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2023 Formula 1 Season thread
- Thread starter Apple fanboy
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Do you even watch F1? Perez had to follow team orders many times to help Max and sacrified his own race.
But as soon Perez is the situation where he needs the help of Max, Max does not need to follow team orders, despite Max having secured the championship already.
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Yes, I frequently watch it, also go in person. Pérez is good, just not fast enough to catch Max, that is the basics. It was shown yesterday, it has been shown before. And neither can other good drivers like Leclerc nor Sainz or Alonso or Hamilton. They aren't on team orders.
You state it like it is some kind of fact, it is not. It is just your interpretation of what you think you see. I don't see it that way. If his race pace is such that he can overtake and exceed, then he will and can.
For all the ‘look how close they are in qualifying’ it was a dominant display from RBR.
Shame the gap was so big. But with the rest of the field so close, you can see Max having it down up even earlier this year.
A complicit numbed two, the rest of the field trading podiums each week will all assist. Really hoping for a few DNF’s for him to keep it interesting.
But with no Schumacher or Latifi to lap, not much chance he’ll get taken out in the race!
Shame the gap was so big. But with the rest of the field so close, you can see Max having it down up even earlier this year.
A complicit numbed two, the rest of the field trading podiums each week will all assist. Really hoping for a few DNF’s for him to keep it interesting.
But with no Schumacher or Latifi to lap, not much chance he’ll get taken out in the race!
Yup, seems like it. One super dominant team and the rest will battle it out for third and below. Congratulations to Aston Martin though, would be nice to have them disturb the order a little.
As others have noted, Russel can claim he does have the pace on Lewis, but he needs to show it (via the telemetry) and show it for more than a lap or two.
It was true that George suffered by pitting second, but as I understand it, Mercedes swaps pit stop priority between the drivers and Lewis had the priority this race and George will have it at Saudi Arabia.
If Perez does not want to be the #2 driver, all he has to do is consistently outperform Max in the simulator, in testing, in Free Practice, in Qualifying and in the race itself. But he hasn't been able to do so (at least consistently) in any of those situations.
Max started 1st and was 1st at the exit of the first corner even though LeClerc had a quicker reaction time off the line and out-accelerated Max from 0 to 200km/h. Perez not only allowed LeClerc to fly past him at the start, he also was too slow to prevent Sainz from getting alongside him and forcing him to hand him the position so he went from 2nd to 4th at the first corner exit. Perez also finished 12 seconds behind Max, and it was only that "close" because Max significantly dialed back his performance to reduce stress on the engine, drivetrain and chassis.
So when you have a driver who is clearly better than the other, of course you are going to favor them since the point of the sport is to win and score points. Irvine and Barrichello were #2 to Schumacher because they was not as good. Same with Patrese to Mansell at Williams. And so it is with Perez and Verstappen.
Indeed, the difference between Max, Lewis and other multiple Champions is their consistency to beat their team mates. It’s not just in seasons or races but across all sessions etc. Perez was nowhere near Max yesterday and unless he gets closer on a consistent basis, nobody can really demand he has any kind of equal footing when it comes to strategy and order. Russell was faster than Lewis for a short period yesterday too but again, the race was longer than a few laps and he wasn’t close enough to get past and make it stick.
For me these are the big takeaways from yesterday:
Mercedes have a lot more work ahead of them than they thought. The W14 is not where it should be. Clearly the Benz engine, gearbox and suspension aren't the problem... Alonso showed us that. Its all the other parts that make up the W14 that need work. I think they need to abandon their "zeropods" and look at what Aston and RBR are doing right. I hope they can work it out but I don't think this is a quick fix... maybe they can get on the right track by Silverstone but probably not before then. Cost cap will be an issue on this car for sure.
Ferrari didn't solve their problems with sacking Binotto. Clearly there are still quality control and reliability issues here. Charles car was literally falling apart this weekend and the engine gave up on the first race. Strategy wise they didn't handle Sainz well. He was in good position but they were pushing the limits of the tires which cost them a podium.
I don't know what or how Aston have done it but they have a heck of a car on their hands right now. The car is so good that even Stroll looked good, apart from when he bumped Alonso.
McLaren have proven what we all knew all along. It was never Danny. It was always the car. They would have been better off keeping Danny and investing that $18 million into the development of the car. I can only imagine how big Danny's smile was yesterday.
Two weeks till we get to do it all again!
Mercedes have a lot more work ahead of them than they thought. The W14 is not where it should be. Clearly the Benz engine, gearbox and suspension aren't the problem... Alonso showed us that. Its all the other parts that make up the W14 that need work. I think they need to abandon their "zeropods" and look at what Aston and RBR are doing right. I hope they can work it out but I don't think this is a quick fix... maybe they can get on the right track by Silverstone but probably not before then. Cost cap will be an issue on this car for sure.
Ferrari didn't solve their problems with sacking Binotto. Clearly there are still quality control and reliability issues here. Charles car was literally falling apart this weekend and the engine gave up on the first race. Strategy wise they didn't handle Sainz well. He was in good position but they were pushing the limits of the tires which cost them a podium.
I don't know what or how Aston have done it but they have a heck of a car on their hands right now. The car is so good that even Stroll looked good, apart from when he bumped Alonso.
