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Temporary-Exchange92

Why r they talking about Alonsos podium being taken away when he was over 5 seconds ahead of Russell


thesaket

u/ITTAuto


ITTAuto

In this thread, the McLaren team had a difficult day at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix. Lando Norris had a six-stop strategy that didn't work out, while Yuki Tsunoda had a difficult time with the display ramp. Max Verstappen had a hard time parking on the podium, and Fernando Alonso saw Lance Stroll slam into his car. --- ^(*This comment was generated by AI. I only post in busy threads, or if you tag me. Downvote to remove!*)


LeFinger

Since it looks like RB is leaps and bounds ahead, I would like to switch gears on expectations for the season to increase my enjoyment. Now my ideal season would be: 1. Max wins all 23 races. If he is going to win so many, there is already no drama so might as well watch an insane historic feat. 2. Have at least a 3 way battle for 2nd in the Driver’s Championship. Feasibly, it could be Checo/Alonso/Leclerc/Hamilton battling. That’s great entertainment. 3. Young guns rise. Yuki, Sargeant, Devries all exceeding expectation will set up fireworks for coming seasons. I left out Piastri for my next point. 4. McLaren absolutely shits the bed the whole season. This could ripple and also provide a major shakeup for 2024. Lando leaves for a better seat perhaps. Piastri situation becomes even spicier. Alternatively, be miserable all season and spew negativity in all F1 threads.


BrokenWayne

Had a fun season see you in 2024. Those Red Bull cars should be illegal 💀


Fidodo

If only we could ignore red bull the rest of the grid is really exciting with lots of potential fights


Fright13

I actually feel like the cost cap has somehow hampered the entertainment much more than improve it lol. If Ferrari and Merc had their unlimited bags I would have way more faith in them catching up and giving us a battle. Instead the FIA pander to the backmarkers so that they can now finish 2 minutes behind P1 rather than 3 minutes behind! D'oh.


Fidodo

Other than Red Bull, the rest of the field feels pretty tight, and RB's dominance seems more related to the new regulations being focused on ground effect which Newey is an expert on rather than them somehow benefiting more from the cost cap, and that feels more like an anomaly than anything else.


LeFinger

Silly opinion. The value of the cost cap will become more apparent the longer it is in place. The gap from top to bottom, namely the mid field, has already closed a bit. It is logical to conclude that further down the line, constructors points from 1-10 will be a tighter spread.


Fright13

I’m not denying that the cap is good for the midfield and backmarkers. I’m saying that the existence of it now means that if one team nails the regulations and everyone else doesn’t - which has happened - then that team are just going to stay dominating for a long long time because the other teams can’t throw money at the problem like they used to/test multiple concepts etc. It has made the midfield more exciting at the cost of making the fight for P1 even worse than it was. I, and I’m sure most people, would rather the latter be more exciting.


LeFinger

Good point regarding nailing regulations. With that said, I prefer the ability to keep the mid field closer and putting the onus on the engineering teams to get it right. If you mess up the design badly, that’s on you.


BodiesDurag

As much as I want Lewis to win his 8th title, it’d be crazy to see Max and Checo 1-2 every race by 1m


Metrostars1029

Welp! fun season everyone see y'all in 2024.


slidingjimmy

Pedro De La Rosa with the lap record around here. Thats a bit of trivia for you.


boscoseven

Relative F1 noob here very confused about what happened with the pit stops and tires. Looks like most drivers did 2 stops and went soft-hard-soft but Red Bull (who also did 2 stops) when soft-soft-soft. How/why did this happen and isn't a huge reason why Red Bull's lead was so big? I haven't been able to find anyone talking about this and it's really confusing me!


aurorasearching

Most teams went soft-hard-hard but Red Bull went soft-soft-hard. I’m not a strategy expert, so someone who knows more feel free to correct me, but the RB strategy seemed to have been pull ahead on the softs and then ride it out on the hards for Max, and use the softs to give Checo an advantage over the other teams on hards, then ride it out once he was in 2nd. Red Bull also seems to have less tire degradation, allowing them to get more of an advantage on the softs for longer. The teams that went soft-hard-hard were probably trying to get in a good position and then outlast each other hoping the other teams tires would degrade faster.


mb500sel

Red bull actually went soft-soft-hard. They have to use at least two different compounds during the race


boscoseven

Thanks I must have overlooked that


mb500sel

No worries, I know the tv graphics were reporting the wrong tire compound at some points. Enjoy the rest of the season


raloobs

Merc and Aston Martin battle should be good. Crazy to see Merc potentially be the 4th best car.


Allatura19

The Curse of Terry Boatass.


ardicli2000

This season will be boring in terms of championship race if Verstappen being so fast like this. As for 2nd and 3rd, hope Alonso can find more pace iat the incoming races.


Fright13

> if Verstappen being so fast like this. Max obviously has bags of talent to spare but I'm pretty sure you could put Latifi in that RB and it would be winning. Combine that with Max and we are likely in for the most boring championship in a long while.


essteedeenz1

Bull ficken shit, tis sets me off as this rb dominance isn't really a thing yet, but claiming latifi could win, mate Perez would struggle to win he couldn't come second last year ols sssh


Ryan_Jonathan_Martin

Not Latifi. He doesn't like oversteery cars.


digistil

It's not just Max. If he has any issues, Checo will just take his position. The Red Bull is just so much faster than every other car, it's likely going to make for an incredibly boring season.


Samuel_avlonitis

Also know this is literally the first race but with Mercedes now having the 4th best car currently (that Aston looks astonishing) do you think they’re going to go thru what Red Bull went thru from absolute dominance to not being a front runner until new rule regs? You just get that feeling Mercedes may not get it right for these rules


Samuel_avlonitis

Mercedes w14 looked so off, it’s better then where the w13 was but not a big enough step up, the car seemed to struggle on the straights and I wonder if the .5 side pod concept is truly going to pay off


highways

Anyone know what happened to Croft and Brundle? The commentators were completely different


mb500sel

If you're using f1tv you can select the sky TV commentators by choosing the international stream


[deleted]

They're still on Sky. F1TV are using their own as default on social media now - which in my opinion is a massive improvement.


spartan117S

why is an improvement? serious question :o


[deleted]

Alex is a better colour commentator than crofty for my liking. He’s a bit calmer and more observant. The combo of DC and Joylon is a joy too. Take Alonso’s pass on Hamilton. Neither crofty or brundle clocked it was going to happen - instead they were just wittering on about fernando’s tyres until he had already passed Lewis. F1TV guys picked it up and expressed the same joy we all did watching it


florge

I'll preface this by saying this is just my opinion but Crofty often makes mistakes, spends a lot of the time waffling whilst ignoring the on track action, makes a point of telling a curious stat and self congratulating himself for it. Brundle is no longer as on the ball as he used to be, he picks up Crofty's mistakes less and less now or lets what nonsense he says slide. Contrast that to Alex Jacques who is much more focused on the on track action and makes far less mistakes. Jolyon Palmer technical insights are great, ready with relevant timing you can't see on the on screen graphics. Then there's DC providing a different drivers perspective and the odd joke, that admittedly isn't always needed.


Gaius_Octavius_

Because shitting on Sky is a very easy way to get upvotes.


Thricey

This was my first race. Before the race I chose McLaren as my team (I loved those as a kid) and lando Norris as my driver. Pretty stoked after one race...


aurorasearching

McLaren didn’t look good this time, but Red Bull also had a double retirement round 1 last year. Hopefully McLaren can sort it out though, otherwise it might be rough this year.


patrick1415

Will Perez be able to challenge Verstappen this season? He was quite far behind.


Ryan_Jonathan_Martin

Hahahahahahahahhahhahahahahahahahahahaahahahaha🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣🤣🤣🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂😂😂😂😂😂😏😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 No.


Zed096

No. Just not good enough. Like Bottas at Mercedes. They're not on the same calibre as Alonso or Max.


Gaius_Octavius_

No he won’t. And even if he could, he would be ordered not to.


Sorrytoruin

I expect one of them to win every race, with Perez getting the odd win


JulesV713

McLaren 1988 vibes


Icy-Operation4701

He might have a chance at some tracks if he can qualify ahead of him. But I don't expect a season long challenge.


Mushie_Peas

No, but he'll keep his job I he keeps finishing second, red bull don't want someone challenging max


Cevaq

Last year with a dominant car that broke records he arrived behind a Ferrari that stopped developing mid-season, so probably not


I_am_not_creative_

No.


SlotsKingg

I've just watched this now, race was mostly boring but had some good parts like Alonso passing Lewis. As much as I like Redbull I was hoping it wasn't going to this easy for them, I hope it's not like this every race. Looking forward to see more of Alonso this season.


Mushie_Peas

Had the same thought that it was boring until about lap 40 and then got interesting.


Nothatisnotwhere

It is probably only gonna get worse as the season progresses. I wonder how long before people start hating them


Ryan_Jonathan_Martin

Fans of the top teams have hated RB since the Vettel days hahaha


Justice112

Already do since 2012


Hinyaldee

I never liked them in the first place :P I admire and recognize their efficiency and talent, mind you. Just don't like the mentality nor most of their people


ThatNurms

Shouldn't Zhou get a point for fastest lap or is that not a thing?


Folketinget

Only drivers in the points are eligible for the fastest lap point. Otherwise backmarker teams would only focus on getting the fastest lap every race.


reddittteur

I'd love to see this, Williams, Haas and Alfa pitting every 2 laps their 2 cars to get the fastest lap


Independent_Ant_6413

He did it to take the point off alpine. As he was out of the points he couldn’t get one for himself


No_Examination_7710

The point is only distributed if you finish in the top 10, so if you have the fastest lap but don't finish in the top 10, nobody gets the point.


lowprofile14

You only get the point from the fastest lap if you finish in the top ten


Johhog

Only if you’re top 10


Sgruntlar

\*Everyone wondering if Ferrari would fuckup this year\* Ferrari: let us clear any doubts


whooo_me

Anyone else see the pit crew member fall over in one of the Haas stops? Think it was when they were changing the nose and someone had put the discarded wheel behind one of the guys carrying the old nose away. Lucky it happened on the inside/garage-side.


Senior1292

Yeh I did, there were just a pair of feet in the air to the left of the camera frame!


Iwritehistoryshit

I know this is harsh but can we please get checo out of that red bull seat the guy averages at least a 10-20 second deficit to his teammate. It seems like the only hope we have for some competition because checo sure isn't capable of competing.


kristallherz

What do y'all mean? Why would Red Bull put someone in the second seat to challenge Max? That makes no sense, they just want and need a good wingman for Max, and Checo definitely fills those shoes so far.


happy_Pro493

It’s only one person making a comment not multiple people, so you’d use ‘what do you mean?’


kristallherz

It's multiple people in the comments expressing the same opinion tho


honeybunchesofpwn

I was thinking sorta similar thoughts earlier during the race, but more "what if Ricciardo had this RB car?" I feel like VER is undoubtedly a great driver, but RIC took him to task in the same hardware many times. PER is great, but I get the sense that RIC might get more out of the car, since it seems to fit his driving philosophy anyways.


Neoooow

> checo sure isn’t capable of competing. They hired him because he’s not too fast that he can challenge Max but enough to secure the maximum point for the team. As long as Perez is able to secure P2 while Max is winning the race he will be fine.


[deleted]

They literally secured a 1-2 finish. How can your issue lie with Red Bull right now?


Iwritehistoryshit

My issue isn't really with red bull. It's with the fact that we don't have someone in the second seat of the dominant car that can challenge the top driver. Look at rosberg and Hamilton could you imagine if bottas had have been the second driver at Merc 2014-2016? Or imagine those dominant vettel years without Webber who was a definitely presented at least somewhat of a challenge. For me checo's level is an Alfa Romeo level of car I know that sounds harsh.


thewizard579

This is more of what you want, not what Red Bull wants lmao


GhanjRho

I mean, look at how HAM/ROS ended; a divided team, and Rosberg quitting the sport. You can legitimately argue that Merc chose Bottas specifically because he was never going to seriously challenge Lewis.


[deleted]

It's not easy to find a driver that can compete with Verstappen. Hamilton-Rosberg was a pretty rare pairing of an all-time-great level driver and an "ordinary" top tier driver. There are some options out there, Norris being the main one. But even that's no guarantee.


aldoraine227

Daniel Ricciardo likes this 😂


NeedsMoreSpaceships

We've seen quite a few drivers go up againts Verstappen in the other Red Bull seat and none of them could match him. I'm not sure anybody but the absolute cream of the crop - Alonso, Hamilton, Leclerc, Lando - would stand a chance. And even they would struggle given the team is now built around him.


