The Official F1 Thread

[Insane_Homer]

[Saint]

The change in ownership is pretty prominent

[Insane_Homer]

The Alpine is well sexeh!

[Insane_Homer]

and the Aston's not too bad either....it will probably look better when they turn the lights on too.

[Kawazaki]

There's no huge cost in developing a 1000bhp V10, it's already been done. And F1 is plenty extreme enough with one of those bolted to a 500kg chassis.

The point you miss is the direction F1 goes in; does it weld itself to the big automotive manufacturers come what may or does it retain some autonomy with the ability to function without the risk of going all-in with stakeholders who come and go whenever it suits? If you can achieve the latter whilst also being carbon neutral and retaining all the fan favourite USPs of F1 whilst on a budget about 40% of what the top teams were spending in 2020, then that's an attractive proposition.

It's a non-starter, especially considering what F1 has already issued as it's requirements. The decision has been made as to the direction of travel.

What you're describing is more like what Indy has done. That's fine. But it isn't F1

You might want to read this article Saint...

https://www.evo.co.uk/porsche/203323/wi ... s-weigh-in?

And you might want to read this article as well Saint...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/56272450

[Insane_Homer]

Williams, quite a change.

[Saint]

Williams, quite a change.

Lots of empty space for a few more sponsors logos....

[Rhubarb & Custard]

That Williams looks well painted to be sponsored by either Gillette or Durex

[sturginho]

That Williams looks well painted to be sponsored by either Gillette or Durex

It looks nice but it does look like a packet of fags to me. Their way of begging for tobacco sponsorship to come back?

[Rhubarb & Custard]

That Williams looks well painted to be sponsored by either Gillette or Durex

It looks nice but it does look like a packet of fags to me. Their way of begging for tobacco sponsorship to come back?

Ah, I take the point, more Superkings than the classic Marlboro look

[Insane_Homer]

First Test underway. Warm and windy.

Alpine is my favourite in the looks dept.

Merc in trouble, 1 lap from Bottas and the screens are up with a gearbox change.

[Saint]

First Test underway. Warm and windy.

Alpine is my favourite in the looks dept.

Merc in trouble, 1 lap from Bottas and the screens are up with a gearbox change.

Going to lose the best part of half a day in a significantly shorter testing period. Probably won't make any difference at all, but you never know

[Insane_Homer]

a tad bit of dust on the track from the wind...

[Saint]

Very little value out there at the moment beyond confirming all the mechanical parts work together. Hamilton looks like he's driving in a WRC race with an F1 car

[Saint]

Last couple of hours of testing. So far, Red Bull look seriously goof, McLaren have taken a big step forwards. Mercedes are struggling; the car looks fast when it stays on the track, but Hamilton's really struggling to keep it there. They've got a lot to learn about how to get it set up right if they're going to be in the running

[Saint]

Every turn's a new adventure in that Mercedes. So twitchy under both braking and acceleration

[Un Pilier]

Too soon to be sure, but it looks like we might have a bit of a shake-up, at least early season. Good to see Williams showing some positive signs.

[Saint]

Too soon to be sure, but it looks like we might have a bit of a shake-up, at least early season. Good to see Williams showing some positive signs.

Oh yeah, the absolute timings mean virtually nothing. There's no way Tsundoa will be qualifying in the top 6 for instance.

But the Red Bull looks like it's on rails, the Mercedes looks wildly unpredictable at the moment. Whereas in previous testing, even when Merc weren't top of the time sheets the car looked solid.

Aston Martin also have a LOT of work to do

[fishfoodie]

Too soon to be sure, but it looks like we might have a bit of a shake-up, at least early season. Good to see Williams showing some positive signs.

Oh yeah, the absolute timings mean virtually nothing. There's no way Tsundoa will be qualifying in the top 6 for instance.

