As much as I truly like the Belgian Grand Prix, at this time its just a foregone conclusion that RedBull is going to dominate these races.  When it was only Max Verstappen at the top (and he's won like 8 in a row and 10 races this season) you can kinda just know that in advance and watch everyone else and it's pretty good race.  But now Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull is coming back to life and it seems his car is clearly #2 and when he drives like that it only leaves 1 podium (the podium is the top 3 drivers, who are celebrated after the race) spot left to race for.  So that is less interesting to say the least.

 

This too shall pass, but IMO it won't pass this year.  SO, you are left with a race that doesn't quite deliver like it typically would for me and likely most.  There was some added intrigue as the first 2 days of the weekend it rained and caused alot of low information gathering/tinkering time for the teams, which overall I think hurt them instead of making it more interesting.

There was a mild wreck on lap 1 between Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Oscar Piastri (McLaren), which really deflated the race IMO.  Sainz was battling Hamilton going into the first turn and Piastri darted between Sainz and the wall.  Just not enough room and both ultimately couldn't go on.  Those 2 would have been in the mix for a top 3-6 spot.  With them gone, it was just less interesting IMO.  Onward.

The F1 summer break is upon us.  They won't race again until the end of August for the Dutch Grand Prix.  Who do you think REALLY wants to win that one?  Mr. Verstappen.  Good luck everyone else!

Max won again in the Netherlands and Italy, it has been complete domination.

On 9/5/2023 at 2:22 PM, theguru said:

Max won again in the Netherlands and Italy, it has been complete domination.

The Netherlands was pretty textbook for Red Bull's Max Verstappen in his home race, who is on a role never seen before in F1.  For winning this race he tied former Great Sebastian Vettal's all-time consecutive win mark at 9 straight wins.  The race really wasn't that straight forward with rain intermixed over the weekend but doesn't really matter with the Zone Verstappen is in right now.  Fernando Alonzo was awesome as well finishing second and Pierre Gasly got 3rd because of a bone head pit lane speeding penalty to Red Bull driver Sergio Perez.  He might keep his job after this season, but I think Red Bull may look at someone else in his seat after next season.  The name being floated is Lando Norris.  That would be a crazy powerful team if it happens.  Verstappen and Norris are friends so it just might.

 

Verstappen broke the all-time F1 consecutive win record in Italy at Monza.  But he really had to work at it thanks to a determined Ferrari team defending their home race.  Carlos Sainz was awesome early and he won pole, which is a big accomplishment taking it from Verstappen.  And he led nearly 15 laps of the race, but had to be perfect to do it.  He locked up going into Turn 1 on about lap 15 and Verstappen pounced using DRS to give him the boost he needed gaining the inside position into Turn 3 to overtake the Spaniard and never looked back really.  He teammate finally woke up and ran a good race and Carlos Sainz held off his teammate Charles LeClerc (barely) to take the final podium spot (well-earned I might add).

 

The next race this weekend is the Singapore Grand Prix.  A FASCINATING Race and a jewel on the F1 circuit in my eyes, its one of the longest races they run (although due to construction in downtown Singapore it will make it a bit shorter this year).  Why does that matter?  The fitness of the drivers is tested to the Max here (not really a pun intended but funny nonetheless).  That means there are usually a couple yellows and maybe even a red flag to make for a very interesting race.  Not to mention this race is at night due to the heat and humidity in Singapore this time of year.  It's an AWESOME Spectacle under the lights!  It starts at 8 am on Sunday morning.  If you go to church, just DVR it.  It's worth that.

And it should be an awesome race as Red Bull isn't expected to dominate quite as much as other tracks.  This track is a higher downforce track unlike the majority of tracks on the F1 Circuit.  Red Bulls cars are at their best at lower downforce tracks.  This is all car set up stuff that makes a difference in a race like this.  I look for Mercedes, Astin Martin and McClaren to give Red Bull at least a challenge for awhile on Sunday.  Should be interesting!

