Vegas was on a Saturday night last year wasn't it, although that would ahve been Sunday for everyone that wasn't in the Americas. I was in India at the time and it was a Sunday lunchtime start for me.
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F1 2024
- Thread starter Quinny
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Vegas was on a Saturday night last year wasn't it, although that would ahve been Sunday for everyone that wasn't in the Americas. I was in India at the time and it was a Sunday lunchtime start for me.
That's true, another earlier kick-off than we would likely ever see in the Championship!
Max wins, I'll save you the hassle of waiting for Saturday
First race done and no posts on here, probably sums it up to be fair!
Where are the positives? Well it is a lot closer than last year, that track is perfect for Red Bull in many many ways and both Ferrari and Mercedes had issues that slowed both cars down. Mclaren have a big upgrade coming for Miami but so do Red Bull for Suzuka.
Is the main thing to cling on to the thought that Max might not be at Red Bull next year? Christian will be crying in to his coco pops if that happens.
Where are the positives? Well it is a lot closer than last year, that track is perfect for Red Bull in many many ways and both Ferrari and Mercedes had issues that slowed both cars down. Mclaren have a big upgrade coming for Miami but so do Red Bull for Suzuka.
Is the main thing to cling on to the thought that Max might not be at Red Bull next year? Christian will be crying in to his coco pops if that happens.
Same as last year really, really good race if you ignore Max out in front. Worrying thing is that Max was pulling a gap and still managed to go further on the soft tyres than anyone else.
As for the Horner situation, I have a feeling that Jos Verstappen is helping engineer CH’s exit after they had a big falling out a few weeks before all this started.
As for the Horner situation, I have a feeling that Jos Verstappen is helping engineer CH’s exit after they had a big falling out a few weeks before all this started.
Genuine question, I’m not trying to be provocative. I’ve tried to get interested in F1 as I find most car related subjects interesting, but I can’t help but share Sterling Moss’s assertion that winning F1 has become 90% car, 10% driver. The result is therefore so predictable for long periods that my interest stays a bit remote. Am I alone in this?
You’re far from alone in this, but maybe alone amongst the few who use this thread.
I think you’re right about the best car wins. However, the best drivers will end up in the best cars and when you get a season where the quickest cars are fairly evenly matched, you get a cracking season. You also have to take into account that there are 2 drivers in each team so you have a comparison there, even when there is a car head and shoulders above the rest. Look at how Perez compares with Verstappen and how Bottas compared with Hamilton.
F1 is a bit marmite, you either love it or hate it. Personally, I love it even when it’s a bit dull.
It's curious how only once in the 20th century did a driver win four consecutive titles (I think - Fangio in the early 50s), but it's happened three times already since 2000: Schumacher, Vettel and Hamilton, and presumably Verstappen this year.
I suppose it's largely due to the amazing improvements in reliability, because in pure stopwatch terms the racing has never been closer. But I do wish we could have a run of new champions - like between 2005 and 2010, when we had Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Button and Vettel all winning maiden titles, each with different teams.
I suppose it's largely due to the amazing improvements in reliability, because in pure stopwatch terms the racing has never been closer. But I do wish we could have a run of new champions - like between 2005 and 2010, when we had Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Button and Vettel all winning maiden titles, each with different teams.
Reliability has definitely changed the sport. The majority of F1 races have been dull so far as overtaking and racing goes. Difference is that the lead car would often crap out leaving someone else to inherit the lead.
Also the tarmac run off areas mean that a mistake will lose you a couple of seconds and maybe a place. On Saturday, Charlie, Lewis and a few others would have been out of the race at turn 9. It could be argued that it keeps people in the race and more cars in the race the better, but I prefer the jeopardy when drivers cannot afford a mistake.
Also the tarmac run off areas mean that a mistake will lose you a couple of seconds and maybe a place. On Saturday, Charlie, Lewis and a few others would have been out of the race at turn 9. It could be argued that it keeps people in the race and more cars in the race the better, but I prefer the jeopardy when drivers cannot afford a mistake.
Even when the cars are not that far apart in performance it is still too difficult to overtake so overtaking in the pits has become a thing. If they narrowed the tyres (and thus the cars) grip would be more of a problem and there would be more space to overtake.
GreenThing is absolutely right in response to your question. The gap between the two Red Bull drivers shows the car isn't quite 90%.
Max Verstappen beats everyone, including Sergio Perez in the same car. George Russell stood in for Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain 2020 and only finished behind the other Mercedes because of a mistake by the team. I was a big fan of Mark Webber, but he was seldom very close to Vettel throughout the seasons when Vettel won his four titles.
Unfortunately, the only way to find out how much the car/driver matters is for Red Bull to replace Perez with Fernando Alonso, and that doesn't seem all that likely.
I don't disagree about the difficulty of overtaking, but cars waiting until the pitstops to gain track position has been a thing for a good 30 years now. I thought it was interesting that Damon Hill's suggestion this weekend is to remove the front wings from the cars in order to reduce outwash and make following easier. (Which is maybe why he kept trying to remove his against Michael Schumacher's Benetton in 1995.)
They tried reducing grip levels in the late 90s with those rubbish grooved slicks and it didn't make a massive difference - I think aerodynamics are more of the issue rather than mechanical grip, personally.
I really like the track in Saudi, it looks like great fun to drive but its bloody dangerous!
Really interested to see how Ollie Bearman gets on this weekend, must be a chance he races in Australia in 2 weeks time too. Shocking for his F2 title chances but what an opportunity for his future career!
