TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Francoflier wrote:

As for the rest, I'm afraid you're right. Monetizing races seems to have become more important to F1 than the racing itself.
We'll soon find out.

F1's owners are American. Isn't that the American way? Besides, no doubt the team won't be complaining if they get more money coming their way from the share of the revenue.

So how was the race? Didn't watch it as it was just too damn late in my neck of the woods.

It is the way of big money. Everywhere in the world. The fake marina is cheesy, gawddammnit.

The racing though was proper, interesting and eventful. Nice battle for the front with VER simply having the upper hand on LEC with a nice overtake and crafty defense after the SC restart.

Carlos again not in the level of Charles. Too bad, like that guy.
And Sergio not being able to pass Carlos on brand new mediums after SC makes you wonder as well. Maybe his engine was compromised after all.

Mostly though it was interesting in the midfield, around MSC, MAG, VET and STR. Nice fighting, too bad (and plain stupid by MSC), that Mick took Seb out with both being in the points.

Lando ran out of talent as well when he crashed unforced into Gasly. Maybe he was dreaming or so. What a joke.

Nicoeddf wrote:

Lando ran out of talent as well when he crashed unforced into Gasly. Maybe he was dreaming or so. What a joke.

Apparently Gasly admitted that he was at fault, because his car was wonky after the touch with Alonso.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/lando-nor ... ami-crash/

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Nicoeddf wrote:

Lando ran out of talent as well when he crashed unforced into Gasly. Maybe he was dreaming or so. What a joke.

Apparently Gasly admitted that he was at fault, because his car was wonky after the touch with Alonso.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/lando-nor ... ami-crash/

Did he? Hmm. From seeing it live and multiple times in slow-mo Lando had all the space in the world to the left and Gasly was going predictably straight. No reason to lose your rear-right to that and crash out the car.

Lando directly after the crash said sorry to the team. Pretty sure he knew that was easily avoidable for a man of his class.

Nicoeddf wrote:

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Francoflier wrote:

As for the rest, I'm afraid you're right. Monetizing races seems to have become more important to F1 than the racing itself.
We'll soon find out.

F1's owners are American. Isn't that the American way? Besides, no doubt the team won't be complaining if they get more money coming their way from the share of the revenue.

So how was the race? Didn't watch it as it was just too damn late in my neck of the woods.

It is the way of big money. Everywhere in the world. The fake marina is cheesy, gawddammnit.

The racing though was proper, interesting and eventful. Nice battle for the front with VER simply having the upper hand on LEC with a nice overtake and crafty defense after the SC restart.

Carlos again not in the level of Charles. Too bad, like that guy.
And Sergio not being able to pass Carlos on brand new mediums after SC makes you wonder as well. Maybe his engine was compromised after all.

Mostly though it was interesting in the midfield, around MSC, MAG, VET and STR. Nice fighting, too bad (and plain stupid by MSC), that Mick took Seb out with both being in the points.

Lando ran out of talent as well when he crashed unforced into Gasly. Maybe he was dreaming or so. What a joke.

The Hamilton, Russell, Bottas battle after the safety car restart was great as well..

Russell still has the upper hand on Hamilton as he won the strategy game again by going long and getting the safety car. Lewis was a victim of the wrong strategy for the 3rd time this year giving Russell the better results.

Doesn't really matter yet for Mercedes as they weren't near the top. Still a much better result than Imola.

Sucks for Mick, losing out on his first points after a crash with Vettel.

A decent race on a new track. Hopefully they can tweak it so it can produce better racing.

A question for Americans here; do you folks find it incredibly patronizing the way that FOM drowns the event in sports stars, celebrities etc in the hope that this will make you magically decide to like Formula1? I think I'd find it particularly insulting. Especially since most (but by no means all) of them clearly don't give two hoots about the sport? They do the same for the race at COTA, but it was particularly noticeable here.

What does Esteban Ocon have to do to get recognized by the British Media? Amazing race for him, very strong, thrashed his teammate......and not even a mention of him (let alone an interview) in Sky's post race coverage until right at the end on Ted's notebook.... I know they're very biased based on nationality, but still.

Very good race from Albon and Russell. Although I'm not really a Bottas fan, I love how he's doing so well for Sauber. He's well on his way to converting me.

Nicoeddf wrote:

Carlos again not in the level of Charles. Too bad, like that guy.

To be honest, I think this weekend was just a matter of Carlos building back his confidence after all the misfortune and mess-ups of the previous few rounds. The risk/reward profile of him pushing hard in this situation is much different to what it might normally be.

Nicoeddf wrote:

Did he? Hmm. From seeing it live and multiple times in slow-mo Lando had all the space in the world to the left and Gasly was going predictably straight. No reason to lose your rear-right to that and crash out the car.

I agree with you on this. Maybe it's a racing incident, but on balance I think Lando could have avoided that much more easily that Pierre. Pierre did a safe rejoin and was keeping reasonably close to the right side of the track. Lando had plenty of room to the left. Pierre could theoretically have cut across the track to the left side (off the racing line) but in my mind that's far more dangerous.

