The previous thread was loaded with so many tweets that it has become unweildy on mobile. And given that the Formula 1 season just passed its midpoint, I figure why not start a new one.
And what better way to start a new thread than with a banger of a news leak:
Porsche has bought 50% of Red Bull Racing - to be equal partners starting in 2026
Update: Might as well give an update since its the OP of the thread. The Red Bull and Porsche deal fell through and the sale never went through. Porsche is still interested in partnering with a team, and has been rumored to have interest in Williams, but nothing concrete has come out. However, not all is lost for the VW group, as Audi has come to an agreement to be the provider for Sauber racing in 2026, who currently runs under the Alfa Romero brand despite not actually being Alfa.
Comments
That car looks sexy, but the number is wrong. Verstappen will be running #1 again, I'm sure, after winning another championship this year.
I think its an older image. I just did a Red Bull Porsche search in Google images and someone had uploaded that a while ago.
It is an older image. It's definitely a pre-2022 car, though I can't pinpoint which year.
Almost looks like it has a bit of F2 in it with how wide the nose is at the attachment to the front wing.
Sad about this, but the writing has been on the wall. I was at his first race back in '07 when he subbed for Kubica and have been a big fan since.
You start a new racing thread and we lose Seb and Porsche barges in to yet another racing championship. I blame you.
I don't know much about the reason why he left Red Bull for Ferrari (it's pre-Netflix, so IDK), but it's disappointing that he didn't have a very competitive car after that point, especially in the last two years with Aston Martin.
Ferrari is still the historically most important team in F1, and very few drivers would turn it down if offered that seat. He did win 4 straight titles with Red Bull, and at the time no one really knew that the start of the Hybrid error would be so bad for Ferrari (actually pretty much all the teams not named Mercedes did not start off well with the switch to the Hybrids)
So at the time I guess he just assumed he would be the next Ferrari driver to win the title, like so many before.
He also idolized Schumacher and wanted to bring Ferrari back to the glory they had with Michael. I think most drivers of his era grew up with Ferrari as the ultimate goal.
I thought that seat would have been Mick's for sure, but I guess Alonzo thinks he has a better shot with AM than he does Alpine.
Interesting.
The latest rumblings I've seen was Alpine wanted a 1+1 contract whereas the Aston Martin contract is a fixed 2 years. Makes sense he didn't want to risk getting booted from Alpine at the end of next year.
Wonder if this kicks off a legitimate silly season where we see a bunch of moves. Have to think that McLaren is going to move on from Ric, it just isn't working out, and Norris is proving it isn't the car that is holding them back. Wonder what Alpine does, and I wonder if Williams will move on from Albon
Interestingly, I just read this:
Translate: For those who are thinking "how do you risk losing Piastri?"
Well, I've heard from some sources that Piastri is in talks with McLaren to take Ricciardo's place. As much as the bosses say he's right on the team, they're keeping an eye on the market.
Now, this could be a shit hitting the fan moment, because it sounds like Piastri was all but lined up to take the 2nd seat at McLaren in 2023, fully believing that his contract with Alpine had expired as of July 31st. And worth noting that Alpine announced this at 2am Australia time, the home country of Piastri, and the driver has yet to comment. Seems like this is a pre-emptive strike to set up a legal battle for his services going forward.
If this sounds familiar, its because McLaren are currently dealing with pretty much the same situation with Alex Palou, current driver for Chip Ganassi in IndyCar.
Update: This gonna get good
Oh how I love the silly season. Everyone is pointing to McLaren, but he could easily end up at AT.
I can't believe they lost 2 drivers in less than 48 hours lol
The silliest of silly seasons has begun.
lol Albon
RUS starting on pole tomorrow in Hungary ahead of the 2 Ferraris. Would have been interesting to see where VER would have been without engine issues and HAM without DRS issues. Now we get HAM in P7 and VER in P10 hunting down the pack, and that is going to be what will make tomorrow exciting.
At this point you have to worry that Binotto is gonna get fired at the end of the season. What a disaster that Ferrari has become.
Worry? He should have already been fired.
Honestly, everyone who is part of the strategic decision making team within that paddock needs to be replaced. They are such a mess it's a joke
Tbh I hope they don't make any changes because I want to watch DTS covering this absolute shit show
As controlling of their brand that Ferrari is (they will repossess your car, even if paid off, if you paint it a color they don't like) I highly doubt they'll allow Netflix to even remotely cover how much a shit show that paddock has become.
Yea I'd be curious to know if they're even allowing Netflix in at this point (Similar to Season 1 without Merc and Ferrari)
The Harv is so hot right now. Bell was a lap away holy cow he was shot out of a cannon lol
I knew he wouldn't be as competitive at Watkins, but seeing him win 2 after that winless streak was satisfying as a fan. If he didn't win this year I'm not sure he comes back for the final season of his contract.
A wet nascar race featuring Kimi? Count me in. Waiting patiently for Spa Francorchamps next week though...
Edit after +30 minutes drying a wet track wet get 9 or 10 wet laps. Smh, was hoping for a bit more than that tbh
Worth it. A dry Glen beats the hell out of everyone tip-toeing for 90 laps.
Oh man...diving back into the TKP racing thread after almost 4 weeks away and it does not disappoint!
What a shit show from Alpine. I was reading the F1 meme accounts that whole week and could not stop laughing. It'll be especially fun now with 9 races left on the docket and Alonso already on the way out.
Not to mention all the awkward moments to come from RIC.
