*****Official Formula 1 Thread*******

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by kepp

Very cool to see Leclerc get his first Monaco win. The top 10 finished in the same order they started...don't know if I've ever seen that.

And I don't know what is up with Alonso. It's kind of a replay of last year...did well through the first 5 or 6 races then fell off. IDK. I heard Aston is making a big push for Newey and Verstappen. Newey I'd like to see at Aston, and it would be hard to anyone to argue against getting Verstappen, but I know it would mean Alonso would be pushed out.

My understanding is that Aston shot their shot with Newey and he said no. But things change when the checks get bigger, I suppose.

Alonso's issue is the same as it's always been - immense talent, but...uh...mercurial.

He'll just check out if things aren't going his way. And Aston's gone backwards a bit this year so he just gets frustrated and coasts. My memory is that he got held up a bit by traffic during one of his qualy runs in Q1 and then ended up duffing his other effort; nicked the wall.

He just never got a clean run in qualifying and it put him at the back of the grid so he just tuned out. He knew there wasn't anything to do from back there, really. So he just put his laps in. I mean, at least he didn't 'feel a vibration' and retire the car. He's done that before.

Ultimately I think it was just bad form and a little bad luck. Stroll's just not a very good driver so he did what he could. But Alonso really should've had that car starting around P8 and just didn't put the laps in.

And as Mercedes seems to have slotted themselves squarely back into the 4th best team spot, with VCARB gaining momentum as well, things aren't going to get easier for Aston. If Haas could get out of their own way, Aston would be in a world of hurt.

[alpha_omega]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Attaboy, Charles!

Boring race, but Ferrari managed to stay out of their own way at Monaco for a change. Was also nice to hear Sainz really concerned about team orders and maximizing LeClerc's chances at the front.

The red flag really did duff that whole race. A) It put Sainz back in P3 (which probably wouldn't have made a difference - 1 McLaren behind him or 2, LeClerc still had that race in his pocket) and B) it eliminated any pit stop strategy so it allowed LeClerc to back up the field.

Still - we have ourselves a fight for the constructors, fellas. It's fun to blame Magnussen for everything but I think that was on Checo; bad run up the hill into turn 3 and he made a late commitment because he knew he was in trouble with the 2 Haas cars coming up either side. Rather than pick one or the other to defend, he tried to hang the middle and defend against both, then just took Magnussen into the wall. After his P18 qualifying run, he really had nobody to blame but himself.

And now Ferrari is within a single race of passing Red Bull.

They've been remarkably consistent this year. 4/3, 3/7 (with Sainz out), 2/1, 4/3, 4/5 (only race without a podium), 3/5, 3/5, 1/3. 9 podiums through 8 rounds is awfully damn impressive. Their main drivers haven't had a finish worse than 5th all season and even their green rookie pulled a 7th at a tough track.

If Sergio is going to continue to show the form he showed in the 2nd half last season (3,4,8,Ret) over the rest of the season, Ferrari will get past Red Bull. Max can do a lot on his own, but he can't fend off two drivers who are routinely putting it 2nd through 5th. Especially if they can occasionally get a win, as Ferrari has now done twice.

Let's go, Red Devils!

Thanks for the update.

[ReynardMuldrake]

It's looking like both the McLaren and the Ferrari upgrades are paying off. Constructors should actually be competitive for once.

Is it me or has Red Bull actually gotten worse since their last upgrade? Max hits the wall in Monaco, hits the bollard in Miami, etc.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ReynardMuldrake

It's looking like both the McLaren and the Ferrari upgrades are paying off. Constructors should actually be competitive for once.

Is it me or has Red Bull actually gotten worse since their last upgrade? Max hits the wall in Monaco, hits the bollard in Miami, etc.

Hard to know about Ferrari's upgrades yet.

Ferrari's been good with slow corners for awhile now. It's why they've constantly been competitive in Monaco and why Sainz won Singapore.

