The Official F1 Thread

[Dogbert]

One of the great qualifying laps by MV this morning. A very special talent.

Taking a car to where ut should not really be, as good as Senna in Monaco in 88, possibly, and Senna had the car that year.

[Kawazaki]

One of the great qualifying laps by MV this morning. A very special talent.

Taking a car to where ut should not really be, as good as Senna in Monaco in 88, possibly, and Senna had the car that year.

A good lap no doubt but you have to remember that literally all of Red Bulls R&D is focused purely on producing a car that is bespoke for Verstappen's driving style, which is idiosyncratic to say the least.

[Kawazaki]

Haven't seen any of the race but it doesn't appear to have been a classic...

[Guy Smiley]

Haven't seen any of the race but it doesn't appear to have been a classic...

I watched it flag to flag. Bit of a procession. Ferrari were the only front running team to try any sort of strategy ploy with LH starting on hard tyres. McLaren could have split their strategies, damp track for the start saw Norris a close second into turn one behind Verstappen and Piastri running a comfortable 3rd. They stayed that way all race really and it made me wonder why they didn't try something like pitting Piastri early and try for an undercut. Possibly no room in traffic to allow it...

but the first race in a very long time to have the top 6 finish in their starting order says it all as far as tension and excitement go.

[Kawazaki]

I watched it flag to flag.

There's 82 minutes and 7 seconds you'll never get back!

[Dogbert]

Driver in the 4th best car won from pole , a consummate drive

[Kawazaki]

Driver in the 4th best car won from pole , a consummate drive

It's a car conceived, designed, built and developed literally with the sole purpose of Verstappen driving it.

No other driver, since perhaps Schumacher in the Ferrari 20+ years ago, has a car like this on the grid.

[Dogbert]

Driver in the 4th best car won from pole , a consummate drive

It's a car conceived, designed, built and developed literally with the sole purpose of Verstappen driving it.

No other driver, since perhaps Schumacher in the Ferrari 20+ years ago, has a car like this on the grid.

Yet over a full distance race the Red Bull no match for the Mclaren / Merc , or Ferrari - and if what you say is true regarding the car being built around MV this is denied by other drivers & Newey ( when he was at Red Bull), you still have the fact that Verstappen has the massive disadvantage of not have the rear gunner to allow any strategic calls in race strategy.

It was a simply lovely win in the end though

[Guy Smiley]

Driver in the 4th best car won from pole , a consummate drive

It's a car conceived, designed, built and developed literally with the sole purpose of Verstappen driving it.

No other driver, since perhaps Schumacher in the Ferrari 20+ years ago, has a car like this on the grid.

Yet over a full distance race the Red Bull no match for the Mclaren / Merc , or Ferrari - and if what you say is true regarding the car being built around MV this is denied by other drivers & Newey ( when he was at Red Bull), you still have the fact that Verstappen has the massive disadvantage of not have the rear gunner to allow any strategic calls in race strategy.

It was a simply lovely win in the end though

At a track where passing is almost impossible for closely matched cars and RB gave him a package with reduced downforce to give him more straight line speed.

[Dogbert]

It's a car conceived, designed, built and developed literally with the sole purpose of Verstappen driving it.

No other driver, since perhaps Schumacher in the Ferrari 20+ years ago, has a car like this on the grid.

Yet over a full distance race the Red Bull no match for the Mclaren / Merc , or Ferrari - and if what you say is true regarding the car being built around MV this is denied by other drivers & Newey ( when he was at Red Bull), you still have the fact that Verstappen has the massive disadvantage of not have the rear gunner to allow any strategic calls in race strategy.

It was a simply lovely win in the end though

At a track where passing is almost impossible for closely matched cars and RB gave him a package with reduced downforce to give him more straight line speed.

And Mclaren could have given both Norris and Piastri a reduced downforce package to match, but chose not to, of course reducing the downforce makes the car slide more and more difficult to drive, and the RB is hard work at the best of times, so it would take a very special driver to handle.

[Guy Smiley]

where passing is almost impossible for closely matched cars...

what sort of 'package' do you suggest McLaren should have used?


