Formula One thread

[LostTheTone]

How quickly times change, eh?

I remember a couple of Max DNFs that led to people saying that Charles would walk away with the title. No reason why things can't swing back the other way. Think back to last year where Mercedes was taking engine penalties all over the shop and still very nearly pipped Max to the title.

Things can change back just as fast. Probably not by next week, but there's ample time for Ferrari to come back this season.

In the mean time, the salty memes sustain me.

 

[StevenC]

How quickly times change, eh?

I remember a couple of Max DNFs that led to people saying that Charles would walk away with the title. No reason why things can't swing back the other way. Think back to last year where Mercedes was taking engine penalties all over the shop and would have won the title if it weren't for blatant manipulation.

Things can change back just as fast. Probably not by next week, but there's ample time for Ferrari to come back this season.

In the mean time, the salty memes sustain me.

FTFY

 

[LostTheTone]

FTFY

The point was very much that Mercedes managed to pull back from a significant deficit entirely on their own merits, even when Lewis was taking 10 place penalties seemingly every race. Whatever you think about the last race (and who doesn't?) at different times in the season it seemed like either RB or Merc were going to walk away with it.

But, as I say, the salt sustains me. As a lover of Monsieur le Phoenix, Romain Grosjean, the only really pure joy in F1 for me is fans of the top teams acting so very hard done by.

 

[Vostre Roy]

But, as I say, the salt sustains me. As a lover of Monsieur le Phoenix, Romain Grosjean, the only really pure joy in F1 for me is fans of the top teams acting so very hard done by.

Speaking of Grosjean, he finished 4th today in the Indycar series at Road America race track (one of my favorite tracks all series combined). That's his second best finish this season as he was 2nd at Long Beach.

 

[StevenC]

Speaking of Grosjean, he finished 4th today in the Indycar series at Road America race track (one of my favorite tracks all series combined). That's his second best finish this season as he was 2nd at Long Beach.

Speaking of Grosjean, I still can't believe Ericsson won the 500.

 

[LostTheTone]

Speaking of Grosjean, I still can't believe Ericsson won the 500.

I think it was wise for Grosjean to go to a series where spectacularly smashing the car into a wall is an expected part of racing. I believe it was Chip Ganassi who said "If you aren't crashing, you aren't trying hard enough".

But yes, I was happy to see Ericsson win at Indy 🇸🇪

 

[LostTheTone]

The big news this week - Piastri is coming to F1, taking over Nicholas Latifi's seat at Williams. A move that I can only describe as "it's about bloody time".

I don't want to hate on Latifi too much, because no-one in F1 is a bad driver by any means. But he hasn't impressed at Williams, and there's only so long that someone can stay as the second seat at a backmarker team, even as a pay driver.

It's been a real problem for F1 that there's been so little space for top prospects to come in, at least Piastri is going to get a chance to sink or swim. Good for him, I hope does well.

An underreported aspect of this move is that Piastri will be on loan from Alpine, who are obviously keen to keep Alonso and Occon for a year or two more, but also want Piastri at some point. So they've done a swap that includes Williams switching to the Renault powerplant, at a very advantageous price and so partly offsetting the cost of losing Latifi's money.

Seems like a good move for everyone involved, honestly.

 

[Bodes]

The big news this week - Piastri is coming to F1, taking over Nicholas Latifi's seat at Williams. A move that I can only describe as "it's about bloody time".

I don't want to hate on Latifi too much, because no-one in F1 is a bad driver by any means. But he hasn't impressed at Williams, and there's only so long that someone can stay as the second seat at a backmarker team, even as a pay driver.

It's been a real problem for F1 that there's been so little space for top prospects to come in, at least Piastri is going to get a chance to sink or swim. Good for him, I hope does well.

An underreported aspect of this move is that Piastri will be on loan from Alpine, who are obviously keen to keep Alonso and Occon for a year or two more, but also want Piastri at some point. So they've done a swap that includes Williams switching to the Renault powerplant, at a very advantageous price and so partly offsetting the cost of losing Latifi's money.

