F1 fans?

[LBB]

5 minutes ago, lefthack said:

 

Not sure if they can catch him this year, but both McLaren and Ferrari are looking strong and have capable drivers. Max built a nice cushion to start with, but I don't think Red Bull is getting the constructors title this year. 

Agree that Max likely has the driver's title in the bag unless he has multiple DNFs due to crashes or engine retirements.  He just needs to rack up consistent top 5 finishes because even if he doesn't win another race, I highly doubt it will be one driver that's going to dominate the rest of the season.  Between the 4 drivers from Ferrari and McLaren, a lot of points will be split up somewhat evenly which makes it harder to close ground on Max.

 

As a Max fan, last year was incredibly boring knowing that maybe only two drivers could touch him for pole position and nobody would be within 20 seconds of him on race day.  Even when a Ferrari managed to take pole, they were basically telling their drivers to let Max through and not burn up their tires so they can fight for 2nd.  It was kind of lame.

 

At least this year there is a glimmer of hope that each race day will have some sort of battle for first.  Even if the inevitable is that Max wins, at least have some drama that another driver can roll the dice with an undercut or 2 stop strategy to at least have RB/Max react.  Last year Max was just in his own world.  By lap 14 he had a 10 second lead and you're seeing 5th-10th jump into the pit lane forcing 2nd-4th react.  Meanwhile Max is extending his first stint to optimize his race strategy because there is no threat.  Lap to lap his pit wall/strategist can make a very calculated decision on when he needs to pit versus making a somewhat less educated guess in the heat of the moment.  

 

Constructors is a great battle this year.  I think Checco will be more consistent the rest of the year compared to the last 2 results, but the difficult part of Ferrari catching RB is that I do think McLaren is going to be taking some of the high point finishes that Ferrari needs.  McLaren is too far back to catch RB themselves.  If the Constructors standings were reset today, I think it's a dog fight between RB and McLaren with Ferrari finishing 3rd.

 

I type all of this thinking...at least it's debatable this year...LOL.

[lefthack]

The problem is Checo is maybe 6th on the grid, so without a ringer car, he's lucky to get top 5. I bet he doesn't make Q3 at least a half dozen more times. If he's starting outside of the top 10, he's not getting a podium, so his points will be minimal finishing 8th. 🤣 

 

I honestly love watching Max drive. The dude is a machine. Watch him drive on the sim, it's nuts. 

 

 

[LBB]

Checco is probably a mid tier driver in terms of talent.  So yes, while he needs a fast car, he actually has one.  Max is an all world talent that can win with the RB when the track doesn't favor it, and run away on cruise control when the track does favor his car.  I don't believe anyone but Max could have beat Hamilton in 2021 when the Mercs were clearly the faster car.  Swap Max and Hamilton's car in 2021, and Max wins the driver's championship by 100 points.

[lefthack]

I'm not saying Checo is a bad driver, he's just not top 5 at the moment. The RB doesn't have the advantage it had last year and the McLaren and Ferrari are both right there now. 

 

What's funny is Mercedes is looking like 4th and McLaren is using their power unit. 🤣

[LBB]

I do think the RB still has the advantage on most tracks.  I wouldn't use the last few races to judge the rest of the season...Ferrari and McLaren will have their weeks where their car isn't optimal as well.

 

Merc's are still paying the price for going the wrong direction with the zero pod design last year.  Pretty much any constructor, no matter what engine you have, is going to go backwards when you completely scrap a design 18 months into a new regulation era.  They should feel fortunate that Aston Martin isn't ahead of them as well with their engine.

 

 

 

 

[lefthack]

Gap to pole .000, damn. Tomorrow is gonna be good and if it stays dry, it could be a good fight. 

[lefthack]

Oh that was a burner. Lando is looking strong, Mercedes has pull their head out and Ferrari fell off a cliff. It could be a 4 way fight towards the end of this year. Or Max could drive flawless and still win everything. 🤣 

 

But that was a good race. Rain makes everything more equal. 

[RoverTiger]

Montreal just seems to have this habit of providing intriguing races more times than not. Great TV today.

[lefthack]

16 minutes ago, RoverTiger said:

Montreal just seems to have this habit of providing intriguing races more times than not. Great TV today.

 

It's a good track to start with, but add inters and now everybody has choices to make. 