Well and isn't that the problem right now? We literally don't know what is going to happen at McLaren. We know they want Piastri to join next season, but they also have to find a way for Ric to move out. A move to Alpine could make sense there, he was pretty good his last stint there, but I've also heard rumors that Alpine could be making a move for someone like Gasly. And this all assumes that Piastri isn't contractually bound to Alpine.
And then there's also the fact that about 4 other drivers are in the mix for a McLaren seat next year, so what are they gonna do, open a 4th seat in IndyCar?
The storylines the rest of the way are going to be tasty as hell. Can't wait.
I thought that it already been announced that Danny Ric was being given $21mil to walk away and that Piastri was their 2nd driver. I'm interested to see how that works out when you've got Lando who's their #1 and then a new kid who's supposedly got a fair bit of talent. DO WE GET BROMANCE 2.0?!?!?!
I don't recall seeing an announcement, but I've also been on vacations off and on the last few weeks, so I very well could have missed it. From what I gathered, everything is very much rumored, but they're still in a legal stalemate unable to announce anything.
$21mil would be the buyout since his contract runs through the 2023 season. They are likely in the negotiation phase of that buyout, but as mentioned, everything is very much conjecture at this point.
Audi has purchased Sauber and an announcement is expected shortly. (Sauber currently runs under the Alfa Romeo branding, but is not really partnered with them in any way, its just a sponsor).
So this is interesting because Sauber/Alfa Romeo is a Ferrari customer team. I wonder if Audi is going to build their own power unit or if the continue to be a customer team. I think short term they would have to, as I can only imagine the time and effort it would take to build up the people to build their own. Red Bull just basically bought out the Honda group that was making the F1 power units. Starting from scratch would be much harder.
I would be thinking they would be using the Porsche engines when they come out for 2026 since they are both VAG. Porsche is going to be supplying the engines for Red Bull then too
Isn't Porsche just taking over the RedBull Powertrains department as part of the purchase?
Could definitely see Audi/Sauber supplied by Porsche, but they will definitely be their own thing. VAG is going to let Audi and Porsche run independently of each other and you know they are already dreaming of an Audi vs Porsche WDC title fight in the future.
Yeah ok, that makes sense. I guess I am not as up to date on the developments regarding VAG take over.
First shoe drops.....
As someone who follows McLaren and has always liked Danny Ric, this makes me sad. Really disappointed it never worked out, I hope he's able to get it right in the future with another team.
As much as I like him, I have a hard time believing that the car is THAT different that he could just never adjust to it. I am hopeful he lands a shot at a decent team and he comes back to form, but I am skeptical.
Kinda feel the same.
I know its hard when we're talking about COVID, but I do think that him missing out on Barca preseason testing really kind of screwed over McLaren this year. They clearly didn't get enough data in those runs, even with Lando being in the car pretty much the whole time, and I think that's the reason they started so, so far off the pace. They've been really good in catching up to and possibly passing Alpine in pace to being the top of the midfield, but its hard to not think what could have been if they were really able to get into the season on the right foot.
Car balance and driver's adaptation/mastery is so much of the sport, just look at Vettel when RB had to change the car for the Early Hybrid Era. I don't think Danny Ric would have been on Vettel's level in the V8s, but he was right there with him in the Early Hybrids.
These Ground Effect Hybrids have completely different balance than the previous gen car, and Danny hasn't been able to get on top of it.
Officially, its only as an engine supplier in 2026. However....
Is Audi going to get twice the engine maintenance budget that other teams have? Because that's what it seems like for regular Audi vehicles.
VER and RB were in another league at Spa. That TD didn't seem to affect them at all. Ferrari on the other hand, possibly.
Merc has to be pivoting to 2023 now and coming up with a better concept for next year, something along the lines of RB or Ferrari, more conventional. This car just aint it. Set up window is just too small, rarely getting the tires in the right window. Although I think HAM could have gotten the podium had he not went for the (too) bold move.
Some spicy radio from ALO after the HAM incident. Good to see HAM shut down the shit stirring from the media right after and own up to the mistake.
Alpine very strong and looks to be the solid 4th team.
I think McLaren could have done a better job if Lando didn't have to take grid penalties at the start. It is what it is, I think its between them and Alpine for 4th this year, and I think its a pretty even fight.
Hamilton needed to own up to that mistake because it was unbelievably dumb to try and squeeze Alonso like he did. There's probably a decent bit of truth to what Alonso said on the radio like he did, because Hamilton does do some really, really stupid shit when he's fighting for spots over the last couple seasons when he's first on the radio to complain about dangerous driving when others even attempt to give it back in kind.
Funny you mention the TD because I just saw an article this morning where Merc and Ferrari are worried that the new regs are benefitting RB too much and that its going to lead to a snoozer of a last half of the season. Like, wasn't Merc at the forefront of trying to get these regs implemented? Also saw that Brawn is saying they'll pivot to adjust regs if it looks like RB is going to completely dominate the next few years, which is hilarious given that nothing was done about Merc's dominance the last 8. Of course, Brawn used to own what is now Merc, so I'm sure there are no ulterior motives there.....
There were actually multiple attempts to slow them down. It's just that the 2021 changes finally did it (and the Honda engine hit its stride)
In the presser after the race Horner was jabbing at Toto saying that RB had Mercy to thank for their performance and for forcing the TD.
Horner shit stirring level: Expert
McLaren has announced Piastri as the 2nd driver for 2023, so I guess the legal issues have been worked out.
Interesting. I wonder if D Ric goes back to Renault/Alpine or if he ends up without a seat. I really like him and hope he can stay in F1, he just never seemed to get it figured out at McLaren.