Seems like a good move for everyone involved, honestly.

Only website I can find about this is one of those click-baity ones who I wouldn't trust to hold my empty beer can.

It will happen at some stage, how soon is a different question. Until I see an official release, nothing is happening just yet.

Agreed that Latifi has not impressed, he is no where near Albon this year. Can't compare him to Russell when they were team mates (just look at Russell v Ham atm).

 

[LostTheTone]

Only website I can find about this is one of those click-baity ones who I wouldn't trust to hold my empty beer can.

It will happen at some stage, how soon is a different question. Until I see an official release, nothing is happening just yet.

Agreed that Latifi has not impressed, he is no where near Albon this year. Can't compare him to Russell when they were team mates (just look at Russell v Ham atm).

As I understand it we are just waiting on an official announcement from Williams, which will come sometime this month. The official outlets tend not to touch anything until the teams have done their PR bit, but I don't think that The Race would be reporting it is a done deal if it wasn't going to happen.

I agree that nothing is finally final until that official confirmation comes but I don't think that this is speculation. If nothing else I don't think that Williams and Alpine would let this kind of news swirl about if they weren't going to do it. Williams especially, since the rumour here is that they're going to toss out one of their drivers. They would have to deny that if only to keep Latifi's financial backers happy, and it clearly won't do much for team morale either.

 

[Vostre Roy]

From what I've seen online, it is still rumors at that point and I'd be very suprised if it would be officialised right before the Canadian GP, but I won't be surprised if a statement does comes out by the end of next week.

As a canadian, having two drivers from my country would sounds nice if only they weren't performing so poorly... I try to cut some slack to Stroll as he have been an F3 champ and I believe that jumping over F2 to go directly to F1 have nixed his development, I mean he did have some good flash with a decent car but he is absolutely non-consistent. As for Latifi, guy have won absolutely no championship in the lower class (just like a certain Mazepin) and never had the skills to drive in the top class.

Finally, the prospect of hearing "William-Renault" is just pure music to me given I was a huge Villeneuve fan back in the 90's. Can't believe they'd be as dominant as they were, but one can hope eh

 

[LostTheTone]

From what I've seen online, it is still rumors at that point and I'd be very suprised if it would be officialised right before the Canadian GP, but I won't be surprised if a statement does comes out by the end of next week.

As a canadian, having two drivers from my country would sounds nice if only they weren't performing so poorly... I try to cut some slack to Stroll as he have been an F3 champ and I believe that jumping over F2 to go directly to F1 have nixed his development, I mean he did have some good flash with a decent car but he is absolutely non-consistent. As for Latifi, guy have won absolutely no championship in the lower class (just like a certain Mazepin) and never had the skills to drive in the top class.

Finally, the prospect of hearing "William-Renault" is just pure music to me given I was a huge Villeneuve fan back in the 90's. Can't believe they'd be as dominant as they were, but one can hope eh

You don't have to be a Canuk to be sad about Stroll and Latifi's abilities 🤣

You're right though - Stroll is not great, but he has had flashes. That last season as Racing Point was enough to make me feel like he might have the chops after all. Perez was clearly better than him, but a pole and a couple of podiums for a young driver in a non-works car is definitely pretty frisky.

It's so hard to say whether he was boosted by the FI/RP car being better than expected, or he's being dragged down by the AM being trash. Sure, Seb is better than him (shock!) but he is also struggling too. Without that 6th at the last GP, there wouldn't be much between them.

Contrast to Latifi who is... Not great. And there isn't a lot more to say about that 🤣

 

[StevenC]

Lol no

Latifi brings more money than Piastri has talent

 

[LostTheTone]

Lol no

Latifi brings more money than Piastri has talent

But the Piastri deal is (supposedly) going to be structured like the old Russell-Mercedes deal - Alpine to pay Piastri's salary and provide engines to Williams for next to nothing.

