2024 Formula 1 Season thread

[The-Real-Deal82]

Never say never, but a team that has had such success, has invested significantly in its own engine program, and partnered with Ford for "at least" four years (in the latter's own words), isn't likely to vanish overnight.

Even if RB's new power structure isn't as big of a fan of F1 as the previous regime, it's not going to completely throw away that kind of exposure, or brand equity and withdraw completely.

Red Bull have come a long way from Mateschitz being Gerhard Berger's mate and asking him to drink it in the paddock in the late 80's.

I don't think the investment they've made would stop them selling the team though. Honda spent $1bn on their 2009 race car before running away and selling it to Ross Brawn. Red Bull could sell the team and Ford contract, but I don't think it is likely. They've lost a lot of key personnel over the past 6 months and I would imagine there is some serious restructuring going on behind the scenes, but I think they'll stay for a few more years, even if it is to prove they can win without Newey.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Same. I bought a redbull way back before they were in F1 and it was horrible. Cough syrup... ugh.

Now... When I go out drinking with my work friends one of them inevitably buys us a round of "Vegas Car Bombs" and around here that includes RedBull. I shudder when she does that... lol.

We have a different version in Europe called a Jägerbomb which is Jägermeister dropped into a glass of Red Bull. They do taste quite nice but I avoid them if I can lol.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

We have a different version in Europe called a Jägerbomb which is Jägermeister dropped into a glass of Red Bull. They do taste quite nice but I avoid them if I can lol.

Hehehe I always have a bottle of Jägermeister in the freezer, next to the homemade Limoncello. It is such a good chaser and warms you up in winter. I drink plenty of bombs when skiing in the Austrian alps, aprez ski all day long

 

[pachyderm]

We have a different version in Europe called a Jägerbomb which is Jägermeister dropped into a glass of Red Bull. They do taste quite nice but I avoid them if I can lol.

We have that as well.

And it may even be Crown Royal in our Vegas Bomb... I'm not sure...

 

[laptech]

I tried Red Bull in University 20 odd years ago as vodka Red Bull's were the in drink back then. They used to use attractive girls in hot pants to drive round in a Red Bull liveried Mini Cooper with a giant can on the roof. They'd come to the students union and give out cans of it too. Camel used to do similar with cigarettes and also Durex did, with the latter being more useful than the rest lol. Like you though, I don't think I have bought something because I have seen it advertised in F1, apart from a model of Senna's MP4/4 when I was six years old lol (still got that).

Am not sure if it counts but seeing Ferrari in F1 persuaded me to visit the Ferrari store in London's Regent Street many many years ago. I bought two of the cheapest things there because that is all I could afford and it was two lanyards, very similar to what's in the picture. Right at the front of the entrance to the store was one of Michael Schumacher's winning Ferraris but no one was allowed to take photo's because there was a security man there stopping everyone that tried. Up close and personal it was a wonderful machine to look at. I stood there for ages admiring it until the security told me to move on lol.

and then sometime later, in a F1 magazine I saw an advert for a Ferrari themed laptop, the Acer One. I managed to buy a reduced price one. It's a lovely machine

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Am not sure if it counts but seeing Ferrari in F1 persuaded me to visit the Ferrari store in London's Regent Street many many years ago. I bought two of the cheapest things there because that is all I could afford and it was two lanyards, very similar to what's in the picture. Right at the front of the entrance to the store was one of Michael Schumacher's winning Ferraris but no one was allowed to take photo's because there was a security man there stopping everyone that tried. Up close and personal it was a wonderful machine to look at. I stood there for ages admiring it until the security told me to move on lol.
View attachment 2437705

and then sometime later, in a F1 magazine I saw an advert for a Ferrari themed laptop, the Acer One. I managed to buy a reduced price one. It's a lovely machine

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I didn’t buy my Ferrari lanyard because of advertising but here’s mine from the 1999 British Grand Prix. It may have even been free, I can’t remember lol

 

[laptech]

I didn’t buy my Ferrari lanyard because of advertising but here’s mine from the 1999 British Grand Prix. It may have even been free, I can’t remember lol

I am sure the price of entry to the GP was expensive though. Mine was just the cost of train ticket from the South East into London and they the cost of the lanyards. All in all cost me i think about £50

 

[CWallace]

I did buy a Mercedes, but it was in 1986 so neither F1 nor WSC had any impact on that decision. Never drank a Red Bull nor never smoked.

About the only thing F1 has inspired me to buy is team merchandise. 💲

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Well in professional capacity we purchased Computer Associates software, also software from Splunk and Oracle. But I never shop at Jumbo. But I do use cars with active aerodynamics, even a hot V engine, carbon fiber, active dynamic suspension, paddle shifters, and similar hybride power that gives an extra boost.

