F1 2023 thread

Just think there’s too many other potential factors to consider before taking it as a performance indicator.

I reckon there’s an element of shakedown with the short practice time and we have cars like the McLaren that basically aren’t ready yet - I would expect more than a few early season upgrades are on the way.

For sure, it’s something to keep an eye on, and I would love for it to be the case across the season, but we won’t really know if it’s meaningful for a few races.

We need to start an F1 thread Bingo card.

So far we have:

• AMCK ranting about how sh1t sprint races are.
• Quokula trying to argue that Hamilton is the worst driver in the history of the sport.

Only a matter of time before ElDuderino goes on his annual rant about how the Monaco Grand Prix is actually worse than the holocaust.

"All 20 drivers were out at the same time in Q1. Everyone pushed in Q1 to the same extent they always push in any Q1 session." This is hilarious.

Do you actually think that Max is pushing, and in the fastest mode in Q1 as he is in Q3? Compared to lets say Piastri who was struggling all session, and would be going as fast as he can to get out of that session.

Q1 is not a true picture of the field spread at all. It never has been, no matter how many there have been or will be either. Any F1 fan worth their salt would know that.

You are not factoring in the variables at all here though. Teams have a general idea of what time they can achieve and what the delta time will be for the cut off, top teams just build up to this over the laps and leave it all on the table for the final runs in Q3.

The times in Q1 are meaningless for field-spread, because not all cars are running on the same tires at the same time or in the same PU modes either. And at that, the top cars will be playing qualifying poker to ghost the others as well into a false sense of security.

Verstappen did a 1:31.295 in Q1, the slowest time in Q1 was 1:32.181. In Q3 Verstappen did 1:29.708, that is the true field-spread right there.

Ah, you're at nothing. They said it once so they're going to keep saying it over and over.

One thing that we were chatting about watching the race was the lack of poor pay-drivers on the grid this year. It's as strong a grid as I can remember. No Mazepins or Lattifis. The rookies are decent this year. Zhou and Sargent are helped by the fact that they offer access to their home country's market. But they aren't bad drivers. Stroll is a special category of pay driver but his experience means he's not terrible either.

Looking at last years Sakir quali, (if you exclude Lattifi) the gap from first to last in q1 was 1.6s and q3 was 2.5 seconds.

The grid is closer this year and partly due to culling the poorest drivers.

Good point, and another variable in the measuring of how close the field is. Either way, you get the impression that if things were to close up a tad, RB would ramp it up anyway. Their advantage over the field is bigger now than at any point last season, they have gained more over the winter than their closest rivals so field-spread is of no matter really.

Yeah I admire him for pushing through the pain and doing a decebt job at the weekend. Wrist operation and a broken toe is no joke.

It doesn't make me think he's a good driver. He's experienced. He's in the top 60 most experienced f1 drivers of all time.

He battled past Russell but the suggestion is that the AM is actually really good and it was good enough for alonso to get to third (though he would probably have been 4th behind Leclerc) . It seems very easy on tyre wear so you'd expect them to be at their best in the final stint of the race.

We'll see how it pans out through the season.

I've been saying for years that he's the most underrated driver on the grid - not that he's absolute top tier but he's generally been very unfairly maligned because of his dad. It's true that he probably wouldn't have got to F1 and stayed there without that support in the early days, but he's gained experience and applied himself very well. He's consistently put in respectable performances relative to very strong teammates in varying cars in recent years.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him run very close to Fernando once he's fully recovered and up to speed. There's a lot of understandable hype around Alonso and it's great to see him finally in a car that's worthy of his talent again, but the reality is that even all time greats can't defeat the march of time and he isn't getting any younger. It's not like he had a whole lot in hand over Ocon and I wouldn't rate Lance any lower than Esteban, though I'm sure Alonso will have a level of motivation this year that he lacked in the Alpine.

In terms of pay drivers, Stroll is below Norris but above any of the other recent ones. I have no doubt he’ll be challenging for the odd podium this season in that car. He will finish well behind Alonso you’d imagine.

Stroll does get brought up more than the other ones because the other ones haven’t had their dads buy an F1 team outright! And you get the feeling that it doesn’t matter how slow he is, his is one of the safest seats in the sport.

this made me laugh (I agree with you by the way), "It doesn't make me think he's a good driver. He's experienced. He's in the top 60 most experienced f1 drivers of all time."

that list on wiki?

I think you're the one exaggerating.

Yes, technically he beat the rookie Sirotkin, but they were very evenly matched https://www.redbull.com/au-en/f1-team-mate-battles

Massa was miles faster than him, but due to bad luck this wasn't reflected in the points. e.g. Massa was on course for a win in Azerbaijan only for a mechanical, which meant Stroll got his first podium. Bear in mind, this was Massa's last season, i.e. he wasn't deemed good enough for another season in F1.

Perez was on the same level as Hulk. Ocon was more than a match for him.

Vettel was beaten by Ricciardo and LeCelrc, so hardly on the level he once was.

Alonso is probably at least 2 or 3 years past his prime, but I'd still put all my money on him beating Stroll this year.

Yep, he is a solid driver. No question. This year will really see what he's made of.

I guess for a lot of people, it is the sheer vastness of the spend though. Most pay drivers just buy their seats. The Stroll's seem to buy teams. $80 million just to get to F1 + whatever the payment to Williams was for the first few years + a reported £90 million for Racing Point (which had £15 million in debt) and another £212 million for Aston Martin.

(I know the Racing Point and Aston take-overs were investment funds which Stroll heads, but still).

That is a lot. Even by F1 pay driver standards. It's insane.

Yes, he is a very solid driver at the end of it all. But I understand why, for some people, the asterisk keeps popping up next to his results.

that site is amazing... they have a stat on everything you can think of... you're right, is it verifiable? but its a lot of fun....Stroll is more experienced than Damon Hill... 😂

and what about this: