This qualifying was incredibly entertaining and more fun than last week's race. Should be a very exciting first lap.
This qualifying was incredibly entertaining and more fun than last week's race. Should be a very exciting first lap.
Did Michael Andretti just name drop Cadillac in F1 for 2025? Brundle grid walk is gold today..
Nobody messes with Jackie Stewart...
Hamilton's Mercedes is a dog on the straights, he can't even pass with DRS..
Sigh........I was hoping Max would struggle more and we'd have Perez and Alonso during it out.
I know Max still has to stop but I still see him winning........
06HHR (Forum Supporter) said:Hamilton's Mercedes is a dog on the straights, he can't even pass with DRS..
Still, ending up that far up from a pretty poor starting position and being held up so long with the DRS train- that was a really solid race for Lewis.
But it's sad that the rest of the teams have not figured out what Red Bull started last year and are developing- like all of the complaints in the Mercedes dominance- this isn't all that interesting. It's a matter of which one will win, and if Horner was right, Sergio had the preferred strategy to start on. BUT, I recall the hard tires running really well in FP1, and then the mediums were super quick after they got some rubber down after that.
Outside of the front, Mercedes beat Ferrari, and it's too bad that the owner's son gets an Aston Martin seat- they would be way out in 2nd had they had a decent #2 driver.
That was a good race! Nice to finally have one this season where tire and pit strategy actually mattered. Lots of passing and close battles, yet it stayed clean with no SC or DNFs.
Magnussen did about as well as he could with that Hass - very impressive drive to hold on to a point. McLaren looking just awful. Alpine strong but Mercedes have made up big improvements already. Still plenty of good action even with a dominant team. There's even action within that team. Much better than last week.
The really long stint on the hards seemed risky, but it sure worked out. Max and his stupid little facial fuzz was way fast, Lewis picked up about as many spots as one could reasonably expect, even Lance made some progress on the long run.
Charles is going to hate himself after this weekend.
Fernando has made his move to Aston seem almost as smart as Lewis leaving Maclaren for Merc was a decade ago.
I really wanted Checo to win, but that was not really in the cards today.
Alonso must be having a blast- as he considerably faster relative to Stroll than Seb was.
alfadriver said:Alonso must be having a blast- as he considerably faster relative to Stroll than Seb was.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a happier race car driver.
Streetwiseguy said:alfadriver said:Alonso must be having a blast- as he considerably faster relative to Stroll than Seb was.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a happier race car driver.
In the post-quali interview, Danica asked him about the balance of the car, and he said it was "perfect". I don't think I've ever heard a racing driver say that. 
Perez and his engineers must have not thought that Max had the pace to dominate the field. How easy Max made the pass, really kills the championship battle for the top spot. You have to wonder when the penalty is going to start hurting RB development. If it starts getting dicey with RB, I think Alonso might be able to swoop in and win, but I wonder if the development will start stunting further in the season. Ferrari battling with HAAS was sad. Bad weekend for Logan, hopefully Williams is patient.
06HHR (Forum Supporter) said:Nobody messes with Jackie Stewart...
I didn't see it live but I just went back and watched it on YouTube. That gets my vote for "move of the race"!
What has happened to Alonso? I can only assume that he must realize he has the measure of his teammate by such a long margin that he's comfortable, happy, and secure which is making him helpful. The bit where he was watching the race on the big-screen while driving and sending out encouragement to Lance over the team radio was fantastic. This is not the Alonso that I expected, but I can only assume this is the Alonso that Lawrence Stoll knew he was getting.
MIAMI - Formula One turned to will.i.am and LL Cool J to add some razzmatazz around the build-up to the Miami Grand Prix but drivers remained unconvinced about the introductions they had to take part in before the race.
In a departure from the conventional pre-race procedure ahead of Sunday's main event, a portion of time was set aside for LL Cool J to introduce the drivers in reverse championship order while flanked by cheerleaders from the Miami Dolphins.
Mercedes driver George Russell complained about having to stand for so long in the sun while fully dressed in race overalls.
"It is distracting because, you know, we were on the grid for half an hour in all of our overalls in the sun. I don't think there's any other sports in the world that 30 minutes before you go out to do your business that you're out there in the sun, all the cameras on you, and making a bit of a show of it.
