F1 2024

[911UK]

Most of qualifying for the Saudi GP went as expected but many will be tuning in for the race wondering (a) where the hell Carlos Sainz is and (b) who on earth is Oliver Bearman.

The two things are linked of course as Sainz is recovering from appendicitis and his late replacement (in time for FP3 and qualifying) is 18 year old Brit Oliver Bearman. Not only the youngest Brit to race in F1 but also the youngest F1 race driver for Ferrari. He did brilliantly to qualify 11th and only just missed the cut for Q3. Early signs were that he could have been Top 6.

With Pole Sitter-Max likely to clear off again the racing interest will be between Perez, Le Clerc and the McLarens and of course just how well young Oliver can do.

5pm race start tomorrow (Saturday) for those interested.

A season full of twists and turns

Except for Max winning every race and another WDC

 

[jonttt]

I unusually have a free Saturday …….the absolute last thing on my mind is to watch a snoozefest scripted F1 race

 

[pzero]

Max's Dad, Jos, is behind all the recent shenanigans at Red Bull, according to conspiracy theorists. Clearly he has a massive beef with Horner. Messing around with his chick, allegedly. Daddy Jos is no stranger to bad publicity when it comes to women. And ramping up bad relations within RB hoping for his boy to jump to Toto's boys. All very messy, all very tabloid and all a distraction from the dull fayre being served up on the track.

 

[DRZ911]

Have always been a massive F1 fan.
But the first 2 races of 2024 have started to suck the life out of me.
This is the 3rd year with the current regs. Had hoped that all the teams would close up on Red Bull.
Not the case at all. If anything, Ferrari and McLaren are treading water, and Mercedes has gone further backwards.
When Hamilton can only place as 4th Brit at Saudi, and be beaten by an 18 year old with no F1 race experience, then the car and/or driver has an immense amount of work to do.
The sport needs competitive racing at the front end to remain the spectacle it claims (and charges) to be. Anyone else have any views on this ?

 

[pzero]

Have always been a massive F1 fan.
But the first 2 races of 2024 have started to suck the life out of me.
This is the 3rd year with the current regs. Had hoped that all the teams would close up on Red Bull.
Not the case at all. If anything, Ferrari and McLaren are treading water, and Mercedes has gone further backwards.
When Hamilton can only place as 4th Brit at Saudi, and be beaten by an 18 year old with no F1 race experience, then the car and/or driver has an immense amount of work to do.
The sport needs competitive racing at the front end to remain the spectacle it claims (and charges) to be. Anyone else have any views on this ?

Is it not for the chasing pack to up their game to close the gap?
Competitive sport is a meritocracy after all.
Relying on governing bodies to amend rules and regulations so that outcomes are more competitive has been a running theme in F1 for some time yet a dominant team, or teams, will still rise. Ferrari in the Schumacher years, Mercedes in Hamilton's best years, RB were dominant with Vettel and again with Verstappen. Williams and McLaren have been dominant in the past before that. These periods of dominance have shown to be cyclical. I get the impression that, within the paddock, there's more to dislike about RB and Verstappen. I don't recall this amount of negativity when Schuey and Hamilton were sweeping up the trophies.
We could always go the American Football route to engineer a different winner each season.

 

[911UK]

agree, it's not Max's fault the RB is such a good car and he is a world class driver
he can only drive what is put in front of him, like you said no different to the Benz years of domination
wonder what the odds on winning ever race in 2024 ?

 

[Plumb]

To make the sport more competitive they could as they do have faster and slower tyres but engineer the tyres that the slower tyre also wears down faster.
The faster the car in qualifying the slower the tyre they have to race on, and the more pit stops they need to take.
This could then cause sandbagging in qualifying, though you could award points in qualifying too which may stop the sandbagging to a degree.

 

[jonttt]

I used to be a massive fan, now it is the most boring sport in the world.

 

[FZP]

Watching my first Liverpool game of the year yesterday was exciting

 

[T8]

Whilst it was a nice change to watch a race without Max the great disappointment was just how processional it all was.

The incident with George Russell shows just how 'on the edge' the cars are at all times but without overtaking it's not a great spectator sport.

 

[911UK]

Whilst it was a nice change to watch a race without Max the great disappointment was just how processional it all was.

The incident with George Russell shows just how 'on the edge' the cars are at all times but without overtaking it's not a great spectator sport.

a max dnf for some change, irony that the only Ferrari race winner for the last 2 years is being let go by Ferrari !!

Harsh penalty for Alonso IMHO, should not have been a penalty

 

[Cunno]

The incident with George Russell shows just how 'on the edge' the cars are at all times but without overtaking it's not a great spectator sport.

Hardly qualifying 1:16, fastest race lap 1:19 average lap time of the winner 1:23 most of the time there just managing tyres and fuel

 

[911UK]

The incident with George Russell shows just how 'on the edge' the cars are at all times but without overtaking it's not a great spectator sport.

Hardly qualifying 1:16, fastest race lap 1:19 average lap time of the winner 1:23 most of the time there just managing tyres and fuel

have to agree, getting replays a a split second of oversteer is just painful as a spectator sport

 

[Plumb]

It’s not racing when you are nursing tyres and fuel plus playing it safe because a risky overtake that goes wrong isn’t worth not having the points.

 

[jonttt]

This reminded me why I don't watch F1 anymore

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