 

I liked Lando's idea to try and squeeze a few more laps before pitting, but the pit lane exit was too wet. It was great to see them talking about it in the cool down room. It's so much better when the drivers get along vs when Hamilton is there. 🤣

[RoverTiger]

36 minutes ago, lefthack said:

 

It's a good track to start with, but add inters and now everybody has choices to make. 

 

I liked Lando's idea to try and squeeze a few more laps before pitting, but the pit lane exit was too wet. It was great to see them talking about it in the cool down room. It's so much better when the drivers get along vs when Hamilton is there. 🤣

Yeah, I really though McLaren was onto something with the overcut. What a difference a certain patch of dry asphalt might have made.

[lefthack]

7 minutes ago, RoverTiger said:

Yeah, I really though McLaren was onto something with the overcut. What a difference a certain patch of dry asphalt might have made.

 

I feel like he totally had it if it was dry. He damn near spun out and caught it. The reality is Max is just driving perfectly and everybody else makes a little oops and you are done. 

 

I was on my feet when Mercedes told George "we are racing, just keep it clean". I was yelling at him to take Hamilton, he needed that podium after starting from pole. You could see it in his face he knows he blew it. 

[iBanesto]

 

 

 

[lefthack]

Too bad Alex got taken out by Carlos, he was putting on a drive. 

[LBB]

This is exactly the drama that makes F1 great.  Not only were there great lunges and moves on track, or chances for driver error that cost them places, but the pit strategy was entirely unknown to us as viewers and the driver/pit wall had an opportunity to gamble.  Even on laps where there were no drivers battling each other, you were on the edge of your seat wondering if Lando was going to pit while watching the gap to Max fluctuate from 19.0 to 21.8 to 21.3 to 20.3, back to 20.8, and so on.

 

Kudos as well to Haas for providing the early race eye opener.  Makes me wish that the pit wall didn't have as much weather technology at their fingertips.  They all knew with some level of certainty when the rain was coming, how bad it was going to be, and how long it would last.  Which turned their selected strategy into at least a very educated guess.  Could you imagine this race 30 years ago where more or less the pit wall has to just look at the sky and guess.  You would have seen a lot more cars dive into the pit on lap 2-3 for the wets once they saw KMag and Hulkenberg slicing through the field. and other cars gamble by staying on the inters.

 

The rest of the season looks to be great.  I think the Mercs and Ferraris will continue to have races where their car is or isn't suited for the track and the same for Checco...LOL.  Canada is just a glaring example of how huge the gap is between Max and anyone else who sits in the #2 car. 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2024 by LBB

[MB19]

I was lucky enough to go to the Miami GP last month, and got to see everything thing but the Sprint Race due to another commitment.  I also attended the first Miami GP in '22, which was my first F1 event.  I sat between turns 5 and 6.

 

Just a few thoughts from the weekend:

 

-Security was very inconsistent from day-to-day regarding my son and I bringing in cameras.  On Friday, we brought in a Sony a6000/55-210 kit lens setup and an Sony a7riii/Canon EF 200 L ii (with an adapter) setup.  Security didn't check either camera, and they just waived us through.  I only brought the a7riii rig on Friday, but was flagged by them and turned over to their defacto "media expert" who was working with security.  He initially told me I couldn't bring it in because they didn't want video being taken of the event and broadcasted.  I told him I had no intention of shooting video, and that I had a fixed lens on my camera.  He thought for a few seconds, and asked to see it closer.  He then took the focus ring and tried to extend the lens, which of course was impossible for my prime lens.  Upon seeing the lens wouldn't extend, he waived me through with some doubt.  I didn't bother bringing the camera on Sunday, as I didn't want to risk being turned away and sent a mile back to where we parked.  In '22 I brought a rented Sony r10 iv, which is a superzoom camera that is a good bit smaller than my a7riii.  I didn't get stopped any of the two days I brought it.  The rules published for the event seem intentionally vague both in '22 and this year.

 

-Photographing F1 is the most difficult subject I've ever shot.  Having a better camera/lens setup didn't matter much--I don't shoot action enough anymore to get many keepers.

 

-Another note on security, there was a huge police/security presence outside the venue.  If someone wanted to start something at the event, they had a lot of layers to get through.

 

-The common area setup was quite a bit different this year, with many added shops to buy F1 and team merchandise.  While it was still crazy expensive, it was good to see the venue adapting to the need for more shops.  The line to the big merch tent was 100+ people deep in '22, and it had to be close to 100* there with the humidity and no wind.  There were also more cars for people to take pics with/sit in, as well as some cool artwork displayed to order/buy.

