Motorsports Thread

[icowden]

Another triumph for the BBC headline writers:
Copybook victory as Norris and McLaren come through chaos unscathed'

Hmmm unscathed you say? So having both cars go off the track and one vanish down to 12th place is your definition of McLaren being "unscathed" is it?
And was it *really* a copybook victory? Max was *very* close in the last lap given that he also went off.

 

[13 rider]

Can understand Ferrari gambling with staying out on slicks but to do with both cars was too big of a gamble . Playing the odds splitting strategy would have cover both scenarios of less rain track drying and constant rain which required the inters .

 

[FishFright]

Lewis will be moaning even more than usual. He hops to Ferrari hoping for another world championship, only to finish 10th while his old firm managed 3rd and 4th.

Word is that he's already whining at his crew before the season had started, and this will push him to new heights of bellyaching.

Ferrari do tend to micromanage their drivers though.

 

[FishFright]

Checo Lawson all weekend but it's early days. Antonelli impressed me in the second half and tough times for the early crashers.

McLaren look the class of the field , with SC's they would be miles ahead.
Max's RB looks fast when it is fast and bad the rest of the times. Ferrari did a Ferrari , took a punt and lost twice.
Albon was solid and the car looks properly mid field.

20/1 Bar.

 

[Reynard]

Generally you can't draw too many conclusions from the first race of the season, especially not when it's wet as that always shakes things up anyway. Still, it was an absorbing race. I thought to myself "oh, I'll listen to the first 10 laps and then I'll go to sleep" (I was in bed listening to BBC sounds on my phone) but it was just so compelling. Not often you hear me say that about F1...

We'll probably get a better idea of the status quo after next weekend.

My driver of the day? Piastri. Sure, he made some errors, but had the gumption and inventiveness to get himself out of that pickle by putting the car into reverse. Most would've buried the throttle and dug themselves in deeper. His overtake on Hamilton right at the end was absolutely epic, and he still picked up points despite being near enough stone last after his trip to the green stuff.

 

[figbat]

Generally you can't draw too many conclusions from the first race of the season, especially not when it's wet as that always shakes things up anyway. Still, it was an absorbing race. I thought to myself "oh, I'll listen to the first 10 laps and then I'll go to sleep" (I was in bed listening to BBC sounds on my phone) but it was just so compelling. Not often you hear me say that about F1...

We'll probably get a better idea of the status quo after next weekend.

My driver of the day? Piastri. Sure, he made some errors, but had the gumption and inventiveness to get himself out of that pickle by putting the car into reverse. Most would've buried the throttle and dug themselves in deeper. His overtake on Hamilton right at the end was absolutely epic, and he still picked up points despite being near enough stone last after his trip to the green stuff.

That overtake was, indeed, epic. I’d put Kimi up for the award though - he finished behind George and made his way through the field toward the end, once all the shenanigans were concluded.

 

[Reynard]

That overtake was, indeed, epic. I’d put Kimi up for the award though - he finished behind George and made his way through the field toward the end, once all the shenanigans were concluded.

Although you have to admit that while he drove well, he'd been behind the curve for much of the weekend, and did get somewhat lucky as a result of other people's misfortune and Ferrari kind of dropping the ball.

OTOH, he got to the end of the race. A lot of other drivers didn't.

 

[icowden]

Although you have to admit that while he drove well, he'd been behind the curve for much of the weekend, and did get somewhat lucky as a result of other people's misfortune and Ferrari kind of dropping the ball.

Much as I'm not keen on him, some kudos should also go Verstappen's way. Again he showed how good he is in the wet - yes he spun out, but he got back on track and was hunting down Norris at the end.

Also credit to Albon in the Williams. Cracking weekend for Williams all told.

Bit of a baptism of fire for the rookies though.

 

[Reynard]

Much as I'm not keen on him, some kudos should also go Verstappen's way. Again he showed how good he is in the wet - yes he spun out, but he got back on track and was hunting down Norris at the end.

Also credit to Albon in the Williams. Cracking weekend for Williams all told.

Bit of a baptism of fire for the rookies though.

Don't forget that Norris was driving a car with a damaged floor for the last third of the race, thanks to skating off track when the rain hit. So I'm not sure that provides an accurate representation of Max's performance. Earlier in the race, Lando had put 16 seconds over Verstappen thanks to the Red Bull eating its tyres. Of course, he also benefitted from Piastri's error.

Good to see Williams have made a big step forward over the winter. I hope it lasts.

 

[Drago]

Checo Lawson all weekend but it's early days. Antonelli impressed me in the second half and tough times for the early crashers.

McLaren look the class of the field , with SC's they would be miles ahead.
Max's RB looks fast when it is fast and bad the rest of the times. Ferrari did a Ferrari , took a punt and lost twice.
Albon was solid and the car looks properly mid field.

20/1 Bar.

The pundits - for what they're worth - reckon the RB is withing a whisker as quick as the McLaren, but suffers greater tyre degradation and with 5 or 6 laps the difference is clear.

It seems McLaren have built a car of the ilk of the 2023 RB - fast, kind to its tyres, fairly neutral in feel... The latter is important, and that's what RB lost as they upgraded their car in pursuit of more speed. Max can manage a fast but fiddly car better than any of his team mates thus far but even he has limit. Zak Brown, the poundshop Tonto, has been very vocal about their plans to keep pushing with the upgrades so it'll be interesting to see if they end up with a car that has the potential to be extremely quick within a narrow operating window but fiddly everywhere else, a fate that seems to befall many as they try improve from that exact situation.

Fair play to Norris. I've never rated his as an actual racer despite being a very fast driver, but he drove with skill and aplomb in the wet and kept a cool head with Max in his mirrors, and all that with a damaged car thwt may/may not have been compromising performance. He's showing a clear capacity to learn and improve.

 

[Reynard]

Fair play to Norris. I've never rated his as an actual racer despite being a very fast driver, but he drove with skill and aplomb in the wet and kept a cool head with Max in his mirrors, and all that with a damaged car thwt may/may not have been compromising performance. He's showing a clear capacity to learn and improve.

Those of us who watched him race in junior formulae (Ginettas, F4) on the TOCA package have always rated him very highly, not just in terms of speed, but also with respect to racecraft.

I like the fact that McLaren have given him the time to develop as a driver, and he has proven his ability to help develop a car and communicate with the engineers, as when he joined the team, they were scratching around at the back.

 

[Beebo]

Sad news. Eddie Jordan has died.

 

[figbat]

Sad news. Eddie Jordan has died.

That is sad. I may not have agreed with some of his statements but he was a refreshing presence in the sport.

 

[Drago]

He hadn't been well for a while,,poor feller. Love him or hate him he was a big part of the sport in one way or another for may years.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Blimey, this comes as a shock. I didn’t even know he was ill.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/cq8y1335qlwo

Eddie Jordan, the flamboyant former Formula 1 team owner and television pundit, has died aged 76.​

The Irishman, who had aggressive prostate cancer, died in the early hours of Thursday morning.​