Formula 1 2024 Season

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I wonder if they assumed a bunch of tire debris pick up?  Or someone did, and forgot that the cars don't go past turn 1....

Usually something as simple as mis-calculating the fuel onboard versus what they should have left.

In reply to racerfink :

If that's the case, it's rather ironic, as early in the race, the commentators mentioned that Mercedes told Lewis to get on with his lift and coast strategy.

Sucks for George since he fought so hard for that and I'm not a fan. I wonder how underweight we are talking. Edit : 1.5kg so a little over 3 lbs.

jeez

In reply to alfadriver :

I was shocked at the RBR lack of pace and tire wear. I guess the top 4 teams ARE now pretty equal. 

Norris seemed to just not have confidence in the car all weekend. He went off multiple times for not good reasons. OR He may have a sports therapist but may need someone more life therapy related to help him find his center. 

1.5kg seems a lot to miss by for an F1 team. Someone fudged the excel chart sum equation......

This was a weird duplicate post of my one above....

Good job on Lewis but he will have questions for the team on strategy calls. I think they may be made the right one after all, as Russell maybe had the better because everyone went 2 stop. If most folks went 1 stop then maybe the faster would have been a two stop. 

Aston Martin seems to just be falling apart like Alpine last couple of years.

Norris and maybe his side of the garage need some help. Piastri may just be the better driver though.

Ugh.  Sucks for George!

I wished Lando could get by max. 

The constructors is tightening up!

In reply to racerfink :

The weight was low after draining the fuel tank, from what I read.

And thats why every team should split the strategies instead of following what a computer sim says is the fastest way.

 Also less reacting to what other teams do vs what the driver says,clearly Lewis wanted to go further with each stint.

They all had loads of slicks laying around,throw them on and hammer down,change them when they're cooked and repeat till the checker waves. :)

Theory:

Perez isn't in a slump. The car has been becoming less competitive. But as the RBR team is biased so heavy towards Max's preference and Perez often has a slump. The team didn't notice what was in effect the dead miners canary in the form of Perez falling off. So put anyone else in the car besides a Max clone and they will perform the same as Perez. 

Streetwiseguy said:

In reply to racerfink :

The weight was low after draining the fuel tank, from what I read.

From the reports I have read, seems to me to be a situation where someone in the team wasn't following the correct fuel removal process on Russell's car all weekend. So they based his weight on that incorrect data. And when the post race inspection came they FIA actually called them on using the wrong procedure based on the MB operators manual. I could see someone getting a tough debrief and retraining. 

Advan046 said:

Streetwiseguy said:

In reply to racerfink :

The weight was low after draining the fuel tank, from what I read.

From the reports I have read, seems to me to be a situation where someone in the team wasn't following the correct fuel removal process on Russell's car all weekend. So they based his weight on that incorrect data. And when the post race inspection came they FIA actually called them on using the wrong procedure based on the MB operators manual. I could see someone getting a tough debrief and retraining. 

Ehhh toto doesn't believe in the blame game....  3.2.1.... here comes him blaming someone...

Advan046 said:

Theory:

Perez isn't in a slump. The car has been becoming less competitive. But as the RBR team is biased so heavy towards Max's preference and Perez often has a slump. The team didn't notice what was in effect the dead miners canary in the form of Perez falling off. So put anyone else in the car besides a Max clone and they will perform the same as Perez. 

I've been wondering this same thing. Whether you're a fan of Max or not, I think he's the best driver on the grid. His ability may be masking the actual performance of the car. If Perez is performing like an 'average' driver then the Red Bull is the 4th fastest car. This may be closer to the truth vs assuming he is severely underperforming in the fastest car (which may have been true earlier this year).

In reply to nuthunmuch :

I disagree with Max being the best driver - fastest on a quali lap, maybe, but his race craft isn't as good as it should be. He's still exceptional, though, and it's a good theory that his ability has been masking a struggling car.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

After the last couple of races I said Perez is an indicator of the car and it's also an indicator of how good Verstappen is.

I say this as someone who doesn't like Verstappen.

