New regulations new season....
Can redbull keep up the pace
Yup, I had my phone welded to my hand when taking it! Would absolutely recommend it - the level of access you can get on the cheap when compared to a normal weekend is class! It was €109 for paddock access in 2020 and €59 to get onto the Terrace above the pitlane where that photo is from:
https://www.circuitcat.com/en/tickets-2020-formula-1-pre-season-testing/
So Lord Lewis wants non biased stewards. Never heard him complain when fan boy Herbert was a stewards mind you
https://www.google.com/amp/s/racingnews365.com/hamilton-calls-for-non-biased-race-stewards/amp
I was so excited to go this year. Nice AirBnb, flights and car hire were all under €100 each so felt justified to pay the extra hundred or so for the Terrace. :P
Been some interesting observations from trackside so far. The ground effect cars are much more sensitive to hitting kerbs so they need to be given a much wider berth. Overall the cars are looking more understeery (as was predicted) and have more grip in high speed sections and less grip in low speed sections compared to the previous generation, as the aero is much more speed sensitive.
I've read that Verstappen in particular has completely changed his driving style to a much smoother and more delicate approach as needed by the car - his style of driving today is being compared to Prost or Button. Maybe we'll see more drivers adapt or maybe it's just part of the process of dialing in the Red Bull.
Laptimes mean very little at this stage but all the big hitters you'd expect are in the top half of the standings, with Red Bull and Merc covering the most mileage so far, while Haas and Alfa currently languish a few seconds off the pace with relatively few laps on the board. You'd have expected Haas to hit the ground running with all their focus on this season so that looks concerning, though it is of course extremely early days of course.
Yeah well you wouldn't expect a referee to turn up to a training session now would you? If they run illegally here, it's their loss when the season starts proper.
I find the driving styles stuff a bit of a red herring. It's easy to cherry-pick videos for comparisons but the last while pretty much all drivers have been far smoother than in the past. Happened to see part of the 2008 season review the other day and they were all hacking at the wheel compared to now. Button back then was less smooth than just about anyone now.
It's to be expected when everyone is just driving to a delta and minding tyres.
Hopefully thats the only way he gets to have a view of the front of the RB.
For anyone who's been to a race in Barcelona, any idea if a grandstand ticket also allows access to the general admission areas?
That's just beautiful. I wonder is the reason that the wings are higher because of the 18 inch wheels and more travel for the suspension.
Have to say the Alpine looks great as well, they hit the sweet spot with the livery.
Some track side observations. They sound painfully slow in the slower corners now.
Leclerc with a much better helmet design this year too.
I don't like alot of the cars after seeing them on tv. They have an odd stance and the ones with the undercut sidepods and high front wings 'look like' they are sitting too high off the ground.
Ferrari and the alpine look nice though from what I've seen of them.
Will the Russia - Ukraine business put the Russian GP at risk this year? It's scheduled in September
Apparently the F1 site is already advertising tickets for Turkey in its place.
A bit of good news for those who are looking for an alternative to Crofty and Brundle commentary*. There had been some question as to whether the BBC were retaining rights but this seems to suggest they are.
*may require your device to be "in the UK"
Williams have an interesting sidepod gap. They ran with this gap both covered up and exposed today. Looks like they can vary the size as needed.
The sidepods might be the most aggressive in how they curve downwards.
They should just give Alex Jacques the main commentator role alongside Martin Brundle.
David Croft is absolute shite
It should do. But money talks.
Expect pressure to be applied on all sports to exclude Russia.
Wonder if Mazepin is asked to change his race suit
They should give anyone the main commentator role. Would be preferable to "Crofty".
Will Mazepin have paid Haas up for this year already? Could he tricky getting funds out of Russia into USA or UK or Italy or wherever Haas does their accounting!
I take it Jonathan Legard and James Allen were before your time?
It is bonkers that the only US team in the sport has a car which is essentially a Russian flag...
In the unlikely event that Haas are near the front this year, I wonder how well that car being on the podium in either Miami or Austin would go down.
Anyway, back to testing. Hopefully Haas and Alfa Romeo have a better run today after their issues yesterday
Saw 2 videos from Sky Sports F1's youtube channel yesterday. Both had Craig Slater on (one with Ted Kravitz). In both cases he was bigging up the fact that Lewis Hamilton spent ages looking at the red bull and he didn't make eye contact with Verstappen. Trying to maintain/keep the issue ongoing. So transparent too. At one point also started talking about how George Russell and Lando Norris are the future of F1, then paused before saying in Britain.
I get they are British, but the bias is painful from him and others.
Re. Russia - hopefully the FIA or F1 are quick out to cancel the Russian Grand Prix, but as others have said - money matters...
Depends on the situation. I really doubt F1 could have a race in a war zone. The safety concerns would be very different to ethical concerns. I'm not sure F1 has ethical concerns. It's concerned mostly about whether the host can pay the fees and that almost always overcomes reputational conver. That's about it under normal circumstances. But safety concerns would merit consideration.
They raced in Bahrain when there was political unrest after the race was cancelled the year before. Going way back F1 was one of the last sports to pull out of South Africa during the Apartheid era. Unless there's fighting in Sochi itself the race is likely to go ahead which is shameful.
Well, if there's a danger of planes being shot down, then that's a different situation to Bahraini civillian protesters.
Could also be very damaging to reputation by then. But as you point out with the South African example, F1 is willing to be onnthe wrong side of history, for a few quid.
Well have to wait and see how it goes.
Seb has come out to say he won't be racing in Russia if it still goes ahead. Fair play to him.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/vettel-i-wont-race-in-the-russian-gp-after-ukraine-invasion/8458166/
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