Qualifying this morning, this is Lance Stroll.

On 9/16/2023 at 3:55 PM, theguru said:

Qualifying this morning, this is Lance Stroll.

ROUGH!  Not even a full, fledged, overly funded F1 team could put Humpty Dumpty's car together again in time for him to make the race in Singapore.  Which is easily one of the coolest venues on the F1 global circuit.  I mean a NIGHT race in Singapore - Wow that would be cool!  

Unforefunately, the fact remains if this guy (Lance Stroll) wasn't the owners son, he wouldn't be racing in this car, but he is so it's your bed billionnaire Laurance Stroll so you get lie in it.

GREAT race in Singapore with the Red Bulls really off, which is great for racing really (even though I like them fine).  Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes pounded on the chance and when it was all said and done the Red Ferrari of Carlos Sainz brought home the checkered flag.  Lando Norris, who could be the most talented driver, even over Verstappen) came home 2nd with a charging Lewis Hamilton closing fast in 3rd.  Hard luck for Hamiltons teammate George Russell who clipped the wall hard-charging on the last lap and had to watch his teammate take his podium spot.  Tough pill to swallow in F1.

On to Japan!

PS  Look for Verstappen to be back big time in the land of the rising sun!

Pretty fun race yesterday in Japan.  It came on at 1am.  Come on man...

But recorded it and watched it yesterday afternoon.  Verstappen with Red Bull dominated.  Although the first corner was fun with the McLaren's ganging up on Max where he moved way wide to cut off the second place McLaren, but was on the dirty side of the track, which allowed Lando Norris to run clean on the preferred high line and nearly nipped Verstappen for first place.  But he didn't and Verstappen basically ran away with the race some 19 seconds ahead by the checkered flag.  That claimed Red Bulls 6th Constructors Championship in history and back-to-back crowns as well.  Mercedes leads the all-time constructors' championships with 8 total.

But the McLaren's wouldn't be denied and finished 2nd and 3rd and both on the podium for the first time since 2019 when Norris and Daniel Riccardo achieved this.  So, it's a big deal for McLaren and they are now a threat to earn 4th in the Constructors Championship.  That's a big deal for the prize money they give the teams for winning that.

Below them were the Mercedes and Ferraris who had ho-hum races.

But to me the clear disappointment was Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull who did not finish; crashed Kevin Magnusen and just looked terrible out there but has what is clearly a top car on the grid.  I'd be surprised if he received another contract from Red Bull.  He's a nice guy and it's really tough being Verstappen's partner but man you got to at least make it respectable bringing it home in the top 10.

Well stated on all points P88.  I watched the first half of it before I went to bed Saturday night and the final half last night after NASCAR and amazingly the race was not spoiled for me.

The season is not over but Max won the championship today sprint racing.  From f1.com:

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was confirmed as a triple F1 world champion with a battling run to second position in Saturday’s Sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix, finishing between the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the end of an action-packed encounter.

F1 is in Vegas this morning (1am) and it is on ESPN right now getting ready to start. 

All the lights and stuff are really cool.  Not sure about the course, we shall see. 

The race was overnight? That seems exceptionally stupid. 

On 11/19/2023 at 8:12 AM, TheDeuce said:

The race was overnight? That seems exceptionally stupid. 

I'm sure start time was due to their target markets of Europe 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. in Japan.

On 11/19/2023 at 8:12 AM, TheDeuce said:

The race was overnight? That seems exceptionally stupid. 

That way it didn't interrupt the normal Vegas activities, you could see all the lights, and like JD said F1 is for the world, not just America.  Additionally, everyone that watches F1 knows there are some odd start times because we are on world time. 

I actually enjoyed this race and it was a good one.  I think it turned out better than expected. 