In reply to Tom1200 :

Not everyone likes the same set-up, and it wouldn't surprise me if Perez is the test car these days.  If it works, they'll try it on Mad Max next week.

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to nuthunmuch :

I disagree with Max being the best driver - fastest on a quali lap, maybe, but his race craft isn't as good as it should be. He's still exceptional, though, and it's a good theory that his ability has been masking a struggling car.

I think Max is probably the best driver on the grid.  

Best racer?  Nope.  Good, but certainly not best.

Pretty straight forward race, a little boring but pretty great from the strategy perspective.  Bravo to George on making that strategy work even if he was such a massive cheater (total joke, that sucks for him).  Front row was cursed, evidently.  

DRS adjustment made things harder for the passing car, but it seemed like it was a little bit too much correction.  

I did mention to my wife that Nascar was on a break (for the Olympics) and she thought I said F1.  Well, yeah, they are too.  "So no races for a couple weeks!?  Great!"  

And Carlos to Williams, can't say I saw that one coming.

johndej said:

And Carlos to Williams, can't say I saw that one coming.

I did and I didn't.  Williams was one of the realistic non RBR options for Sainz- the other being Audi.  And with the recent shake up at Audi, Carlos seemed to walk away from them.  And RBR is RBR, meaning that they won't decide anytime soon, since Perez may be kicked out by the end of the month, and who knows what Max will do.

But that's awesome news for Williams- their trajectory seems to be following McLaren up the ranks.  The results may be thin this season, but Albon is pretty adamant that they are making huge strides in the car making it easier to race.  Let alone Voles is really trying to modernize the team in terms of process and software.

I thought Carlos was heading to Audi with Binotto. I actually think engineering wise Binotto will make them better. I thought Mercedes was the second, that his performance earned him a couple years with him, they could have let Kimi stay at Williams for 2 years like George. 3rd was Williams, they are inconsistent and Albon is the clear number 1 and Carlos will have to drive Albon's setup and development. They take 2 steps forward at some tracks and 2 steps back at others, the owners differ to a factory effort. Lastly Alpine personal shuffle and direction, seems like AA can just swoop in and take them over, I imagine next year is going to be a fire sale, too bad for Gastly and likely wise of Carlos. If Williams somehow gets Newey that they could fight for the top best of the rest, but I think they are still a mid to low range team fighting HAAS and RB Jr. Now all the other teams can make decisions. Based on Vowles announcment Logan will finish the season (go to Indycar next year).

With all the upheaval going on at Alpine, was there really any choice left for Sainz?

Williams has been pretty stable since Dorilton took over, although results have been slow to come. I think Audi would have been a solid choice, but it will be 27 or 28 before they climb out of the basement in the points. 3 years running around the back is not where any driver would want to be, especially a race winner. But then, who will be the second driver at Audi? My guess is Zhou, along with his $30 mill in Chinese money.....and frankly, good for him.

I'm reading that the reason all the top people have left and that Flabio was brought in at Alpine was to get the team that's not for sale ready to sell. I still think Alpine will become Andretti Global before long.....I've been saying it for over a year, I hope it turns out I'm right so they can get on with it - good or bad.

Forgot about Alpine. Although with good reason, with the whole program in disarray. Even with an owner change, it's still a huge risk to go that way. 
 

Binotto should be positive news. But it's worse news that they have to go that direction. Let alone, Audi still not *really* committing to f1. 
 

Merc is waiting for Max. And I don't think Carlos was ready to wait that out, as he could be without a seat. Imagine max going there, and kimi going to Williams. May not be a "stable" seat left for him. 

In reply to Advan046 :

I have a hard time with hearing over and over that the car is to blame when there's a big difference in team mate results(not just RB but across the grid).

 Yes each car will have designed in tendencies BUT with all the data collected,engineers deconstructing it and the 1000 ways to adjust just about everything they should be able to set it  up to each drivers liking.

 If those tweaks are resulting in the kind of differences seen between say Max and Checo or Danny Ric vs Lando etc then its either the engineers or the driver imo.

Multiple outlets are reporting that Perez will stay at Red Bull.  At least for now.