Rookie move from Fernando with his crash into Pierre - just stupid stuff. Threw away a double points finish for Alpine.

zkojq wrote:

…

Funny how you mention Bottas. I feel exactly like you do. Makes you wonder what would have been possible at Merc with a little more trust in and focus on him.

Agree with you with regards to Carlos. Definitely confidence building. Considering past performance though, he simply doesn’t seem to extract as much pace out of the Ferrari than LEC does. Similar to Max and Sergio situation.

Alonso and Seb both somehow made a lot of mistakes making their lifes tremendously difficult. Wonder why that is. Maybe it’s the beards itching in the helmet.

zkojq wrote:

A question for Americans here; do you folks find it incredibly patronizing the way that FOM drowns the event in sports stars, celebrities etc in the hope that this will make you magically decide to like Formula1? I think I'd find it particularly insulting. Especially since most (but by no means all) of them clearly don't give two hoots about the sport? They do the same for the race at COTA, but it was particularly noticeable here.

IMHO, the whole week was massively overhyped by ESPN, media circus much like a Super Bowl, celebrity (and wanna-be celebrity) appearances everywhere. Being a cultural ignoramus, I didn't recognize the celebrities, and even when told the names, they meant nothing to me. The whole weekend reminded me of Monaco, important for the "important people" to see and be seen, and the race was just the excuse to do it.

The American ownership and Drive To Survive have boosted the awareness and popularity of F1 in the US considerably in the last couple years. Tickets to the Miami race sold out within hours, and the October race at COTA sold out within days (maybe a week at most). Good for all the bank accounts involved in F1 I guess.

Francoflier wrote:

Did they even resurface the parking lot it's built on?

F1 is walking a fine line by adding all these city tracks at the expense of more established and better suited proper racing circuits.

No worries, F1 fans. This was so successful in the area that I'm positive the Miami-Dade commissioners will be sponsoring a bill within the next few hours for a brand new F1 circuit next to Miami International Airport, maybe with the track tunnel going under the runway while planes take-off and land, and under Beckam's new soccer stadium too, because nothing would scream Miami more than that.

It would also be funded by the taxpayer, as all the other stadiums in the area have been. Because the poor paying more for their daily food to build Pyramids that billionaires then appropriate as their property to let other billionaires and celebrities fly in and show-up to get paid for it, while those poor work 2nd jobs to finance it all, is the American way.

Nicoeddf wrote:

Funny how you mention Bottas. I feel exactly like you do. Makes you wonder what would have been possible at Merc with a little more trust in and focus on him.

Yeah, I got the impression that he was an mostly treated as an afterthought during his time at Mercedes. I know that his role there was always to be good - but not as good as Nico was - during his time there, but I still feel he could have done quite a bit better if he'd been a bit better supported. Whilst I think he should probably have been replaced by Ocon in 2019, I do find it sad that the team never saw fit to give him a multi year contract throughout his five years that he spent with the team.

Nicoeddf wrote:

Agree with you with regards to Carlos. Definitely confidence building. Considering past performance though, he simply doesn’t seem to extract as much pace out of the Ferrari than LEC does.

As a Carlos fan I want to argue with this, but the evidence of it is becoming more and more clear.

TangoandCash wrote:

Being a cultural ignoramus, I didn't recognize the celebrities, and even when told the names, they meant nothing to me.

Exactly the same for me.

For a track that has a reputation for being a borefest Spain delivered it's second banger in a row.

Some observations.

- Mercedes is on the up and this very well could be a 3 team race for the title going forward.
- George Russell is the real deal and it's nice to have equal drivers in Mercedes. He is leading Lewis but a lot of that is fortunate luck with the timing of Safety Cars.
- Red Bull while lightning fast has some reliability issues to work out. However to be fair so do all the top teams. Leclerc lost his PU and looked to be running away with it. Zhou also had the same issue (Ferrari Power Unit)
-Kudos to Max to come back without DRS and binning it in the gravel and still pulling out a win.
- Danny Ric seems to have lost it. Lando who was sick didn't make Q3 and made it into the points. Danny fell back out of the points after starting 8th.
- Bottas and Ocon seem to be the best of the midfield.

On to Monaco next week, which I hope gives more action.

StarAC17 wrote:

- George Russell is the real deal and it's nice to have equal drivers in Mercedes. He is leading Lewis but a lot of that is fortunate luck with the timing of Safety Cars.

I don't think luck alone explains Russell's position. The radio call Hamilton made at the back of the pack after tangling with K-Mag is a stark demonstration of his mentality - easily disheartened, like his heart is not into it.

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

I don't think luck alone explains Russell's position. The radio call Hamilton made at the back of the pack after tangling with K-Mag is a stark demonstration of his mentality - easily disheartened, like his heart is not into it.

I heard that radio call and thought "wow, he's given up already? Maybe Hamilton's heart really isn't in it this season."

But then he goes on to finish fifth...

Was the team doing some mind tricks of their own by telling him "we can still get 8th, we think that's doable" as a way to get Hamilton's mind back in the competitive mode "They think 8th, I'll show them I can do better than 8th".

