New regulations new season....
Can redbull keep up the pace
Yeah alonso had poor luck at the start. He's not the racer he once was, but still very respectable. About even with Ocon on pace.
Alonso has had brilliant race start technique. He doesn't lunge at the first corner, he tends to make the ground by taking very wide lines in turns 2 and 3 and so on. And takes advantage of the drivers who are battling on the inside of the corners. He gets the power down early for great acceleration and takes positions down the straight before the next corner.
He did it brilliantly on the first lap yesterday.
That aged well
Can anyone see Mick Schumacher replacing Perez next year?
Let's take a look at Ricciardo. He could have stayed at Renault/Alpine and have been number one there. Look where he is now in the sport.
As for Alonso, well he's taken a step backwards by joining Aston.
That's two marquee drivers they've lost in 3 seasons too, not a great look really.
Didn't Alonso have rotten luck at the start of the season? It does feel like he should be ahead of Ocon. The Alpine seems to qualify well but slips back in race. The Aston qualifies terribly most of the time but Vettel atleast seems to be able to drag it back into p10 territory.
Alpine losing their better driver in my opinion. Get a bit of a surprise whenever I look at the standings and see Ocon ahead of him. Even if the Alpine improves next season, don’t see Ocon/Piastri competing with the drivers above them.
Alpine feels geared towards Ocon at this stage which probably didn’t help. Presume the money and security was better.
The Alonso news certainly stirs the pot again, to be fair Aston Martin made a raft of personnel hirings from the likes of red bull and Merc and are building a new facility so maybe they are one to watch in a few years, perhaps they persuaded alonso next seasons car will be closer to the top of the field? Who knows. I imagine the salary was the main draw however.
Piastri assumably gets his F1 shot next season so, but was the rumour not Renault giving Williams an enticing engine deal to get Piastri a seat with them next season? That's obviously out the window now, will merc look for de vries to get that seat now? Surely Latifis, money and all, time in F1 can't continue.
Mad to think Stroll was in the Ferrari driver academy. And that the Ferrari driver academy couldn't afford decent t-shirts...
Well I certainly did not see that coming from Alonso and Aston Martin. I am very disappointed in Alonso. I was disappointed when he left Renault all those years ago to go to Mclaren and am disappointed in him again. Maybe Aston Martin have convinced him they will do great things next year but I doubt it.
It would not surprise me if Alpine had a great car next year.
Alonso just making another bad decision such a pity. He could and should have been at least a 5 time WDC had he played his cards right.
All the talk has been Alonso wanting 2 seasons and Alpine only offering 1. So that's a simple move for Alonso. Assume Piastri goes to Alpine, Ricciardo stays put, as you were for everyone else except Latifi gone and replaced by somebody new.
Not a great signing for Aston Martin, Alonso has his good moments still but feels like a money signing. Piastri will surely get the Alpine seat he probably should have got a seat for this season, Gasly is signed up till 2024 I think
Alpine offered a 1 year deal. Alonso wanted 2 going by SM reports.
Piastri to Alpine and that leaves the 2nd Williams seat as the only one available for 2023 AFAIK
The rest seem to be done deals
It turns out that he has all the options on that contract. Mclaren doesn't have any option. His statement last week was more or less him telling Mclaren that he's staying and they'd have to buy him out to make him leave. It was more aggressive than the tone suggested.
With the AM seat filled, there's an opened at Alpine but presumably they'll want their own rookie for that seat. Ocon is doing pretty well in the other seat so he'll need to step up to lead driver status. Huge opportunity for him.
Alonso’s career is just a litany of bad signing decisions, what difference will one more make.
It is one of the great tragedies of the last decade of F1 that we never again got to see the most talented driver of his generation and one of the greatest of all time fight for race wins, championships or even podiums most of the time. It’ll be sad to see him see out his career in another piece of crap as bad as the McLaren Honda. He’s not going to be able to work any more miracles than Vettel has.
Piastri to Alpine is a done deal I presume.
Alonso to AM doesn’t make sense to me. Alpine are quicker than them
Also, the Ferrari strategists need to be taken out back and shot
Given how close it is to the Vettel retirement call I'd imagine Alonso knew he was leaving Alpine for a while now. Whether it's a move made by Alonso or not we'll not know for a while, but I'd suspect Alpine may have an eye on the future and told him they weren't renewing his contract next season.
Piastri or maybe Gasly?
Alonso has been past it since his final year at McLaren. His driving is now ragged and error prone like the typical fortysomething. I wonder did Vettel leave of his own volition or was he pushed? It's not a very progressive appointment by Aston Martin. Stroll acts like some Premier League club owner who believes marquee signings will guarantee success on the field.
Oscar Piastri surely
Oscar Piastri seems to be the hot favourite. Renault have no association with any other F1 team so Alpine is the only target for their young driver programme.
Free slot in Alpine for who?
Alonso might still be driving well, but he's already past his prime. Both Strolls are probably hoping that his pace will have deteriorated enough that Lance can almost match him, so they can once again say that he's roughly on the same level as a multiple world champion, as they did last year.
Riccardo has a contract for next year with McLaren
Stroll junior must be 💩ing himself
Wow, that’s a surprise! It’s also a strange one, another ageing ex-champ.
Probably bad new for Ricciardo too, one of the more realistic seats for him next year now gone.
$$$$$$$$$$
AM finished right behind Alpine yesterday. I wonder if Alonso figures that maybe Apline have maxed out their potential
wow didn't see that coming
Sky will have it live.
C4 will only have the highlights later this evening.
How can I watch the Hungarian GP race live?
Is Now TV Sky sports day pass my best option?
The F1 site says C4 has the GP but looking at the TV listing it's only the highlights
Robert Shwartzmann would surely get the Haas seat, he's the ferrari test driver. He was Micks team mate in F2, he races under the Israeli flag because the whole banning Russians