Latifi brings some cash, sure, but does he inspire any confidence from Williams other non-personal sponsors? Importantly, do the new(ish) Williams owners think that pootling around with a pay driver and no ambition is going to make the team more profitable or successful in future? Dorilton Capital aren't a racing brand, they want to make Williams worth more than they paid for it and that's about it.

Latifi's whole career has so far led to seven points. Six came following the Bottas Bowling incident in Hungary, where 6 cars DNFed and Vettel got disqualified at the end. He then got his last point during the monsoon farce at Spa... But he qualified 12th and only started from 9th because three people had penalties. He has, quite literally, achieved nothing on merit. And does that make the sponsors with their names slapped on the side of his car happy?

Also remember that Piastri is not a no-one - Just about everyone brings cash with them. One reason why Albon races as a Thai driver is because that pleased some Thai sponsors. Piastri is an F2 champion, and is also an Aussie at a time when our much beloved Danny Ric seems to be falling back.

Yes, the headline figure of sponsorship matters, but there is a lot more going on. And, bluntly, I think that in the near future there won't be any amount of sponsorship that can keep Latifi in an F1 seat, short of buying a team.

 

[Vostre Roy]

Lol no

Latifi brings more money than Piastri has talent

Then Latifi must bring a shit load of money given Piastri has been a Formula Renault, Formula 3 and Formula 2 champion the last 3 years that he actually raced.

 

[StevenC]

Then Latifi must bring a shit load of money given Piastri has been a Formula Renault, Formula 3 and Formula 2 champion the last 3 years that he actually raced.

They were happy for 2 years with billionaire+Russell. It's fair to say Albon is probably getting them less than Russell, so I don't see why they'd take another much larger financial hit. Especially mid season. Williams have been cheap for years, and they haven't changed with new ownership.

 

[Vostre Roy]

So, who else is stoked for today's race? That grid is just awesome

 

[StevenC]

Bahrain
Imola
Catalunya
Montreal

What do all of these things have in common?

They all provided good races.

Jeddah
Albert Park
Miami
Monaco
Baku

What do all of these things have in common?

They're all street circuits.

 

[Vostre Roy]

Although I see the point of having the DRS to ease the overtakes, we don't see much proper "race craft" anymore. On one hand, less chance that some bloke will divebomb another car to force the overtake, but as fun as Montreal race was, it was always "wait for the DRS zone and hope you have a fast car" type of overtake.

But I get your point, given how big the F1 cars have becomes, there is virtually no places to overtake in street circuit. Monaco has became more and more boring (as if this was possible).

 

[StevenC]

Although I see the point of having the DRS to ease the overtakes, we don't see much proper "race craft" anymore. On one hand, less chance that some bloke will divebomb another car to force the overtake, but as fun as Montreal race was, it was always "wait for the DRS zone and hope you have a fast car" type of overtake.

But I get your point, given how big the F1 cars have becomes, there is virtually no places to overtake in street circuit. Monaco has became more and more boring (as if this was possible).

Monaco at least has an excuse in that it's a tiny circuit limited by water and people with rights' houses. Albert park is a bit improved, but the racing still isn't any better.

Miami and Jeddah are brand new and hot garbage. Baku only has overtakes because it's got the longest flat out section. Jeddah is legitimately dangerous, both on and off track. Miami was built in a giant car park and they couldn't come up with any interesting corners.

Why build all of these new tracks in places that are never going to host any other sports if you aren't going to tailor them to the cars?

 

[Vostre Roy]

Agreed on all count, and I think that Monaco also has the excuse of being quite the historical track, plus its located in of the richest city, it still relevant.

Talking of Australia, there is so many great track over there (Mount Panorama, Philip Island being the two I knoe best personally), just pick one and be done with Albert Park.

And now they are talking about a street in Vegas... yay!