We'll see what happens when they get to more 'normal' tracks with a variety of corners and some higher speeds/tire deg. I can't get past the mediocrity of Imola that easily. They really should've done better there if those upgrades were as advertised. I really wish they'd have had them ready one week sooner for an optimization run at Miami before they got to Imola. As it stands, we still don't really know.

McLaren, OTOH, is legit. Their upgrades have definitely worked.

[ReynardMuldrake]

Antonelli to Mercedes confirmed? Interesting timing to promote a rookie the year before the reg changes.

[ReynardMuldrake]

I paid for a F1TV subscription this year, and I'm going through and watching all of the races in the archives from the beginning. I'm up to the 1991 season now. It's crazy how much the sport has changed in the last 50 years.

[ReynardMuldrake]

The first thing that jumps out to me is safety. It's crazy how many drivers were killed in the 70's. Spa used to have barbed wire at one part of the track. If I talked about "That guy who crashed and burned to death trapped in his car and they didn't even stop the race" you'd be like "Which one?"

I just looked up the wiki and 49 drivers have died at Spa since it opened, not counting spectators or officials. Just insane.

[WhawhaWhat]

There's a Formula 1 channel on Pluto TV and it's showing the Brazil race from 2012. I love watching these old cars and the high pitch hum of the old engines.

[ReynardMuldrake]

Some of those old races don't have the full replay unfortunately, they only do these 20 min recaps. The narrator they picked to do the voiceover is the worst play by play guy imaginable. Not only does he sound like he's narrating a golf tournament, he gives spoilers for things that haven't happened yet. He also has the worst mushmouth and mispronounces words constantly.

"Here we watch in MonAHco as Ayrton Senner in his Honder moves into sick'f place."

Sick'f. Sick'f. Sick'f. He says it twenty ****in' times a race and it drives me out of my mind. Thankfully I think they replace him in the 90's.

[ReynardMuldrake]

Here's another example, from the 1991 Canadian Grand Prix:

"Nigel Mansell had led this race from the first lap to the last. We're on the final lap now, it's been a magnificent drive, but little does Nigel know that's it's all going to go wrong for him when he's almost within sight of the finish. The electronic gear box control is about to fail, and Nigel Mansell, having dominated the Grand Prix from start to finish, is about to be dealt one of the cruelest blows of his often very unlucky career."

Mother****er, I am watching the race right now. If I wanted to know who won, I would look up the results. You are seriously spoiling the race ending for me DURING THE RACE? I want to fly to the UK, find this guy's car, and piss in his radiator.

[DJ's left nut]

How does GP learn to speak Max Verstappen?

Just watching P2 this morning and Verstappen has Lambiase in his ear right now asking him about the balance, etc... and Verstappen is ALWAYS bitching about the car.

So when he says "It's really loose on exit with understeer in the middle and simply won't bite..." do you say "okay, that's normal person for 'the car is pretty good'..."?

I mean ANYTHING that doesn't have that car turning like it's on rails and accelerating like a rocketship convinces him that the car is a complete piece of shit. Whereas you listen to Norris or LeClerc and they're really measured in their responses and insight on the car. Hamilton could be a little bit of a bitch at times but Verstappen takes things to a completely different level.

I just don't know how you can get any insight from him at all.

[Shiver Me Timbers]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

...............Hamilton could be a little bit of a bitch at times but Verstappen takes things to a completely different level..................

I am thinking he learned it from his pops. I watched the kid race KZ1 in Europe. Jos was always in the ear of his tuner, the race officials and even the tire manufacturers. Then he would complain for hours after hours at the pub.

[ReynardMuldrake]

Originally Posted by Shiver Me Timbers

I am thinking he learned it from his pops. I watched the kid race KZ1 in Europe. Jos was always in the ear of his tuner, the race officials and even the tire manufacturers. Then he would complain for hours after hours at the pub.

Yeah, they definitely work the refs. Red Bull was screaming bloody murder at the 2026 regulations when they came out. Max will complain about the car at every single practice then pull out a win. I know he's a perfectionist but it gets tiring after a while.