What else was said on the radio that wasn't broadcast to the world...

And how many times previous seasons did we hear Hamilton on the radio saying "my tires are gone, no grip left", then proceed to race another ten laps, make two overtakes, and set a fastest lap before boxing for new tires.

I think there's lots of mind and radio games being played.

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

StarAC17 wrote:

- George Russell is the real deal and it's nice to have equal drivers in Mercedes. He is leading Lewis but a lot of that is fortunate luck with the timing of Safety Cars.

I don't think luck alone explains Russell's position. The radio call Hamilton made at the back of the pack after tangling with K-Mag is a stark demonstration of his mentality - easily disheartened, like his heart is not into it.

Not all of it.

Russell was the beneficiary of a fortunate safety car in Australia and Miami where Lewis was ahead or couldn't box for whatever reason. That's racing.
In Saudi Arabia, Imola and Spain he beat Lewis on pace and racecraft.

I did wonder about the radio message and I think that was the desire to save the Power Unit knowing the temperature was higher than expected and he didn't think he could get back in it. Knowing grid penalties are coming later in the year 8th wouldn't have necessary been worth it.

Getting to 5th made it worth it though.

StarAC17 wrote:

For a track that has a reputation for being a borefest Spain delivered it's second banger in a row.

Some observations.

- Mercedes is on the up and this very well could be a 3 team race for the title going forward.
- George Russell is the real deal and it's nice to have equal drivers in Mercedes. He is leading Lewis but a lot of that is fortunate luck with the timing of Safety Cars.
- Red Bull while lightning fast has some reliability issues to work out. However to be fair so do all the top teams. Leclerc lost his PU and looked to be running away with it. Zhou also had the same issue (Ferrari Power Unit)
-Kudos to Max to come back without DRS and binning it in the gravel and still pulling out a win.
- Danny Ric seems to have lost it. Lando who was sick didn't make Q3 and made it into the points. Danny fell back out of the points after starting 8th.
- Bottas and Ocon seem to be the best of the midfield.

On to Monaco next week, which I hope gives more action.

And let's not forget Alonso who set up his own little one-man overtake fest yesterday, starting dead last and finishing in the points while putting up a nice show for his local crowd.
He's still got it.

TangoandCash wrote:

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

I don't think luck alone explains Russell's position. The radio call Hamilton made at the back of the pack after tangling with K-Mag is a stark demonstration of his mentality - easily disheartened, like his heart is not into it.

I heard that radio call and thought "wow, he's given up already? Maybe Hamilton's heart really isn't in it this season."

But then he goes on to finish fifth...

Was the team doing some mind tricks of their own by telling him "we can still get 8th, we think that's doable" as a way to get Hamilton's mind back in the competitive mode "They think 8th, I'll show them I can do better than 8th".

What else was said on the radio that wasn't broadcast to the world...

And how many times previous seasons did we hear Hamilton on the radio saying "my tires are gone, no grip left", then proceed to race another ten laps, make two overtakes, and set a fastest lap before boxing for new tires.

I think there's lots of mind and radio games being played.

Why would Hamilton lie to his team on the radio though?

I must admit, given that the Mercedes W13 has been way off the Ferrari's and the Red Bull's and mindful of what happened last year, it wouldn't surprise me if he is struggling for motivation. After all, he is at the stage in his career where he has little else to prove that he's up there with the greats. Mercedes owe it to Hamilton to give him the best car they can produce, but at the same time there is no "i" in "team" and I don't think Wolff would have liked it if Hamilton had pulled into the pits early on to retire a healthy car.

As you say, not everything is broadcast, so it wouldn't surprise me if Wolff got on the radio to refuse retiring from the race at that early stage after that interaction between Hamilton and his engineer.

StarAC17 wrote:

Getting to 5th made it worth it though.

He would have been 4th had it not been for the coolant/water issue towards the end.

Boeing74741R wrote:

TangoandCash wrote:

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

I don't think luck alone explains Russell's position. The radio call Hamilton made at the back of the pack after tangling with K-Mag is a stark demonstration of his mentality - easily disheartened, like his heart is not into it.

I heard that radio call and thought "wow, he's given up already? Maybe Hamilton's heart really isn't in it this season."

But then he goes on to finish fifth...

Was the team doing some mind tricks of their own by telling him "we can still get 8th, we think that's doable" as a way to get Hamilton's mind back in the competitive mode "They think 8th, I'll show them I can do better than 8th".

What else was said on the radio that wasn't broadcast to the world...

And how many times previous seasons did we hear Hamilton on the radio saying "my tires are gone, no grip left", then proceed to race another ten laps, make two overtakes, and set a fastest lap before boxing for new tires.

I think there's lots of mind and radio games being played.

Why would Hamilton lie to his team on the radio though?

I must admit, given that the Mercedes W13 has been way off the Ferrari's and the Red Bull's and mindful of what happened last year, it wouldn't surprise me if he is struggling for motivation. After all, he is at the stage in his career where he has little else to prove that he's up there with the greats. Mercedes owe it to Hamilton to give him the best car they can produce, but at the same time there is no "i" in "team" and I don't think Wolff would have liked it if Hamilton had pulled into the pits early on to retire a healthy car.

