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).

Not even the rain can stop Max.

What a damp squib qualy was. I had high hopes for Lando getting pole and it being a really good race.
Interesting to see the Astons up there and it's rare for Stroll to out qualify Alonso. I wonder if they've rolled back their upgrades or brought new ones.

Ocon, Gasly and Russell have two grid place drop penalties for impeding in pit lane. So they finally penalised this, but is it bad of me to note that the penalties were issued for the first time when Verstappen didnt do it?

No it's not.

It is bloody annoying when anyone involved with the RBR team (particularly since 2021) is seen to be getting away with an infringement or a blatant breaking of the rules.

I was disappointed that they didn't go out on inters even to see what the track was like and return to the pit lane for the dying minutes of Q3. Had Piastri not gone off the track I think Lando could have been further up before they pulled the plug on the session.

Anyway. On to the Sprint and then on to the race tomorrow.

@Sulusu what a coincidence, after admitting the mistake in Singapore they should have imposed penalties going forward.

Something that is really obvious at this point is just how well things appeared to the fans when Charlie Whiting was running the show. Even if there were issues between the stewards and the drivers/teams, they weren't as obvious (except for the few exceptions that we got to see when cameras were allowed into the Drivers Room before the races - remember that meme of Checo). Whiting kept everything on an even keel. This lot, not so much.

@LookItsMeAgain I agree Charlie had it nailed down. It’s partly why they brought Herbie Blash back after AD2021.

Michael Massi was learning from Charlie before his untimely death. Part of the issue for Michael was a combination of the FIA/FOM increasing the number of races each year, introducing several new tracks, not putting in sufficient support. In 2021 Michael was flying to tracks to do H&S checks in between races because he had no one to delegate to nor did he have a deputy to field calls from team principles and Team Managers during races.

By AD 2021 he was exhausted and I think that along with the team phone calls during the SC period contributed to the mistake in AD2021.

I have always believe Michael Massi could have stayed race director of the FIA had resolved the mistake e.g. Max and Lewis joint champions and put in a team to support him and spread the responsibility.

Well good racing down the grid, but no competition at the front.

Tomorrow is going to be a fore gone conclusion unless Max gets taken out at 5he first corner.

Lando Norris has to start defending properly against Verstappen. I know they are friends, but it feels like Norris defends a lot harder against everyone else even his own team mate. McLaren is really catching Red Bull up and there is no reason for Lando to be waving Max past anymore. If he wants that first win he needs to be a bit more aggressive like LeClerc, Hamilton or Russell are with Verstappen.

I agree

What a mess, Charles out before the start. Oscar getting hit from behind, DR getting hit by a bouncing tyre rim. How many cars will make the restart?

I wonder if Lando can jump Max at the restart.

I feel sorry for Piastri and DR starting a lap down. I know they were lucky with the red flag to allow their cars to be repaired but it would have given a better race.

Well exciting start and restart, then an incredibly dull laps until the very end when. Alonso and Perez raced each other.

It says alot about the poor state of F1 when even Interlagos has a mostly dull race.

That wasn't a dull race! Loved watching Nando hold Perez off, it's great to see how in control he is when the car is right.

Fernando was amazing on the last lap. Never gave up. It's a shame he doesn't have a good enough car to challenge Max all year, as he's a great racer. Fingers crossed for next year.
And what on earth happened to Mercedes?? They normally go well in Brazil.

I think it’s a shame Fernando didn’t get Driver of the day. The last lap move was too late to shift the vote.

I think because it was a sprint weekend Mercedes made the ride height higher and lost performance to prevent the plank wearing down.

I think the only other time I've ever seen Lewis and Toto look so dejected and melancholy was after AD '21. They both want shot of this car at this stage.

I honestly can only hope that the car for 2024 is so much better than the '23 one that Lewis really does have an opportunity to go for that 8th title.

You know you've been doing a boring drive when pretty much the only coverage of you racing all day was when you finished the race first. Most of the coverage of Brazil was of what was happening behind Max, but not of Max. If I was one of his sponsors and my sponsorship was only for him and not the team, I'd be mightily pissed off that no one is seeing my name on his car except for the end of the races this season.

I think if the 2024 merc isn’t competitive Lewis may have to resign himself to not getting number 8. Lewis has in the past been able to drag poor cars to at least one win. 2022 was the first time he had a winless season to follow up with a winless 2023 it must be tough to keep motivated.

The RB is phenomenal and Max is getting the best out of the car. I still believe an Alonso c2007, JB c2010-12 or Nico c2013-16 would all have given Max a closer challenge than Checo.

You are correct that the TV are not showing Max apart from start, finish and pit stops. This happened with Mika, Michael, Seb and Lewis etc. when they had slam dunk races. However, they did have team mates or other drivers who could challenge at some races so it wasn’t race after race. I agree the sponsors will be pissed off.

Another factor these days is reliability, I remember late race engine failures e.g. Lewis 2016 Sepang, Mika in 1998 (9?), Max lost a lot of points in 2017/18 due to engine failures remember Cyril and Renault contract issues . This race was unusual with both alphas retiring but it’s an exception.

Vegas next and there are a lot of unhappy locals, particularly hospitality workers. It will be interesting to see if it is a good race but also how well attended it is as ticket prices were ridiculous.

Alonso’s defensive driving is unbelievable - he was just brilliant, and managed the race and his car like a maestro. Bravo!

Far more of an impressive drive than Max, because he has to actually interact with other drivers. Once Max gets ahead by a decent margin it must be fairly boring for him. We don't even had the unpredictability of the car to shake things up.

Looks like Las Vegas might be a very cold race. I mean a November night race in the desert, it's not going to be hot is it. They should have swapped Qatar and Las Vegas round in the calenders this year.

Long term forecasts show around 5 degrees, the tyres are really going to struggle to get heat in them combined with long straights and some nasty corners, some teams will really struggle. Ferrari and Mercedes often struggle to get heat in the tyres and Mercedes straight line speed isnt great. Toto Wolff might find Las Vegas could be a worse race than Brazil was. I'm glad it's not a sprint weekend so teams get a lot more practice time to figure out setups.

I know, Vegas could be an ice rink for F1 cars. However, Haas may do well as they seem to get high tyre deg, lower temperatures may suit them in particular.

I think it'll be nice to have the weather add to the challenge.

Much nicer than having heatstroke and throwing up in your helmet for sure 😁