2024 Formula 1® Racing

[Purple88]

Well, the 2024 Formula 1 Season has started and to date 2 races have been completed.

And honestly, not sure you need to run anymore to tell me who will win the F1 Championship this season.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen is just head and shoulders above the field for a while now.  He is the best driver

on the best team and that makes it tough for just ordinary fans to want to tune in, honestly.

BUT, as I always love to say, "That's Their Problem" and it really is.  The rest of the field must be as dedicated as Red Bull is.

Because if they give Red Bull much longer at the top; they will start helping their little brother team RB out and then it will be 1 through 4 on the grid every week instead of 1-2 on the grid every week.

Red Bull has gone 1-2 the first 2 races of the year pretty easily.

There is data to suggest that Ferrari is cutting into the Red Bull lead some and I think they are but is it enough.  This season?  Probably not.

Of the other teams:

Ferrari - has a good team and perhaps are FINALLY getting some of their BONE-HEAD management/track strategy issues tied down.  Really the closest team to Red Bull today IMO.

McLaren - has 2 great drivers.  Feel they are a positive upgrade away to challenge for perhaps 2nd place in teams behind Red Bull and perhaps 2nd place on the grid, as Norris is better than Perez all day long.

Mercedes - Just disjointed right now.  Lewis Hamilton, unexpectedly to me anyway, signed a deal to drive for Ferrari next season (2025).  He is a true professional and will do a good job for the Silver Arrows here, but really feels like a "Lame Duck" season at this point.  George Russell, Hamilton's teammate, is a great driver too, but the Mercs still have bouncing issues into the high-speed corners and that won't work at this level of racing.  You can get in the 6-10 zone; maybe 4-5 if your lucky, but you ain't winnin!  

Aston Martin - If you don't like Fernando Alonso, that's on you IMO.  The guys just flat out drives the wheels off his car.  Continually outgaining his cars true speed IMO.  His teammate isn't challenging for him but he is fun to watch.

The teams below here are just looking to score a point in 10th place usually.  And they scrap hard for it.

Haas - This is an American Team that usually sucks.  And they won't win a race, but they have picked it up this year and are not last.  So that's great IMO.  Good trajectory.

The rest are just turning laps.

The Australian Grand Prix is in 2 weeks and should be entertaining for the positions 2 through 10, but I think I know who will win that one and all the rest.

[theguru]

Starting this thread has been on my to do list but after the first two races I am just like you P88.  Ugh, this isn't much fun because Max has totally dominated and like you said P88, I am not sure you need to run anymore races to tell me who will win the F1 Championship this season.

But, I will be tuning in to each and every race and as crazy as this sounds I will be rooting for someone/anyone besides my favorite driver to win. 

[Purple88]

Well said G!  I love watching it.  I'm in a Fantasy League and everything, which helps keep you pulled in.

But I honestly enjoy watching the lower battles on the grid.  Last weeks young Bearman driver for Ferrari was really fun to track as an 18 year old battling seasoned vets on a F1 circuit was real entertainment for me.  But I get that most just want to watch up front and see who wins.  Well I think we can tell them that today.

I do think there will be 1 possibly 2 races things just go wrong for Max, but that's absolutely it and the rest they are going to have to suck it up and beat him.  Hasn't been done since 2021 when Hamilton was doing it some.  

[theguru]

[Purple88]

Well the Australian Grand Prix did not disappoint.  There was a lot going on and certainly a surprise.

Qualifying was somewhat predicted with Red Bull's Max Verstappen nipping Ferrari's Carlos Saiz for the pole with the other Ferrari of Charles LeCler running well along with both McLaren's.  Just don't think the other Red Bull is pulling its weight.  I like Sergio Perez, but he is not getting the job done IMO in what appears to be or should be the second fastest car lining up at every race.