The only things that could have made this race interesting would have been rain or a Safety Car, otherwise it's just a procession. Max's brilliance was in his qualifying lap and even there luck plays a part with the wind unsettling cars at various spots around the track.

He did well but I'm not convinced he deserves the gargling.

[Sandstorm]

Max having a shite evening in Bahrain.

[fishfoodie]

Lando ain't winning no World Championships driving like that !

The McLarens are utterly dominant this weekend, & he smacks his car into the wall, so he'll start in 10th, while his teammate scampers off from the front

[Dogbert]

Max having a shite evening in Bahrain.

Simply Lovely evening in Saudi

[Sandstorm]

Max having a shite evening in Bahrain.

Simply Lovely evening in Saudi

Still a dickhead

[Guy Smiley]

Interesting stat from the timing sheets,

each of the top 3 qualifiers had a fastest sector in their last qualifying runs. I wonder how often that happens?

[Dogbert]

Max having a shite evening in Bahrain.

Simply Lovely evening in Saudi

Still the best driver on the grid

FTFY

[Sandstorm]

Simply Lovely evening in Saudi

Still the best driver on the grid

FTFY

Still a dickhead

[Slick]

Is there anywhere to pass on that Saudi circuit?

[Guy Smiley]

Is there anywhere to pass on that Saudi circuit?

Not really, typical street circuit with bugger all room for error. I’m sure there will be some moves but it’s likely to be a bit of a procession. Slightly softer tyre compounds might open up the possibilities for tactical changes but I reckon a lot of teams will hang back waiting for safety cars for tyre stops.

Piastri onto Verstappen into turn one will be interesting. He’s a fast starter.

[Slick]

Is there anywhere to pass on that Saudi circuit?

Not really, typical street circuit with bugger all room for error. I’m sure there will be some moves but it’s likely to be a bit of a procession. Slightly softer tyre compounds might open up the possibilities for tactical changes but I reckon a lot of teams will hang back waiting for safety cars for tyre stops.

Piastri onto Verstappen into turn one will be interesting. He’s a fast starter.

Thanks, was watching qualifying thinking that with all that cash and a relatively new Grand Prix surely they could have come up with an exciting track - I appreciate the skill to drive around the thing of course

[Guy Smiley]

It seems there's a trend to develop street based circuits with Liberty Media looking to increase the number of tracks (and races) per season. No-one is really building new circuits suitable for F1 so we've seen these 'new tracks' added that are street circuits. I'm not a fan myself as I find them boring and the races tend to be processional, but that was the expectation with Los Vegas last year and it turned up quite an exciting race. The cars are too big to allow much space for dicing and passing while the aero doesn't usually like being in 'dirty air' behind another car.... I did hear a comment from someone the other day that they feel the effects of a car in front even when they're a long way back, even 20 seconds.

So for me, street circuits are a bit shit from a racing perspective but it suits the type of driving developed in SIM with ultra tight margins and the need for robot precision.

If you look at Norris' qualifying crash closely, he was less than a tyre width wide going through the left but tried to carry too much speed there, putting him wide into the next right, onto the kerb, snap over steer with the power on and bang, around he went. On a track, he just goes around and hopefully digs himself out of a gravel trap. On this and other street circuits, he's into a wall with wheels hanging off.

[Guy Smiley]

Piastri onto Verstappen into turn one will be interesting. He’s a fast starter.

Typical Max, he was beaten to the corner fair and square so he just gets off the brakes, runs wide and blames the other driver. Lucky to only get a 5 sec penalty I thought, but ironically if he had given the spot back he'd have been better off overall and possibly had a better chance for the win.

Very nice drive from Piastri and he now leads the championship. Both Lando and LeClerc were putting in some ferociously fast laps throughout as well.

[Kawazaki]

Piastri onto Verstappen into turn one will be interesting. He’s a fast starter.

Typical Max, he was beaten to the corner fair and square so he just gets off the brakes, runs wide and blames the other driver. Lucky to only get a 5 sec penalty I thought, but ironically if he had given the spot back he'd have been better off overall and possibly had a better chance for the win.

Very nice drive from Piastri and he now leads the championship. Both Lando and LeClerc were putting in some ferociously fast laps throughout as well.