As you say, not everything is broadcast, so it wouldn't surprise me if Wolff got on the radio to refuse retiring from the race at that early stage after that interaction between Hamilton and his engineer.

StarAC17 wrote:

Getting to 5th made it worth it though.

He would have been 4th had it not been for the coolant/water issue towards the end.

Hamilton lies all of the time on the radio, they all do. There are tons of memes about Lewis Hamilton saying his tyres are gone and then does five fastest laps in a row. This meme is my favourite of them but there are tons of them.

https://twitter.com/James_ZoeiroF1/stat ... 7043742722

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QHNNNMayvA

I am convinced that they all have some code. Verstappen's yelling is code for something, every driver is cool and collected outside of perhaps a crash and Verstappen sounds out of breath 99% of the time.
Sunday was hilarious for that.

Francoflier wrote:

StarAC17 wrote:

For a track that has a reputation for being a borefest Spain delivered it's second banger in a row.

Some observations.

- Mercedes is on the up and this very well could be a 3 team race for the title going forward.
- George Russell is the real deal and it's nice to have equal drivers in Mercedes. He is leading Lewis but a lot of that is fortunate luck with the timing of Safety Cars.
- Red Bull while lightning fast has some reliability issues to work out. However to be fair so do all the top teams. Leclerc lost his PU and looked to be running away with it. Zhou also had the same issue (Ferrari Power Unit)
-Kudos to Max to come back without DRS and binning it in the gravel and still pulling out a win.
- Danny Ric seems to have lost it. Lando who was sick didn't make Q3 and made it into the points. Danny fell back out of the points after starting 8th.
- Bottas and Ocon seem to be the best of the midfield.

On to Monaco next week, which I hope gives more action.

And let's not forget Alonso who set up his own little one-man overtake fest yesterday, starting dead last and finishing in the points while putting up a nice show for his local crowd.
He's still got it.

I forgot to mention Alpine, Ocon had a good day as well.

It seems EL PLAN is going quite well and they is a good battle for 4th between them, Haas and Bottas, I mean Alfa Romeo (I have to give Zhou a break as he is a rookie). I hope McLaren can get into this fight also but it seems Alpine, Haas and Alfa have the pace to be up in the points every race.

It's shaping up as 3 teams at the front: Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes
5 potential midfield teams.
Tier 1 - Haas, Alfa, Alpine
Tier 2 - AlphaTauri, McLaren
Backmarkers - Williams and Aston Martin.

Ocon is having an excellent season - very reliable point scorer. He's carrying the team so hard this year. Yet it always goes under the radar....in Miami he went from last to P8....and for his efforts he didn't get a single mention on Sky's post-race show (let alone an interview).

Alonso is so much more aggressive with the media game; makes sure everybody knows about it when he does well and makes sure everyone's talking about how it's not his fault when he doesn't...

I'm also impressed with Bottas. Was never a fan of him but I like how he's doing amazing things with that Alfa. I'm trying to be patient with Zhou since he's a rookie, but at face value his results are fairly poor.

Alpha Tauri don't seem to have a great car and Gasly's streak of bad luck seems never ending. He admitted fault for the crash with Stroll though.

Am also very impressed by George Russell and find it amusing how, every time he does well, Hamilton fans seem to trip over each other to assure everyone that he has fluked it.

I forgot about this thread! well the last time I posted was to last years, so a different thread – but same difference.

I’ve watched all the races so far live as I always do, but I don’t really tend to care that much until later in the season when the results really matter. However – after the last race I have found something I am really interested in watching; and that’s the downfall of Verstappen and RBR (Hopefully!)

I know there are many Dutch fans and some that post here, I’m not a hater. In fact, I even cheered him on last year (read my previous posts in the old thread) but this was Checo’s race. He should and would have won it if not for team orders…Total BS

And I know team orders are part of the sport, I’ve watched it long enough to remember Coulthard having to let Häkkinen in 97 (I think) Australian GP – but to use them so early in the season to give a win to a driver which isn’t even leading the championship utterly disgusts me.

I want justice for Checo – the downfall of Max

…And now that the Merc seems to be fixed, I think Lewis might have also have a score to settle with him.

Look like I its going to be a good season

Daysleeper wrote:

I forgot about this thread! well the last time I posted was to last years, so a different thread – but same difference.

I’ve watched all the races so far live as I always do, but I don’t really tend to care that much until later in the season when the results really matter. However – after the last race I have found something I am really interested in watching; and that’s the downfall of Verstappen and RBR (Hopefully!)

I know there are many Dutch fans and some that post here, I’m not a hater. In fact, I even cheered him on last year (read my previous posts in the old thread) but this was Checo’s race. He should and would have won it if not for team orders…Total BS

And I know team orders are part of the sport, I’ve watched it long enough to remember Coulthard having to let Häkkinen in 97 (I think) Australian GP – but to use them so early in the season to give a win to a driver which isn’t even leading the championship utterly disgusts me.