On to the race.  Incredibly skilled drive off the standing start and through the first couple turns in Melbourne is saying something.  Tricky track through there and all the drivers came away pretty much unscathed.  Well done.  But there was drama just ahead as after 3 laps, leader Verstappen had an issue that cause him to lose the car a bit and Carlos Saiz passed him with DRS.  They continued around, but when Verstappen came down the main straight again, he had smoke coming from the back of his car.  He tried to hang on to it but became apparent he wouldn't be able to.  He glided into the pits, not before having an unexpected minor explosion off the back of his car going into the pit lane.  Turns out his brake setup on the rear right of the car was engaged pretty much from the start of the race.  This created added heat and friction of course and was unsustainable and a fire ensued out the back of his car, which was put out in the pit lane.  Verstappen, a fiery guy anyway, was ticked he would not be able to finish the race.  It was his first did not finish (DNF) for RedBull in 2 years going back to Australia in 2022.  Pretty impressive really.

SO, that gave the field a new lease on life as everyone seemed to have a chance at that point.  The Ferrari's used good strategy for a change and rode that to a 1-2 finish!  And breathing down Verstappen's neck in the Driver Championships now.  McLaren's Lando Norris drove very well and ended up 3rd place.

Others of note:  Mercedes just can't buy a break and honestly are as beat down as I have ever seen them be.  Lewis Hamilton also DNF'ed due to an engine failure I believe.  He said this is the "worst start to any season he has ever had".  That speaks volumes for me and says he can't wait to trade fire suits to his new shiny red one next season at Ferrari.  His teammate George Russell was moving up the leaderboard at the end when he was essentially brake-checked (excessive slowing up causing your car to lose control and crash or nearly crash).  Unfortunately for Russell, he lost control and nearly flipped over ending the race under a Virtual Safety Car.

Sergio Perez, was making progress up the grid, but reportedly had damage to his car and settled for 5th.  Again, to me that isn't good enough if I'm Red Bull and payin the bills.

On the lower end of the grid, I'm really impressed with the 2 American Haas cars this year.  NO, they aren't going to win anything, BUT they aren't going to be last either and that is a clear improvement.  Heck they were BOTH in the points this weekend!  I like both their drivers Nico Hulkenberg (German) and Kevin Magnusson (Denmark).  Makes it more fun if you can follow different teams up and down the grid.

Next up - Japan Grand Prix in a couple weeks.  Look for Verstappen to come back with a vengeance, but can Ferrari make it interesting?  We shall see.

[theguru]

[theguru]

[theguru]

On 3/26/2024 at 1:04 PM, Purple88 said:

Well the Australian Grand Prix did not disappoint.  There was a lot going on and certainly a surprise.

Qualifying was somewhat predicted with Red Bull's Max Verstappen nipping Ferrari's Carlos Saiz for the pole with the other Ferrari of Charles LeCler running well along with both McLaren's.  Just don't think the other Red Bull is pulling its weight.  I like Sergio Perez, but he is not getting the job done IMO in what appears to be or should be the second fastest car lining up at every race.

On to the race.  Incredibly skilled drive off the standing start and through the first couple turns in Melbourne is saying something.  Tricky track through there and all the drivers came away pretty much unscathed.  Well done.  But there was drama just ahead as after 3 laps, leader Verstappen had an issue that cause him to lose the car a bit and Carlos Saiz passed him with DRS.  They continued around, but when Verstappen came down the main straight again, he had smoke coming from the back of his car.  He tried to hang on to it but became apparent he wouldn't be able to.  He glided into the pits, not before having an unexpected minor explosion off the back of his car going into the pit lane.  Turns out his brake setup on the rear right of the car was engaged pretty much from the start of the race.  This created added heat and friction of course and was unsustainable and a fire ensued out the back of his car, which was put out in the pit lane.  Verstappen, a fiery guy anyway, was ticked he would not be able to finish the race.  It was his first did not finish (DNF) for RedBull in 2 years going back to Australia in 2022.  Pretty impressive really.

SO, that gave the field a new lease on life as everyone seemed to have a chance at that point.  The Ferrari's used good strategy for a change and rode that to a 1-2 finish!  And breathing down Verstappen's neck in the Driver Championships now.  McLaren's Lando Norris drove very well and ended up 3rd place.

