Formula 1 Racing

Well, I was a week late as I was working last week and had some long oddball hours. Recorded it and so the Suzuka race is a week late!🤣

Constructors Championship goes to Red Bull, no surprise there, Max is a lock. How about McLaren? P2&3! Nice job for Zac and the boys!

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Seems I’m offset a week so once again a late report. Same result as last week with the exception of Lando and Oscar switched podium results. How about the return of McLaren! Big weekend for Oscar Piastri! Sprint winner and P2! Voted driver of the day!

Finally a huge shout out to Max Verstappen. Wins from pole, fastest lap. Wins the 2023 Championship!

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Felt bad that Oscar's sprint win got completely overshadowed by Max clinching the title.

It's not a full on GP win, but it's still a race win.
 
Seems to be some buzz since the Qatar race about Lance Stroll’s seat being in jeopardy and his father perhaps thinking about selling his stake in the team. Hard to tell how accurate this may be, given all the hype in F1 media, but will be interesting to watch how it progresses. Kudos to McLaren, fantastic progress this year.
 
Well, I’m once again out of phase with the races…the Austin race had some drama, but my recording didn’t show what happened. Leclrec, Norriss and Hamilton final podium form what Formula1.com posted…I guess there were some problems with after race inspections that shuffled the top 10?

Mexico GP, congrats Max for 16 wins in a season, another record goes down! Hamilton, and Leclerc round out top three…on to Brazil.
 
Legally plank under the cars if Hamilton and Leclerc didn't pass so the cars were DQ'd which elevated Sainz to the podium and Sargent into the points.

The race today had its moments, but this is going to be Max's era until RBR gets the regulations wrong.
 
A fine showing today at Mexico for Lando and Ricciardo. Shame about Checo, but as the announcers said, three cars simply couldn’t go through turn 1 at the same time.
 
A fine showing today at Mexico for Lando and Ricciardo. Shame about Checo, but as the announcers said, three cars simply couldn’t go through turn 1 at the same time.
I think he tried to emulate Max's move in '21 on the outside of both Mercedes, but was overzealous on turn in. Hearing Kravitz talk about it, it's like they forgot that 5 minutes prior they had played the star of the 2021 race and talked about how Max has to get it all perfect in that moment. Something Checo had to roll the dice on but wasn't able to stick.

Lando did have a good run, it was a shame Daniel couldn't hold on to 6th. Tsunoda threw away a lot of good points.
 
I was disappointed that Daniel and Oscar went a lap down. Destroyed their day, but otherwise they'd have been out, and finishing the race counts for the championship take regardless of scoring points, so there's a faded silver lining to that. I was really confused at how the timing graphic was seemingly random with displaying Daniel's gaps to the car ahead. He'd randomly gain or lose 16 seconds.

Great battle between Checo and Alonso at the end. I was not confused as to why Checo sick to his line and wouldn't follow Alonso's through 10, 11, 12. Guessing the Red Bull didn't like the high line, but if he had been able to stick it a few laps earlier, he may have had a chance at opening a gap.

3 Ferrari power cars retire, Sainz must have been sweating bullets and shitting bricks.
 
Well, it seems Las Vegas Gran Prix ‘23 lived up to the hype. Everyone from Beckham to Shaq was running around the paddock and the excitement seemed next level, even seasoned drivers like Danica Patrick were gushing over the venue. The announcers had a noticeable lilt to their voices! The fans were loud and the drivers all seemed to like it or at least said all the right things!😂.

Solid race I thought. Congrats Max, Charles, and Checo. The battle at the end for second was exciting and the fans really appreciated the action.

What are y’all’s thoughts? On a little late for me…I was in Chicago last night and it was tough to handle the late start. Maybe dial it back a couple hours at least? Start in the daylight and end in a night race? I wasn’t crazy about the little Rolls Royce jaunt to the Bellagio, that was over the top cheesy,

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I was surprised at how well the race itself went, though I was cackling at the vintage Ferrari that was pissing coolant behind Brundle and Button on camera, and then finding out Piastri's parade coach dumped oil all over the dirty side of the grid. Really thought those were going to be foreshadowing of the race.

Track surface has some improvements that need to be done and they need a better solution to the podium ceremony. I don't know what that blackjack table spot was at the front of the pit lane, but why have it if it isn't going to be used for the ceremonies?

I was impressed with Checo's drive, and disappointed that he wasn't hip to Charles' late lunge into that corner. I feel like he could have held on had he put the car a half width to the left.

McLaren gave away points by leaving Oscar out for so long. They must have been hoping for a late safety car.

We'll see what changes they make for next year. Hopefully they're nicer to the fans.
 
Abu Dhabi, congrats to Max and Red Bull Racing. Max keeps shattering the record books, over 1000 laps led in one season, 19 victory’s. He makes it look easy! Going to be an interesting off season.

Any predictions? Some communication between Hamilton’s dad and Red Bull had the gossip’s tongues waging! Where will Checo end up if Lewis comes over?

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I'd love to see Lewis go to Red Bull just to watch Toto implode. No other reason then that. I don't see that happening though, and I'm sure Anthony was just reaching out to congratulate them on an impressive season.