I want justice for Checo – the downfall of Max

…And now that the Merc seems to be fixed, I think Lewis might have also have a score to settle with him.

Max was only 19 points behind Leclerc and he has a 100% win rate in all of the races he finished. With the Ferrari not scoring points, it's understandable why Red Bull wants to maximize their chances, especially since they need to make up for the 2 DNFs Max had recorded. They remembered Silverstone 2021 and how the championship momentum swung away from that point on. They wouldn't want another season where the championship go down the wire again.

The team order is not as egregious as Rubens Barrichello having to give way to Michael Schumacher in Austria 2002 (coincidentally exactly 20 years & 10 days prior to the Spanish GP!).

As much as it pains me to see Checo in that position, I don't think it's avoidable. Perhaps if he could pick up the pace and actually be closer to Max (like Webber & Vettel), he may have a point to argue. But until he does he has to bear with the fact that he's the team's second fiddle.

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Daysleeper wrote:

I forgot about this thread! well the last time I posted was to last years, so a different thread – but same difference.

I’ve watched all the races so far live as I always do, but I don’t really tend to care that much until later in the season when the results really matter. However – after the last race I have found something I am really interested in watching; and that’s the downfall of Verstappen and RBR (Hopefully!)

I know there are many Dutch fans and some that post here, I’m not a hater. In fact, I even cheered him on last year (read my previous posts in the old thread) but this was Checo’s race. He should and would have won it if not for team orders…Total BS

And I know team orders are part of the sport, I’ve watched it long enough to remember Coulthard having to let Häkkinen in 97 (I think) Australian GP – but to use them so early in the season to give a win to a driver which isn’t even leading the championship utterly disgusts me.

I want justice for Checo – the downfall of Max

…And now that the Merc seems to be fixed, I think Lewis might have also have a score to settle with him.

As much as it pains me to see Checo in that position, I don't think it's avoidable. Perhaps if he could pick up the pace and actually be closer to Max (like Webber & Vettel), he may have a point to argue. But until he does he has to bear with the fact that he's the team's second fiddle.

I am absolutely with you. As much as I would love to see Checo win, even contending for the world title, he is simply not pacey enough. He usually lacks three to five tenth in Quali and equal or a bit less in race pace. Thats not good enough to ask for equal treatment...

Daysleeper wrote:

I know there are many Dutch fans and some that post here, I’m not a hater. In fact, I even cheered him on last year (read my previous posts in the old thread) but this was Checo’s race. He should and would have won it if not for team orders…Total BS

And I know team orders are part of the sport, I’ve watched it long enough to remember Coulthard having to let Häkkinen in 97 (I think) Australian GP – but to use them so early in the season to give a win to a driver which isn’t even leading the championship utterly disgusts me.

Leclerc's retirement presented a golden opportunity to take the lead in the WDC. If I was Christian Horner, I'd have done the same thing and did what they could to get maximum points for Verstappen - make hay while the sun shines etc. After all, the lead they had during last year's championship was eaten away by Hamilton and Mercedes during the second half of the season when they brought their Silverstone upgrade and the new engine for Brazil (and the missed opportunity for Hamilton to capitalise in Azerbaijan until the magic button incident) and we all knew which way the WDC was going until Latifi's crash at Abu Dhabi and everything else that followed.

Perez has every right to feel hard done by and I agree he had the pace given Verstappen's DRS issues, but the team's best interests has to come first and, at this time, Red Bull's best interests is served by giving Verstappen the best possible chance at retaining his title. Perez is a very good driver, but there's no questioning Verstappen's credentials in comparison.

By the way, it was Australia in 1998 when DC let Hakkinen by. It was also the race where Hakkinen pitted in error which Ron Dennis later claimed was because somebody tapped into the radio and called him in, which meant DC probably wouldn't have done what he did had Hakkinen stayed out.

Time will tell whether those extra points work in Verstappen's favour.

Newark727 wrote:

I'm starting to think that to race at Monaco, F1 cars need to be about three-quarters as long and two-thirds as wide. Just an amazing instant roadblock at the end of Q3 there.

Watching the Historics just shows how massive the current cars are, even the Sportscar group were smaller machines. Race looks like it could get spicy with rain forecast.

T18 wrote:

Newark727 wrote:

I'm starting to think that to race at Monaco, F1 cars need to be about three-quarters as long and two-thirds as wide. Just an amazing instant roadblock at the end of Q3 there.

Watching the Historics just shows how massive the current cars are, even the Sportscar group were smaller machines. Race looks like it could get spicy with rain forecast.

Let’s see if it really rains. PROB40 SHRA between 1600 and 1800 LT for nearby NCE airport is far from certain that it will rain…

Exciting race with Perez first!

The camera overheard Perez say “I signed too early” to Horner while walking towards the podium, so I guess we’ll see him back at RB next year!

I'm chuffed for Checo. A well deserved victory.

As for Ferrari, they've once again successfully managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory... well done.
I feel for Leclerc. It should have been his day.