Others of note:  Mercedes just can't buy a break and honestly are as beat down as I have ever seen them be.  Lewis Hamilton also DNF'ed due to an engine failure I believe.  He said this is the "worst start to any season he has ever had".  That speaks volumes for me and says he can't wait to trade fire suits to his new shiny red one next season at Ferrari.  His teammate George Russell was moving up the leaderboard at the end when he was essentially brake-checked (excessive slowing up causing your car to lose control and crash or nearly crash).  Unfortunately for Russell, he lost control and nearly flipped over ending the race under a Virtual Safety Car.

Sergio Perez, was making progress up the grid, but reportedly had damage to his car and settled for 5th.  Again, to me that isn't good enough if I'm Red Bull and payin the bills.

On the lower end of the grid, I'm really impressed with the 2 American Haas cars this year.  NO, they aren't going to win anything, BUT they aren't going to be last either and that is a clear improvement.  Heck they were BOTH in the points this weekend!  I like both their drivers Nico Hulkenberg (German) and Kevin Magnusson (Denmark).  Makes it more fun if you can follow different teams up and down the grid.

Next up - Japan Grand Prix in a couple weeks.  Look for Verstappen to come back with a vengeance, but can Ferrari make it interesting?  We shall see.

Great stuff P88.

I agree on Sergio, what is up with that!?

Verstappen's lack of DNF's is pretty impressive.  You know from the past Max is my favorite driver but I have to admit when he went out I got real interested in this race.  For once, it felt like a race.

On the Silver Arrows, right on.  Makes me sad.

I agree on Haas and I have always been a Nico Hulkenberg fan.  One of the things I love about F1 is you get to know the drivers and circuits, quick.  

Timing is everything, Practice 1 is live right now in Japan. 

Photo from Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Grand_Prix

 

[theguru]

From F1 on Facebook:

The grid is set for Sunday at Suzuka 

[theguru]

[Purple88]

Another F1 race; another dominant finish for Red Bull's Max Verstappen.  

The guy is a generational talent on a team some might say is in their generational window, with the LEGEND Chief Designer/Engineer Adrian Newey.  And the thing is, they have no signs of stopping anytime soon.  The good thing is I think Ferrari has made some really good changes in the off-season and are making strides to at least somewhat keep in the rear-view mirror.  

But today, Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez got in gear also.  What did that mean?  A pretty comfortable 2nd place.  That's what I feared for the grid.  If Perez can continue this form, I think everyone else is shooting for 3rd place.  And that 3rd place is likely reserved for about 3 guys (both Ferrari drivers - Sainz and LeClerc and McLaren's Lando Norris).   If that holds then you are likely looking at the Mercedes (Russell and Hamilton) along with the other McLaren of Piastri battling with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso for 6th through 9th.  That only leaves 1 scoring spot for the other 5 teams.  

And today, it was no surprise to me to find home-town hero Yuki Tsunoda pulling into that 10th place spot and claiming 1 World Championship point for Team RB.  Know who Team RB is?  It's Red Bull's Little Brother Team.  This is what I was afraid of.  Red Bull is so far out in front; I fear they will now divert "some" of their resources to start pushing Little Brother into the above-mentioned group.  Is that a far-fetched idea?  I don't think so.  If Red Bull is spending money on it, then they want a good return on their investment.  

Verstappen and Perez have gone 1-2 in 3 of the 4 races this year.  Can't do much better than that.  They just don't have much luck in the land down under (Australia).  So what has Little Brother done:  Race 1: they finished 13 and 14; Race 2: they finished 16, 17; Race 3: they finished 7,12; Race 4: they finished 10 and Daniel Ricciardo crashed with Albon on the first lap.  Remember 10th place is supposed to be their ceiling here. My point with all that is:  They are coming for the guys in that 6th through 9th group and I wouldn't be surprised by the end of the year, if they weren't soundly in that group.  Again, my point is Red Bull is just a freaking machine right now and they have the system, logistics, drivers, management and money to make it stick for a long time to come.  It's up to the other teams to work harder to get in the race so to speak because I bet Red Bull's ultimate goal is to go 1 through 4 in a race.  Right now that would be very hard to impossible.  Next year if they do what I think they can do; maybe not.  Your move F1 Teams.

ESPN had a really good article I wanted to share.  It's link is below.  To me, they have already gone past this and onto Little Brother.  Look out F1!

Verstappen's predictable Suzuka win should have F1 worried - ESPN

I still find it enjoyable to watch.  You're talking the best drivers in the world on the most dedicated teams racing around the globe.  Great stuff!  But at the top of the grid, it's all Red Bull!

[theguru]

I plan on responding to you P88 but as I was reading what you posted and thinking about it, I thought, I have to set some time aside for this response, lol.  And I just came across this on Facebook and thought it was interesting:

[theguru]

On the article you posted P88 I think this is the most important part and I admit I feel this way too and that is much less interest in the sport because at this point it feels predetermined:

Ultimately, how many people watch F1 dictates everything that follows, and that is dictated by the on-track product. Global ratings fell when Michael Schumacher dominated in the 2000s and again in the 2010s during Hamilton's unrivaled reign, and they appear to be slipping away again. It's fair to ask how many of the legion of new fans F1 has welcomed in recent years will turn their backs on the product if Red Bull's dominance continues indefinitely.

[theguru]

[Purple88]

The Chinese Grand Prix was pretty cool in the ambience (had a couple guys running around with puppet dragons and the like) and cool sights they showed around the track and Zhou Ming (former Houston Rockets Center) being interviewed before the race was a highlight for me.  Along with Zhou, the only Chinese Driver ever, doing pretty well for his home race was entertaining.

But as for the real nuts and bolts of the race, no one and I mean NO ONE could touch Max Verstappen and VERY likely will not at any race going forward.  Could he have some mechanical problems?  Sure, but Red Bull is a high-quality team and that won't happen very often and has already happened once this season (Australia) so I don't look for it to happen very much again.

BUT, if you take the first-place position out of the race (hard to do, but I do this now) and watch for 2nd place on; then it's a pretty entertaining race.  Surely Sergio Perez, the other Red Bull should have come in second place, BUT he did not and came in 3rd with a fabulous drive by McLaren racer Lando Norris (who could he be the best driver?  I don't know above Max, but an argument could be made due to the difference in equipment alone) and finishing 2nd was a tremendous outcome for the McLaren team who have been pretty average this season overall.  Ferrari had a ho-hum race - nothing to see there!  

Mercedes George Russell was fine.  Lewis Hamilton drove the wheels off his car in the opening Sprint Race coming in second then made a poor error in qualifying to go out in Q1 of qualifying and to his credit battled up into the points at the end in 9th.

Fernando Alonso is just a great driver for Aston Martin.  His team had poor strategy IMO (put the Spaniard on soft tires in the middle of the race and FORCED him to come back into the pits and lose costly time when if they put on Mediums or Hards he likely could have kept valuable track position) and cost him a couple spots, but he's still getting more out of the car than it should have IMO.

And the American Team of Haas is having a GREAT year IMO.  They were DEAD LAST last season and this season are pretty much in contention for the top team of the best of the rest category.  That's a huge jump!  A lot of credit goes to their new boss Komatsu and their drivers are very good too in Hulkenberg and Magnusson.

And what about my promise of Red Bull's Little Brother team RB?  Well, they spit the bit so to speak as Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo both wrecked out even though it wasn't their fault.  Still a pretty disappointing weekend for Team RB.  

So, is the season championship over?  I think that answer is clearly yes, as Max Verstappen is just too far out in front.  BUT the battle for positions 2 thru 10 are pretty wide open and should be entertaining for the rest of the year. 

Concerning Constructor's, no one will catch Red Bull IMO, but the battle between Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Aston Martin should be entertaining.  Along with seeing who will win between Haas and RB.

The Miami Grand Prix is next up in 2 weeks.  It's on the bucket list, but not this year.  Should be entertaining as it's another Sprint Race weekend.  Those are entertaining.  But I don't like the race being so late on Sunday with a 4 pm start time.  I love the early Sunday starts!  Maybe that's just me.