2024 Formula 1 Season thread

[cyb3rdud3]

I’m not relieved. I don’t think they are totally incompetent at all. Max had a good race, but not a good weekend running up to it. The rain was a great leveller and helped him show his skills.

Personally I’m not convinced the car is better yet. Checo is no help in the team and can just be discounted. The next races will be dry, very unlikely to have similar conditions. It’s not over yet, especially not when the competition can work as a team. Max will always be max, doesn’t play poker well. All they need to do is have one press his buttons and the other be ready to pounce and take the advantage.

Now will be the moment to see whether McLaren, Lando, and the Oscar have the championship attitude.

In my opinion Red Bull is at a disadvantage for the remaining races. And very lucky Max was Max in Brasil to improve the bufferzone.

So a few more exciting weeks to go. 👍

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

As does the "anti-british" bias.

What he did was stupid. If you had the same feed as me, Sky on espn, even the announcers weren't clear on what was going to happen next and then Lando took off which also baffled the announcers and we viewers. Lando got a fine. What more do you want? Jail time? Shouldn't it suffice to say that Lando is a prisoner of his own foibles and his lack of ability to beat Max.

I think until there is a procedure where incidents are penalised based on what the Verstappen fan club feel is appropriate, and how it benefits them, we just have to rely on the sporting code. Remember when we had calls for penalties to be decided based on the severity of an accident, rather than the cause a few years ago? The more I read lately and how tribal F1 has become, the more I realise how awful the effects of Netflix and social media have had on the sport.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

I think until there is a procedure where incidents are penalised based on what the Verstappen fan club feel is appropriate, and how it benefits them, we just have to rely on the sporting code. Remember when we had calls for penalties to be decided based on the severity of an accident, rather than the cause a few years ago? The more I read lately and how tribal F1 has become, the more I realise how awful the effects of Netflix and social media have had on the sport.

This Max fan agrees. That is all I’m asking for that it is in accordance with the regulations and code, and with some common sense. As do most when you read there responses. At the moment it is just farcical.

 

[sunapple]

Couldn't agree more. I think if it had just been one or two cars the severity of the penalty might have been a little, if not a lot, different. As it is at least half the grid went with him. Maybe that influenced their judgement? Did anyone else get a fine? Did they just punish the ringleader?

Soooo on to the next topic?

Here it is: How relieved are you Max fans in knowing that Lando/McLaren are completely incompetent?
I don't think they have completely unraveled yet either, there is bound to be more to come as the pressure mounts.


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I would love to weigh in and share my thoughts but I’m afraid my Dutch bias will get my post deleted again.

Unrelated, I’m now a huge Lewis Hamilton fan I decided, let it be known 🇬🇧

 

[headlessmike]

10 seconds and 3 points. Failing that a penalty more severe than that for saying a swear word.

The confusion was only because Lando took off when he shouldn’t and then others followed. The messaging was clear to other who questioned what they were doing and had their engines switched off as per the rules under this message.

But as Johnny exclaimed many others agreed with his thinking just ask Zak and Lando 🤦‍♂️ Or as Will Buxton exclaimed “…because there are no British racers”.

All I want it some level of consistency.

Speaking of consistency. The last aborted start was at the Austrian GP in June (specifically the sprint). The procedure then was for the aborted start to result in an immediate second formation lap. The procedure ultimately depends on the situation, but I can see that mistakes happen when the protocol isn't set in stone for such an event.

 

[JustinePaula]

Most aborted starts are as a result of a muppet getting confused, and stalling the car on the grid, the field does a 2nd warm up lap, enough time to get the muppet into pit lane...

In the case of this last race, Stroll beached it, so that took even longer, maybe the solution is if the track is safe, YELLOW only lights, but if the track is unsafe, then RED/YELLOW, proceed at pit lane speed under YELLOW until the grid is reformed..

Had there been a combination of RED/YELLOW, Lando would have respected the RED and not left.. It was a confusing circumstance...

Not helped by the lack of "ending" at the start of the 2nd period of racing after the red flag.. 1 lap, suddenly the rolling start..1 lap.. maybe a bit hasty there Race Director...If there is a rolling start, minimum 2 laps..

Any way, a couple of months before the next one, and I hope it there are no more 2am sessions for the drivers.. Or fans being chased away as there is no $$ to pay for security...

 

[CWallace]

Sauber signs Gabriel Bortoleto for 2025. Bottas will likely become the Reserve Driver for AMG Mercedes.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

I would love to weigh in and share my thoughts but I’m afraid my Dutch bias will get my post deleted again.

LOL I’m glad I’m not alone, happens a lot here 🤷‍♂️

Unrelated, I’m now a huge Lewis Hamilton fan I decided, let it be known 🇬🇧

🤣🤣 I’ve lived longer in the UK than in the Netherlands. My wife is English, my children have UK and Dutch passports. I can wholeheartedly say that there is no anti-uk bias found with this Max Verstappen fan. But there is a heck of a lot of experience in understanding how the UK works.