So yes, plenty of things out of F1.

And yes, before I ended up nearly dead last year I was smoking Marlboro. But no longer.

 

[TheIntruder]

Red Bull have come a long way from Mateschitz being Gerhard Berger's mate and asking him to drink it in the paddock in the late 80's.

I don't think the investment they've made would stop them selling the team though. Honda spent $1bn on their 2009 race car before running away and selling it to Ross Brawn. Red Bull could sell the team and Ford contract, but I don't think it is likely. They've lost a lot of key personnel over the past 6 months and I would imagine there is some serious restructuring going on behind the scenes, but I think they'll stay for a few more years, even if it is to prove they can win without Newey.

Honda withdrew, in keeping with its fickle history, because F1 didn't fit with its desired green image and how that meshed with its core business at the time.

RB is concerned with selling swill, part of a product class that is heavily linked to a certain image and lifestyle, and it's hard to argue that there are better places than F1 to help do that, along with the rest of the sports the company likes to sponsor.

I agree, RBR will exist in some form, whether with a reduced involvement or not. But that's far from the suggestions that the team, or its participation in the sport, will evaporate.

If they wanted to pull back, I could see them unloading Minardi first, and they've openly denied they're going to do that, even if it is a non-performant team that would fetch a nice, tidy return.

 

[pachyderm]

Honda withdrew, in keeping with its fickle history, because F1 didn't fit with its desired green image and how that meshed with its core business at the time.

RB is concerned with selling swill, part of a product class that is heavily linked to a certain image and lifestyle, and it's hard to argue that there are better places than F1 to help do that, along with the rest of the sports the company likes to sponsor.

I agree, RBR will exist in some form, whether with a reduced involvement or not. But that's far from the suggestions that the team, or its participation in the sport, will evaporate.

If they wanted to pull back, I could see them unloading Minardi first, and they've openly denied they're going to do that, even if it is a non-performant team that would fetch a nice, tidy return.

Good shout.

Every time we mention Minardi mentally I go here:

I love this car!

 

[JustinePaula]

If F1 wants to be eco friendly, why not run the entire system off hemp fuel oil? Cars, gennies, trucks, race on hemp-biodiesel? How would that go down in the oil rich region?

 

[laptech]

If F1 wants to be eco friendly, why not run the entire system off hemp fuel oil? Cars, gennies, trucks, race on hemp-biodiesel? How would that go down in the oil rich region?

Well that could not be further from the truth because Europe is pushing to go more eco vehicle friendly, trying to do away with petrol and diesel vehicles and pushing more for electric ones instead. Europe is already putting rules in place to ban petrol and diesel vehicles by a certain number of years which means GP's that are not eco friendly could find themselves been banned due to Europe's progressive eco laws.

 

[CWallace]

Yup. The world has decreed that "electric is the future" for wheeled ground transportation and global motorsport series (like F1) must follow along to both remain relevant with the general public and with the manufacturers.

 

[laptech]

Yup. The world has decreed that "electric is the future" for wheeled ground transportation and global motorsport series (like F1) must follow along to both remain relevant with the general public and with the manufacturers.

There will be countries that will never go eco friendly in my opinion, Russia, China, a number of smaller Asian countries, Australia, India, USA, many African countries, Arab countries and South American countries. GP's will be held in those countries once Europe bans the use of petrol and diesel vehicles.

 

[Apple fanboy]

There will be countries that will never go eco friendly in my opinion, Russia, China, a number of smaller Asian countries, Australia, India, USA, many African countries, Arab countries and South American countries. GP's will be held in those countries once Europe bans the use of petrol and diesel vehicles.

China will. They are producing a lot of EV’s already.
F1 will be using synthetic fuel plus electric soon enough. Even when countries ban petrol (2035 here in the UK for the sale of new cars unless they push it back again as it was 2030), I’m not sure that will apply to motorsport.

I’m pretty sure F1 uses much more fuel getting to each race than it does at the race.

 

[JustinePaula]

Electric Vehicles is so not the solution, they are more of a pollution problem than diesels of the late 40's into the 1950's.. EV is totally the wrong approach.. What fuels are used to generate the power? How much of this is lost in the transmission of power from generator to charge point? How much is lost to heat? The pollution caused by the mining of raw materials, the shipping of the raw materials? EV is sexy and that is not a viable long term solution..

Fossil fuels are endlessly recyclable, we can reuse the oil over and over, and create fresh oil, after all oil is just deceased dinosaurs and old ferns.. But the problems caused by EV, look at Florida now, houses on fire as a result of water, ok salt water and car batteries shorting... It takes weeks if not months, and a lot of water to put out a thermal run away battery...