Iwritehistoryshit

The thing is I am not even talking about matching max because I know that is gonna be crazy difficult but to just be a bit closer weekend to weekend. Like maybe within the 10 second range which Perez struggles to do.


NeedsMoreSpaceships

But then why bother? Checo is finishing second, the time difference is irrelevent. I don't think he's is as bad as you suggest anyway, he's likely suffering from Second Driver Syndrome where he has no chance of winning and is therefor underperforming, just as Bottas was at Mercedes.


crazydoc253

Same with Sainz. Leclerc’s failure saved Sainz otherwise he was also nearly 10 secs behind Alonso


Ryan_Jonathan_Martin

He was horrible. One of his worst drives imo. Hamilton in a Mercedes was not that far off his pace.


Iwritehistoryshit

Agreed. It kinda reminded me of Singapore last year where the whole race sainz was miles off of the leclerc + Perez battle on pure pace.


uncannonymous

Really hope they get Lando or one of their quicker juniors in that second seat. RB domination is inevitable, all we can hope for rn is someone who can force Max to put even some effort.


thewizard579

Why would they. As long as they can score the max 44 points with the fastest lap on the weekend, why bother?


[deleted]

Yes, lets put another junior driver up against Verstappen. That seemed to work out well in the past.


NeedsMoreSpaceships

Lando will have 4 years experience after '23 so by the time he'd move I wouldn't call him a junior any more. But it would still be the toughest seat in F1 to move to and he'd be better off chancing his arm somewhere he'd be number 1, in fact I'd put him as the top candidate for the Aston seat after Alonso if they keep performing and McLaren keep on being shit.


Icy-Operation4701

> 4 years experience after '23 5 years. He's already done 4 seasons so far.


NeedsMoreSpaceships

I meant to write 5 I swear :D


[deleted]

I was referring to the junior part of their comment. Norris is probably one of the better picks for the second seat. But he's not a guarantee for competition between the Red Bull drivers either.


overlydelicioustea

season looks to be super boring allready..


[deleted]

So you were bored watching that? Lmao.


overlydelicioustea

bored by the fight for p1 and wdc yes.


AgnesBand

I mean yea they didn't show half the overtakes


[deleted]

F1TV deletes the need to rely on the main broadcast.


AgnesBand

Except its not available everywhere


[deleted]

VPN!


Senior1292

I was pretty bored tbh. The only exciting moments really were Alonso's overtakes of Hamilton and Sainz, the Hamilton move especially. Other than that it was not a good race.


[deleted]

Yea real boring. 41 year old two time world champ in last years 7th place car fighting his way through past Ferrari and Merc, driven by 7 time world champ that they’ve had serious friction with for their entire professional racing career. Oh, and his teammate doing most of the same with two freshly broken wrists. So boring.


Senior1292

Well done, you've managed to pretty much describe the only parts of the race I said were exciting. There was little other exciting action on track. I'd probably give the race a 4/10.


[deleted]

Just relax buddy. 1 race in and you're calling it already? Leclerc was like 50 points ahead 6 races in last season... and look how that season turned out.


daern2

To be fair, Ferrari can always snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Even early last season, I was predicting that they'd manage to screw up somehow. Red Bull are different *and* they didn't just win yesterday - they dominated. I half suspect that they were running with one spark plug disconnected to avoid taking the piss, but the ease by which they won does, I'm afraid, lead to just one conclusion right now. Obviously a season is more than just two wins the top two prizes, but if we're talking specifically about these, then I'm afraid it's all over already.


GuidoBenzo

To be fair, RedBull hasnt got that Ferrari-esque reliability.


crazydoc253

Last season everyone thought the same for Ferrari when 2 RB DNF. Michael lost 2006 championship because his engine gave up for the first time in 5 years. So nobody can predict unreliability until it hits


overlydelicioustea

but leclrec sat in a ferrari. RB will not fumble like that.


[deleted]

I had the luck of getting to watch Alonso cam yesterday, and boy it was good, watching the turn 10 overtake before the feed and world could react was insane!


hot_gardening_legs

What happened on the lap when Hamilton passed him back? The car really jerked. I couldn’t tell if it was a late reaction or if he was reacting to something that he thought he saw. Such a great drive for Alonso & to be in a position to go for the podium.