 

-Parking was crazy, as to be expected, and getting out on Friday was a truly awful experience.  As the venue was emptying out of the parking lots, the entire northbound lane of (University maybe?) was closed so they could bring in several semi trucks/trailers  to be used for drivers' parade and other things.  I'm not sure why this had to happen right after the race, but it cause a ton of confusion, backup and a little road rage to be sorted out by the local police.

 

-We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel/Casino (this year and in '22) and we saw quite a few crew members (Red Bull, RB, maybe also Haas?) there.  We saw Ricciardo a few hours after he qualified 5th for the Sprint Race, and as you can imagine was nothing but smiles (bigger than usual).  HRH got a lot of mileage out of their Red Bull sponsorship, as there was Red Bull cutouts all through the property and even a mock F1 car setup at one of the entries. 

 

-Regarding the Hard Rock Hotel/Casino, it is a nice property (in a not-so-nice area) but the food selections aren't many and they aren't especially great.  The steakhouse service was top-notch, the meal was just good.  The Hard Rock Cafe is still the best restaurant in the place, and the food court isn't good compared to just about any casino property I have been to over the last 20 years.  It's like Sam's Town Las Vegas level-bad.

 

-Lando's first win was epic, and it even made my friend a little money.  Before the race, my friend gives me three different choices to bet with the odds on his betting app.  A $100 Lando win would net him over $2K, and I thought the odds were far to long on him as he and the car looked great on Friday and Saturday.  I gave him my opinion, and he bet right on the spot.  I asked him, "Did you just place a bet, like right now?"  He's like, "Yeah, I'm playing with house money--won $2500 playing three-card at the casino last night"  Hey, why not?  As circumstances would have it, his flight was going to make him leave the race just as Lando took the lead.  I'm like, "Your man is winning and you leave now?"  He's like, "Gotta catch my flight--but cheer him on for me."  I got a text when he landed, and of course you can imagine how happy he was.

 

-My son is a huge Max fan, but even he was happy to see Lando get the W.  We both had a good laugh at replay of the team victory celebration when Vasseur crashed it--classic!

 

-I do hope that the new car regulations make for more passing in Miami in the future.  If it weren't for the safety car, the race would have been about half as fun.

[LBB]

2 hours ago, MB19 said:

I do hope that the new car regulations make for more passing in Miami in the future.  If it weren't for the safety car, the race would have been about half as fun.

They need to adjust the Mickey Mouse chicane and that last left turn that leads up to the long straight with DRS to allow for more overtakes.  When watching Miami, it seems that the trailing driver can do all it can in the first half of the lap to get right onto the gearbox of the car in front, but if you don't get ahead going into turn 11, then turns 12-16 where the chicane it's almost impossible to go 2 wide.  So you crawl up to 2 tenths behind the car in front, only to exit turn 16 back almost a second.  Yes you get the DRS on the long straight, but it isn't enough unless the driver in front makes an error.

 

So what you end up seeing is trailing drivers not burning up their tires trying to get close going into turn 11 only to not be able to pass anyway.  Drivers in front know this, and can drive accordingly to charge their battery.  The huge DRS trains that form also don't help.

[lefthack]

I'm waiting to see how this active aero on the '26 cars works. No more DRS, battery push to pass and low downforce active aero sounds pretty sweet, but see how it does in real testing. 

[lefthack]

So Alpine is an interesting case. Ryan Reynolds put a few hundred million dollars into it, they have decided to toss one driver and still haven't improved the car. Are they going to end up selling? They are looking like serious bottom feeders and they are a works team.  And nobody wants to drive for them.

 

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/two-race-winning-f1-drivers-have-already-rejected-2025-alpine-seat-after-holding-talks/

Edited June 12, 2024 by lefthack

[LBB]

7 hours ago, lefthack said:

I'm waiting to see how this active aero on the '26 cars works. No more DRS, battery push to pass and low downforce active aero sounds pretty sweet, but see how it does in real testing. 

Yeah, regulation changes are hard to predict until they actually hit the track in testing.  

 

I think part of what they mentioned was making the cars smaller.  I think that's a good step as the cars seem to be too long and wide to have cars lunge into some corners 2 wide without someone being forced off the track.

