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2023 Formula 1 Season thread
- Thread starter Apple fanboy
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It really isn't going to matter anyway is it?
Unless something drastic happens Max is going to beat him, and everyone else, every race.
Well, it was a race. Congrats to Checo for bringing it home and getting a win. Always have to enjoy seeing a #2 driver getting a chance to shine. And Max did his part surfing through the pack to second place. Tough break (pun) on the driveshaft thing, but everyone has a rough luck patch at some point. Max is still in the lead, point-wise, so his quest for another title is still on track..
The whole Alonso thing about had me throwing up my hands and saying “F1 is a joke”, over that ridiculous 10 sec. penalty. Even George Russell said Alonso deserved the third podium spot after the race. Amazing that the FIA backed down, they rarely do. I think they knew the F1 fan base would smell a rat somewhere (was that you, Toto?) if they didn’t change their ruling
The whole Alonso thing about had me throwing up my hands and saying “F1 is a joke”, over that ridiculous 10 sec. penalty. Even George Russell said Alonso deserved the third podium spot after the race. Amazing that the FIA backed down, they rarely do. I think they knew the F1 fan base would smell a rat somewhere (was that you, Toto?) if they didn’t change their ruling
He will indeed, until the next great race driver comes of age and competes. Whether people like it or not, this is his time.
While the season overall seems like a boring repeat of last year so far, I do enjoy Alonso on the podium. Defeats the typical bashing of anyone in their 30s compared to the younger drivers and shows age is not that relevant, talent and the better gear are.
It don't think its boring, I think too many people are at risk of turning the boring into a self fulfilling prophecy. I mean listen to all the reports on Mercedes. You'd think they are failing and are finishing in 20th place, but actually they are not. They are 3rd as a team, and 5/6 as drivers. They aren't doing bad, they are just not winning. Ferrari is doing actually worse as a team. I'm loving the Alonso / Aston Martin surprise as well. It is fun. Overall there is some good competition and some surprises happening. And only early days.
It certainly makes me feel less old seeing Alonso doing what he is doing as he is a year older than I am lol. He has said F1 cars are easier to drive in terms of physical ability to what they were pre-2010. Drivers just have to adjust more electronics in the cockpit these days which takes a different type of focus. It’s still impressive nonetheless. Mansell won his WDC at 39 and despite being very fit, he was often exhausted exiting the car at the end of the race.
I am hoping for unreliability to mix this season up a bit and hopefully we’ll see Alonso and perhaps Lewis getting a win as the season progresses. I think both need a double Red Bull DNF at this point though as no win is safe when you’ve got a Red Bull that is 17mph faster than anyone else under DRS.
It makes you feel old when they keep going on about how old he is and you know you have a good few years on him!
What would have been interesting is to see how Seb would have got on in this years car. I don’t rate him as being as good as Alonso.
First off I'm a support of Alonso. But even so I do believe Seb is the better of the two. The stats over the past 16 years agree to me on that. We can only dream of what Seb could have done with this car. But lets not dwell on that, lets enjoy watching what Alonso can do... and lets hope some bad luck comes Redbulls way too!
eh... Hard for me to say. Seb definitely made a smarter move by staying with RedBull while they were still winning. Maybe Fred should have stayed with Renault for another year or two...
Vettel is a far superior driver than Alonso. Alonso is just too much of a headache. When Alonso started to get beat by a rookie, he started blackmailing his own team and demanding that this rookie should be his lapdog, while getting beat by that rookie on the track in the same car. Alonso also got kicked out Ferrari as they didn't want to work with him anymore. Too much drama with this guy.
Vettel is also of a better leader as he made Ferrari alot better when he brought Red Bull engineers to Ferrari. Alonso doesn't do stuff like this.
Behind the wheel, Alonso is better, but that is the only thing going for him. As a total package, Vettel is much better.
I'm not denying the talent of Alonso, as in the end, he did beat Michael Schumacher twice in a slower Renault. But he's got too much baggage to consider him better than Vettel.
Vettel is also of a better leader as he made Ferrari alot better when he brought Red Bull engineers to Ferrari. Alonso doesn't do stuff like this.
Behind the wheel, Alonso is better, but that is the only thing going for him. As a total package, Vettel is much better.
I'm not denying the talent of Alonso, as in the end, he did beat Michael Schumacher twice in a slower Renault. But he's got too much baggage to consider him better than Vettel.