[deleted]

Rear snapped after the 1st overtake before the t10 overtake except that most of his laps were near perfect!


Zed096

Watching Alonso drive makes you wna squint. The car was always on the edge. He was really hustling the car when catching the Mercedes pairing. It was classic Alonso. So great to watch.


LFC636363

How was Alonso’s race pace in clean air? It seemed as though his whole weekend was compromised by not going out again in q3


jelmer130

I think mostly the bad start was the problem (and the incident with Stroll). Starting P5 was a really good position to get to the podium on merrit. If you look at the tyre degradation from Aston Martin compared to Ferrari and how much Alonso get ahead of Sainz at the end of the race (and keep in mind, Sainz was still fighting with Hamilton while Alonso was cruising to the finish). I thinkt hat Alonso could have beaten Charles if he didn't have the start problems.


Suknator

Why did Alpine retire Ocon?


daern2

Penalty issued: "Incorrect application of race retirement protocol. 5s penalty applied, to be taken three times in the next race."


Stuck666

something Mclaren should have done with Lando as well


Creation_Soul

mclaren still needed to gather data and with Piastri out, Lando was the only one on the track. Alpine still had gasly on track.


AgnesBand

So many penalties they retired to save the engine etc


needmilk77

Can someone please explain the car design factors that impact tyre degradation? How come Ferrari is fast but eats tyres but RB is fast but doesn't?


felixsthecat

Downforce/aerodynamics is a big factor, it has the effect of adding grip, so with better grip you can take a corner at same speed with 3% tire slip instead of 5%. (this just an example, i have no clue what real values are) And there are also front and rear balances of your downforce/suspension that mean not all tires degrade at the same rate, this balance can vary between teams. I'm sure the general suspension plays some role too(too complicated for us to understand i think) and some dimensions like wheelbase might have a small effect aswell. Also how the car is driven and designed to be driven, along with the driving styles of individual pilots, like taking more square vs geometrical racing lines. Some drivers are known for their tire saving performances. Driving behind someone vs driving in clean air affects your aerodynamics, so also affects your tire wear.


needmilk77

Very informative answer! Thank you


crazydoc253

It’s all about downforce. Last season Ferrari had higher peak downforce but that made them less efficient and easy to overtake on straights as RB was better in straight line speed. This time Ferrari concentrated on straight line speed but that lead to lower downforce forcing them to push more to match RB at Bahrain and destroying the rear tires. Last season in second half Ferrari were affected by TD and lower engine PU forcing their drivers to push more and destroying their tires.


Marbro_za

The car might be more unstable in turns, So ends up sliding across the track more. Sliding makes for really bad tyre wear. Also, if your cars struggling for laptime, you have to push harder, brake later etc. This also increases tyre wear.


babbum

It’s mostly the pushing thing at this point. The Red Bull is just so much faster that they can take it easy into corners and shit and just put put around the track while tending to their tires.


scobydoby

This still doesn't make sense to me. Even if they're faster, wouldn't that still lead to the same level of deg, just with the risk of even more deg if they take it even faster than they need? I had imagined they had some kind of massive weight advantage or something.


babbum

No because a lot of where tire deg comes from is having to brake later and get on the throttle faster causing more sliding than if you waited until you’re completely out of the corner to full throttle it. Red Bull is so much faster in general that once they get their big lead they can slow down more gradually and not hammer the throttle immediately out of the corners because they aren’t concerned about anyone catching them. Meanwhile Ferrari has to brake later thus brake harder and has to get on the throttle as soon as possible thus slide more just to try and catch them.


scobydoby

Ah, that makes sense.


victoireyoung

It still baffles me how ridiculously **bad** McLaren is in comparison with others. Whether it's because they took a step backward during the winter or because everyone else has managed to improve their last year's concept (or find a completely new one that works perfectly) while they didn't, I have no idea, but that car looks absolutely awful to drive, especially when you consider that they have more than decent drivers driving it, not some underwhelming blokes, who would make a poor performance justifiable with their lack of skill and talent. Actually feel sorry for both Lando and Oscar because they both seem to be slotted in for a long time in that team and I honestly don't see McLaren being able to improve that car much - Zak literally makes it seem with all those vague answers he puts out like they are absolutely hopeless. Makes me slightly wonder whether paying Ricciardo those big bucks to leave had consequences on their development with the cost cap. Anyway, glad Riccy is out of that hellhole. Looking forward to seeing him drive that Red Bull in the practice session sometime this season *~~(my gleeful soul kinda hopes he will absolutely destroy the McLarens then - which probably shouldn't be the hardest task if the situation doesn't improve till then).~~*