It sounds like Gasly might already have the Alpine seat locked down to create an all-French team, so....
Maybe Alpha Tauri would bring in Ric, though I doubt he would want that. Don't really see any other options given he said he won't go to a backmarker (HAAS, Williams)
Sucks for him. He probably never should have left RB but his time was probably limited with the team all in behind Max, so I get why he left, but he might have had a longer career in F1 if he stayed.
Gasly to Alpine is the smart move for Alpine. Get the whole country behind you.
Haas I think would actually be a smart move for Danny. The most American driver joining a technically American team.
It would be awesome to get an actual American driver for Haas (and for Hass to actually be a decent team, midfield at least). Colton Herta has been the main name I hear come up for an American going to F1, but does not have a super license which is odd, I guess they don't give out many points for IndyCar which seems kind of dumb.
Alexander Rossi was the last American to race in F1 for the now defunct Manor.
More info:
So this means that Alpine was fully in the wrong to announce him as their 2023 driver, and there is no penalty that McLaren had to pay to them in order to sign him. Wow.
What a colossal screw-up by Alpine. First by screwing around with Alonso and then trying to force a guy to drive with them who didn't have a contract. Yikes
Couldn't believe that I didn't see anything about Zandvoort here.
What. A. Race! Another solid performance by RB's strategy team and great driving by Max. Mercedes was a giant question mark at the end, but I don't think any call they made (keeping Russell on the mediums or having him pit for softs) would have helped. There were too many laps left in the race and Max would have just taken an extra couple of laps to get by them both. Ferrari is...lost. Between the decade long pit for Carlos and the general lack of strategy, they're done for. Was kinda hoping that DR would bounce back but...nope.
Really looking forward to see how things shake out between Alpine & AT with Gasly & Herta. Seems like Marko/Horner are really trying to push the FIA into giving Herta a superlicense. Talk about the merchandising and fan support that AT would probably get overnight with an American driver in the mix.
Looking forward to Monza. Hopefully the pony doesn't shit itself.
The super license rules are kind of dumb, and you can thank the current championship leader for the changes made in 2016
LINK
Herta is more than a good enough driver to race in F1 IMHO.
It didn't help Hamilton that he was late in shifting to the right engine mode on the restart.
https://us.motorsport.com/f1/news/hamilton-late-in-selecting-right-engin...
Didn't matter, he would have been smoked on the second lap even if he had played the restart perfectly. And its not like there was anything that Russell could have done to keep Max behind.
Yeah, he's no Mexican Minister of Defense.
WDC and WCC are over. Max and RedBull are going to walk away with it this year and there is little that any other team will be able to do about it. The regulation updates just helped further distance them from the field for whatever reason, its crazy.
As for next year, Herta being at AT would be huge for American fandom in F1. It would be better if it was at HAAS and HAAS wasn't a dumpster fire, but that's still pretty big. At the same time, its ridiculous that F1 doesn't count IndyCar at all to their SuperLicense, and its long past time for that to change. And if you do that, there are enough quality drivers between F2 and IndyCar that there's no reason for Andretti to be held back from F1 entry other than pure corporate greed from the existing teams.
IndyCar does count for a super license but is actually worth less than the points you would get in F2. The article I posted above noted that the rules for the points were set something like 10-15 years ago, and at that time IndyCar was just coming back together after the nasty breakup and split into two series, so at the time when the rules were set it was not long after the reunification, so therefore was not seen as more competitive that F2. IndyCar these days should be counting more than F2. It is a much more competitive series with better drivers than there were the last time they reset the points, so this is on the FIA to restack how the points are handed out.
Herta is more than capable of racing in F1. I would wager he is better than any of the younger first year drivers that have been in F1 over the last several years.
As a Netflix n00b, I really don't know much about the history of open-wheel racing. Do you have any good reads for catching up, like what split and reunification are you talking about?
So here is a decent explainer, at least one I found with a quick search.
LINK
basically, CART split away and was really focused more on road courses, and the Indy Racing League was focused more on ovals, with the Indy 500 clearing being the race that the whole thing was based on.
from the article
So basically if they never split (reunified in 2008 as Indycar) then the current series would be much more highly regarded (as it was back in the 90's). So the current points system that the FIA uses for super license was based much more on how competitive Indycar was right after reunification, versus what it is today which is much more competitive.
So it sounds like the current super license point system is devaluing Indycar experience relative to its competitive level today, am I reading that right?
Yes.
We're basically at the point where you could finish Top 2 in the IndyCar series for 3 or 4 years in a row and you still wouldn't have enough SL points to technically qualify for F1 whereas someone who just finished top 10 in back to back seasons in F2 would.
And it's specifically to try and force drivers into the F2/F3 pipeline, not that they think F2/F3 is actually a higher level of racing. This is all about protecting the junior series.
Darlington put on a hell of a weekend of racing. The ending of the Xfinity race was one of the wildest I've ever seen, and having money on Gragson made it a little wilder lol Cup: full moon playing some tricks on a lot of the big boys. Chase shot himself in the foot, Larson with engine issues for the 2nd week straight, Kyle Busch blowing an engine under caution, Truex continuing to have the worst luck ever (also, maybe the most emotional I've ever seen him not talking about Sherry).
Kansas will be a good show. Hopefully Bristol can break the streak of rather horrendous short track races in a couple weeks.
Wild finish as you said to the Xfinity race.
Harvick car fire was crazy too. NASCAR doesn't seem to happy with his comments on the next gen car.
I'm going to miss this era of vets when they retire. At least they speak their minds.
