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Post by Sam Tyler on Aug 23, 2024 10:49:30 GMT
Thrilled to hear that Alpine has announced who will replace Estaban Ocon in 2025.
It is Jack Doohan, who is currently a reserve driver. He has been part of their driver academy since 2022. He is Australian and the son of well know former 500cc motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan.
Really glad to hear that Jack has been appointed at Alpine. I think they are a good team to start at and he will be a good steady team mate for Gasly. Nice one Jack !  Mick Doohan was a brilliant racer back in the nineties, he won the 500cc championship for five years on the trot, I can't believe that he's 59 now! Let's hope that Mick's ability for success on two wheels can translate to Jack on four. Sam. |
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Batgirl
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Post by Batgirl on Sept 1, 2024 11:36:49 GMT
Congrats to Lando Norris on his win at Zandvoort Netherlands last week. Beating Verstappen at his home race is a big statement, and a welcome one! Norris is only 70 points behind Verstappen in the drivers championship table and Leclerc only 33 below that.
The races have become exciting again for me as there isn't Red Bull dominance.
The Italian race is due to start in about an hour and a half. I've never noticed before how much sport is on at this time of year. US Open, F1 races and Paralympics (this year). Looking forward to some more real competition in Italy.  |
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Post by Gene Hunt on Sept 1, 2024 17:42:10 GMT
Disappointing race again thanks to McLaren and the way they are going about things.
Massive congrats to Charles. He drove a great race and deserved the win especially at Monza.
But, back to McLaren. Why on earth are they not giving Lando any help to snatch the WDC from Verstappen? Piastry made a bold move that could have seen both McLaren cars out of the race today - when he should have been assisting Lando in getting away from the pack. Where was the call from the McLaren pit wall to order Piastry to let Lando through as they did in reverse at Hungary? Verstappen was having another bad race and they could have netted Lando more points to get that WDC. But no. They let Lando come home 3rd and diminish his points haul to Verstappen. It seems clear to me that McLaren favour Piastry and for reasons I don't know or understand. If they had (as other teams have in the past) ordered both drivers to hold position after turn 1 (regardelss of who was in the lead) then it would have been an almost certain 1-2 for the team. They are looking to take the Constructors title from RB and it's looking like they'll achieve this easily now. Protecting Piastry rather than Norris lost them that 1-2 finish and more than likely lost Lando the WDC this year.
Piastry's indignance to the situation is not winning him many fans either. It doesn't take long to be labelled as 'not a team player'
GH.
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Del Boy
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Post by Del Boy on Sept 4, 2024 19:17:56 GMT
Think you have a great point regarding the constructors. McLaren are 8 points behind in that so maybe they are of the mindset that its achievable this year. With the drivers championship a bit further away points wise, Norris would have to better Verstappen at every race and some results would need space between the two drivers. I think McLaren got the overall strategy slightly wrong as they clearly had the fastest cars and didn't take the win. Ferrari were able to watch them and modify their strat to beat them.
I too have been pleased to see the field open up over the last 5 races or so. Looks like Red Bulls advantage has definitely evaporated. Would be great if Norris can nick the title.
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Batgirl
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Post by Batgirl on Sept 21, 2024 10:11:50 GMT
Disappointing race again thanks to McLaren and the way they are going about things. Massive congrats to Charles. He drove a great race and deserved the win especially at Monza. But, back to McLaren. Why on earth are they not giving Lando any help to snatch the WDC from Verstappen? Piastry made a bold move that could have seen both McLaren cars out of the race today - when he should have been assisting Lando in getting away from the pack. Where was the call from the McLaren pit wall to order Piastry to let Lando through as they did in reverse at Hungary? ...... Well McLaren has made the call since the Netherlands race to favour Lando Norris.
On Sept 12 it was reported that McLaren team boss, Andrea Stella said his discussions with both drivers had been "very collaborative" and explained, "Even when I said to Oscar: 'Would you be available to give up a victory?' He said: 'It's painful, but if it's the right thing to do now, I will do it'."
Yet they seem reluctant to make a definite statement on the matter with Zak Brown stating ““I was watching something that Ron Dennis was talking about,” he said to Sky Sports. “It was the team’s job to win the constructors’ championship, and the driver’s job to win the drivers’ championship. That’s what we’re doing." That makes sense to me except that drivers vying for their personal glory can knock both of them out of the race!
I don't agree that Piastri isn't winning fans - or maybe it depends what country you hail from!  (Of course Aust. media give the Australian slant to the story and English media favour Norris). Lando Norris' after race interview snippets with Sky Sports are plain annoying particularly with Rachel Brookes. Could we focus on the race and what happened rather than how Lando is feeling and if he is looking sad. Really? Is that sports reporting? 
I was very pleased that Oscar Piastri won the Azerbijan race. If Norris had been better positioned I would have understood a swap of position by the team. They have to beat Red Bull but Norris was not in a position to rival at the front due to qualifying mishap. I think Piastri is an amazing talent in his 18 months of F1 racing. For a kid to be sent overseas at the age of 14 to live at boarding school in order to pursue racing shows in his determination.
Rumours rage that Ricciardo will be out of RB Racing after Singapore due to his poor performance. I will be sorry to see the end of Daniel but even I can see that it is overdue. There are other types of racing in the racing world that he can explore.