To be honest, I don't think Ferrari's strategy screwed up the drivers too badly. They were quite close to the front, especially in the closing stages when Checo started to lose speed because he grained his tyres.

I think the two Charlies needed to be more gung ho on the track. There were plenty of opportunities for either guys to just send it and overtake, but they were too cautious.

Nicoeddf wrote:

T18 wrote:

Newark727 wrote:

I'm starting to think that to race at Monaco, F1 cars need to be about three-quarters as long and two-thirds as wide. Just an amazing instant roadblock at the end of Q3 there.

Watching the Historics just shows how massive the current cars are, even the Sportscar group were smaller machines. Race looks like it could get spicy with rain forecast.

Let’s see if it really rains. PROB40 SHRA between 1600 and 1800 LT for nearby NCE airport is far from certain that it will rain…

Well...whenever I fly and it says PROB40 it never rains...

Francoflier wrote:

I'm chuffed for Checo. A well deserved victory.

As for Ferrari, they've once again successfully managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory... well done.
I feel for Leclerc. It should have been his day.

Agree, well deserved and big congrats. My favourite two drivers with a 1-2, good to see.

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

To be honest, I don't think Ferrari's strategy screwed up the drivers too badly. They were quite close to the front, especially in the closing stages when Checo started to lose speed because he grained his tyres.

I think the two Charlies needed to be more gung ho on the track. There were plenty of opportunities for either guys to just send it and overtake, but they were too cautious.

Hmm...on every other track during the calender I would agree. In Monaco, yes, the strategy, or rather the tactical decisions were suboptimal and cost them the race as a team and for Charles specifically.

There were no opportunities to just send it. HAM couldn't do it vs. ALO and the pace difference was certainly larger. Not sure how LEC or SAI could have made that work without crashing or doing a ZHO into turn 10.

Ferrari lost it in the pits.

...and by the way: At what point is enough enough for MSC? And why the heck is the Haas breaking in two pieces every second impact? Same fuselage designer as the 737?

Nicoeddf wrote:

There were no opportunities to just send it. HAM couldn't do it vs. ALO and the pace difference was certainly larger. Not sure how LEC or SAI could have made that work without crashing or doing a ZHO into turn 10.

Ferrari lost it in the pits.

Maybe there is a way if one truly tried hard to find it. There were plenty of overtaking moves being done so it's not impossible really.

Nicoeddf wrote:

...and by the way: At what point is enough enough for MSC? And why the heck is the Haas breaking in two pieces every second impact? Same fuselage designer as the 737?

Apparently it was a consequence of Grosjean's crash in Bahrain 2020.

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Nicoeddf wrote:

There were no opportunities to just send it. HAM couldn't do it vs. ALO and the pace difference was certainly larger. Not sure how LEC or SAI could have made that work without crashing or doing a ZHO into turn 10.

Ferrari lost it in the pits.

Maybe there is a way if one truly tried hard to find it. There were plenty of overtaking moves being done so it's not impossible really.

Nicoeddf wrote:

...and by the way: At what point is enough enough for MSC? And why the heck is the Haas breaking in two pieces every second impact? Same fuselage designer as the 737?

Apparently it was a consequence of Grosjean's crash in Bahrain 2020.

There were selected overtakes with large tyre / grip differences, Gasly on Zhou for example. Not plenty, if you ask me and certainly none I am aware of with same or similar tyres.
If Lewis, Carlos, Max and Charles found it impossible to overtake, I am inclined to believe it was nigh impossible.

Nicoeddf wrote:

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Nicoeddf wrote:

There were no opportunities to just send it. HAM couldn't do it vs. ALO and the pace difference was certainly larger. Not sure how LEC or SAI could have made that work without crashing or doing a ZHO into turn 10.

Ferrari lost it in the pits.

Maybe there is a way if one truly tried hard to find it. There were plenty of overtaking moves being done so it's not impossible really.

Nicoeddf wrote:

...and by the way: At what point is enough enough for MSC? And why the heck is the Haas breaking in two pieces every second impact? Same fuselage designer as the 737?

Apparently it was a consequence of Grosjean's crash in Bahrain 2020.

There were selected overtakes with large tyre / grip differences, Gasly on Zhou for example. Not plenty, if you ask me and certainly none I am aware of with same or similar tyres.
If Lewis, Carlos, Max and Charles found it impossible to overtake, I am inclined to believe it was nigh impossible.

It was an interesting race because of the weather and the Ferrari induced chaos. Overtaking is almost not possible, that’s why qualification is very important in Monaco. Racing there is like flying a helicopter on your living room - a famous quote from Nigel Mansell.

Nicoeddf wrote:

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Nicoeddf wrote:

There were no opportunities to just send it. HAM couldn't do it vs. ALO and the pace difference was certainly larger. Not sure how LEC or SAI could have made that work without crashing or doing a ZHO into turn 10.

Ferrari lost it in the pits.

Maybe there is a way if one truly tried hard to find it. There were plenty of overtaking moves being done so it's not impossible really.