Can you imagine an F1 race being cancelled cause someone had a crash in the 1st minute of FP1, and they cannot put the fire out for 2 days? The car in in fire in the garage and this shorts out 5 teams equipment? We have seen this sort of thing before with ethanol fuels, it burns without a flame, you feel the heat but cannot see it, it is so hard to fight an enemy you cannot see...

I don't think the bright PHD's at F1 have thought the problem out.. EV is not the solution, it is a problem we don't need..

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Electric Vehicles is so not the solution, they are more of a pollution problem than diesels of the late 40's into the 1950's.. EV is totally the wrong approach.. What fuels are used to generate the power? How much of this is lost in the transmission of power from generator to charge point? How much is lost to heat? The pollution caused by the mining of raw materials, the shipping of the raw materials? EV is sexy and that is not a viable long term solution..

Fossil fuels are endlessly recyclable, we can reuse the oil over and over, and create fresh oil, after all oil is just deceased dinosaurs and old ferns.. But the problems caused by EV, look at Florida now, houses on fire as a result of water, ok salt water and car batteries shorting... It takes weeks if not months, and a lot of water to put out a thermal run away battery...

Can you imagine an F1 race being cancelled cause someone had a crash in the 1st minute of FP1, and they cannot put the fire out for 2 days? The car in in fire in the garage and this shorts out 5 teams equipment? We have seen this sort of thing before with ethanol fuels, it burns without a flame, you feel the heat but cannot see it, it is so hard to fight an enemy you cannot see...

I don't think the bright PHD's at F1 have thought the problem out.. EV is not the solution, it is a problem we don't need..

LOL You should join the EV thread. So many myths and inaccuracies, but we are used to it. One thing is guaranteed, one day you'll drive one and you realise how great it is.

 

[headlessmike]

Electric Vehicles is so not the solution, they are more of a pollution problem than diesels of the late 40's into the 1950's.. EV is totally the wrong approach.. What fuels are used to generate the power? How much of this is lost in the transmission of power from generator to charge point? How much is lost to heat? The pollution caused by the mining of raw materials, the shipping of the raw materials? EV is sexy and that is not a viable long term solution..

Even electricity produced from a dirty power plant is generally still more efficient than burning fuel to run an internal combustion engine. In most car engines, about 80 percent of the fuel's energy is wasted as heat and noise. There was a big announcement a few years ago where the AMG Mercedes F1 team had finally managed to break the 50% barrier for thermal efficiency from a power unit on a test rig. That was under ideal conditions that made the most of the MGU-H and MGU-K. Scrapping of the MGU-H in 2026 will lead to less efficient engines once more. Then of course there is the energy required to extract and refine the fules.

Fossil fuels are endlessly recyclable, we can reuse the oil over and over, and create fresh oil, after all oil is just deceased dinosaurs and old ferns.. But the problems caused by EV, look at Florida now, houses on fire as a result of water, ok salt water and car batteries shorting... It takes weeks if not months, and a lot of water to put out a thermal run away battery...

Can you imagine an F1 race being cancelled cause someone had a crash in the 1st minute of FP1, and they cannot put the fire out for 2 days? The car in in fire in the garage and this shorts out 5 teams equipment?

EV's are definitely not a near term solution for F1. But they've been using power dense batteries in F1 since 2014 and there haven't been any major battery fires.

It is also inefficient to form new carbon-based fuels. F1 is moving towards synthetic replacements to gasoline, but that is unlikely to be a sustainable solution for wide spread adoption on a societal level. EVs using batteries (or possibly fuel cells) is a more efficient way to go.

We have seen this sort of thing before with ethanol fuels, it burns without a flame, you feel the heat but cannot see it, it is so hard to fight an enemy you cannot see...

You're thinking of methanol. Ethanol burns with a clear flame whereas methanol burns with a faint bluish-green flame that is difficult to see in daylight. They used to run methanol in American open-wheel racing and you would occasionally see pit crew members rolling on the ground on fire without any discernible flames. Ethanol fuels on the other hand have been safely used in NASCAR and INDYCAR for years now. Ethanol is a common renewable additive in gasoline, and in many countries pure (E100) or high percentage (e.g., E85) ethanol fuel is common and as safe as gasoline.

 

[laptech]

EV's and fires are not a myth. There have been educational video's posted on youtube from various sources that show a fire department in the US and one from the UK tackling an EV car fire due to the battery catching fire and it took them over an hour to put the fire out. The fire chiefs from both the US and UK said that an EV battery is not built the same as a normal car battery and therefore the normal methods of putting out a car fire cannot be used. One of the things both fire chiefs pointed out is that with a normal car fire it is mainly just combustible material, apart from the car battery which can explode but with a EV car, due to the electrical power of the EV battery and how it is connected to other parts of the car, there is the threat of electrocution if wires have melted and battery wires or parts have made contact with the metal shell of the car. It would mean no fire fighter would be able to touch the car or use anything metal on the car to pry open doors and such because the electrical charge from the car shell would travel down the fire fighting equipment. Even when the flames are gone, car batteries can still be volatile due to the individual components of a battery melting and combining together. Even once the fire of an EV car is out, it would still be extremely dangerous to move because of it's battery.

