Formula One 2023

[Meacon Keaton]

lol Cena wins

[Slogger]

On 08/05/2023 at 07:05, Meacon Keaton said:

lol Cena wins

We've gone from the Lewis/HHH Reign of Terror to the lol, Cena/Max wins era.

Save us Andretti/SHIELD?

[Meacon Keaton]

10 hours ago, Slogger said:

We've gone from the Lewis/HHH Reign of Terror to the lol, Cena/Max wins era.

Save us Andretti/SHIELD?

Much more likely that me, and millions of others, have already stopped watching by then. 

[Chris2K]

I stand by that the Hamilton era wasn't as bad as either Schumacher or Verstappen, because most of the time his team-mate was a viable threat (Rosberg) or had some decent competition (Ferrari/Red Bull) who often found ways to screw themselves over.

Ferrari was obviously built around Schumacher winning, and Red Bull is built around Verstappen winning, so when they have/had the dominant car then we know which specific driver is winning the title.

[Lineker]

Quote

Daniel Ricciardo’s recent visit to AlphaTauri’s Formula 1 factory in Italy for a seat fitting has fuelled rumours that he could be set to replace Nyck de Vries.

However, while de Vries is facing some tough times in his rookie season, Ricciardo’s presence in Faenza does not mean a driver change is definitely on its way.

Instead, Ricciardo’s visit was nothing out of the ordinary. As part of his arrangement with Red Bull for this year, where will be reserve driver at some races, the Australian will also fulfil that role for AlphaTauri, so a seat fitting is a necessity.

Ricciardo has yet to drive an F1 car since taking on his Red Bull job, with his first outing in the RB19 set to take place in the post-British Grand Prix tyre test at Silverstone.

But with Red Bull claiming that Ricciardo has rediscovered his missing form in its simulator to be back to his best, he would be an obvious contender at AlphaTauri if the Italian outfit elected to make a change.

De Vries has had a difficult baptism with the Italian team, having yet to score a point and getting involved in his fair share of incidents.

His best result of the season was 14th in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. He crashed out in Australia and Baku, and came home in 18th in Miami after running in to the back of Lando Norris on the opening lap.

For now, the team is keeping faith in de Vries, with team principal Franz Tost having said at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that it would be wrong to expect a rookie not to endure his fair share of incidents.

“As I always say, there is a learning process and a crash period because, if the drivers don't crash, they don't know the limit,” he said.

“This is a credit you must give them, otherwise it doesn't work. And there was no driver not crashing. I remember with Sebastian [Vettel] in the first races, he came back on the first lap most often without the front nose. That's part of the game.”

But while de Vries is not under immediate pressure, sources have suggested that the team’s senior management, and especially Helmut Marko, want to see some signs of progress by the Spanish Grand Prix next month.

With a triple header coming up on tracks that de Vries knows, there should be a better opportunity to judge his potential – which is why how he does at Imola, Monaco and Barcelona will be crucial to dictating his future.

De Vries himself said he was looking forward to his chances for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, because there should be a good performance step from the team as well as it being a more regular weekend.

“We are bringing some kind of bigger update,” he said. “So yeah, we're kind of excited for that weekend, to see if we can make a step up. And it's obviously a normal weekend, which also helps.”

 

[The Lusophone]

A vote of confidence in De Vries if we've ever seen one.

[Chris2K]

King of tact Helmut Marko has basically said de Vries has three races to prove himself or he's gone, but also says they'd go to the Red Bull young driver pool (what's left of it) rather than Ricciardo or Mick.

[Lineker]

 

[Twist]

So the entire region is under water (including the f2 paddock!) and there’s still no decision on whether the race is going ahead.

This should be a very easy decision but I guess it’ll cost F1 money.

And literally two minutes later.

 

[The Lusophone]

Hopefully they can reschedule it for later in the season but I doubt it, unfortunately.

[Lineker]

Only sensible decision.

[Chris2K]

McLaren have gone as close to Marlboro-livery as possible for Monaco (and Spain, because they can't get it changed back to normal on a back-to-back).

[Chris2K]

Guess who's back. Again. Honda to return to F1 as Aston Martin's engine supplier in 2026.

[Lineker]

 

[Chris2K]

Ugh. Just when you thought there might be an interesting qualifying result, the status quo returns.

Not looking forward to tomorrow at all.

[METALMAN]

Great showing from the King of the Streets TM

[Meacon Keaton]

Max on the pole is the status quo, but at least it was in exciting fashion. I don't mind if he even wins tomorrow, as long as it's close and we get some excitement. Him running away and winning by 15+ secs is when it's easy to tune out.

[Chris2K]

Leclerc has been given a 3 place grid/race finishing position drop for blocking Lando in Q3, which pushes Ocon up to P3/a podium.

[Lineker]

 

[Chris2K]

We can only hope.

EDIT: Or maybe not.

Here's a very good comparison of Alonso and Verstappen's laps.