Nicoeddf wrote:

...and by the way: At what point is enough enough for MSC? And why the heck is the Haas breaking in two pieces every second impact? Same fuselage designer as the 737?

Apparently it was a consequence of Grosjean's crash in Bahrain 2020.

There were selected overtakes with large tyre / grip differences, Gasly on Zhou for example. Not plenty, if you ask me and certainly none I am aware of with same or similar tyres.
If Lewis, Carlos, Max and Charles found it impossible to overtake, I am inclined to believe it was nigh impossible.

Its not impossible but the risk is too high for a move. All of these driver's are probably told that going for a move and sacrificing the points isn't worth it at this track. I definitely think Hamilton and Sainz could have made moves but could have binned it easily. They were following well through the slow corners.

I do admire the skill to navigate Monaco and that is why it should stay on the calendar. Even if you can't overtake you have to be on point for 78 laps.

The good news is that the next 5 races should all provide decent action. I think even France will be good this year with the new cars.

StarAC17 wrote:

Nicoeddf wrote:

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Maybe there is a way if one truly tried hard to find it. There were plenty of overtaking moves being done so it's not impossible really.



Apparently it was a consequence of Grosjean's crash in Bahrain 2020.

There were selected overtakes with large tyre / grip differences, Gasly on Zhou for example. Not plenty, if you ask me and certainly none I am aware of with same or similar tyres.
If Lewis, Carlos, Max and Charles found it impossible to overtake, I am inclined to believe it was nigh impossible.

Its not impossible but the risk is too high for a move. All of these driver's are probably told that going for a move and sacrificing the points isn't worth it at this track. I definitely think Hamilton and Sainz could have made moves but could have binned it easily. They were following well through the slow corners.

I do admire the skill to navigate Monaco and that is why it should stay on the calendar. Even if you can't overtake you have to be on point for 78 laps.

The good news is that the next 5 races should all provide decent action. I think even France will be good this year with the new cars.

Well, yes, of course „impossible“ in a figurative, not literal, way.
There was no move available that with a high degree of certainty would have yielded a rewarding outcome. Better?

Agree with the rest of your post.

Nobody snatches defeat from the jaws of victory quite like Ferrari's pitwall.


Esteban and Fernando were single handedly keeping the race interesting.

The actual broadcast (in terms of filming, graphics) was absolutely atrocious - as usual for Monaco where that's handled by the ACM, not FOM.

Perez with a new two year deal. Well deserved and congrats. Gasly won’t be too happy.

Source: f1.com

Nicoeddf wrote:

Perez with a new two year deal. Well deserved and congrats. Gasly won’t be too happy.

Source: f1.com

Good for Perez. I just hope they don't keep treating him as a sidekick the whole time.

As for Gasly, he certainly looked very strong last year and could have hoped to return to the A-team. This season however, he seems to be struggling a lot more. Granted, Alpha Tauri as a team seems to have taken a few steps backwards and reliability has been an issue, but he doesn't display the commanding lead over Tsunoda he did last year.

He's either not adapted well to the new car or Tsunoda has progressed by leaps and bounds. Either way, I think RB would not necessarily default to him anymore should they have a seat to fill.

Nicoeddf wrote:

Perez with a new two year deal. Well deserved and congrats. Gasly won’t be too happy.

Source: f1.com

He needs to get out of the RB environment and they seldom give their drivers a second chance. Albon largely has and at least he is enjoying himself in what is probably the worst car on the grid.
I would have put him down to replace Lewis once he retires or go to another top team.

There might be a seat at McLaren next year. Unfortunately that means the driver with the best personality in F1 is probably calling it quits.

zkojq wrote:

Nobody snatches defeat from the jaws of victory quite like Ferrari's pitwall.


Esteban and Fernando were single handedly keeping the race interesting.

The actual broadcast (in terms of filming, graphics) was absolutely atrocious - as usual for Monaco where that's handled by the ACM, not FOM.

I gotta say, I am liking the drivers taking the strategy into their own hands. Sometimes the computer can only tell you so much.

Sainz was adamant that he go from wets to slicks and outside of Mr. Goatifi holding him up on his outlap probably would have won.
I remember George Russell doing the same in Miami and saying lets just stay out and see if a safety car comes.

Nicoeddf wrote:

Perez with a new two year deal. Well deserved and congrats. Gasly won’t be too happy.

Source: f1.com

Perez is the worst of Max’s teammates so far. He’s on average at least 0,5 sec slower in qualifying.

He did beat Max at Monaco, thanks to Sainz being held up during Perez’s pit stop. And I he does bring a lot of Mexican money to the team.

mad99 wrote:

Perez is the worst of Max’s teammates so far. He’s on average at least 0,5 sec slower in qualifying.

He did beat Max at Monaco, thanks to Sainz being held up during Perez’s pit stop. And I he does bring a lot of Mexican money to the team.

You're joking right? Checo has been much closer to Max this season. Only once did he qualify more than 0.35s slower than Verstappen.

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

mad99 wrote:

Perez is the worst of Max’s teammates so far. He’s on average at least 0,5 sec slower in qualifying.