Soap box time. OK, I get it, it's not how things are usually done in the Dignified Old World. But I think some of these prima donnas forget that they are in the entertainment business. The only reason they get paid handsomely to drive around in circles is that there are millions of fans willing to pony up their own money to watch in person and on TV. Further, the only reason they are even in Miami is a reality TV show with a bunch of fake pumped-up drama. Personally, I did find it a bit cheesy to have LL Cool J introducing a bunch of guys he's probably never heard of, but I get it. It's also a very Miami thing to do. Seems to me that adding a bit of local color to each event is one of the benefits of having a globe-trotting series like this. A chance to see how other cultures do things.
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
The drivers looked miserable other then Logan and Hamilton. The drivers are part of the show, as well as the Hollywood folks standing around clueless surrounded by security. It really grinds my gears that they ignore the media, to the point that they are pushing away Sir Jackie Stewart.
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
I have to say I found this reeeeeeally douchey and lame........but as you said we are not the target audience.
I'm glad I recorded the race, I fast forwarded thru over an hour of this nonsense to the start of the race.......
Tom1200 said:In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
I have to say I found this reeeeeeally douchey and lame........but as you said we are not the target audience.
I thought it was pretty cool- just like how they hype up the players at big events- like the SB or playoffs. Other than the music being unique, the word hype wasn't much different than what BB does when they do opening line ups. Maybe I'm also used to watching hockey games where both starting lines are introduced.
I see it as lame that the entertainment does not want to be introduced to their fans.
MiniDave said:I'm glad I recorded the race, I fast forwarded thru over an hour of this nonsense to the start of the race.......
Are you not aware that there's a pre-race show every single race? Other than the intro, the rest of that hour and a half was very normal and happens every single time.
I'm looking forward to seeing race cars on actual race tracks,tired of the concrete walls and fences.
Szafnauer's future under threat amid Alpine struggles Unfortunately he is probably already out the door, Renault is not afraid to clear house. Isn't Falvio B looking for work?
alfadriver said:MiniDave said:I'm glad I recorded the race, I fast forwarded thru over an hour of this nonsense to the start of the race.......
Are you not aware that there's a pre-race show every single race? Other than the intro, the rest of that hour and a half was very normal and happens every single time.
Usually the pre-race show is a separately scheduled show, often it's not even on the same channel as the actual race. So yeah, it's easy to miss.
The bit about having the drivers standing around in sun in their race suits 30 minutes before the race starts is dumb. That time is for the drivers to finish preparing for the race itself, not for PR.
Agreed on being tired of street circuits, there are far too many of those in F1 these days.
In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :
ESPN has been showing the pre-race show immediately before the race for a few years now. On the same channel as far as I can remember. It was almost the same when it was on ABC.
As for them being there before the race- they are already there, they are already lining up for the national anthems for each track. So adding a few min so that they can be introduced should not be much of an additional burden. They made a big deal for an entire season for all of the drivers to be there before the national anthem so that they could celebrate inclusion. This was just a few min longer of a burden than that, so I really don't see this is a big change in procedure.
This is just the 10 min before the race- ALL of the drivers have to drive their cars from the pits to the grid fully clothed and strapped down sometime (and I don't know the exact time) around 30 min before the grid leaves.
Sorry to disagree, LOL, but I do disagree. These are among the highest paid athletes on the planet. They certainly can deal with doing some PR at the race to deserve that. It's not as if they are being forced to meet their fans. That would be horrible.
As pointed out, this is entertainment. It matters to the actual world not a single iota who is faster or slower. If you're driving in F1, you should be able to handle all the PR stuff. You sometimes hear NBA / NFL / etc players complaining about the extended game times for the Super Bowl, NBA Championship, etc because of the PR stuff. Yeah, get over it. I don't really like him, but I didn't hear Tom Brady complain about that stuff. He just knew how to deal with it, and basically dealt with it better than anyone else. And he won, a lot.
alfadriver said:Sorry to disagree, LOL, but I do disagree. These are among the highest paid athletes on the planet. They certainly can deal with doing some PR at the race to deserve that. It's not as if they are being forced to meet their fans. That would be horrible.
PR and meeting the fans is great, but do it in the morning or after the race, not 30 minutes before. Is there any other pro sport where the athletes are doing this? Usually they're spending that time going over strategy/etc in the locker room, no?
You'll need to log in to post.