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Post by Gene Hunt on Sept 22, 2024 19:31:10 GMT
Disappointing race again thanks to McLaren and the way they are going about things. Massive congrats to Charles. He drove a great race and deserved the win especially at Monza. But, back to McLaren. Why on earth are they not giving Lando any help to snatch the WDC from Verstappen? Piastry made a bold move that could have seen both McLaren cars out of the race today - when he should have been assisting Lando in getting away from the pack. Where was the call from the McLaren pit wall to order Piastry to let Lando through as they did in reverse at Hungary? ...... Well McLaren has made the call since the Netherlands race to favour Lando Norris.
On Sept 12 it was reported that McLaren team boss, Andrea Stella said his discussions with both drivers had been "very collaborative" and explained, "Even when I said to Oscar: 'Would you be available to give up a victory?' He said: 'It's painful, but if it's the right thing to do now, I will do it'."
Yet they seem reluctant to make a definite statement on the matter with Zak Brown stating ““I was watching something that Ron Dennis was talking about,” he said to Sky Sports. “It was the team’s job to win the constructors’ championship, and the driver’s job to win the drivers’ championship. That’s what we’re doing." That makes sense to me except that drivers vying for their personal glory can knock both of them out of the race!
I don't agree that Piastri isn't winning fans - or maybe it depends what country you hail from! (Of course Aust. media give the Australian slant to the story and English media favour Norris). Lando Norris' after race interview snippets with Sky Sports are plain annoying particularly with Rachel Brookes. Could we focus on the race and what happened rather than how Lando is feeling and if he is looking sad. Really? Is that sports reporting?
I was very pleased that Oscar Piastri won the Azerbijan race. If Norris had been better positioned I would have understood a swap of position by the team. They have to beat Red Bull but Norris was not in a position to rival at the front due to qualifying mishap. I think Piastri is an amazing talent in his 18 months of F1 racing. For a kid to be sent overseas at the age of 14 to live at boarding school in order to pursue racing shows in his determination.
Rumours rage that Ricciardo will be out of RB Racing after Singapore due to his poor performance. I will be sorry to see the end of Daniel but even I can see that it is overdue. There are other types of racing in the racing world that he can explore.
I agree, Piastri's win in Azerbaijan was well deserved, and nothing Lando could do after the unfortunate timing saw him miss out on a quick lap in qualifying.He was always going to do well to achieve a podium from where he started but did make the best of a bad situation and finished in P4 ahead of rival Verstappen. I don't have a problem with Piastri at all but found it irksome that, contrary to what you say above, even the British media were hugely supportive of his overtake on Lando at Monza while failing to point out that the "spectacular" move he made on Lando wasn't quite as brave as it maybe seemed. He had far less to lose than Lando going into that corner. He knew that Lando would give way as he was in the fight for the championship and could not afford to crash and get a DNF. Oscar on the other hand could throw caution to the wind to a degree and just go for it in spectacular fashion. At this point in the season, McLaren knew they were favourite for the Constructors title so the "Constructors 1st / Drivers Championship 2nd" argument doesn't stand up here. Also worth bearing in mind that the move cost them a highly possible 1st and 2nd place at that race. Then there was the sickly way McLaren went about bullying Lando on the team radio for the whole world to hear to let Piastri pass him in Hungary when he was clearly pulling away from Oscar (who fell off the track trying to keep up with Lando). That to me was out of order and could well cost Lando the title this year. Max on the other hand can even rely on help from Red Bull junior team to bring in Ricciardo for fresh tyres at the end of the race to snatch fastest lap from Lando - something which I believe is being looked into as I type. Ricciardo even saying post race that he hopes Max wins the title this year by 1 point as he would have helped him achieve it and "guarantee himself a nice Christmas present from Max" |
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Del Boy
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Post by Del Boy on Sept 25, 2024 20:28:35 GMT
Well who would have thought that we would be getting a close championship after the start of the season. I feel there will be a few twists in the story before the champ is crowned.
I think Lando can do it. McLaren have the edge on speed at the minute. Red Bull rumoured to have another upgrade to come so it may close up performance wise. Ferrari could influence matters either way at some tracks.
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Del Boy
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Post by Del Boy on Oct 11, 2024 7:17:36 GMT
What this four week break about ?
I'm not a fan of this current calendar format as it breaks momentum at the end of the season.
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Batgirl
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Post by Batgirl on Nov 22, 2024 8:22:07 GMT
What this four week break about ? I'm not a fan of this current calendar format as it breaks momentum at the end of the season. I agree. It felt like the end of the season, I wonder if the number of sprint races they have introduced has persuaded them to give the drivers this lengthy holiday break. I'm probably wrong, but just a theory. 
I'll be watching the Las Vegas race this weekend (on tv, not there) but the other races I have watched on catchup. It isn't as exciting when I know what happened and who won though I did enjoy the rainy Brazilian race with a surprising and lucky second and third place to Alpine. The US, (Leclerc) Mexican (Sainz) and Brazilian races (Verstappen) all had different winners.
I do wonder what Dan Ricciardo will do now he is no longer a F1 driver. On instagram he is clearly in Las Vegas to watch the race, but what racing career will beckon him.
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Del Boy
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Post by Del Boy on Nov 22, 2024 12:52:30 GMT
Yes, it's been an odd season thst has ebbed and flowed without there being many classic races. After the first few races ended in Red Bull lock outs, competition has improved. Hopefully a couple of crackers will come our way to finish the season on a high note.
Next year looks promising seeing as the teams are closer in performance.
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(Of course Aust. media give the Australian slant to the story and English media favour Norris). Lando Norris' after race interview snippets with Sky Sports are plain annoying particularly with Rachel Brookes. Could we focus on the race and what happened rather than how Lando is feeling and if he is looking sad. Really? Is that sports reporting? 