EV car fires pose a serious problem to fire fighters and as yet they still have not found an effective way of putting out EV car fires.

In my opinion it is only the fire departments who have expressed concern about the safety hazards of EV cars. Car manufacturers and governments do not seem to care. I therefore have no doubt the bosses of F1 have also turned a blind eye to the serious hazards of using EV cars in racing.

 

[JustinePaula]

Thanks for the corrections/updates, however the use of EV as a viable solution in racing or general motoring is a toxic bad idea, using a renewable source should be encouraged, be it sugar, THB oil based diesel, or some hydrogen, not sure, but the use of EV as it is today is not the solution, it is a scam and a fraud. Like saying solar is great, or wind is great, they are not, they are highly toxic and energy wasteful. Most folks don't care about the whole energy used in the whole life of a product, only in the portion they have use of.. They don't care about how much byproduct or waste occurs before and after you us an EV car, or mobile phone..

F1 is painting a very rosy picture, hoping no one questions, I have questions..

 

[pachyderm]

Well that could not be further from the truth because Europe is pushing to go more eco vehicle friendly, trying to do away with petrol and diesel vehicles and pushing more for electric ones instead. Europe is already putting rules in place to ban petrol and diesel vehicles by a certain number of years which means GP's that are not eco friendly could find themselves been banned due to Europe's progressive eco laws.

But not F1's American owners...

 

[laptech]

Thanks for the corrections/updates, however the use of EV as a viable solution in racing or general motoring is a toxic bad idea, using a renewable source should be encouraged, be it sugar, THB oil based diesel, or some hydrogen, not sure, but the use of EV as it is today is not the solution, it is a scam and a fraud. Like saying solar is great, or wind is great, they are not, they are highly toxic and energy wasteful. Most folks don't care about the whole energy used in the whole life of a product, only in the portion they have use of.. They don't care about how much byproduct or waste occurs before and after you us an EV car, or mobile phone..

F1 is painting a very rosy picture, hoping no one questions, I have questions..

The bit in bold is very very true. We all know F1 is driven on extremely fine margins, just 0.1 of a difference can be enough for a team to throw something out and start again. Would this happen to EV batteries in F1 cars? If car is fitted with a new EV battery, preliminary tests are done and it is shown the cars power performance has dropped 0.2% which means over the course of a race the car would end up in 15 place. Is a team going to accept that? hell now, they are going to remove the battery and replace it with a new one until they care the power performance they want. So what happens to all these brand new EV batteries that the team has deemed unusable, are they going to end up in land fill? because they will not be able to be used to other vehicles because their size and shape makes them specifically designed for F1 cars. Are teams going to be recycling conscious when it comes to EV batteries? I do not think so. It will be a case of throw it out and get a new one not caring where the old one has gone.

 

[laptech]

But not F1's American owners...

Europe would just be replaced by US states. GP of Florida, GP of Texas, GP of California, GP of Michigan (something like that). The F1 US owners asking the US government for financial support of course.

 

[Apple fanboy]

EV's and fires are not a myth. There have been educational video's posted on youtube from various sources that show a fire department in the US and one from the UK tackling an EV car fire due to the battery catching fire and it took them over an hour to put the fire out. The fire chiefs from both the US and UK said that an EV battery is not built the same as a normal car battery and therefore the normal methods of putting out a car fire cannot be used. One of the things both fire chiefs pointed out is that with a normal car fire it is mainly just combustible material, apart from the car battery which can explode but with a EV car, due to the electrical power of the EV battery and how it is connected to other parts of the car, there is the threat of electrocution if wires have melted and battery wires or parts have made contact with the metal shell of the car. It would mean no fire fighter would be able to touch the car or use anything metal on the car to pry open doors and such because the electrical charge from the car shell would travel down the fire fighting equipment. Even when the flames are gone, car batteries can still be volatile due to the individual components of a battery melting and combining together. Even once the fire of an EV car is out, it would still be extremely dangerous to move because of it's battery.

EV car fires pose a serious problem to fire fighters and as yet they still have not found an effective way of putting out EV car fires.

In my opinion it is only the fire departments who have expressed concern about the safety hazards of EV cars. Car manufacturers and governments do not seem to care. I therefore have no doubt the bosses of F1 have also turned a blind eye to the serious hazards of using EV cars in racing.

Remember EV fires are extremely rare despite what certain sponsored articles would have you believe. Much less per 10,000 that hybrid or ICE.