Rumor mill is saying 2023 All Star Race...North Wilkesboro. That is going to be a tough ticket.
Not entirely shocked. They've done a lot of work to get that track back in working order. The long term plan has always been to get NASCAR back, with the All Star Race the likely candidate.
Recently followed a few accounts on YouTube that go into a lot of the tecnhical history of NASCAR and have recently made visits to the track. Its night and day improved over what it looked like when Top Gear made a visit in 2010.
When it was announced, I looked into it right away. Dale Jr had a decent piece on his race there. Got me even more excited about this all star race news.
I'm curious: What was great about racing at North Wilkesboro?
It's historic! I mean there was probably a civil war battle or moonshine operation there.
Doesn't sound like a rumor anymore
Kyle Busch to RCR. Seems there was too much smoke to not be happening.
"Hold my watch" lol
Ok, so pretty much every F1 championship is over. Verstappen is going to win WDC and Red Bull will win WCC. Very well could happen as early as this upcoming weekend, but its all over.
Max cannot be touched right now in this car. Barring the car completely breaking down, he could possibly match/pass Vettel's record of 9 wins in a row.
At the same time, the Sky F1 broadcast this weekend was a bit of a joke. They got caught artificially muting the sound during the moment of silence for QE2, and then forgot to turn it back on for Andrea Bocelli singing the Italian anthem. And then from the minute that Ricciardo broke down to the end of the broadcast went full non stop whining about the Safety Car and trying to stir up more controversy over Abu Dhabi last year. Full British nationalism on display during the world feed, which was.... nauseating.
I think when ESPN took over for NBC Sports they tried to do their own broadcast but it was absolutely awful, so they just signed a deal to tap into the Sky Sports feed. I miss the old NBCSports crew, they were much better.
That ninth win would be Mexico, where I hope that Checo can win.
Otherwise, yeah, who's going to beat him?
Agreed on both accounts. The RB/Max combo is just too much at this point, similar to the Hamilton/Merc combo of yesteryear. Ferrari is 2nd best and could maybe mount a challenge next year but this year is donezo. Just a competition to see who rounds out the WDC/WCC podiums.
The Sky broadcast was crap after DR broke down. There's no reason why you should be lamenting over finishing under a SC for 15 minutes. Yes, the FAI was slow to react on the SC, but it is what it is. It's not like Max was somehow going to get passed with the RB on softs.
Idk I think there's merit to the idea of hey maybe we shouldn't finish under a safety car. Plus what else are you going to talk about? There's no racing going on.
I think you can change it so you can't finish under a safety car and you have to do x amount of real laps to finish a race. It could be a different number depending on the track, but it would be more than one to avoid what happened last year. So say you stop the lap count at 50 yesterday, let everyone unlap themselves then race the last 3 laps. But a clear rule so it's not under the race directors discretion.
Yeah, just red flag the race if there is say less than 10 laps left and a safety car is needed. Then just do either a straight up restart in race order or a running start.
This is going to be a shot in the dark...
We're going up to Bristol this weekend and have been since 2015. Stay every year at Thunder Mountain Campground. I, for the life of me, cannot find a number for them. Can't get ahold of the bar there either, but they've changed hands so many times I'm not even sure it's open now. Anybody know anyyything to help a brother out?
Looked into Shadrack (campground directly across the creek from Thunder Mountain) and they're asking $350 for a tent site...little steep.
Edit: they were open. Changed ownership and never bothered to update a soul about it. Good times were had. The bar in the campground has gone terribly downhill since Holston River Brewing left (like 4-5yrs ago...but still).
24 races, and Monaco was just confirmed to be on the calendar through 2025 (yawn).
3, count them, THREE, races in the U.S. and they still would not push Colten Herta's super license through. What a load of crap.
Hot take here but: the US doesn't need three races and Herta's citizenship shouldn't impact his eligibility any more favorably imo
True, but when you look at Kimi or Max, who had WAY less experience than Herta in open wheel racing both were give exceptions then you do kind of have to wonder. Herta is a legit driver, and IMHO would be better than any of the younger guys like Latifi in a F1 car.
Also, with the Netflix series basically skyrocketing F1 fandom in the U.S. it would make sense to have an American driver. I'm not saying a team should be forced to take him or anything, but if one wanted him then the FIA should make the exception like they did for Max 7 yrs ago.
There's more to driving in f1 than experien$e though, and Latifi's lack of skill is only matched by how much money he essentially can provide as a pay driver. I actually think he will not be at Williams next year after Albon and De Vries have both scored points.
And yeah Netflix fandom has exploded in the US, but that's also a justification to not pick an American driver as our market is already covered so to speak. Idk how much more growth there legitimately is.
The FIA implemented the current SL points system BECAUSE of the Max situation.
In any regard, Herta shouldn't get an exception. The FIA just need to reassess the points given to the top Indy car drivers as a whole. The current system is designed to funnel talent through the FIA feeder systems. However, there are a ton of worthy outside of that talent pool that could do well in F1.
Man I care less about Herta and more about the fact that the FIA is just unwilling to respect American racing at all. The fact that the IndyCar series is given SuperLicense points at a lesser clip than even F3 is ridiculous, and its absolute bullshit to the point where its bordering on European xenophobia, especially when you consider that F1 is actively trying to recruit Audi and Porsche into the fold, but is not even entertaining a legitimate entry application from Andretti.
But they'll hold 3 majorly overpriced events over here, take our money and take our sponsorships, no problem at all.