 

[pachyderm]

Most aborted starts are as a result of a muppet getting confused, and stalling the car on the grid, the field does a 2nd warm up lap, enough time to get the muppet into pit lane...

In the case of this last race, Stroll beached it, so that took even longer, maybe the solution is if the track is safe, YELLOW only lights, but if the track is unsafe, then RED/YELLOW, proceed at pit lane speed under YELLOW until the grid is reformed..

Had there been a combination of RED/YELLOW, Lando would have respected the RED and not left.. It was a confusing circumstance...

Not helped by the lack of "ending" at the start of the 2nd period of racing after the red flag.. 1 lap, suddenly the rolling start..1 lap.. maybe a bit hasty there Race Director...If there is a rolling start, minimum 2 laps..

Any way, a couple of months before the next one, and I hope it there are no more 2am sessions for the drivers.. Or fans being chased away as there is no $$ to pay for security...

Muppet was still correct

 

[pachyderm]

I think until there is a procedure where incidents are penalised based on what the Verstappen fan club feel is appropriate, and how it benefits them, we just have to rely on the sporting code. Remember when we had calls for penalties to be decided based on the severity of an accident, rather than the cause a few years ago? The more I read lately and how tribal F1 has become, the more I realise how awful the effects of Netflix and social media have had on the sport.

It really has.

What a shame.

 

[Glideslope]

I would love to weigh in and share my thoughts but I’m afraid my Dutch bias will get my post deleted.

It’s ok. Welcome to the resistance. 😉

 

[JustinePaula]

I wonder why the FIA runs an F2/F3 program every year, maybe it should switch to a every 4 year season, 1 season of 25 races every 4 years.. The number of drivers that graduate into F1 from F2/F3 is zero year on year, so really what is the point? Maybe F1 should look at DTM, and Le Man "gentlemen" drivers instead... Or set an age limit of 33 for F1..If you don't have an F1 WDC title by age 33, you age out of F1..

 

[Glideslope]

I wonder why the FIA runs an F2/F3 program every year, maybe it should switch to a every 4 year season, 1 season of 25 races every 4 years.. The number of drivers that graduate into F1 from F2/F3 is zero year on year, so really what is the point? Maybe F1 should look at DTM, and Le Man "gentlemen" drivers instead... Or set an age limit of 33 for F1..If you don't have an F1 WDC title by age 33, you age out of F1..

Age Limits would be a difficult hurdle. A drivers ability to bring in sponsorship monies has more to do with their longevity than winning a WDC. Sergio is the quintessential example.

 

[headlessmike]

I wonder why the FIA runs an F2/F3 program every year, maybe it should switch to a every 4 year season, 1 season of 25 races every 4 years.. The number of drivers that graduate into F1 from F2/F3 is zero year on year, so really what is the point? Maybe F1 should look at DTM, and Le Man "gentlemen" drivers instead... Or set an age limit of 33 for F1..If you don't have an F1 WDC title by age 33, you age out of F1..

Or establish F2 as more than just a feeder series, one where the winner isn't automatically excluded from taking part again and where teams and drivers can actually have a career.

 

[JustinePaula]

You are so right, the winner of F2, then what? With only 20 seats in F1, often held by drivers way past their prime, and just really not having a great time, and feeling the effects of age.. Hence my suggestion of an age limit..

I doubt Alonso brings in the same "cash" as he did at his prime.. and he may be taking a seat away from maybe more lucrative drivers that are in the late teen's, early 20's..It seems so odd that a driver wins the feeder series ends up doing nothing for maybe 3 or 4 yrs, then in that time, some younger driver has a barnstorming season or 2, and wows the pants and underpants off every team CEO... The poor guy that won the title in F2 in 2023 is by 2026 a has been, never was, and lost out due to a couple of farts that really should be doing Le Mans and DTM...

 

[CWallace]

A drivers ability to bring in sponsorship monies has more to do with their longevity than winning a WDC. Sergio is the quintessential example.

You would think with a cost cap that the need for significant driver-supplied sponsorship would have lessened, but it now seems to be even more important...

 

[CWallace]

I doubt Alonso brings in the same "cash" as he did at his prime.. and he may be taking a seat away from maybe more lucrative drivers that are in the late teen's, early 20's...

For folks like Hamilton and Alonso, there is a "halo" effect for the brand, as well. So it is not just the raw sponsorship dollars they bring to the F1 team, but to the entire Mercedes (soon Ferrari) and Aston-Martin organization. A 20-year old F2 champion is not going to help sell thousands of Ferraris or hundreds of thousands of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars.

 

[CWallace]

The GPDA tells the FIA to go bleep themselves.

 

[JustinePaula]

The cost cap has done more damage to F1 than any cheating or scam, the cost cap has ruined F1, worse than VAR has football.. It has no place in F1, if the team cannot afford to race, then they must make like a tree and leaf..

