F1 2023 - Watchalong thread

[LookItsMeAgain]

At the moment it's pre-season testing and they are in Bahrain as that is where the first race happens

Is anyone watching the preseason testing at the moment?

Anyone follow the WTF1 personnel change over the past few weeks (social media channel) and that Tommy & Matt have set up P1 with just Matt & Tommy as co-owners?

I'm really looking forward to seeing what progress the other teams have been able to make since RBR had their wind tunnel time reduced due to their overspend in 2022 (that was their punishment for doing that).

@LookItsMeAgain I know but to be honest it’s RBRs year again.

I’m hoping 2024 will see Mercedes recover ground and RBR slightly hampered by the limited wind tunnel time this year.

The disappointing thing is it means we have only had one circuit track so far this year.

I wonder if LH will go to Ferrari

I can't see it myself.

I didnt think so either but the rumours are gathering

I don't think so but it must be shit driving a Mercedes at the moment.

Lewis made the right decision, despite everyone questioning it, to drive for Mercedes in 2013. At that time Mercedes could throw ££££ at developing the car.

Ferrari last won the WC with Kimi in 2007, in the last 15 years Kimi, Seb and Fernando, as previous WC, have tried and failed to win the WC. Charles had a fantastic opportunity last year, but somehow it slipped away.

Lewis wants WC number 8 and he knows he will take time to settle into Ferrari whilst Mercedes will need time to catch up. I think on balance he will stay with Mercedes as he has the right team around him.

I think the eminently sensible decision to bring back James Allison as technical director will be attractive to Lewis.

I agree with you 100% @Brazilianadventure .

I honestly think that once James Allison gets settled back into his former role, he'll hit the ground running and Mercedes will rise again. I also think they will manage to do this without breaking the budget cap (something that RBR has been unable to do).

I just wish there was a complete change of management and involvement in RBR. I think Christian and Hemut need to go and (I don't like saying this) but so does the Verstappen clan.

@LookItsMeAgain to me Mercedes have an adult culture where they have adult conversations. The media were really looking for conflict about James Allison and Mike Elliot swapping jobs, in reality the two of them said I prefer x job let’s swap. They allow their drivers to race but make strategic decisions that are best for the team. On balance Toto is far more measured when talking to the media and if he is angry he doesn’t talk as he doesn’t want to say anything inappropriate. I always recall Toto’s reaction when asked about sacking Valtteri and he physically reacted and said something like no we didn’t sack him, we waited for him to find a drive.

RBR is far more toxic, from multi 21 onwards they nearly always favour one driver e.g. Seb, Max etc. Christian doesn’t temper his words and can say inappropriate things such as partly blaming a sick member of staff for breaching the cost cap. They are ruthless with their junior programme, you only have to look at how they treated Kvyat, Pierre, Alex etc. Marco is clearly a dominant force not just in RBR but also Alpha Tauri. I agree a change of management would be beneficial.

Just so this is not a RBR vs Mercedes discussion, Zac Brown also comes across as quite adult in his approach . Look at how the discussions facilitated Sainz moving to Ferrari. I love Danny Ric, but I believe Zac made the right decision, for both DR and McLaren, to terminate early. They appear to have kept as good relations as you can in that situation.

Ferrari clearly favoured Michael, but seem to have moved towards a let them race stance. Kimi is a pragmatist and so worked well with Seb. The problem is they often suck at strategy and don’t ask the drivers to swap when they should.

I'm away on Sunday so might miss the race. I prefer qualy at Monaco these days anyway. The race tends to be a procession, the F1 cars are too long to race effectively in such a narrow track now.

I will be watching practice today though, want to see those new Merc sidepods in action. I'm not expecting much progress though!

I am less of a George Russell fan after yesterday with regards to him trying to swap places with Lewis so keep his 5secs.

Did any of the media put it to Lewis for his reaction?

Haha, I said George's is getting more whiney than Lewis 🤣
Good race, though. No V/SC is rare for Monaco, and the will it rain debate and then the rain spiced it up a bit

Yes I really enjoyed the second half. So glad they let them race!

I actually thought it was quite clever (and was amazed that he had done the maths while driving at such speeds) to be able to work out that if he was to get a 5 second penalty so long as he didn't go 5 seconds ahead of Lewis, it would mean that Lewis would technically be in 4th and George would still be 5th whereas he could have been 6th if Ocon had managed to speed up. It's actually very Verstappen-esque if you think about it!

I was very much of a procession race until the pit stops for the wet weather tyres. It was a shame that Alonso's team put dry tyres on instead of inters but it definitely got more lively once the rain arrived. Shocked that we didn't get a red flag or safety car!

On to Barcelona (only the second purpose built track that they will have been on since the start of the season)!

I then tried to watch the Indy 500 race and oh my god! It's carnage in that race.
In comparison to F1, the pit lane releases are all over the place and some are downright dangerous.

There was a serious accident and a tyre flew off a car and landed on a car in the car park! Crazy stuff.

Yes I watched that too! Was it just those last 10 laps that were so crazy?

From about lap 160-ish onwards it started to get very interesting but every time they came into the pits, I held my breath as the releases were all over the place and cars were driving into each other as they were leaving their pit spaces. It was insane in comparison to the safety measures in F1 in the pits

Looks to be an interesting race today - if you ignore Max up front.

I might just pretend he doesn't exist from now on. Much more fun.

Might be some rain early on which might make it a bit trickier for Max to romp away. I would love to see a Sainz home win today, but will need Red Bull issues to happen probably.

My dream podium for today would be Alonso, Sainz and Norris! What on earth happened to Charles yesterday? P19?? Come on Ferrari! Do better! Just goes to show you just how much influence Schumacher had when he drove for Ferrari.

That's what I do, he doesn't really have any bearing on the race after the first few laps and his lead is established.

We ignore Max too.

I'd love lando to get a podium.

I'm loving Martin's grid walk. He takes no prisoners!

Am I right in thinking that there are no words to the Spanish National Anthem?

Loved Martin’s grid walk - nice that Michael Douglas and Catherine ZJ were praising him. Michael has been going to races for decades so knows his stuff.

I really want Lewis to do well but would like a home win for Sainz or Alonso.

Aw shit! Norris & Hamilton clash meaning Norris had to put for a new front wing. From 3rd to last!

Will it rain during the race do you think?