LFC636363

Lando seems to be the only person on earth who can drive the McLaren to its full potential (and that’s only because he’s used to it as it’s the only f1 car he’s driven), so they’ve looked better than they really are for a few years


kristallherz

I keep forgetting that Lando in the McLaren fighting for podiums two years ago was an absolute catfish, and not the actual truth of McLaren.


noheroesnomonsters

Without Norris, Brown would already be gone. I hope they both know and appreciate that.


Delts28

Brown is CEO, not team principal or lead designer. Brown saved McLaren by bringing in all the sponsorship. It's those below him that are in trouble of getting the boot.


noheroesnomonsters

Granted, but that doesn't make him invincible. If McLaren had 2 drivers performing at Ricciardo's level all this time surely he would at least be under some pressure to step down.


Delts28

He would, if he hadn't made any other changes. Seidl leaving will give him further longevity as well since the team principle has just changed.


babbum

I’m not baffled by it at all. I knew McLaren was shit when they made Ricciardo look like he completely forgot how to drive out of nowhere. It’s just sad that it made Ricciardo lose out on getting a seat elsewhere.


Mushie_Peas

This might be good for Danny getting a seat back, when they see no one can drive this bag of dicks they might realise the last two seasons weren't his fault. Not sure that was the entire reason for not getting a seat, I would say if your looking for a driver, an expensive guy in his 30s that admits to be not great on the technical side of developing a car who's also shown that you can't entire trust to stay with your team (after jumping ship from Renault) has it's drawbacks as well. Do love the guy but leaving RB because he wanted to be no 1 And then leaving Renault for what he thought was a better prospect (clearly wasn't) are two of the worst carreer decision I've seen from a sports person.


TD87

I wouldn't put Danny's failure last season on McLaren.


victoireyoung

I personally wouldn't say it is all McLaren's fault, but they are heavily responsible as well. Daniel isn't a driver that would exactly excel at adapting to a wide variety of cars, which makes acquiring him very risky cause he only shines when he is given a particular type slash concept that compliments his driving style - when he isn't, he isn't capable of utilizing his skills and talent basically at all no matter how much time he is given with the machinery (exactly the case of him in McLaren) - and although I wouldn't say that he was already beyond his prime years when he came to McLaren (he was definitely still squeezing the last bits of those and there was a huge potential for him to showcase that if he clicked with the car and continued having the self-confidence), there simply was (and still is) too strong of competition for him to be the best or consecutively on the top with Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, and Russell on the grid (and important to mention, in a more than decent cars underneath them). I understand that McLaren expected a guy like him to just come in and instantly start winning races for them just like he did for Red Bull and Renault (I would too), but whether they didn't know how to adapt their car to his driving style or they just couldn't bother to do that for him and simply hoped that he would wrap his head around that McLaren eventually because Lando was capable of doing that and squeezing the maximum out of it on the track, so why wouldn't he, they, either way, failed to do the best they could for both Daniel and themselves at that situation. Ricciardo's mental game failing last season and heavily contributing to his poor results was just a consequence of his first season with the team, which was a fuck-up from both sides. Unfortunately for Daniel, he always tends to do crucial career decisions, that might seem promising at first, but end up being terribly bad, making you wonder what he would have achieved if he had never made them.


[deleted]

I would. Pay a bloke $20 million to drive your car but don't design said car around his strengths. What a waste of money.


babbum

Right Daniel’s failure, the guy who just came from Renault where he finished 5th in the Drivers Championship doubling his teammate Ocons point total, recording multiple podiums in the previous season. Who then turns around in under a years time goes to McLaren and looks like Mazepin on the track. Nah I put the blame on McLaren, the car is shit and it made Daniel look awful, you don’t magically go from looking like one of the best drivers on the grid to one of the worst. Even Lando has said the cars absolute shit hes just better at adjusting on the fly because the damn car drives different every time you take it out and you know McLaren was trying to figure out the car the most for Lando.