F1 should be about the best, that is, the best at bringing in the $$, and how the $$ is spent, limit time in wind tunnels, limit testing time, the cost cap at the worst case would have 6 teams on the grid for the last 1/3 of the season.. Who wants a less than full 20 car grid for 8 races?

The problem is one of focus, for example, take the crash that prevented Albon from racing, the FIA/F1/Liberty and all Teams each pay a premium in terms of insurance, and if there is a crash, as there is a cost cap, and every nut, bolt, strand of carbon fibre has a book value, when the car is rebuilt, on the Monday, an EFT from the insurace broker is paid into the car's bank account.. So that the cost is not carried by the team itself..

That would go a long way to negating costs, and in some events there is no loss... But no greed ruins it for everyone!

 

[pachyderm]

I would love to weigh in and share my thoughts but I’m afraid my Dutch bias will get my post deleted again.

Unrelated, I’m now a huge Lewis Hamilton fan I decided, let it be known 🇬🇧

Let it rip!

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

The cost cap has done more damage to F1 than any cheating or scam, the cost cap has ruined F1, worse than VAR has football.. It has no place in F1, if the team cannot afford to race, then they must make like a tree and leaf..

F1 should be about the best, that is, the best at bringing in the $$, and how the $$ is spent, limit time in wind tunnels, limit testing time, the cost cap at the worst case would have 6 teams on the grid for the last 1/3 of the season.. Who wants a less than full 20 car grid for 8 races?

The problem is one of focus, for example, take the crash that prevented Albon from racing, the FIA/F1/Liberty and all Teams each pay a premium in terms of insurance, and if there is a crash, as there is a cost cap, and every nut, bolt, strand of carbon fibre has a book value, when the car is rebuilt, on the Monday, an EFT from the insurace broker is paid into the car's bank account.. So that the cost is not carried by the team itself..

That would go a long way to negating costs, and in some events there is no loss... But no greed ruins it for everyone!

The cost cap prevented teams like Ferrari, Honda and McLaren spending billions and creating a series with an enormous gap in performance. We have had the closest grids now for years where performance is achieved by most of the grid and drivers are within tenths of each other. Engineers relish tight parameters and the challenges of designing within budget, I should know, I am one. Unlimited budgets and greed make sport boring and cost capping keeps them within the realms of reality and appealing to viewing audiences.

 

[CWallace]

The cost cap has done more damage to F1 than any cheating or scam, the cost cap has ruined F1, worse than VAR has football.. It has no place in F1, if the team cannot afford to race, then they must make like a tree and leaf.

Completely disagree.

As @The-Real-Deal82 noted, if not for the cost cap we would not be talking about a McLaren title fight as Mercedes would have spent a few hundred million to fix the F1 W15 - an amount I highly doubt McLaren could come close to matching. Those races and sprints that Lando and Oscar won would have instead been won by a Red Bull, Ferrari or AMG driver.

So we'd have Lando and Oscar would be well behind the RB, AG and Ferrari drivers in the WDC with zero wins between them. And McLaren would hundreds of points behind the top four to five in the CC.

 

[Glideslope]

You would think with a cost cap that the need for significant driver-supplied sponsorship would have lessened, but it now seems to be even more important...

Absolutely. My impression is they are using sponsorship monies more to cover their budgets versus other traditional methods.

 

[Glideslope]

The GPDA tells the FIA to go bleep themselves.

George is rehearsing with Max for the Press Room in Vegas. 😉

 

[JustinePaula]

The cost cap prevented teams like Ferrari, Honda and McLaren spending billions and creating a series with an enormous gap in performance. We have had the closest grids now for years where performance is achieved by most of the grid and drivers are within tenths of each other. Engineers relish tight parameters and the challenges of designing within budget, I should know, I am one. Unlimited budgets and greed make sport boring and cost capping keeps them within the realms of reality and appealing to viewing audiences.

The problem is not the cost cap itself, but how it is applied.. Toto Wollff said that as a result of accidents, there might be events they cannot attend as they have over spent... So my solution was that before the start of the season, every car has a "book" of parts and what each part costs to install on the vehicle.. To comply with the cost cap..

So in the case of a rebuild, an excel worksheet is produced with every nut, but, inch of carbon fibre, every doughnut and cup of coffee listed.. This should be submitted to the FIA insurance, and the FIA insurance pays back the costs...

To make the teams pay for parts, then pay again after a crash, and this comes out of the cost cap is totally wrong.. It should come out of FIA insurance... To promote racing, and to prevent the absence of teams from events due to over runs on the budget...

Or have no cost cap, which should be the way, if you cannot afford it, tough.. Many of the teams are owned by VC's and they spend so little of their budgets on the F1 teams..

You cannot have it both ways.. The problem is that if you cost cap, you prevent innovation, you prevent the on track action that drivers would take, with cost cap, innovation is starved, drivers are told to back off...

Cars/teams withdrawn from events as a result of lack of funds..Do we want 6 car grids?