He did beat Max at Monaco, thanks to Sainz being held up during Perez’s pit stop. And I he does bring a lot of Mexican money to the team.

You're joking right? Checo has been much closer to Max this season. Only once did he qualify more than 0.35s slower than Verstappen.

perez Median Qualifying % gap (fastest lap in final session) -0.512%

Albon Median Qualifying % gap (fastest lap in final session) -0.616%

Gasly Median Qualifying % gap (fastest lap in final session) -0.566%

so i was wrong he's a bit better than the others

https://f1teammatestats.herokuapp.com/index.php

good site!

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

mad99 wrote:

Perez is the worst of Max’s teammates so far. He’s on average at least 0,5 sec slower in qualifying.

He did beat Max at Monaco, thanks to Sainz being held up during Perez’s pit stop. And I he does bring a lot of Mexican money to the team.

You're joking right? Checo has been much closer to Max this season. Only once did he qualify more than 0.35s slower than Verstappen.

Checo should have won in Spain also.
Redbull should have let him by Verstappen immediately once Max's DRS was an issue and he probably would have run away with it.

Last year Checo was qualifying 5-8th on a regular basis and that hindered Max's championship although he eventually won and definitely costed Redbull the constructors.

Now this is going to create tension in the RedBull garage.

https://the-race.com/formula-1/sour-gra ... -bull-dig/

It's all going well for Perez now but things could get icy fairly quickly if he starts beating Max. He's only a handful of points behind him in the WDC standings. Similarly the fact that he's only allowed to win when Max isn't able to is another potential source of fireworks.

There's a few interesting tidbits in Joe Saward's latest notebook.
https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2022/05 ... ium-beach/

StarAC17 wrote:

I gotta say, I am liking the drivers taking the strategy into their own hands. Sometimes the computer can only tell you so much.

Fully agreed I like to see it when they take charge of it (and in a mature manner, unlike lando telling the pitwall to "shut up" at Russia last year).

StarAC17 wrote:

Sainz was adamant that he go from wets to slicks and outside of Mr. Goatifi holding him up on his outlap probably would have won.
I remember George Russell doing the same in Miami and saying lets just stay out and see if a safety car comes.

Sainz reminds me of Seb at Ferrari when he was calculating tire strategy on the fly and generally doing a much better job of it than the pitwall.

Perez is ambitious, increasingly demanding. This week-end he made is his point in the best way possible: winning,
Nobody has forgotten the role he played last year & he is rewarded with one of the best cars / teams available and a 2 yr contract.
I'm sure Max prefers a top notch wing man, ready to fight & win.

Francoflier wrote:

Nicoeddf wrote:

Perez with a new two year deal. Well deserved and congrats. Gasly won’t be too happy.

Source: f1.com

Good for Perez. I just hope they don't keep treating him as a sidekick the whole time.

Huge exaggeration. Last year Perez was driving like “hit and miss” and most (almost all) races/qualifications slower than Verstappen. This year he has improved a lot -the new car suits him very well- but in most qualifications/races he was not just as fast as Verstappen, Monaco being the outlier. LikeIt or not, he’s the number 2 driver of RBR and he knows (and accepted) it. Just like Bottas when he was at Mercedes. I wonder if you felt the same for him as you are doing now for Perez…..

zkojq wrote:

It's all going well for Perez now but things could get icy fairly quickly if he starts beating Max. He's only a handful of points behind him in the WDC standings. Similarly the fact that he's only allowed to win when Max isn't able to is another potential source of fireworks.

I already don't really like RedBull but do like Checo and respect Max's talent.

If he is actually faster and the team makes him move over for Max that is garbage and I hope Checo ignores it and it turns into a Hamilton/Rosberg situation.

Mercedes is not in the fight but Toto has said if George is faster he gets the priority over Lewis.

zkojq wrote:

Fully agreed I like to see it when they take charge of it (and in a mature manner, unlike lando telling the pitwall to "shut up" at Russia last year).

When that happened Sky was talking about this. The driver gets to make the call when they go onto slicks but the team makes the call when the driver goes onto inters or wets. They have the weather radar the driver can feel the grip on the track.

Lando thought he had the win and didn't want to come in. McLaren didn't give him enough information about the rain where Mercedes were very forceful with Lewis to bring him in.

marcelh wrote:

Francoflier wrote:

Nicoeddf wrote:

Perez with a new two year deal. Well deserved and congrats. Gasly won’t be too happy.

Source: f1.com

Good for Perez. I just hope they don't keep treating him as a sidekick the whole time.

Huge exaggeration. Last year Perez was driving like “hit and miss” and most (almost all) races/qualifications slower than Verstappen. This year he has improved a lot -the new car suits him very well- but in most qualifications/races he was not just as fast as Verstappen, Monaco being the outlier. LikeIt or not, he’s the number 2 driver of RBR and he knows (and accepted) it. Just like Bottas when he was at Mercedes. I wonder if you felt the same for him as you are doing now for Perez…..

Huge exaggeration? Hit and miss?

Man, you are a little black and white in your thinking.