New regulations new season....
Can redbull keep up the pace
I was hoping to see them use a different livery this weekend, I did like the white livery last year
this was shared on Reddit after they visited the Honda factory. So the HRC on the nose and Honda on the cover.
History to repeat itself?
Hill was champion in Suzuka in 1996 AFAIK! Suzuka used to be last race of season and many championships were decided there.
https://gpracingstats.com/circuits/suzuka/
Suzuka has hosted the following championship title deciders:
Drivers’ title
Of course all other teams could see what hr was doing. That doesn't take from the point that they left him out to know when to switch Hamilton to slicks. Losing nearly 10seconds a lap isn't a gamble. It means you lose the equivalent to a pitstop in less than 4 laps. Thatsnot a gamble, that's a sure bet (that it's the wrong tyre). Do you honestly think that they thought George would make up the 50 seconds to Magnussen and the other teams wouldn't notice and also pit for slicks. Meaning Georgs would be on old slicks and everyone else on mew slicks and he'd still be 20 seconds behind Magnussen.
How has nobody called out this shambolic strategically inept set of decisions by Mercedes? If Ferrari did this, it would be called out as an enormous mistake. But it wasn't a catastrophic mistake because they left him out to do little more than gather data on conditions.
Russell wasn't left out there by Mercedes to know when to switch Hamilton to slicks - he came on the team radio and said he was sticking with them. Did it help Hamilton? Absolutely, but going by the radio call, he wasn't left out by Mercedes. You also need to factor in where Russell was in 15th when he pitted for slicks and made it up to 11th before his puncture while trying to overtake Schumacher to make it into the points. Given he started from the pits, I would imagine finishing in the points would have been the primary goal which he nearly got.
Suzuka was the last race from 1996, before that Adelaide was last, with Suzuka usually second last.
Your point makes zero sense. How does it benefit Hamilton if Russell was left out if all the other teams could benefit from it too? That’s like playing cards and your opponents seeing what you have. And he asked to stay out, the time he was losing was not 10 seconds each lap, it was getting better and better, he was just the wrong side of the cut off time.
He would also have the tires up to temp, so he would have been much faster had it worked for him, along with the gamble on an SC to bring him back into it all.
Your conspiracy makes no sense at all.
And Honda are back…but never actually left.
sums it up
Honda have this time finally by the skin of their teeth avoided their usual jumping ship after spending all the money just before it pays off.
This could yet turn into a massive run of world championships for them after the hopeless McLaren years.
I would say that is what they are hoping for alright.
Gasly to Alpine confirmed. Multiple year deal.
And De Vries for Alpha Taurie.
I got to announce the double whammy in here cause all you saps are asleep! Finally, living in Canada comes good!
2 seats left to fill so, Haas and Williams. Haas apparently will be either Mick or Nico Hulkenberg, and can't see Mick having helped himself by breaking his car again yesterday.
And Williams apparently have either Logan Sargeant or Jack Doohan lined up. So no more Danny Ric...
Mick binned it in practice and missed a whole session, still managed to beat his teammate, That's a decent recovery.
What I don't understand is why Hulk is linked to all the seats. Been there done that, time for something new comes to mind
Hulk is 35 years old. Doesn't make sense to me.
Yes Danial would be the safer and better driver to have in that seat. Hulk had his chances and binned them. He is a great reserve driver but that's it.
If finances are a factor, not sure Ricciardo would be as quick to take a haircut to Hulkenbergs level even with his form.
Looking forward to Gasly v Ocon. Gasly was getting a lot of plaudits a couple of seasons back off the back of 2020 when the midfield was a lot closely packed with talk of him deserving a better drive. AT took a step back with the new regs and I don’t think he’s been as consistent either with Yuki not being a strong litmus test to comparison. Interesting to see how the dynamic of him and Ocon works out. Would rank Ocon somewhere near the middle of drivers ability wise so interested to see how it goes. Ocon should have an advantage for the first year at least.
The Danniel Ricciardo experiment has been run too. He's out because nobody wants him. Lots of teams had vacancies and none of them have chosen to give him a seat. Time to let him go.
Ricciardo said himself he doesn't be on the grid next year. He's had his good times in F1, he's good craic to have around but F1 is a results sport and he isn't up to scratch for what it would cost to sign him. Maybe a back marker team will want him but it's hard to see him staying in the sport
Alpine paying $10m to Alpha Tauri to get Gasly apparently
Thsts great business for AT. They don't really want Gasley and now they're being paid for him to leave.
Max just announced world Champion 🏆
Wins championship on a Sunday, massive financial penalty for 2023 on a Monday?
Bringing the "tractor on track" discussion over here because it's more of a general issue rather than Japanese GP specific. For me personally, the main problem is that, like with any motorway maintenance equipment in fairness, any vehicle that is authorised to enter the track should be lit up like a Christmas tree. It's the lack of lighting on the tractor that's the problem. For instance if there's a serious incident at Blanchimont near the end of the lap at Spa requiring a speedy extraction to save a driver, you could be waiting over 2 minutes for a car that had just gone through La Source to get around, past the incident and get back to the pits. Do you really just wait behind the barriers for that? Hi viz is crucial to motorway maintenance and should be better here.
Justifiably angry Gasly interview...
You'd imagine FIA will hope this is forgotten about with World champion and the finance stuff tomorrow, but I doubt the drivers will let it slide...
You'd think that the Suzuka authorities would've learnt their lessons following the previous meeting of an F1 driver and one of their tractors
More scary stuff
Not sure I agree that it was a lack of lighting on the tractor that was the main problem - for sure more lights on those types of vehicles can only be a benefit - but it shouldn't have been there in the first place, same goes for the marshal. Not at that moment in those conditions.
More lights might have made Gasly slow down a bit but what if he still lost control and crashed into it or the marshal? If a driver extraction was necessary then you'd have a medical car there before any heavy lifting machines would be on the scene, and presumably all drivers notified there's vehicles on track, red flag, slow right down etc.
I'm not sure what the solution is, maybe when it's in conditions like today and race control see a car has crashed and is sitting on the track then red flag it immediately. Let the drivers know a car is on track and where and to slow right down. I see the FIA are going to investigate it now (wonder how much of that is due to outside pressure) so it will be interesting to see what findings they make. For sure something has to change to stop that happening again.