Austin now is almost a joke with the prices once DTS came out, can't really justify spending the money to drive down there for the race anymore. Just with lodging and a general admission ticket you are looking at a 2-3k weekend per person (unless you want to stay in Waco or something and drive in early every day).
It was expensive before but not quite as bad as it is now, and I really enjoyed going down for the race. Another thing you will notice if you go is there is a TON of European fans that go and of course they are all super rich. The average fan has been pushed out, much like Jerry Jones has done to the average fan here in Dallas.
F1 being xenophobic to Americans? Shocked Pikachu .jpeg. I kid, but it's not like they never play favorites.
I agree on the F3 and Indy comparison, but it's not surprising that F1 wants F1 drivers to come up in their ecosystem. That of course doesn't make it right either. To your point, how else is a non F1 driver supposed to break in then?
I mean, of course they'll take our money. We are a large nation with relatively large amounts of expendable income (sweeping generalization i know). But to me that shouldn't force them to give an F1 ride to an American imo.
Force them?
Nah, but they aren't even opening the doors to good American drivers who are good enough to compete right now. If anything, the FIA is going out of their way to keep American drivers off the grid in the exact same way they are working to keep an American team out of the paddock. And no, I do not consider HAAS an American team.
I feel like if Andretti was allowed to have a team he would have them doing much better than HAAS.
Sargeant, Logan
American in F2 who will most likely have enough SL points at the end of the year and is being linked to the Williams seat replacing Latifi.
On the American team side I would have to agree. There is no reason Andretti should be denied. Does it dilute % of revenue with more team, sure...but the pie gets bigger.
This was asterisked on the Las Vegas date. What does this mean?
just means they have to approve whatever street circuit they come up with
Homologation (Greek homologeo, α½ΞΌΞΏΞ»ΞΏΞ³ΞΟ, "to agree") is the granting of approval by an official authority. This may be a court of law, a government department, or an academic or professional body, any of which would normally work from a set of rules or standards to determine whether such approval should be given.
1am race start for us on the East Coast..... yikes
That feels wrong. I know they do some night races, but I would think 2:00 PT would make more sense here.
Edit: I was wrong, it really is starting at 1:00 AM ET LINK
I was hoping that if Monaco was to stay on the calendar, at the very least the TV broadcasting would be performed by F1, instead of the terrible job the local Monaco TV company does year in and year out. Just more of the same. F1 literally gets nothing new out of this deal and Monaco gets to keep the race as is for another 3 years.
Goodyear needs to figure it the fuck out. These tires are simply going far too long and a high rate with zero falloff...until they fall off a ledge. Need some falloff here gentlemen. Green flag stops are not the end of the world.
What a race in Singapore! I'll avoid spoilers for those watching on delay but I think the transition from wet to dry provided so much action and strategy.
Looking forward to talladega later today too
P4 and P5 for McLaren is a very nice start to the day after a pretty crappy sports day yesterday
I'm pissed that I missed Checo's win, And unless somebody posts it on youtube, I'm going to be delayed watching it until Disney and Dish kiss and make up. F Dish, F Disney, and F billionaire companies screwing over consumers!
Legitimately not much to watch. He took the lead and just cruised. The broadcast focused more on Verstappen going through the pack than it did anything about Checo. They barely showed him at all during the race.
Yeah the whole broadcast was Max. I found it pretty entertaining but they didn't even talk about Checo to the end. Post race they were all saying that this may be Checos best race ever, and I was thinking that I didn't remember them showing any of it.
I guess Dish and Disney finally kissed and made up, so I was able to watch last night.
I think that's just their (F1, not the Sky broadcasting team) MO. If there's not a lot going on up front (and there wasn't, Checo had a few second lead for most of the race save for after the safety car restart), then they'll try to show the action further back in the pack. I get it. Just so happens with Verstappen qualifying a lot further back than his pace suggested, he was involved in a lot of the action.
Was nice, though, to see what Checo could do with the RB18.
I'm not against what they did this race, but in races where Max is ahead they still focus on him a lot. Probably a combination of not much action/story further back and also he is the champion, so I get it.
Max or Lewis. I think there were a couple races last year where we had some really good battles for position in the midfield and the cameras never even showed a second of it.
And I'm very tired of Sky continuously trying to push the Max vs Lewis drama. All that does is create a massively toxic environment around the sport that we just don't need.
I β€οΈ Talladega
Wild day at the track. F1 with a fun race marred by a terrible safety incident with a tractor on the track while cars were still out, in the wet at the same track where Jules Bianchi was killed in a similar incident in 2014. Thankfully it was a near miss and nothing more
Then a crazy attrition race at the Roval. Toe links, power steering, and a crazy overtime. What a day!
Tractor on the track was so, SO bad from the FIA that it truly boggles the mind. And then to find out that the FIA is trying to spin this as Gasly's issue by penalizing him 20 seconds and 2 points on his license for speeding under red flag conditions, despite admitting he was within the appropriate delta and could have gone faster is just.... Hoo boy
Given WDC is over, and WCC is probably going to be wrapped up next race, I really wouldn't be shocked if we see a driver's strike before the end of the year.
First off, as for the race itself, what a shitshow by the SkyTV broadcast TV. No one knew the rules and the false narrative was spread for 3 hours about what would happen. Calling Max back to tell him he was WDC was a bit cringy but his response was perfect. The WDC cool down room was weird as hell too. We got stuck watching the same two drivers for 5 laps even though there were a couple of other battles going on that were just as or more impressive. That said, some brilliant driving by quite a few folks. Vettel able to come back from last to P6 was impressive and the photo finish was brilliant. Ocon defending against Hamilton for a quarter of the race was great to watch.
