Formula 1 2023 Season

Fascinating qualifying.  The conditions are just odd enough that the drivers are struggling to warm up- some of the drivers are doing really well, others just can't get it going.

And really weird to see Russell drive into Hamilton like that- just when Lewis was going to start a flying lap.  Someone missed a radio call there.  

But to see LeClerc out in Q1 and then Perez and Russell out in Q2- the conditions are really tough.

Not to mention that Stroll outqualified Alonzo!

In reply to RacerBoy75 :

All they had to do was give Alonso a broken car and that would even things up with Lance...

Just playing. I missed Q1 but it seemed like Alonso may have done some off roading and broke his floor. After struggling yesterday nice to see Lance pick it up so dad doesn't fire him!

Go Sainz!

What a mess for some - but it sure makes for an interesting grid for tomorrow's race.....

I'm betting Ferrari will pull an all-nighter and Charles will start from the pit lane. 

Weird to see Stroll ahead of Alonso on the grid, wonder what will happen tomorrow?

Rain could be the real joker in the pack - even tho I still expect Max to drive off into the distance - his Red Bull just looks perfectly composed and smooth all the way around th track. 

I think we still don't know the true pace of Max and the RB19.  On that last flyer he was ahead by .5 after sector 2 and they pulled the plug when nobody else was able to get close.  Looked like he could have turned a 1:11.6 or better.

In reply to triumph7 :

That's true, but it's curious that Checo is struggling so much.  It's almost as if RBR is putting all of their cut time and money into Max's car.

RBR still moves forward, but relatively speaking, Mercedes has made a pretty big jump.  Considerably faster than Ferrari and Aston Martin this weekend for the race.  Still over a pit stop slower than Verstappen's RBR, but a huge step for them- especially since they covered Checo very effectively.  

I'm just on lap 40, but wowsers, a new set of sidepods and a control arm relocation seems to have done the trick.

However, Max just went out and set fastest lap by a second or so.  Merc has found speed, but they still need a bunch to catch him.

Natalie Pinkham.   I watch the race on F1tv, but the pre and post race stuff is better on Sky.

She got off the best line of the season today, "Nico, you don't have to suck up to him, he's not your boss anymore."

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

That line really shut Nico down, it was great. 

I feel like I missed something when George got past Alonso in the first half. He was gaining on the Aston and I was looking for a good scrap as Alonso is a hard guy to get past. And then all of a sudden Fred was 3.5s behind. What happened?

Wow Mercedes have definitely found some mojo again. Alonso was uncharacteristically off this whole weekend, especially for his home track. Tsunoda got robbed, he didn't even twitch!

alfadriver said:

In reply to triumph7 :

That's true, but it's curious that Checo is struggling so much.  It's almost as if RBR is putting all of their cut time and money into Max's car.

I hate Max but I think the pace difference is down to Max's talent, not differences in the two cars. If the car is quickest with a lively rear and Checo has trouble with an oversteery car and Max doesn't, Max is going to be the quicker driver. Max was raised since birth by a Formula 1 driver who prepared him, rightly or wrongly, to be a Champion

In reply to Keith Tanner :

My interpretation is that Aston didn't want to replace the floor after yesterday's damage.  Which made him struggle with one of his sets of tires- making him a rolling pylon.  He was quick at the end, and probably would have easily gotten by Stroll had he wanted to- but he didn't.  

That being said, the Mercedes was a pretty quick car today, too- neither of them had a real struggle to get past Sainz.  

Well I was happy to see Hamilton on the podium...... Boooooooring best describes the race.

Tom1200 said:

Well I was happy to see Hamilton on the podium...... Boooooooring best describes the race.

Ignoring first place, I thought it was pretty entertaining.  Watching Checos strategy, George coming through the field, the tooth and nail struggle for 10th, all good.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

That part was interesting but I just didn't get that jazzed about it.

It will be interesting once Checo has a decent qualifying how he will interact with the new Mercs. Clearly Max is leaps in bounds but maybe Checo can make it a better show. I was wondering at the beginning if Aston front ended their budget, perhaps moving forward they will start fighting with Ocon, not sure if Gasely needs more time.

Ok race. I think it didn’t represent any team properly. Redbull car with Max driving is a perfect melding for these 2 first years if the new rules. I do get a feeling that RBR has issues but because no one is close they are just trying to quietly fix them. Similar to how MB struggled with Singapore GP during their dominant phase. RBR seems to have some issues with having to run the car too something which causes odd track to track tire issues. 

MB were flattered by this weekend. I will wait until Spa. I agree with one commentator who said MB is "trying out" the side pod change but aren't sure it is the solution. The better solution may be the antidive front suspension and floor aero details and moving the driver back towards the rear of the car. The vertical side pods may come back.

Aston like Force India may just fade back this year. But what I see is AM is they have the team hired and facilities built to really make things happen in 2025 and 2026.

McLaren......ah man the spark is fully extinguished this year. They seemed a strong improving team just 2 years ago!

In reply to Advan046 :

From what I've read, part of the driving position issue for the MB is the narrow side pods. Which can't fully be fixed until the new 24 chassis. 
 

So I expect a few different side pods as experiments. 

Mercedes fast in fp2 this weekend! 

So qualifying looks to be really interesting.  It's going to be wet- how wet looks to be a big question.

But the real question will be set up- as tomorrow looks to be really nice.  If you set up for good qualifying, you will probably make your race set up way to draggy.  If you set up for optimal race, you will really struggle to the point of risking damage from the inevitable spin.

From FP3, some of the cars look to be reasonably good- at least based on previous good weather races.  Mercedes has issues- they were pretty quick at FP2, but not at all in the wet- so there's a big spread for set up.

Added bonus for interesting- the changing conditions.  So much so that Albon is fastest in Q2 by taking a chance on softs at the start of the session.  Hamilton is super lucky that he had that lap to make it through to Q3.

There are going to be a lot of blocking penalties laid out for the race tomorrow- Sainz may have more than one.

Oof!  That's going to shake up the starting grid a bit.