But the Red Bull looks like it's on rails, the Mercedes looks wildly unpredictable at the moment. Whereas in previous testing, even when Merc weren't top of the time sheets the car looked solid.

Aston Martin also have a LOT of work to do

The new guy must have put in the ballast, & not done a very good job making sure it was evenly distributed.

They'll rock up in Oz & it'll be business as usual.

I think the RBs are going to take points off each other all season, & we could be in for a re-run of the Seb/Web battles

[Un Pilier]

Too soon to be sure, but it looks like we might have a bit of a shake-up, at least early season. Good to see Williams showing some positive signs.

Oh yeah, the absolute timings mean virtually nothing. There's no way Tsundoa will be qualifying in the top 6 for instance.

But the Red Bull looks like it's on rails, the Mercedes looks wildly unpredictable at the moment. Whereas in previous testing, even when Merc weren't top of the time sheets the car looked solid.

Aston Martin also have a LOT of work to do

Red Bull look really good, as do their Honda motors. We can be sure Merc will put the work in but they look unlikely to be locking out front rows any time soon. I’m encouraged for McLaren and Williams - my favourite teams for decades and it would be good to see them regularly in the mix again.

[Saint]

Too soon to be sure, but it looks like we might have a bit of a shake-up, at least early season. Good to see Williams showing some positive signs.

Oh yeah, the absolute timings mean virtually nothing. There's no way Tsundoa will be qualifying in the top 6 for instance.

But the Red Bull looks like it's on rails, the Mercedes looks wildly unpredictable at the moment. Whereas in previous testing, even when Merc weren't top of the time sheets the car looked solid.

Aston Martin also have a LOT of work to do

The new guy must have put in the ballast, & not done a very good job making sure it was evenly distributed.

They'll rock up in Oz & it'll be business as usual.

I think the RBs are going to take points off each other all season, & we could be in for a re-run of the Seb/Web battles

If Merc are going to be business as usual they have a LOT of work to do. They also weren't exuding confidence in their PR like they have done historically. Either they're phenomenal actors, or they're behind the curve at the moment. Some speculation that the aero changes for this season have disproportionately hit the low rake designs, which would kind of align with what we're seeing - I think Merc have some design concepts to deal with it but it looks like the aero doesn't quite align perfectly in real life as they thought it did. Add in that they have been restricted on wind tunnel to the other teams and MAYBE you end up with this.

In the meantime, because Red Bull haven't started from scratch this year then they;re carrying a lot of performance from last season to this. If the high-rake/low-rake theory pans out then that again aligns with what we've seen - it's less the performance figures and more the apparent absolute predictability that car appears to have.

The dissapointing part looks like Ferrari. The new PU looks a bit meh, and their aero doesn't seem to be great shakes either.

Always hard to predict performance from pre-season, but this looks different to the last few years. It could be a classic

[Saint]

Ted's notebook on Sky Sports F1 is worth watching if you have access - zip to do with current testing, and everything to do with Murray Walker. The recognition of what they owe to him as a profession is immense

[mos_eisely_]

They'll rock up in Oz & it'll be business as usual.

So you reckon Mercs issues will take till the Autumn to fix?

[Insane_Homer]

Ted's notebook on Sky Sports F1 is worth watching if you have access - zip to do with current testing, and everything to do with Murray Walker. The recognition of what they owe to him as a profession is immense

RIP Murray, a legend in the sport. For a long time it was hard to even imagine a race without his commentary.

[Kawazaki]

It looks like the low-rake cars are more affected by the floor changes in 2021 than the high-rake ones which is not really that surprising given that is likely what the FIA wanted it to do. The new Merc engine and transmission is also uncharacteristically temperamental.

Are these also new tyres from Pirelli or just an evolution from the 2020 design?

[Un Pilier]

Murray on snooker.

The man is part of the soundtrack of my life. RIP

[Insane_Homer]

[Saint]

Drive to Survive Season 3 released - well worth watching

[Insane_Homer]

Drive to Survive Season 3 released - well worth watching

meh, half way through ep1 and clicked off.