Now, to the whole tractor incident, I've been doing some digging and while I understand the obvious frustration, the incident yesterday seems wayyyy worse than the Jules crash because, from what I can find, the forklift in the Jules crash was off to the side and Jules lost control and went off the track and hit it, vs. yesterday's event where the forklift was on the track without any sort of lights to announce its presence.
You can see the warning lights switch from double yellow to red in the replay, but Gasly is going through a tricky section of the track at that point and has no expectation of the forklift being out there as an obstacle.
The driver's strike would be interesting. What do you think their demands would be?
The WDC rules seems to be on FIA/F1 not Sky. in the post race radio with Max, nobody from Red Bull knows he won the championship.
Red Bull officially in minor (<5%) breach of cost cap. AM with a procedural breach.
Buckle up, this will be interesting...
(or it will get quietly dealt with behind closed doors a la Ferrari)
Martinsville, despite short track woes this year...will be awesome. Calling it now. I've also been cordially invited to the drivers' meeting. Fucking stoked about that.
Man, I hope you're right. It was beautiful down there dropping the camper off on Saturday. I'll be down Thursday and will be at the Modified race. Everyone else will roll in through the weekend. Swing by and grab a beer! (That's also an open invite to anyone coming to Martinsville this weekend).
Yeah looks like they're holding off on the rain for now...just hope it's not too cold.
Officially here until Monday....Let's go!!
Should be able to swing by tomorrow afternoon. Same place, right?
Yessir
Coming thru Rocky Mount right now. Hopefully be over there in a hour or so
We need some inside scoop from the drivers meeting around Ty Gibbs.
Ok, so it wasn't exactly the drivers' meeting after all. Sort of a dignitaries type thing (please do not think I'm in that group...I was the only one in the bunch slamming Busch Lights). Governor Youngkin was there, spoke for awhile and gave some 75th anny stuff to the track. Got to shake his hand and talk for a couple minutes with him. Nice fella, wore worn cowboy boots and very tall fwiw. Air Force, Navy and State Police had folks there. The motherfuckering three star general of Space Force was in attendance. They wore camouflage, which, not an expert of the vast void of space, but I thought that was odd.
But! Drivers and a few owners did make appearances. Finally got a photo with Kes (VtNerf liked it on the gram). My dad finally got a photo with Denny. Chase did his best to hide under the tent...can't blame him (years of seeing the likes of Gordon and Dale Jr trying to get thru the mob of folks in the pits prior to races...almost feel bad for the guys). Seeing Roger Penske in person is always kind of a mindfuck.
Idk if I'll ever be invited back to that or not...but holy hell I hope so. That was awesome.
Edit: sorry! Forgot what the initial question was lol there were two blatant missing drivers from the field after Youngkins speech...Gibbs and Bubba.
Was at COTA for the USGP. Damn good time. We rented an RV and camped in Lot N. Bounced around at different turns all weekend but secured a spot at T1 by getting in line at 0645 for Race Day. Bit too crowded, but a great spot watching them come up the main straight, into T1, and some great battles at T2. I feel like I need to rewatch the race though, because there was so much going on I didn't see.
Was right there near Will Buxton chugging the beer. Love those moments.
Would you mind sharing a breakdown of costs?
Well I live in Houston, so travel costs was 1 tank of gas even pulling an RV.
Rental RV - $100/night. This was last minute since we had a free one that fell through. Booking farther in advance should drop this down. There are some incidentals like another $20 for the right tow hitch, another $100 to empty the septic. For an additional $100, you can even get someone to deliver it, set it up, and take it away for you.
Camping spot in Lot N - $800 for the event. These are dry spots without electric either. $55 for potable tank fill. More premium spots will cost more, but they have electric. We had a generator and went through about 7 gal of gas over the weekend.
3 Day GA Tix - About $400/person
Food and beverage - We refused to eat and drink at the prices there at COTA and used our camping spot to walk back forth when we wanted to eat. Hauled all our food and beverage from Houston. You are allowed to bring in soft coolers with water. On the plus side, we slipped one of the gate guys a couple beers and a $20 to overlook all the beer we packed in there under our water. They do check.
Very jealous! Sounds like a great time and a definite bucket list item for me. What was your angle on the Sainz/Russell crash on lap 1? Poor Sainz
Had a great angle on it. It happened pretty quick though. There's so much you're looking at at T1 on Lap 1 of any race, so it was difficult to discern alot of details in real time.
Man, Russell needs to get his shit together. He just drives straight into people and then gets on the radio blaming everyone else for his own actions.
He was very likeable at Williams, but if he keeps this shit up, the average fan is going to hate his ass in a short period of time.
Eh, I disliked him at Williams, too. Every stream he did during the pandemic it was clear he was a whiny, spoiled, poor sport.
So he fits right in at Mercedes is what you're saying?
Agreed. Last year was my first time watching a full season, but Russell has always seemed on the whiney side.
Lol Ross Chastain going full Forza noob wallrider to advance to the championship final, knocking Hamlin out of the title race is next level hilarity
I'm not mad about the full send he did. Exploited something and worked. If it involved wrecking numerous cars it would've been different. Watermelon boy going to Phoenix with a chance.
Makes me wonder if Denny will ever get his elusive Ship.
Love it. Denny is a baby so super happy he got knocked out too.
Denny fan down voting lol
I only saw the replay online but I legitimately thought that it was a CGI commercial for something at first.
