The king is dead, long live the king.
Only 102 days to lights out for 2023..
It will be a totally new set of engine regs though, so it is a blank slate for the lot.
Plus, Ford have at least won in F1 before, Audi are completely new to F1. I would have them worse off.
He's not getting any slower
Ford won't be doing anything with the engine really, it'll be red bull power trains doing the heavy lifting there...
I'm just glad Alonso is in a car, not on a bike, Joey Dunlop showed the younger guys his back wheel for years till the odds caught up.
Edit
Died age 48.
I disagree. I don't think Ocon would have gotten within an ass's roar of the Fernando of a decade ago. Sure, he's beating Stroll handily, but that's hardly an achievement. Don't get me wrong, I think he's still better than most, but definitely past his peak.
I'm just excited to see what chaos Alonso creates while at Aston
4 podiums in 5 races, I would respectfully disagree.
Yes you are probably right.
Yes that is true.
It shall be interesting to see.
He's taken a different tack this time at AM. He's incredibly positive about the team and gives Stroll far more praise than he deserves. Its so over the top it almost sounds patronising. But I presume he's just doing it to flatter the Strolls.
Great record but he's in the second best race car and is far faster than his teammate. So assuming the red Bulls are in front, third is about right for Alonso.
He's probably not quite as sharp as he was a decade ago. But still one of the topfew drivers on the grid. When he was at his peak he was in a different class similar to Max at the moment.
So he's much much quicker now than he was for the past several years? Or... maybe the car is the biggest factor here?
I'm not saying he's not still very very good, just that in his 40s he's inevitably past his peak. Fernando's peak was so high though that he's still better than most.
Marko says NDV has 3 races to improve or Danny Ric gets the seat
Ricciardo apparently was offered Haas this year, but they couldn't afford him and he wanted a competitive car.
Does driving for AT help him back into Perez's seat?
The car is always a factor. I don't think he has lost any speed, if anything he is probably wiser now and in a different era of F1.
We could well have our first driver change of the season by Spain it seems.
Is Ricciardo a long term option? I was thinking if De Vries gets the boot the seat would go to Liam Lawson next year
Lawson is doing really well at the minute in Super Formula. Sky had mentioned that it would be a good idea for him to see that through before F1 so he is better prepared. As for Ric, he will probably jump at any seat there is, his chances of getting into RB next year are super slim right now.
He is, I'd assume he's contracted to super formula for the season but I'd be surprised if he didn't end up at Alpha Tauri. Iwasa has also been driving very well too
There are conflicting reports now that Lawson would replace and not Ricciardo.
Silly season has come early it seems.
Knowing there's potentially two or maybe three drivers that could take his place might be the kick up the arse he needs
Red Bull treat their drivers like Premier League owners treat there managers. Marko is ruthless. Ricciardo got two years at McLaren before they gave him the boot for underperforming. How many races would he get in an Alpha Tauri before Marko decides he's not up to it either? The Alpha Tauri car itself is no great shakes so sacking De Vries won't get them much further up the grid. Any other team would give him until the end of the season at least.
Yeah but... firing one driver in a season looks like the driver made a balls of it. Firing 2 drivers in a season looks like AT made a balls of it.
Ricciardo will be a different driver in that car given the chance. Everyone acknowledges the McLaren has in built odd characteristics.
Its gas looking at some of the older threads in here from 2005 and 2006.
Was there no General discussion threads back then? I could not find any. Just one from 2005 about the disgrace F1 had made of itself at the 2005 American race and who should be sacked which never happened.
Also one from early 2006 about who will win the Championship that year and not one person had voted for Alonso that year which is crazy considering he had just won it in 2005.
Everyone thought it would be Schumacher or Kimi or Montoya.
It seems like a whole different World looking back at them. So different back then. I always felt so sorry for Kimi. He came so close in the Mclaren so many times except for the terrible reliability of it he should have been at least a 3 or 4 time WDC winner but at least he got one with Ferrari.
I wonder what he is doing these days?
Max Verstappen is currently competing in the Nurburgring 24h (sim racing) and coming 3rd. One of his WDC trophies is sitting on a fridge in view..
For those unaware Max does a lot of sim racing and is exceptionally good at it. Man is an absolute machine when it comes to racing. Beyond obsessive.
It's a wonder he's not affiliated with any of these SIM teams I half know about.
Lando Norris has this Team Quadrant on the go who occasionally have their logo on his helmet and Lewis Hamilton has a long running association with Gran Turismo.
He’s part of Team Redline. 🙂
The next three weekends will be busy busy.
San Marino: 21st May.
Monaco: 28th May.
Spain: 4th June.