From other reports it unfathomably omits all sorts of important and exciting bits from the season, while devoting entire episodes to the also rans. Mick Schumacher, who's not even driving got tons of mentions. You'd be hard pressed to find that George Russell was even there, let alone twice, cruelly having a win snatched from him.

"There seems to be no mention of Hamilton, or rather, his incredible 7th title winning moment in Turkey."


If you want to really know what's going on in F1, watch the free practice sessions.

[Kawazaki]

Jesus wept! Is that real?!

[Insane_Homer]

[Saint]

Drive to Survive Season 3 released - well worth watching

meh, half way through ep1 and clicked off.

From other reports it unfathomably omits all sorts of important and exciting bits from the season, while devoting entire episodes to the also rans. Mick Schumacher, who's not even driving got tons of mentions. You'd be hard pressed to find that George Russell was even there, let alone twice, cruelly having a win snatched from him.

"There seems to be no mention of Hamilton, or rather, his incredible 7th title winning moment in Turkey."


If you want to really know what's going on in F1, watch the free practice sessions.

They were a bit limited as to what they could do this year - each race weekend they had to bubble with a specific team, so if they picked the wrong team for the events of that weekend then they were effectively stuffed.

They managed to get round it a bit for Grosjean in Bahrain, but they were really focussing on Perez that weekend with the political shenanigans and whether he would get any drive at all.

It;s still seriously interesting even if some of the wider viewpoint was inevitably lost

[fishfoodie]

See; this is why I & I think a lot of other people think Hamilton is a dilettante; & doesn't have a clue what actual activism is about.

This week F1 has received a letter from 57 British MPs and 22 human rights groups asking for the sport to carry out an independent inquiry into allegations of human rights abuses linked to the race in Bahrain.

Hamilton last year received a letter from Mohammed Ramadhan, a man who said he had been arrested for supporting Bahrain's pro-democracy movement and was now on death row. The letter contained a drawing from the man's son, Ahmed, and plea for Hamilton to "please save my father".

Hamilton said on Thursday that the letter "weighed quite heavily on me" and he had spent the winter researching the issue, including speaking to Amnesty International and other human rights groups, the UK ambassador in Bahrain and Bahraini authorities.

"The steps I have taken have been in private," he said, "and I think that's the right way to go about it and I don't want to say too much that might jeopardise any progress.

"That's as much as I want to say but I am committed to helping in any way I can.

"It is not in my power to choose where we go and race but, just reflecting on the powerful position we are in, human rights I don't think should be a political issue. We all deserve equal rights.

So as a black driver; at the height of Apartheid; he'd have gone to SA, as F1's highest profile driver; would he ???

.... because there was nothing in his power he could have done .....

bollox !

If he refused to race in Bahrain; he knows damn well that F1 would be able to do SFA to sanction him; & it would put a spotlight on all the other dictatorships that F1 bring succor to.

[Insane_Homer]

See; this is why I & I think a lot of other people think Hamilton is a dilettante; & doesn't have a clue what actual activism is about.

This week F1 has received a letter from 57 British MPs and 22 human rights groups asking for the sport to carry out an independent inquiry into allegations of human rights abuses linked to the race in Bahrain.

Hamilton last year received a letter from Mohammed Ramadhan, a man who said he had been arrested for supporting Bahrain's pro-democracy movement and was now on death row. The letter contained a drawing from the man's son, Ahmed, and plea for Hamilton to "please save my father".

Hamilton said on Thursday that the letter "weighed quite heavily on me" and he had spent the winter researching the issue, including speaking to Amnesty International and other human rights groups, the UK ambassador in Bahrain and Bahraini authorities.

"The steps I have taken have been in private," he said, "and I think that's the right way to go about it and I don't want to say too much that might jeopardise any progress.

