*****Official Formula 1 Thread*******

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ReynardMuldrake

Anybody else psyched for Imola this weekend? Those Ferrari upgrades look legit. Plus Piastri will have the same upgrades Norris used to win in Miami. Should be a competitive race.

Great start -1/2 in FP2 this morning after going 1/3 in FP1.

It's been funny, though. LeClerc and Sainz have been talking these upgrades up BIGGLY while Vasseur is doing everything he can to undersell them. I have no earthly idea what to expect at this point.

That said, my understanding is that Ferrari didn't intend to do what McLaren did and do a MASSIVE upgrade dump in a single weekend. This was supposed to be the first of a series of smaller incremental upgrades. Just small stuff like putting in an overbite on the sidepod so they can capture a little more air (and settle the car) to allow more adjustment with the rear wing.

I mean, I guess nothings small - the overbite sidepod probably required a shitload of changes to the ducts, etc... But I didn't actually expect this to be as massive a step forward as McLaren got in Miami.

I guess we'll find out. Early returns are promising.

[JohnnyHammersticks]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

But before that a competitive race was anyone but Hamilton. Before that anyone but Vettel. Before that Schumacher. Before that it was McLaren just dominating for a decade with both Senna and Prost.

Like...this is just what F1 has always been. A constructor gets the design right and then everyone's trying to catch up for several years.

I mean compare this to even a decade ago - in qualifying you have all 20 cars usually within about a second of each other. The dominant driver of the day used to be 5/6 seconds faster than the back markers.

F1 is as competitive as it's ever been. Max is a little more prominent because his teammate is mediocre as hell - that's not usually been the case when you've had a dominant team at the front.

F1 just ain't gonna be NASCAR. It's not designed to be and never has been. Its an engineering sport as much as a driving one and when one set of engineers just gets it right, that's gonna be a problem for a fairly long period of time. it reminds me a bit of the Vettel years except that Mark Webber was just a better driver than Perez and and could push Vettel more than Perez pushes Max.

That and Alonso was in his prime then and Alonso was just so damn good. That period had the best driver in probably the 3rd best car (Red Bull and Mercedes were better). Right now we have the best driver in the best car. But the results aren't THAT much different than Vettel strafing the field 4 years in a row.

Great points. Doesn't change what I said being 100% accurate though.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHammersticks

Great points. Doesn't change what I said being 100% accurate though.

Everything is relative in sports or racing or...I dunno...chess.

Competitive endeavors are always about relativity. And despite the cars being giant shitty busses, the racing is as good as it's been for a very long time.

Give me some of the gains that have come from the cost caps and then the V-10s and smaller cars of the 2000 through 2005 era. That era had the most potential, even if Michael really did dominate it.

Too many bad/poor teams back then but now, even a team like Williams (which seemingly can't ever get anything right) has James Vowles. Alpine has a ton of money to catch up with. Sauber is going to be a works team for Audi soon.

Gimme that Cadillac Andretti squad, 1 more team (bring the grid to 24), ditch the hybrids and stop engineering races through intentional tire degradation. Let 'em rip.

F1 is as close as it's ever been to being truly incredible if they'd just get out of their own damn way.

[WhawhaWhat]

It will be good to see the race again after it was cancelled last year due to the floods. Plus it's the European part of the season where all the races are on early on Sundays which makes them easier to watch

[ReynardMuldrake]

We finally saw the coveted PERVERTSU during FP1. Woot!

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ReynardMuldrake

We finally saw the coveted PERVERTSU during FP1. Woot!

Formula 1 Twitter would break if that was ever the podium.

I mean, Perez would have to beat Verstappen in a race that Max actually finishes, so it ain't gonna happen. But we can dream...

[DJ's left nut]

Watched FP2 over lunch.

Must....not....get....excited.

Boy - that car looked good. Extremely calm and tidy; was sticking really well and driving off. Granted, it's Imola and that's not a terribly technical track so it may not be an amazing proving ground.

But then again, it's something of a driver's track in that it's so narrow that passing requires a lot of setup work. Hopefully the DRS isn't overpowered like it can be on tracks with a long straight. And hopefully Ferrari can split up those RBs and put some pressure on their strategy at least. Just force Max into a decision point where you can send Charles long and Carlos try for the undercut (or vice versa) and you can really create some tough choices for Red Bull.

Gonna have a hard time making a lot of noise on track given how narrow it is (and how big these stupid hybrid cars are), but if you can isolate and attack Max, you can win it in on strategy.

[DJ's left nut]

{sigh}

Ferrari gonna Ferrari.

Look like the best car all through practice. Look like they have a shot at pole through Q1 and Q2.

Then absolutely duff Q3.

4/5 on your home track after your upgrade package. Behind both McLarens.

That's just awful.

[Buck]

Max is coated and Checo is a bit shit. I wonder who Red Bull will replace him with. Guess it’s Sainz or nothing.

I watched a replay of Quali so I missed whatever Oscar did to Magnussen, but he’s very impressive. I think he’s WDC material soon.

[WhawhaWhat]

What does Max Verstappen do after qualifying today? He heads to his motorhome to compete in the Nurburgring 24 hours on iracing.

[ReynardMuldrake]

Perez absolutely sucking elephant ass out there.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ReynardMuldrake

Perez absolutely sucking elephant ass out there.

He's just not very good. He's Albon in a better car. Maybe. Albon might be better. He's not one of the 10 best drivers on the grid.

[In58men]

Looks like Indy will be rained out, probably postponed until Monday.

[WhawhaWhat]

F2 but still insane.

man that is absolutely mental

pic.twitter.com/1ObnTcsrKD

— idris ���� (@formulavips) May 24, 2024

[DJ's left nut]

Attaboy, Charles!

Boring race, but Ferrari managed to stay out of their own way at Monaco for a change. Was also nice to hear Sainz really concerned about team orders and maximizing LeClerc's chances at the front.

The red flag really did duff that whole race. A) It put Sainz back in P3 (which probably wouldn't have made a difference - 1 McLaren behind him or 2, LeClerc still had that race in his pocket) and B) it eliminated any pit stop strategy so it allowed LeClerc to back up the field.

Still - we have ourselves a fight for the constructors, fellas. It's fun to blame Magnussen for everything but I think that was on Checo; bad run up the hill into turn 3 and he made a late commitment because he knew he was in trouble with the 2 Haas cars coming up either side. Rather than pick one or the other to defend, he tried to hang the middle and defend against both, then just took Magnussen into the wall. After his P18 qualifying run, he really had nobody to blame but himself.

And now Ferrari is within a single race of passing Red Bull.

They've been remarkably consistent this year. 4/3, 3/7 (with Sainz out), 2/1, 4/3, 4/5 (only race without a podium), 3/5, 3/5, 1/3. 9 podiums through 8 rounds is awfully damn impressive. Their main drivers haven't had a finish worse than 5th all season and even their green rookie pulled a 7th at a tough track.

If Sergio is going to continue to show the form he showed in the 2nd half last season (3,4,8,Ret) over the rest of the season, Ferrari will get past Red Bull. Max can do a lot on his own, but he can't fend off two drivers who are routinely putting it 2nd through 5th. Especially if they can occasionally get a win, as Ferrari has now done twice.

Let's go, Red Devils!