The group lack of self-awareness from everybody at Red Bull with regards Verstappen is astonishing. He's literally a spoilt child.

[Guy Smiley]

Video breakdown of Verstappen vs Piastri turn 1. i think this is a very diplomatic way of saying


Max is a truculent cnut.




The post race behaviour says it all. Ok if you're going to play the stewards and try to gain a result off track but the shitty attitude exposes the character flaw here that is being actively supported by his team and supporter base. Take your lumps Max. Phenomenal talent who can't handle being beaten.

EDIT... clip won't allow embedding, it's the regular weekly content breakdown from Driver 61, Jolyon Palmer's excellent analysis channel.

[Guy Smiley]

Kimi Antonelli has grabbed pole for the Miami sprint... youngest pole sitter ever, apparently. Mercedes look to have a decent package. McLaren rounding out the top 3.

[fishfoodie]

Kimi Antonelli has grabbed pole for the Miami sprint... youngest pole sitter ever, apparently. Mercedes look to have a decent package. McLaren rounding out the top 3.

I wonder if Landos question as to how the car is legal will prove prophetic ?

[Guy Smiley]

Kimi Antonelli has grabbed pole for the Miami sprint... youngest pole sitter ever, apparently. Mercedes look to have a decent package. McLaren rounding out the top 3.

I wonder if Landos question as to how the car is legal will prove prophetic ?

I think that was Albon... dunno, there's always that radio gamesmanship they play and while teams do miscalculate surely having the thing too low during quali is too dumb and obvious...

surely?

[fishfoodie]

Kimi Antonelli has grabbed pole for the Miami sprint... youngest pole sitter ever, apparently. Mercedes look to have a decent package. McLaren rounding out the top 3.

I wonder if Landos question as to how the car is legal will prove prophetic ?

I think that was Albon... dunno, there's always that radio gamesmanship they play and while teams do miscalculate surely having the thing too low during quali is too dumb and obvious...

surely?

Could definitely have gotten the wrong driver, but I think the Sky comms picked up on the important point that this was Sprint qually, & they know that they can play fast & loose with the regs, because it's a short race, so the block wear probably won't be enough to get them penalised, but for the full GP they'll have to add a mm to the ride height

[Sandstorm]

Miami Sprint Race about to start and it’s raining!!

[ScarfaceClaw]

And LeClerc gets to sit the race out after binning the car on the way to the grid.

[fishfoodie]

And LeClerc gets to sit the race out after binning the car on the way to the grid.

Can't really blame him; it was a case of wrong place, wrong time, once you start aquaplaning your just a passenger

[ScarfaceClaw]

And LeClerc gets to sit the race out after binning the car on the way to the grid.

Can't really blame him; it was a case of wrong place, wrong time, once you start aquaplaning your just a passenger

Absolutely nothing he could do. Verstappen must be raging at his pit crew. Jos will be off home to batter the missus. The wanker that he is.

[fishfoodie]

I WANT A LEGO F1 CAR !!!!

[Sandstorm]

I WANT A LEGO F1 CAR !!!!

[Enzedder]

Bloody Lawson needs to learn to drive. Where did he expect Doohan to go?

[fishfoodie]

I certainly wasn't convinced the Hamilton going to Ferrari was a good idea; but a little, frank, Anglo-Saxon language about the clusterfuck that is the teams strategy can only be a good thing !

[Enzedder]

Woohoo for Mclaren. Been a fan since the days of Bruce and Denny and good to see them back on top.

Brilliant from Piastri too.

[Sandstorm]

Piastri wins again and leaving Norris in his dust.

I called it before the 1st race: Lando just doesn’t have the stones to be World Champion.

[Guy Smiley]

Piastri wins again and leaving Norris in his dust.

I called it before the 1st race: Lando just doesn’t have the stones to be World Champion.

People said that about Alain Prost, too. Lando is very fast and the perception about his character is influenced by his vocal tone over the radio. He plays the team game nicely and does what they want.

I said Piastri had the goods back in his first McLaren season. He's a genuinely quick driver who stays cool under pressure and calculates well. That move he put Verstappen into for the lead was a masterclass.