"That's as much as I want to say but I am committed to helping in any way I can.

"It is not in my power to choose where we go and race but, just reflecting on the powerful position we are in, human rights I don't think should be a political issue. We all deserve equal rights.

So as a black driver; at the height of Apartheid; he'd have gone to SA, as F1's highest profile driver; would he ???

.... because there was nothing in his power he could have done .....

bollox !

If he refused to race in Bahrain; he knows damn well that F1 would be able to do SFA to sanction him; & it would put a spotlight on all the other dictatorships that F1 bring succor to.

And where to you draw the line, it's not just Bahrain... you could add Malaysia, Saudi, Azerbaijan, Russia, Mexico, Brazil and even Monaco to the list depending on your political persuasions and causes? Much like the UKs current foreign policy, everything's fair game when there's a shit ton of money involved.

[Kawazaki]

See; this is why I & I think a lot of other people think Hamilton is a dilettante; & doesn't have a clue what actual activism is about.

This week F1 has received a letter from 57 British MPs and 22 human rights groups asking for the sport to carry out an independent inquiry into allegations of human rights abuses linked to the race in Bahrain.

Hamilton last year received a letter from Mohammed Ramadhan, a man who said he had been arrested for supporting Bahrain's pro-democracy movement and was now on death row. The letter contained a drawing from the man's son, Ahmed, and plea for Hamilton to "please save my father".

Hamilton said on Thursday that the letter "weighed quite heavily on me" and he had spent the winter researching the issue, including speaking to Amnesty International and other human rights groups, the UK ambassador in Bahrain and Bahraini authorities.

"The steps I have taken have been in private," he said, "and I think that's the right way to go about it and I don't want to say too much that might jeopardise any progress.

"That's as much as I want to say but I am committed to helping in any way I can.

"It is not in my power to choose where we go and race but, just reflecting on the powerful position we are in, human rights I don't think should be a political issue. We all deserve equal rights.

So as a black driver; at the height of Apartheid; he'd have gone to SA, as F1's highest profile driver; would he ???

.... because there was nothing in his power he could have done .....

bollox !

If he refused to race in Bahrain; he knows damn well that F1 would be able to do SFA to sanction him; & it would put a spotlight on all the other dictatorships that F1 bring succor to.

First and foremost he's still an F1 racing driver. If he withdrew then that would be the story and people like you would call him a snowflake and a drama-queen. Little to zero effort would be used to explain why he withdrew.

[Saint]

FP1. Looks like Mercedes have some ideas as to what they've got wrong and are burning through a lot of rubber trying out different settings. They've certainly got at least on option better as the car looked a LOT more planted

[sturginho]

FP1. Looks like Mercedes have some ideas as to what they've got wrong and are burning through a lot of rubber trying out different settings. They've certainly got at least on option better as the car looked a LOT more planted

It's gonna be another mercedes procession

Edit: and as I say that Max goes fastest

[ScarfaceClaw]

FP1. Looks like Mercedes have some ideas as to what they've got wrong and are burning through a lot of rubber trying out different settings. They've certainly got at least on option better as the car looked a LOT more planted

It's gonna be another mercedes procession

Edit: and as I say that Max goes fastest :mrgreen:

I expect come race day we’ll see Mercedes at the front again. For all the we’re not the fastest talk, they’ll be the constructor and driver champs again this year.

[Saint]

FP1. Looks like Mercedes have some ideas as to what they've got wrong and are burning through a lot of rubber trying out different settings. They've certainly got at least on option better as the car looked a LOT more planted

It's gonna be another mercedes procession

Edit: and as I say that Max goes fastest

I said a lot more planted. I still don;t think that they've caught the Red Bulls but I think that they're back in contention for the first two rows on the grid. That Red Bull looks like it's on rails

[Insane_Homer]

FP1 - Max Fastest
real surprise from Ferrari with some actual reasonable pace...

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.htm ... ice-1.html