We had no idea what had happened until they crossed the start/finish line and the place went nuts. I started putting everything together then saw his crew celebrating and thought "no damn way" the. The replays starting coming through. Recency bias be damned, that's the greatest move in Cup history...at the very least, the ballsiest.
My wife was at the Kurt Busch/Ricky Craven Darlington race. She even said that went to that level of pushing it to the limits.
Kyle Larson had some comments I thought were hypocritical.
Final 4 in Phoenix should be fun.
I hope he wins the Championship because he will never have to do anything ever again. Instant legend. I've wondered my whole life why no one has ever done it.
It's been attempted a few other times and ended in a wreck or the guy in front was able to block out the wall at the end of the turn. I'm not sure if any of them sent it as hard as Ross just did though. The in car video with sound is crazy hearing him up shift into the wall.
Alright, so Max sets a F1 record for 14 wins in a season. Red Bull has clinched WDC and WCC this year, and the Mexico GP might have been one of the most boring races we've had in a while. But probably the biggest news out of the weekend is that Red Bull Racing have announced they are straight up boycotting the SkyF1 broadcast for their inappropriate behavior and continuing comments regarding the 2021 title fight.
Honestly, with us being forced to watch that broadcast over the years, I actually applaud the decision to boycott. Sky's broadcast has become insufferable with their over the top fandom of Lewis, bordering on straight up British Nationalism.
I was hoping that Mexico was going to be more exciting due to the length of the race and the different tire strategies, but the only exciting part was seeing Yuki get punted and....yea, that's about it. Bit of a snoozefest filled with Russell and Hamilton whining about their tires.
One thing that I got really pissed with was Danny Ric getting a 10 second penalty for causing the collision between himself and Yuki but last weekend Russell only got a 5 second penalty for basically plowing into Sainz. WTF FAI?
As for the broadcast, this is still only my 2nd year watching a full season and I limit my watching to the race vs. the pre/post race commentary, but the fact that they can't let go of shit like this is annoying. Just let it be already. Your man DOMINATED the sport for 7 years and the first time some serious competition comes along they get all up in arms over it.
Absolutely!
And mind you this is the same broadcaster who ran this ad last year:
I'm surprised a penalty was assessed. It didn't look like Ricciardo was out of control, he had just gotten inside of Tsunoda (with better, fresher tires no less) and Tsunoda turned into him. It looked like a fair racing move on Ricciardo's part, so why did he get a penalty?
Because Yuki was in front of him, he's entitled to that space. Daniel should have braked and let him have the apex, but because he didn't and caused the accident he is given the penalty. Had he been right up along side Yuki when they turned in, then it would have been Yuki's fault.
I'm a Danny fan and happy he performed well, but he definitely deserved a penalty. But what is annoying is that all season that has been a 5 second penalty and all of a sudden it was 10 when it happens to less competitive drivers
The whole penalty system is fucked. I'm not saying there needs to be an "eye-for-an-eye" standard, but if an incident occurs that causes a driver to (a) crash or (b) retire due to damage caused by the incident, the driver at fault (if they "survive") should be hit with a race crushing stop-and-go penalty, i.e. 30 seconds or greater, that must be served immediately, not inflicted at the end of the race. This 5 to 10 second crap is chickenshit.
But where does the requirement to give space come in? Because Ricciardo's front wheel was in front of Tsunoda's rear wheel at the time Tsunoda came over into him. Is there a certain amount you have to be alongside?
The current rules basically say you need to have your front wheel alongside the leading car before entering the braking zone in order to expect to be given space in the corner. Danny Ric was trailing going into that BZ, and he completely dive bombed the corner, causing contact. That's a very particularly tough corner to get that right on, as well, because its all basically one long braking zone, and Ric wasn't even close to alongside going into it. There was little reason for Yuki to think Ric would be where he was when he turned in.
Okay, that's fair. I don't know where the braking zone started, I was just looking at where they were when they made contact. I would object to the characterization as a "dive bomb", though. As I understand it, dive bombing is when a car brakes so late that they can't make the corner, hitting the outside car. Ricciardo had made the corner and was fully in the turn, where Tsunoda turned into him.
Hearing the way Danny described it, I kind of get what he was trying to do. Essentially, he was trying to stick his nose in there to compromise Yuki's exit so he could get the overtake done just a bit further down the track. It was just a little too aggressive for that particular moment, though.
I mean you're pretty much on it, but I would also say that dive bombing doesn't necessarily mean you won't make the corner, but it does mean you're sending it to a place where there is no way the leading car will make the corner on their current line without hitting you. In this case, Ric wasn't alongside before the braking zone, and by sticking his nose and front tire where he did, he made it impossible for Yuki to take the line he was on without contact. Which, I mean it would have been fine had he been alongside Yuki going into that whole area, but he wasn't.
He was a bit too far behind for Tsunoda to have been required to give him the space. The corner was his to occupy. I don't think Tsunoda turned in on him so much as he didn't think RIC would be there at all. It was an overzealous move that knocked him out of the race. Def worth the penalty, and big props to RIC for pulling that gap to negate it.
Russell's last week was on Turn 1 of the opening lap. There's definitely more leeway for collisions there than there are in a one-on-one battle later in the race when Yuki clearly had the corner and legally Danny should've backed off.
lol well ok then
Love it!
I'll be sure to put this in next year's first racing thread, but I'll be attending the 2023 24hrs at Daytona for a bachelor party. Should be a good time. Never been an IMSA event.
You're going to love it. It's a phenomenal event. IMSA offers so much access for a big league motorsport. Hit me up and I'll be happy to share what I know from when I went. Get hooked on IMSA and come to VIR in August!