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For me Alonso is one of the best drivers of the last 25 years and if he had stayed out of controversy and not been such a toxic influence when the politics didn’t go his way, he could be a 4 x WDC now. He’s a very complete driver and extracted great results out of cars that are not quite good enough and he’ll be remembered for that. Unfortunately his behaviour at McLaren will always blight his career and of course being involved in 2 of the biggest cheating scandals in modern F1 history. I do find him very entertaining to watch though and was a big fan of his up to 2007. Seb is a great human and one of the greats too, I think he’d also be doing great things in that Aston. I wouldn’t want to try and determine who is better as it doesn’t really achieve anything. Both are multiple winners and any team would gladly have them in their cars if there was room.
Boot out Stroll and put Vettel in the other car. That would be a great season. Unfortunately I don’t see ‘Dad’ agreeing to that!
Indeed. Seb could come back if he misses it though. I doubt it though.Fred is the better package. Why? Because Seb is retired.
Seb is all about his family these days. Perhaps with some role on a Team, but not in a F1 car. It’s over.
I think Alonso has matured a lot over the years. His time away from F1 was good for him.
He's focused on winning or at least getting podiums.
I think Daddy Stroll is quite happy with him too.
He's focused on winning or at least getting podiums.
I think Daddy Stroll is quite happy with him too.
McLaren today sacked Technical Director James Key, who will not be directly replaced. Instead, McLaren have created three specialized Technical Director roles (Aerodynamics; Engineering and Design; Car Concept and Performance), all of whom will report to team principal Andrea Stella.
www.autoweek.com
Early Season F1 Disappointment McLaren Makes Major Changes
Last-place Formula 1 team changes technical leadership team, axes technical director.
You left out Jarno Trulli but I think we got the inference...
Oh Jarno was driving the train so always up front
It makes sense for them to not proceed considering the terms they were demanding versus what they were willing/able to offer. Effectively, Porsche wanted to buy an existing team with an existing PSU and take effective control of it in exchange for financial and marketing support. This is why they were interested in Red Bull since they have (effectively) their own PSU, but Red Bull did not want to give up control (and Honda may extend it's relationship beyond 2025) so they went with Ford, instead.
And under those conditions, RBR was the best option since everyone else is either a factory operation (AMG, Ferrari, Alpine) or they run a factory engine (Aston Martin, Haas, Williams, McLaren and Alfa). When RBR said "no", the only other option was to buy a non-factory team and run Porsche-badged Audi engines and nobody (else) wanted to sell.
Audi is going to build their own engine, so that gave/gives them the flexibility to buy a non-factory team (as they did with Alfa). Andretti/Cadillac (f allowed to enter) will also be building their own engine, so they also could theoretically buy an existing team or, like Haas did, start from scratch as a constructor.
And under those conditions, RBR was the best option since everyone else is either a factory operation (AMG, Ferrari, Alpine) or they run a factory engine (Aston Martin, Haas, Williams, McLaren and Alfa). When RBR said "no", the only other option was to buy a non-factory team and run Porsche-badged Audi engines and nobody (else) wanted to sell.
Audi is going to build their own engine, so that gave/gives them the flexibility to buy a non-factory team (as they did with Alfa). Andretti/Cadillac (f allowed to enter) will also be building their own engine, so they also could theoretically buy an existing team or, like Haas did, start from scratch as a constructor.
AUTRALIA
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 1:17.384 | 1:17.056 | 1:16.732 | 24 |
| 2 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 1:17.654 | 1:17.513 | 1:16.968 | 29 |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:17.689 | 1:17.551 | 1:17.104 | 28 |
| 4 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:17.832 | 1:17.283 | 1:17.139 | 26 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 1:17.928 | 1:17.349 | 1:17.270 | 28 |
| 6 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:17.873 | 1:17.616 | 1:17.308 | 26 |
| 7 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 1:18.218 | 1:17.390 | 1:17.369 | 25 |
| 8 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:17.962 | 1:17.761 | 1:17.609 | 27 |
| 9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:18.312 | 1:17.574 | 1:17.675 | 25 |
| 10 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 1:18.029 | 1:17.412 | 1:17.735 | 26 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:17.770 | 1:17.768 | 18 | |
| 12 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT | 1:18.471 | 1:18.099 | 22 | |
| 13 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:18.243 | 1:18.119 | 24 | |
| 14 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 1:18.159 | 1:18.129 | 18 | |
| 15 | 21 | Nyck De Vries | ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT | 1:18.450 | 1:18.335 | 23 | |
| 16 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:18.517 | 12 | ||
| 17 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 1:18.540 | 12 | ||
| 18 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:18.557 | 12 | ||
| 19 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 1:18.714 | 12 | ||
| NC | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | DNF | 2 |
Shame the wrong RB put it in the gravel. Really tight except for Max.
Mercedes seem to perform better when it’s a bit cooler. Hopefully the upgrades are also playing their part.
Mercedes seem to perform better when it’s a bit cooler. Hopefully the upgrades are also playing their part.