

fretmeister said:

The track should be 10ft higher than the surrounding land. No barriers. Just a load of crash mats underneath and a system that returns the cars to the pits like under the slate on a pool table. 

Undamaged cars allowed to re-join, but the 'back to pits' process to take a minimum of 2 minutes.

Nah, they need a crane rig covering the whole track to pick the cars and put them back on almost like a fishing line. They could hide all the gubbins with a fluffy cloud-like substance... Even better use drones propellors to make it fly. 

You could use the same rigging to show the chequered flag and start lights.... 

HAL9000

Cols said:

stickyfiddle said:

Gasly confirmed staying at Alpine 

Stroll confirmed to stay at AM (where else?!)

Hopefully Alpine continue their improvement.  Gasly’s a great driver, but there weren’t too many other options.  

Stroll - I guess he continues for as long as he wants to be in F1.  And to be absolutely fair to him, he’s respectably close to his teammate in qualifying - certainly better than Magnussen, Perez, Zhou and Sargeant are doing against theirs.

And Austria has put gravel strips on the outside of the corners. I hope this really works as it's such an obvious thing to try 

I suppose it’s better than acres of asphalt runoff, but I’d still prefer a pit filled with vipers.

I still think the superglue option is worth exploring..

sinbaadi

Congrats to Aston Martin for somehow managing to secure the services of Lance Stroll for at least one more year.

stickyfiddle

Sprint weekend so while I'm not mega excited about the sprint itself I'm liking the lack of practice. 

Merc have another upgrade and straight out of the blocks to the top of the timings so far

Boromedic

I've grown to like the sprint weekends for the same reason, not such a big fan of the sprint race, but its got to be better than a dull FP3 and it stops the crazy optimisation of everything by the teams. Which actually seems to penalise Red Bull the most so thats fine with me

Cols

Jos Verstappen has pulled out of this weekend’s Legend’s Parade, reportedly after Horner objected.

The Legends Parade includes “legendary F1 drivers and iconic F1 cars that have won the Austrian Grand Prix over the past 50 years”.  

This is a rare occasion, but I actually agree with Whinger Spice here.  Verstappen Senior’s F1 career was mediocre at best, and it would be odd to put him alongside the other drivers lined up (Grand Prix winners Gerhard Berger, David Coulthard, Johnny Herbert and double World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi).

Maybe he misread the brief and thought it was ‘Bellend’s Parade’?

stickyfiddle

Jos isn't even close to being a legendary driver. I'd honestly say Olivier Panis would be a better call because at least he won the legendary 1996 Monaco GP. Incidentally, a race where Jos was also competing, and was the first retiree on lap 1...

Also, I also doubt he would fit in the RB8. 

Anyway, nothing of value was lost!  

Cols

stickyfiddle said:

Jos isn't even close to being a legendary driver. I'd honestly say Olivier Panis would be a better call because at least he won the legendary 1996 Monaco GP. Incidentally, a race where Jos was also competing, and was the first retiree on lap 1...

Also, I also doubt he would fit in the RB8. 

Anyway, nothing of value was lost!  

He might be able to fit in the RB8, but not get out again.  Have we missed an opportunity?

TimmyO

He's most remembered (by me) for that spectacular photo of the fiery explosion during refuelling 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Max in P1 for the Sprint, but looks really tight between him and the McLarens. Mercedes looked promising in practice but didn't really come together for them when the chips were down.

stickyfiddle

First few laps were great. First time with Lando & Oscar on the same podium? 

menamestom

Reasonable sprint race.  The Mclaren’s working against themselves a little, I think Norris probably had the better pace to challenge MV, but you can’t blame Piastri for taking the opportunity.

TimmyO

The re-overtake by Max was hardcore - full on NOPE! 

I agree that McLaren racing each other reduces the chance of having another go, but the alternative isn’t great either so it is what it is I guess 

menamestom

Agreed.  I’m all for the racing, good to see a team challenging with 2 very good young drivers on an even keel.

fretmeister

Soooo Perez was 17 seconds behind in a 23 lap race...

Ok then.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

fretmeister said:

Soooo Perez was 17 seconds behind in a 23 lap race...

Ok then.

That's about par for the course for Perez really.

fretmeister

Yeah - but it really shouldn't be.

dazzajl

fretmeister said:

Yeah - but it really shouldn't be.

It’s his job to bring a lot of cash and be extremely average 

enjo

Ouch...
https://x.com/f1visualized/status/1807070454399594559