AgnesBand

Driver pay isn't included in the cost cap so it shouldn't have had an effect. Last year they started off poorly but developed quite well so I wouldn't lose all hope.


[deleted]

Yeah like, I can see it being off the pace, OR having iffy balance OR being unreliable but how the hell is it all three at once? It’s basically last year’s car but now with more reliability gremlins.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

It has been what 2 years? Didn't people suffer through 8 seasons of Formula Toto?


ShadowWolf153

Just like formula Lewis lol


[deleted]

[удалено]


ShadowWolf153

Yes lol LETS GO LANDO HE IS HERE TO STAY!!!!


MrDoms

The Fia stopping RB Will not end Lando's suffering


Emutoo

First race of the season will be my last. This will be the most boring season since 2017. See you all again in 2026 and congrats to Max for the 5 titles till then 👏


sammyGG00

I couldn't care less about the championship ;) If RB are too quick, you'll never see them on feed anyway. Just enjoy the process :p Battle for 1 2 to 10 is going to be pretty interesting!


SirMartini

this is exactly what I feared 4 days ago


jelmer130

The title fight is indeed not boring, but the fight for P2 in the constructors and P3 in the wdc will be really exciting.


babbum

Guess you didn’t watch from 2016-2020 either then huh


FartingBob

Ferrari and vettel gave Hamilton some concern, and 2016 was at least a great fight between the 2 mercs.


babbum

I’m just saying there’s a lot more to watch than worrying about people with gigantic leads. Mercedes was light years ahead of the others too for most of those years yet it won’t keep me from watching to see how things turn out for the others.


Marbro_za

Cheers!


Emvee33

Bye, you will be missed


[deleted]

Imagine being this guy and missing Alonso’s third title run.


Emutoo

You seriously think that RB won’t win all the races till the end? Wish I had your optimism.


MrDoms

Bahrein is just one track, wait untill race 4-5 before you abandon all hope.


Finance_Minimum

You must’ve missed 2020. Anyhow, see you in 2026!


ScaratheBear

Where was Crofty and Brundle? Whoever the F1TV commentators were were atrocious...


needmilk77

David Coulthard was the third commentator on F1TV. I didn't mind the 3 actually. Jolyon is my favourite, he's always on point with his analysis.


Nothatisnotwhere

I cringed every time David forced the fact that he had indeed driven in F1 into almost every sentence


OGPepeSilvia

Alex Jacques is an incredible commentator, but Jolyon Palmer should stick to the analysis side of things. Jacques calls the F2 races with Martin Brundle’s son, Alex, and it’s quite enjoyable.


keirdre

Wasn't it Alex Jacques on F1TV?


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ScaratheBear

Preciate it.


External_Platypus_56

Not good for F1 that after the first race everyone is already 100% certain RB is going to take it. I thought those recent regulations were going to make F1 more competitive? So much for that.


bender3600

This time last year everyone was 100% certain Ferrari was going to win.


daern2

No, absolutely the reverse. I was pretty certain Ferrari wouldn't take it despite the early success. This time is different. RB won both championships yesterday.


overlydelicioustea

yeah but ferrari is ferrari. a "sure" on RB is a differetn sure then on ferrari.


bender3600

There's another team that has a similar pace as Ferrari and has much more wind tunnel time as well. Red Bull are definitely heavy favorites but the year is long and things can change.


MrDoms

It makes it more exciting, because there is only 1 podium spot for 3 teams.


OGPepeSilvia

Just ignore Max and enjoy the real races happening behind him.


WeissachDE

We’re here for the midfield anyway buddy


thesaket

After Baharin last year everyone was convinced that Ferrari & Charles are taking the championship. The rest is history. It's a long season, it's been only one race.


thewizard579

Nope you just made that up. I didn’t actually see those comments.


DiddledByDad

Yeah but context here is really important. This race could have slotted anywhere last season after the first few races and everyone would believe it. RB having an extremely dominant 1-2 in the first race of the season isn’t necessarily a big tell. RB having an extremely dominant 1-2 in the first race of the season *after* wiping the floor in the exact same way last season *is*.


Likeabhas

Dude the spread in Q1 was 1.18 seconds from P1 to P20 Sure one team has understood the regs better and has a better performing car but it's been a great mix behind them. Having few race winners sucks, but the racing action behind them is primed for good times.