2022 F1 season has come to a close.
Happy for LEC to get that P2 in the driver's championship, seeing as how RB already locked up everything else.
My prediction for Merc to overtake Ferrari for P2 in the constructors almost came to fruition, but the extra wind tunnel and CFD time will do them well. Ferrari took a massive step forward this year and have some things to be proud of. Fix strategy and they could fight.
ALO can't get out of that Alpine quick enough. So many lost points over the season.
Sad to see Seb go, but happy he got points in his final race. Comeback with Audi?
Ric...likely back to RB in the Coulthard role. What a fall. I really do hope he is able to come back, but unlikely. For both Norris and Piastri's sake, I hope MCL can make a leap next year.
I now hate Haas and want Andretti to join and become the de facto American team.
Looking forward to 2023 car reveals!!!
Watching the end of year testing videos, its actually sad realizing that both Seb and Danny Ric are now out of F1. There's going to be a huge personality void in the pit lane next year that is definitely going to have the season feeling a bit hollow, even if the racing itself might improve.
With all of that said, McLaren really needs to get their shit together, and do it soon. Their car is a boat, and they're extremely lucky to have Lando at the wheel of the #4, because he earned them a ton of points this year that they didn't deserve. He stuck around to have a title shot in 2024, and if they put out a shitbox again next year, I could easily see someone like Red Bull or Merc poach him when Checo or Hamilton have their contracts up. He's legitimately fighting for a WDC in a better car.
We'll see about DR. If KMag and Hulk can come back (even if it's in a shit box, I'm sure DR can as well given the right circumstance though. Like you said though, if McLaren doesn't have a good car for '23 I can see Lando jumping ship for Merc or RB (I wouldn't wish Ferrari on him, I like Lando too much).
It'll be interesting seeing the Alpine drama next year since Gasly and Icon apparently hate each other. Same thing goes for AM next year between Stroll and Alonso, unless Alonso just wants to drive and avoid the daddy issues between big and little Stroll.
'23 will also be an interesting year with all of the races. China has basically already been cancelled because of their COVID policies, but that still sees an all time 23 races on the calendar. You've got 2 rookies on different teams, one of them the first American since D2S blew up F1 in the US.
Definitely going to be rooting for Logan Sargeant, as it's nice to have an American to root for. Rooting for Haas was hard, even though Gunter was a rootable guy, because they were just awful (not to mention that by the time I discovered D2S and got into F1, they were Russian sponsored).
Really pulling for Andretti's team to make their entrance into F1. I hope that when they do, they're funded more like a competitor than a back marker (looking at you, Williams and Haas). I don't think I've seen any indications of what levels they plan to fund the team at, though.
Son of a bitch
McLaren and Gulf Oil end partnership, will not extend into 2023 season.
I was still holding out hope that Gulf would be a main team sponsor so we could have that livery full time, but that's not going to happen anymore. Maybe they partner with Porsche and their eventual F1 entry?
Binotto officially out as Ferrari Principal
I know it's been rumored for a while, but finally official. I wonder who they'll bring in and if that person will have the authority to clean house like they need to do.
Yea been waiting on the confirmation. Typical Ferrari...
Why do you say "Typical Ferrari"? To the casual observer (*points at self*), he's had a real issue with strategy calls this season that have negatively impacted the team's finish in races this year. Some real head-scratcher calls this year. IM(ns)HO, he earned his dismissal.
Most of the best teams have stability at the top positions. Since the early 2000's, Ferrari has been in a constant state of remove TP due to performance, new TP comes in and tries to implement a winning strategy and culture, results don't happen quickly enough for top brass, TP is removed. Rinse and repeat.
Binotto has been with Ferrari since the 90's and has worked his way up through the engineering ranks. His fault as as TP was mainly not recognizing deficiencies in the strategy department. He resigned, either because he was told to do so, or because he was tired of the meddling of the top management at Ferrari (maybe he wanted to shake up strategy department but couldn't or refused to do so).
By all accounts, this was the team's most successful season in a long time, if you discount the possibility of how long they were cheating during the whole fuel flow scandal. The decision is short sighted, as they have significantly improved. Hence, typical Ferrari...
Idk man, the consistent strategy ineptitude was so egregious in most sports he would've been fired midseason. I know Ferrari has internal issues, and maybe he's vindicated in the next few years by continued strategy blunders, but it seems like those were things he could've & should've been able to manage.
When reached for comment, Ferrari gave the following statement:
"We are checking"
But seriously, their inability to think on their feet and adjust to the ever changing nature of a race was infuriating this year, even as someone who isn't really even a Ferrari fan. Charles and Carlos both deserved better than the complete incompetence they received on the other end of radio calls all year, and it actively cost them both multiple wins and any shot of a title. Those drivers deserve better than that.
Agreed, it was infuriating to watch them just bumble along this year. Either Binotto tried to make changes and was repeatedly denied or didn't have the authority to do it, or he was oblivious to how bad things really were. If it's the former he resigned because he finally had enough. If it's the latter, he was fired. Only time will tell which one is true.
Not disagreeing, just saying it's very Ferrari to be in this situation amidst what is arguably their most successful season in quite a while.
2023 isn't even underway and we're already down one race as China GP has been cancelled.
Oh, darn.
Translation: Fuck China.
Interesting news out of Williams...team principal Jost Capito and technical director FX Demaison are both leaving the team.
Guess they can only go up from last place in the WCC with 8 points. Hell, Haas got 8th with 37 points.