McLaren have proven what we all knew all along. It was never Danny. It was always the car. They would have been better off keeping Danny and investing that $18 million into the development of the car. I can only imagine how big Danny's smile was yesterday.
Two weeks till we get to do it all again!
You can count on it. The AMR 23 is an outstanding chassis, aero, PU package.
They made the most of the off season. They did hire a couple design engineers from RBR which probably was a positive. RBR doesn’t seem to miss them though.
As long as Mercedes supplies them with PU’s that can make almost the same power as George and Lewis’ AMR will be able to catch Ferrari very soon.
Simply and outstanding Winter for them.
Since 2018 the FIA requires all Customer Engines to be identical in spec to the Factory Engine and in addition to the engine, Aston Martin sources the gearbox and rear-suspension from Mercedes, as well.
The way they are going by next year it might be the driver as well!
I understand that. However, I’ve never felt they were 1-1. Regardless of the manufacturer.
Too late for that. It’s still those dam funky Sidepods. Lewis had allot of understeer all race from taking off a ton of downforce to try and pick up straight line speed. The result when they do that is what bit them in the rear end. Allot of tire deg on exit with anything but hards. Just can’t put power down on exit without cooking the tires.
The W14 will be impossible to get a consistent setup for each track. If it wasn’t George and Lewis driving it would have been outside the Top 10.
They will make improvements though. Toto will continue to age quicker to offset whatever happened over the winter to make him look 15years younger. 😉
If this article is true they may already be working on "plan b" in hopes of getting it on the track as soon as possible https://www.planetf1.com/news/toto-wolff-mercedes-alternate-in-wind-tunnel/
Full Meltdown Mode. Lewis will not be driving for Mercedes in 2023 if at all.
Mercedes 'hold emergency meeting' at their factory after Bahrain GP
Mercedes are said to have discussed their issues in depth, while technical director Mike Elliott was given an ultimatum as they plan for the reminder of the 2023 season, according to Formu1a.uno .
www.dailymail.co.uk
Full Meltdown Mode. Lewis will not be driving for Mercedes in 2023 if at all.
Mercedes 'hold emergency meeting' at their factory after Bahrain GP
Mercedes are said to have discussed their issues in depth, while technical director Mike Elliott was given an ultimatum as they plan for the reminder of the 2023 season, according to Formu1a.uno .www.dailymail.co.uk
Allison back in charge of technical direction but there is no quick fix.
Don’t believe the Daily Fail’s sensationalist tabloid journalism though, they are on par with The Scum.
Clearly Mercedes have gone backwards and for a team with their resources and reliability, this is unacceptable from a Board point of view.
A shame, he should have retired from F1 back in 2021. Although beaten in the world championship, it would have still been a high. Now in the second year it’s not looking any better. An amazing career like his should not end going down like it is. He’s got so many other opportunities he could pursue, and should recognise it’s time to do so.Full Meltdown Mode. Lewis will not be driving for Mercedes in 2023 if at all.
Mercedes 'hold emergency meeting' at their factory after Bahrain GP
Mercedes are said to have discussed their issues in depth, while technical director Mike Elliott was given an ultimatum as they plan for the reminder of the 2023 season, according to Formu1a.uno .www.dailymail.co.uk
No matter the Oscar winning thank everyone speeches etc. That doesn’t make things better. It’s requires some straight talking and fire in the team and action.
Blimey I think I need better news sources. It’s all about Mercedes. The next race is going to be interesting; hopefully they pull something out of the bag as otherwise the news will be for many more weeks about the ones who are just performing slightly better than average.
Maybe they should brake the cost cap significantly and take the penalty and redevelop a different car and get some other drivers.
Maybe they should brake the cost cap significantly and take the penalty and redevelop a different car and get some other drivers.
I don't think the issue for Benz is their drivers. its the car and the fact they went out of their way to stick with a design that wasn't competitive in the first place. They had already invested so much time and effort in the W13 that starting fresh on the W14 seemed like the bigger mountain for them to climb. Now they have realized the mistake and its likely too late to be competitive this year. But like we saw last year the penalty for breaking the cap is pretty minor so yeah, maybe thats what they should do. I still beleive Hamilton and Russell are both more than capable drivers. They just need a car that can perform.
I’m not convinced about the drivers. The car is still a lot better than most. But we’ll never know.
I don’t think the penalty was minor. Exceeding the budget by only 420K resulted in a 7M fine. That is pretty significant for such a small non intentional overspend.
I hope some of the other teams can step in the void. Would be awesome if Aston Martin gets more points.
The W13 looked like it was making strides towards the back-end of the season, but perhaps that view was flattered by Ferrari continuing to stuff things up...
It is probably not easy to just bin an entire design since it's all about evolution now. The last time I can think of a chassis being outright scrapped was the McLaren MP4-18 in 2003 (which never competed), but even that design heavily influenced the MP4-19 campaigned in 2004.
It is probably not easy to just bin an entire design since it's all about evolution now. The last time I can think of a chassis being outright scrapped was the McLaren MP4-18 in 2003 (which never competed), but even that design heavily influenced the MP4-19 campaigned in 2004.