I'd be shocked if Williams retained Sargent and didn't try to get Red Bull to loan them Lawson since there's no seat for him at Alpha Tauri/Torro Rosso/whatever the fuck they're changing the name to next year. I don't think he's done enough to keep his seat.

Stroll made some improvements late in the season, but comparing him to Alonso certainly doesn't seem fair in judging whether he stay or go. He'll never escape the question of why he's really still there. I just wonder how much longer until the board really puts Lawrence in the hot seat over it. You could argue that there are two seats up for grabs.

Leclerc's attempt to play leap frog with Checo was half hearted. He really could have backed George up a bit more aggressively in the final sector. Ferrari may have a strong package next year. Hopefully their strategy and reliability improve.
 
I wonder if we'll see any improvement at Haas with Steiner gone, or if the lack of car development is down to Gene pinching the wrong pennies. Both of their drivers should be better than what they've managed.

Multi year deal for LeClerc at Ferrari. Let's see if the Italians can keep their feet off their own dicks long enough to challenge for the title.

I expect DTS to be out in a couple of weeks, if not the weekend before the season opener.

Daytona 24 is this weekend, so that'll quiet the itch for a bit.
 
Big news today, it’s off to Ferrari next year for Lewis Hamilton. A reverse Schumacher so to speak. Sainz’s contract is up at the end of ‘24, so this may set off a bunch of driver shuffling. Will be interesting to see who Mercedes takes on to replace Lewis, a young gun maybe?
 
Big news today, it’s off to Ferrari next year for Lewis Hamilton. A reverse Schumacher so to speak. Sainz’s contract is up at the end of ‘24, so this may set off a bunch of driver shuffling. Will be interesting to see who Mercedes takes on to replace Lewis, a young gun maybe?
This suggests that Mercedes doesn't have a 2025 development plan due to the 26 rules change, and the 24 car isn't looking to hot.

Rumor has it that Red Bull's simulator is suggesting the RB20 is between 5 and 8 tenths faster than the 19. If even half true then Merc is going to be a slug in comparison. Though this would be pretty short sighted of Lewis to jump ship in 25 without having touched the 24 car yet. Unless he doesn't like what the sim has done.
 
This suggests that Mercedes doesn't have a 2025 development plan due to the 26 rules change, and the 24 car isn't looking to hot.

Rumor has it that Red Bull's simulator is suggesting the RB20 is between 5 and 8 tenths faster than the 19. If even half true then Merc is going to be a slug in comparison. Though this would be pretty short sighted of Lewis to jump ship in 25 without having touched the 24 car yet. Unless he doesn't like what the sim has done.
Doubtful that Mercedes would have a development plan as the past few years have been the equivalent of the lights are on but nobody's home. Mercedes showed their hand with Russell since he replaced Bottas and have seemingly, repeatedly, most definitely forgotten that they have, now had, a 7 time world champion in their midst. Could be more of the same as last year as teams unveil their cars with only a few more weeks until the first race, but it'll definitely be an interesting year to say the least.
 
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Doubtful that Mercedes would have a development plan as the past few years have been the equivalent of the lights are on but nobody's home. Mercedes showed their hand with Russell since he replaced Bottas and have seemingly, repeatedly, most definitely forgotten that they have, now had, a 7 time world champion in their midst. Could be more of the same as last year as teams unveil their cars with only a few more weeks until the first race, but it'll definitely be an interesting year to say the least.
I think they screwed up the integration of Russell to the team. They needed a fast you've driver since Lewis had kind of checked out during the '21 of season and '22 was so abysmal that he really could have called it quits then. I think they put too much into George too quickly and made it seem like they wanted Lewis out to begin with. His ego seems pretty fragile when put against a talented teammate. We saw it with Fernando and Rosberg. I think he underestimates Leclerc.
 
Anyone else watching this race? I’m glad F1 is back, but this hasn’t exactly been the most scintillating race. It would be nice if it was even remotely competitive.
 
I can’t believe none of the other teams made absolutely zero progress in trying to close the gap with Red Bull. In fact, it looks like they’ve lost ground again. What the hell have their engineers been doing?
 
Anyone else watching this race? I’m glad F1 is back, but this hasn’t exactly been the most scintillating race. It would be nice if it was even remotely competitive.
It was fittingly boring to be the 20th anniversary race for the circuit. The inaugural race in 2004 was also boring as shit, earning the nickname Bore-rain.

I can’t believe none of the other teams made absolutely zero progress in trying to close the gap with Red Bull. In fact, it looks like they’ve lost ground again. What the hell have their engineers been doing?
Alpine's head of aero and head of technical both resigned ahead of the test, so they knew they had fucked up.

Sauber, I'm not at all surprised at where they ended up. VCARB was surprisingly lackluster given how snug Daniel sounded talking about their program.

I think Mercedes is going to be back in the fight shortly. If George is right, and the cooling package cost them 4 tenths a lap, then the Ferraris are going to have their hands full fighting for 2nd.

I don't think the gap is to Red Bull anymore. I think the gap is to Max. Sergio can't open a gap the way Max can. The splits between Sergio and the Ferrari drivers are extremely close. Carlos was 3 seconds back at the flag. Max's margin of victory since '22 has been growing.

The Vettel/Weber days were much, much more car dominant when looking at the 1 lap pace. You don't see Max and Checo getting out of the car after their first Q3 run the way those two did.
 
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