On 11/20/2023 at 10:50 AM, theguru said:

That way it didn't interrupt the normal Vegas activities, you could see all the lights, and like JD said F1 is for the world, not just America.  Additionally, everyone that watches F1 knows there are some odd start times because we are on world time. 

I actually enjoyed this race and it was a good one.  I think it turned out better than expected. 

Well, another F1 Season in the books.  It was a fun season to watch if you really like watching it, but may have been lacking for those casual fans who we all knew Verstappen was going to win.  As @thegurusaid I really enjoyed watching the LasVegas race.  It was really entertaining and now Verstappen doesn't win by 20 seconds only about 10 seconds, which is a long time in F1.  

You could really tell LasVegas was a fledgling race; as they had so much to iron out they forgot to bolt the manholes down.  Come on guys!!!  This led to Carlos Sainz (Ferrari driver that had alot of bad luck this year) hitting the manhole and damaging his car significantly.  Then due to antiquated rules was penalized 10 grid spots for it.  Harsh.  Due to this delay they cleared the stands to deal with the manholes, by the time they had them fixed it was 2:30 in the morning and they ran Practice 2 with zero fans in the stands.  NOT a good look.  So they got sued for that.  Not sure how that turned out.

But once they finally got to the race it was pretty darn good with Charles LeClerc with Ferrari running a strong second to get caught and passed by Perez the other Red Bull, only to have LeClerc dive into turn 1 and retake 2nd place at the very end.  Very good race.

Abu Dhabi was the final race of the year, but was kinda Las Vegas in the Saudi Arabian desert with Verstatten taking a record 19 of the 23 races of the year.  In the final 3/4's of the year he only lost in Singapore.  That is unreal good.

I'm worried next year will be a repeat of this year.  After the summer break many teams including Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin and McLaren worked on mostly good upgrades on their cars.

What did Red Bull do mostly?  Worked on their 2024 car... YIKES for the rest of the field in 2024!  It all gets going again the first weekend in March 2024 with some testing in February.

I won my Fantasy F1 league so I'm happy about that.  Happy Holidays to all!

On 11/29/2023 at 10:20 AM, Purple88 said:

Well, another F1 Season in the books.  It was a fun season to watch if you really like watching it, but may have been lacking for those casual fans who we all knew Verstappen was going to win.  As @thegurusaid I really enjoyed watching the LasVegas race.  It was really entertaining and now Verstappen doesn't win by 20 seconds only about 10 seconds, which is a long time in F1.  

You could really tell LasVegas was a fledgling race; as they had so much to iron out they forgot to bolt the manholes down.  Come on guys!!!  This led to Carlos Sainz (Ferrari driver that had alot of bad luck this year) hitting the manhole and damaging his car significantly.  Then due to antiquated rules was penalized 10 grid spots for it.  Harsh.  Due to this delay they cleared the stands to deal with the manholes, by the time they had them fixed it was 2:30 in the morning and they ran Practice 2 with zero fans in the stands.  NOT a good look.  So they got sued for that.  Not sure how that turned out.

But once they finally got to the race it was pretty darn good with Charles LeClerc with Ferrari running a strong second to get caught and passed by Perez the other Red Bull, only to have LeClerc dive into turn 1 and retake 2nd place at the very end.  Very good race.

Abu Dhabi was the final race of the year, but was kinda Las Vegas in the Saudi Arabian desert with Verstatten taking a record 19 of the 23 races of the year.  In the final 3/4's of the year he only lost in Singapore.  That is unreal good.

I'm worried next year will be a repeat of this year.  After the summer break many teams including Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin and McLaren worked on mostly good upgrades on their cars.

What did Red Bull do mostly?  Worked on their 2024 car... YIKES for the rest of the field in 2024!  It all gets going again the first weekend in March 2024 with some testing in February.

I won my Fantasy F1 league so I'm happy about that.  Happy Holidays to all!

You're so smart @Purple88 and we are in lockstep on F1.  Check out this Max graphic: