F1 (Formula 1) Racing Topic

[Pretzel]

The season started off really entertaining with good battles, just sad that it ended up relatively boring by the end. 

One thing that seemed really noteworthy to me, however, was the amount of improvement Mercedes was able to make across the course of the season. They went from nearly 1 second per lap behind the top cars to scoring a win purely on pace in the 2nd to last race of the season. I know they had lots of issues with porpoising early on that hampered them, but despite having started as the 3rd fastest car and still ending as (generally) the 3rd fastest car they win the "Most Improved" award in my book, since they went from barely better than the rest to barely slower than the 2nd best despite there having been a huge gap between the midfield and the top-2 teams initially. I'm very curious to see if they're able to further tame the "zero sidepod" concept that other teams considered to be too risky and take it further than other design concepts, or if it might stall out as other teams continue to progress.

Either way I'm still quite happy to see that by seasons end there are still 3 distinct design concepts competing to see which of them is the best way forwards. The zero sidepod concept from Mercedes, more "traditional" take by Red Bull, and the bathtub sidepods of Ferrari. I expect Red Bull to still be fastest come next spring, but I'd be very pleasantly surprised if Ferrari or Mercedes made a big leap forwards with their designs (particularly Mercedes since a lot of their comments alluded to their primary problem being one they can't solve until next year's car due to the homologation rules).

It will also be as interesting as ever to see how the midfield sorts itself out again now that the first year of the new regulations has been completed, whether we'll see teams continuing their own concepts or copying the big-3 teams' designs. Especially with three new rookie drivers (Piastri, Sargeant, and De Vries) it will be fun to see lots of fresh faces further down in the order (or perhaps higher up, with the right development luck). Shame about Mick Schumacher losing out on his seat, but realistically from the outside it's hard to say how much value he brought both financially (sponsorships that might be associated with the Schumacher name, especially now that he was dropped from the FDA) and in terms of car development. Most young drivers don't have the same car development talent in particular as more experienced ones, but at the same time there's only so much an experienced driver pairing can do with a Haas as we've seen in the past.

[iacas]

@Pretzel, I wonder how the season would have played out if Ferrari hadn't employed a strategy determined by rolling a ten-sided pair of dice all year long.

[Bucki1968]

I am hopeful that next season becomes more competitive from start to finish also.  Looks like Ferrari has made they're move....

Ferrari confirm Mattia Binotto has resigned as Team Principal | Formula 1®

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Ferrari have announced that Mattia Binotto is to leave his position as Ferrari Team Principal at the end of the year, putting an end to weeks of speculation.

 

[Pretzel]

23 hours ago, iacas said:

@Pretzel, I wonder how the season would have played out if Ferrari hadn't employed a strategy determined by rolling a ten-sided pair of dice all year long.

Honestly if they used some D20's to randomly choose both tire compound and how many laps until the next pit stop, I think they might have been better off than they were by letting their strategy team make the decisions.

The problem is that the strategy director, Iñaki Rueda, has been in the same position making the same terrible decisions since 2014. The fact that he has outlasted the revolving door of team principals (Domenicali, Mattiacci, Arrivabene, and now Binotto) despite the fact that the majority of failures during that timeframe can be directly attributed to his team is nothing short of astounding. I can only imagine the kind of dirt he must have on various members of Ferrari leadership to not be fired by now, and it has to be someone either higher up than the Ferrari CEO or it has to be a variety of Ferrari individuals because he outlasted both Marchionne and Camilleri (previous Ferrari CEO's).

The worst part of it all is that his undergraduate engineering degree is from the same University as mine! He's tarnishing my own credibility a little more with every successive blunder!

Edited November 29, 2022 by Pretzel

[Darkfrog]

This was the first season I followed F1 and watched a bunch of races, after binging the Drive to Survive series. Still have a lot to learn about the sport, but I'm fascinated by motorsports now, which is something that I thought was pretty dull prior to this year.

I wonder if the planned Netflix PGA series might have a similar effect of bringing new fans to the sport of golf.

[iacas]

 

[Bucki1968]

Well...we are two races in, and I have to say it looks like it's going to be a Red Bull season. However, it should be interesting to see who comes out of the pack in the middle of the grid. 

[iacas]

8 minutes ago, Bucki1968 said:

Well...we are two races in, and I have to say it looks like it's going to be a Red Bull season. However, it should be interesting to see who comes out of the pack in the middle of the grid. 

Fine by me. 🙂

[grubby98]

liked danny ric when he was at red bull.  stayed as red bull fan when he left.  like max but checo is my guy

 

hope he can keep it interesting in points with max

[Bucki1968]

It will be interesting to see if Ashton Martin can keep it going or will Mercades/Ferrari get it figured out. I thought maybe Ferrari would take another step forward this year, but it doesn't look like they have figured it out. Seems like Mercades is even admitting they are falling behind? 

[iacas]

Title says it all:

F1 Driver Charles Leclerc Asks Fans to Stop Coming to His Home - The New York Times

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Mr. Leclerc said on Instagram on Sunday that his address had become public and that fans had been gathering at his apartment asking for pictures and autographs.

[grubby98]

this break is to long F1 is in.  

[Vinsk]

1 hour ago, grubby98 said:

this break is to long F1 is in.  

Too.

[Pretzel]

On 4/13/2023 at 9:26 PM, grubby98 said:

this break is to long F1 is in.  

It's because the original schedule included the Chinese Grand Prix on April 16th, but that was cancelled due to the continuing pandemic-related restrictions China still has in place. This was likely only included in the schedule due to contractual obligations, and then after it was cancelled the backlash from teams over the amount of races (and the cost to circuits to host a grand prix) meant it wasn't replaced on the calendar with another race. They can't just shuffle the entire calendar forwards to close the gap either because circuits have to plan their schedules well in advance and shifting the F1 circus by a week would ruin all of that (and certainly breech other contractual obligations in the process).

[grubby98]

yea i know that, wish they could have put a race in its place so not as large break or did a double race at a track in reverse or something

[grubby98]

finally a race week.  hope Baku is a banger

[Bucki1968]

Well....Red Bull. Again. 🤣 Wasn't much of Banger. Some good action in the first ten laps. 

[iacas]

27 minutes ago, Bucki1968 said:

Well....Red Bull. Again. 🤣 Wasn't much of Banger. Some good action in the first ten laps. 

Ferrari at least showed up a little. Leclerc may lead the league in poles without a win.