F1 2023 thread

I keep thinking of De Vries as a young driver but he’s 28! Its a shame for him that the seat he got seems to be the worst AT in a while, very unlikely to see him outside of a reserve role again.

But the Ricciardo move makes sense for RB. A clear message to Sergio about his performance. I know Ricciardo saw no point last year in getting a non-competitive seat, so I presume he’s looking at this as an opportunity to put himself in the frame for next year beside Max.

It's the moment of truth for him, but there isn't much risk to it. He's already 34 so if he continued out of the sport for a couple of seasons, he was finished anyway. Now he gets a chance to prove himself and earn a drive for next year. If he messes up, he's only back to square 1 and out of the sport. He has almost nothing to lose.

He has to finish ahead of his team mate.

Anything else is weekend specific imo. The haas can be hit and miss from track to track.

i think you might have to.....

Dani gets to race in Vegas that's all he ever wanted anyway.

While Logan isn't an out and out pay driver like Latifi was, he's still bringing in more bucks then DeVries would have been.

Think Red Bull are doing it the right way by trialing him in Alpha Tauir. They seem to be at little to no loss while Perez holds onto second, especially when Max could probably wrap up the championship on his own.

He’s a likeable guy but I honestly don’t think Ricciardo has earned a move straight back into Red Bull. Compared poorly to Norris last season. 17/18 Ricciardo you could easily argue was peak Ricciardo whereas 17/18 Verstappen was very raw and was the match of him at that stage.

Good to see him back on the grid with a chance to progress. Glad De Vries was given a go too. Decent cameo last year in a back marker but didn’t work out.

Yes. Perez brings loads of money from a Mexican billionaire named Carlos Slim. I've heard ad much as 20 or even 30 million dollars. But I don't pretend to know.

In any case, Perez brings considerable money to the contract discussion. It pays perez wages and then leave loads for the team.

Do red Bull want anyone to challenge max within the team though?

I'd be sure Red bull would be happy with Perez finishing top 5 consistently but not being anywhere Max in races. So a few blips recently get sorted out in 2nd half of season and that's a big call to make re Perez v Danny Ric

Probably not challenge, and to be fair only maybe Norris or Leclerc could in the same car right now.

RB probably do want a driver who is more consistent at least, Perez has not done well enough with the car he has. It is the class of the field, and he gets knocked out in Q1 for 5 races in a row.

Perez has been very poor in qualifying the last few races but that doesn't really tell the whole story. He's still second in the championship with 19 points to spare. He has two wins, two second places and a third. Red Bull don't really need him to do much more, bar start qualifying better. If he qualifies better then he should be back on the podiums regularly again. They don't need a driver that will try and challenge Max. They just need someone to be best of the rest.

Ricciardo on the other hand was poor for two years, bar Italy, and then got sacked, so it's a bit early to be talking about him taking Perez seat. Ricciardo could easily flop at Alpha Tauri as the car won't be any better than the McLaren. It could be considerably more difficult to drive. Time will tell whether he still has it or not. It's last chance saloon either way.

Ricciardo on the other hand was poor for two years, bar Italy, and then got sacked, so it's a bit early to be talking about him taking Perez seat. Ricciardo could easily flop at Alpha Tauri as the car won't be any better than the McLaren. It could be considerably more difficult to drive. Time will tell whether he still has it or not. It's last chance saloon either way.

I think it will suit him better. Just a little over a week till we find out anyway.

Hamilton and Russell are pretty evenly matched. Hamilton is probably more consistent than Russell.

Hard to argue that Russell would challenge max without alos concluding Hamilton would do the same

Saying Piastri had a terrible start to the season is very harsh, he hasn't been that far off Norris if you look through the results. Norris has more points but he's been finishing low in the points until he got the upgrades in Austria which Piastri didn't have but he got of the upgrades for Silverstone and had plenty of pace