 

Not a regulation change for the car development, but would love to see a mandatory 2 stop on race day.  I roll my eyes when the tire blankets come off the tires before the formation lap, and the top 8 are on brand new mediums and the suggested strategy is a one stop to new hard tires.  The alternate strategy is those taking a chance to start on new Hard tires and maybe getting a mid/late safety car to go to new Mediums with a cheap stop.

 

I miss the days where most races you had cars starting on all three compounds and a mix of new and used compounds to start.  I miss the old Q2 tire rule to start races if you made it to Q3.

 

 

 

 

 

[lefthack]

It's a little smaller and I think lighter..

[LeftDot]

Not enough of a reduction IMO. 

 

And interesting that they're somewhat moving away from the ground effect design and - to this casual's eyes - reintroducing some of the dirty air features from '17-'19. 

[lefthack]

3 hours ago, LeftDot said:

Not enough of a reduction IMO. 

 

And interesting that they're somewhat moving away from the ground effect design and - to this casual's eyes - reintroducing some of the dirty air features from '17-'19. 

 

Yeah, they have gotten HUGE.

 

 

 

IMO the Senna era was the sweet spot. And you had a shifter. 🤣

Edited June 13, 2024 by lefthack

[LBB]

If there are reasons to keep the car on the larger side  to make them safer in crashes then I can understand.  I don't know enough of the safety regulations around how the survival cell is built and how the halo is given structure to know how much smaller the cars can go and still be "safe" in a big shunt.

 

I have only been watching F1 since 2019, but when I see some of the big crashes from the older generations...man...those cars got torn apart.

[lefthack]

Everyone talks about Senna, but they actually lost 2 drivers that weekend. Roland Ratzenberger died the day before Senna, it was a bad weekend for racing. 

[MB19]

F1 went over two decades without losing a driver.  Senna/Ratzenberger in spring of 1994 during the same race weekend, and then Bianchi in fall of 2014.  Before the tragic '94 weekend, you have to go back to spring of 1982 when Paletti and Villanueve died a month apart.  F1 is still very dangerous, to be clear.   It is also fair to say that the cars have been safe long before the hybrid era.

 

F1 can make the cars lighter and smaller, without compromising safety--and they really should if they want to make many of these tracks interesting venues.

[lefthack]

3 hours ago, MB19 said:

F1 went over two decades without losing a driver.  Senna/Ratzenberger in spring of 1994 during the same race weekend, and then Bianchi in fall of 2014.  Before the tragic '94 weekend, you have to go back to spring of 1982 when Paletti and Villanueve died a month apart.  F1 is still very dangerous, to be clear.   It is also fair to say that the cars have been safe long before the hybrid era.

 

F1 can make the cars lighter and smaller, without compromising safety--and they really should if they want to make many of these tracks interesting venues.

 

When you watch Senna at Monaco in '88, you see how much more room a smaller car has on that tight track. With today's car it's a parade. 

[MB19]

1 minute ago, lefthack said:

 

When you watch Senna at Monaco in '88, you see how much more room a smaller car has on that tight track. With today's car it's a parade. 

Yes, one of the iconic races by Senna for sure.  I also love watching Kimi's qualifying lap there from 2005 in that rocketship McLaren that loved to fail him at the worst times.

 

Kimi never seemed to take to the hybrid-era cars, maybe his epic feel for grip was diminished by the added weight and size?  

 

That said, there are some exciting racers in the current field and a couple more studs on the bench that I am sure would love smaller and lighter cars... as well as better racing at tracks like Monaco, Miami, Hungary, Abu Dhabi, and others.

 

After sleeping thru... I mean, watching Monaco, it seemed obvious that eliminating the Hard compound (thus, ensuring more pit stops) would make things more exciting.  Take the race in Montreal--the tire variance made for an epic watch in various parts.  Magnusson cutting through the field on full wets and getting into the top 5 was as much fun as I've had watching F1 in some time.  Then Lando trying to stretch out his Intermediates to keep his lead over Max, only to almost spin coming out of the pits and settling into 2nd--that was a fun stint to sweat!

[JimmyC59]

10 hours ago, lefthack said:

 

Yeah, they have gotten HUGE.

 

 

 

IMO the Senna era was the sweet spot. And you had a shifter. 🤣

Wow!

[lefthack]

13 hours ago, JimmyC59 said:

Wow!

 

This is a little less detailed, but I like the wheel, too 

 

 

[JimmyC59]

1 hour ago, lefthack said:

 

This is a little less detailed, but I like the wheel, too 

 

 

Yeah, they're way too big now.